A Time and a Season for Everything

I experienced a part of life today that is normal. I said good bye to a person in my life. A person I have formed a relationship with over the last 9 months. A person that I had 26 conversations with. Today I ended a relationship with someone who I have grown to care and love for. You might be wondering who this person is. Why do I know  how many conversations I had with them? Why did our relationship end today? Why did I say good bye? And why, if this is so normal am I using a perfectly good blog post to write about it? I will tell you why. While this is a normal part of life, this is my first time experiencing this in this capacity. 

Today I said good bye to one of my clients that I will never see again on this side of eternity. I am a counselor. I am in my last week of internship. With that comes termination. I have terminated with client's before. However, this is the first time I have terminated with a client that I have seen for this amount of time. Because of the nature of my profession I  cannot share much about this person with you. However, I can say that my time spent with her was an experience I will take with me as I graduate from my Masters and enter the world of professional counseling. My client was emotional as she said good bye to me today. She shared areas of growth and things that she learned and is taking away from counseling with me. She thanked me for all that I had done. I've done nothing I told her. YOU did this. She replied with, "I had a really good guide along the way." What this client does not know is that I learned just as much, if not more from her. I learned more about myself and about the beauty of life from her story. Saying good bye was really hard for me. Harder than I ever expected. Today I grew as a person and as a counselor. And today God reminded me why He called me to this profession in the first place. I feel connected to this person in a way that I know is spiritual and manifested by God alone. I believe our lives are intertwined for eternity and our relationship was God ordained. Our relationship had to come to an end today. It is a natural part of life and an even more natural aspect of the counseling world. I will have clients come and go my entire life. But today God reminded me that I will always be connected to them and them to me. As I cooperate with God and allow Him to lead and guide my sessions with  my clients His work will be done in them, not mine. And if I do that I can trust that God will not allow any session to be in vein. Most likely, I will never see any of my client's again and as they terminate I hope I don't see them again because that would mean they have accomplished what they needed. Our time is done. My job, God's job is done for that season. For some clients, the sons and daughters of Christ, I believe that I will see them again in Heaven. I believe that they have been placed in my life for a reason. They are a part of my ministry and I believe that God will reunite us in Heaven. I believe I will see this particular client that I have been mentioning once again in Heaven.

Saying goodbye to her got me to thinking about God's time for everything. Ecclesiastes 3 tells us this:

there is a time for everything,

    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,

    a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal,

    a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

    a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

     a time to search and a time to give up,

    a time to keep and a time to throw away,

     a time to tear and a time to mend,

    a time to be silent and a time to speak,

     a time to love and a time to hate,

    a time for war and a time for peace.

While doing a SMALL study of this chapter tonight in my pursuit to understand God's time and season for all things I came across something in one of my commentaries I enjoyed:

"Solomon affirmed that God is at work in our individual lives, seeking to accomplish His will. All of these events come from God, and they are good in their time. The inference is plain: if we cooperate with God's timing, life will not be meaningless. Everything will be "beautiful in his time" (vs 11), even the most difficult experiences of life." I find comfort in these words along with Solomon's words. God has a plan and I am just a small part of it but I am a part of it. He will use me if I let Him and when I do I can rest in knowing that I have done my part. 

"Life is something like a doctor's prescription: taken alone, the ingredients might kill you; but properly blended, they bring healing. God is sovereignly in control and has a time and a purpose for everything (Romans 8:28). This is not fatalism, nor does it rob us of freedom or responsibility. Is is the wise providence of a loving Father who does all things well and promises to make everything work for good." 

Commentary: The Wiersbe Bible Commentary by Warren W. Wiersbe 

Obedience Is The Very Best Way To Show That You Believe

Do you remember the song we would sing as children at bible camp about obedience? 

"Obedience is the very best way 

To show that you believe: 

Doing exactly what the Lord commands,

Doing it happily. 

Action is the key--do it immediately, 

The joy you will receive!

Obedience is the very best way 

To show that you believe. 

O-B-E-D-I-E-N-C-E (Yes, sir!)

Obedience is the very best way 

To show that you believe."

I have been thinking about this concept of being obedient lately. Why is it such a good way to show that you believe? Why is it that Christians can be set apart by their obedience? I started to Google the word obedience in relevance of the scripture and I found this:

Obey – The Biblical word for “obey” comes from the Greek “hupakou” which means to listen attentively; by implication to heed or conform to a command or authority. This word conveys the idea of actively following a command. There is no choice in the matter, it is to be done whether one agrees with it or not. Obedience is involuntary.

Read more: http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/bible-verses-about-obedience-20-powerful-scriptures-quotes/#ixzz2QAoDf9m1

As Christians we are called to obey-whether we like it or not. It is kind of like being a child and having to do what our parents say. We ask why and they say the classic line: "Because I said so". We don't like it but we do it because we live under a hierarchical system where mom and dad are the head of the household and we as children have to obey them. I don't know about you but when I did not obey my parents there were some consequences. My life was not as pleasant when I did not obey. However, when I did obey them I was blessed. Sometimes I did not see those blessing right away but 10 plus years later I am feeling blessed in certain areas for obeying my parents when I was a child. 

The same goes for us as children of God. God asks us to obey Him and His commands. He tells us that if we love Him we will do this. (John 15:14). But just like there were consequences for me as a child under my parents household, there are consequences for me as a child of God as well. There are worldly and physical consequences and there is the loss of blessings as well. We see this in scripture:

Numbers 20:7-12 … and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” And Moses took the staff from before the LORD, as he commanded him. Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”

Judges 2:1-3 Now the angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.”

Joshua 5:6 For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the LORD; the LORD swore to them that he would not let them see the land that the LORD had sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Nehemiah 9:20, 26-27 You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. “Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies. Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. (Israel confessing their sins to the LORD)

Romans 2:6-8 He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.

Read more: http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/bible-verses-about-obedience-20-powerful-scriptures-quotes/#ixzz2QAqVaKVX

On the flip side of this though is good news. If we obey God not only do we bring Him glory and add to his kingdom but we receive worldly and heavenly blessings as well from Him.

Genesis 22:17-18 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” (The LORD speaking to Abraham through an angel)

Proverbs 13:13 Whoever despises the word brings destruction on himself, but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded.

Psalms 1:1-2 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

Luke 11:28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Jesus speaking)

Ephesians 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

Read more: http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/bible-verses-about-obedience-20-powerful-scriptures-quotes/#ixzz2QArWFrye

It is always better to walk in the ways of the Lord. Obeying Him allows us to do this. It may be hard and we may not always agree. We might be able to justify why we could or should disobey and when our flesh is weak it might even sound "biblical". We are called to something higher as Christians and we should not abuse grace. As a friend of mine put it- just because we get a clean slate each morning does mean we should dirty it up as much as we can the night before. Obeying God is a good thing. Obeying Him sets us apart from other non believers and even some believers. It truly is the best way to show that you believe.