From Generation to Generation

Yesterday I had to drop off RM yesterday at his new job because I needed the car, so it was my first opportunity to see where he was actually working.  As we pulled up to the college, I was in awe.  It was a big, brand new facility, nothing like I had pictured (I had pictured some rundown decrepit old buildings for some reason...!) It turns out the building he is working in only opened this past spring, so he is one of the first to actually have a job there.  It is state-of-the-art everything - for him, an amazing opportunity.  He comes home each time he goes in saying, "I get paid to play" as he's always being exposed to some new technology or million dollar toy.

As I drove away, one of the preachers on the radio was talking about Mary's Magnificat, which is the song she sang after meeting Elizabeth, both pregnant with very special babies.  Our kids are right in the middle of memorizing The Magnificat because they have to memorize Luke for Bible Quizzing this year, so I'd already been thinking about how much I love that set of verses.

This was just minutes after I'd dropped him off, when I heard the preacher say, "...for he has looked on the humble estate of of his servant....for He who is mighty has done great things for me....And his mercy is for those who fear him....and exalted those of humble estate;  He has filled the hungry with good things....."

I felt like Mary for the few minutes driving away.  I felt so humbled that God would choose to hear us, to bless us, to exalt us in a way by giving us this amazing job.  It is such an answer to prayer (have I said that a hundred times yet???!!)

I have often written about Joseph in prison.  I almost used to feel sorry for him when I would read his story about how he was down in the well, thrown there by his brothers, only to be taken out and then thrown in prison by his master, unfairly, only to be forgotten there by the guy who got out and was supposed to help him get out.  I could relate to Joseph, I felt.  I knew the end of his story and I wanted so badly to tell the younger Joseph, "Hang in there!  There's a happy ending!"

At the same time, I would feel sorry for myself as I often felt like I was in a well, or in prison, or unfairly treated.  I don't think I deserved to be "Pharoah's assistant" like Joseph was....I just wanted freedom!  But somewhere along this path, (I've been blogging for nearly 3 years now) I learned to love prison, to embrace it, to realize prison was exactly where God wanted me and He wasn't going to take me out until He wanted to.  I had to accept it was going to be for an indefinite period of time and quite possibly....forever.  Though I didn't love that thought it was good to get to that place.

The preacher on the radio talked about that place yesterday where you are finally humbled.  We were there.  Then, he said, you have grace, "He gives grace to the humble."  This grace, he went on, allows you to accept whatever comes your way, it takes away all the stress, and though you don't love everything that is going on in your life, you know if God has chosen it then God wants it for you and you become ok with it.

There we were, at the bottom of the pit, and we could only look up.  It was a constant battle to not lose hope though as I still felt God could save us at any time if He so chose, so though I was content to stay in the well, I kept on praying for freedom.  Not once did I ever feel I was supposed to stop praying.  That is the one thing that developed the most in our prison - we knew like never before our constant dependence on God, for everything, the food on our table, the gas in our car, the clothes on our backs.  I don't think Joseph ever stopped hoping either.  Prison isn't a fun place to be, you find yourself always dreaming of what freedom will look and feel like.

This is the thing....we aren't entirely out of prison yet, but this job represents the beginning of freedom, Lord willing.  I had been afraid to write a few months ago about how this was our 7th year of attempting debt-reduction.  But, by faith, I wrote it anyway trusting that God would do something in this 7th year.  The Bible speaks about how masters, in the Old Testatment, are to let their slaves go in their 7th year of bondage.  I started to pray for freedom in our 7th year.  To some, it will be coincidence that we got this job in our 7th year.  It is hard for me to say that.  I only see it as part of the miracle, especially as the 7th year was drawing to a close!

We might be out of the prison cell, but we aren't out of the actual prison.  Knowing we still have one foot in prison is good as God knows how quick we are to lose sight of Him.  Keeping us in a state of dependency keeps us ever relying on God as we are also so quick to pat ourselves on the back and say, "Look what we've done."

I came home and told the kids what I had heard on the radio and then I thanked them for being with us on the journey, for allowing themselves to be in the humbled estate we found ourselves in, for rarely complaining about things they could have easily complained about.  I told them, "Remember this!  Tell your kids!  We can never forget all the stories of God's provision."

And that's the message of The Magnificat as well.  They have to tell the generations to come all that God has done,

"And His mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation."