A life like His Archives - Seeking God with Jaime Wiebel

Expecting the Unexpected

Jaime Wiebel — Thu, 25 Jun 2015 16:48:00 +0000

“I
was expecting this to happen but I never expected this to happen.”

Six years ago I was
expecting. At twenty-one weeks we went to the doctor for our ultrasound. I was expecting everything to be great. We
would see pictures of the baby, everyone would smile and we would go on our
way. What I wasn’t expecting was twins. And to add even more to the situation,
I wasn’t expecting the ultrasound tech to tell me she couldn’t find either of
their heartbeats.

Eleven years ago my grandpa was having trouble swallowing.
He went in for surgery and when the surgeon came to talk to us we were
expecting him to say that everything went well.
What we were not expecting was for him to tell us that he had cancer,
they could do treatments, but the cancer was not curable.

We have a lot of expectations in life. Sometimes
good expectations that turn out seemingly bad and bad expectations that turn
out better than we could have imagined.

Although in these stories we were expecting the best
and they seemed to not turn out so great let me explain them more closely for
you.

God desires a
relationship with us and uses things in our lives to draw us closer to Him. We
have two choices we can draw near to Him or turn away from Him.

In the first story, when I was actually expecting, God used that experience to completely turn my
life around. You can read more of the story in He Can Move Mountains.

You see until that moment I was living the “good
girl” Christian life meaning I was playing it safe. I was going to church on
Sunday and I could talk a good game but I was really living life for myself and
the way I wanted to live.

God used this experience completely for my benefit. Through
His Word so many realities sank straight into my heart. Here are just a few.

Jeremiah 10:23 reminds
us: I know, LORD, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to
plan our own course. I was planning how many kids I wanted. How far
apart I wanted them. How everything was going to go according to my plan. As a Christ follower I wasn’t
doing much following. I was not consulting God in my life and He knew He needed
to redirect my course.

I praise God for drawing me closer to Him and
producing a more steadfast faith. James 1:2-3 Count it
all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that
the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

My faith was shaky and wavering at best. This trial brought me to my knees. It brought
me to my face. It brought me to the point of surrender that Christ knew I
needed in order for Him to use me.

I know it is often difficult to count your blessings
when you are in the midst of trials but James tells us to count it ALL joy because
the result is a firm, determined faith. The
kind of faith that requires submission to a God who is Greater than all our
trials.

In all my shock I kept saying why did this happen, I
don’t understand. I thought with all of the modern technology, why couldn’t
anything have been detected before this point. James 4:14 reminds
us: Why, you do not even know
what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a
little while and then vanishes.

Some lives end sooner than we expect or than we
want. Our days are numbered and not by our own calendar. We are but a breath,
but a vapor, but a mist, and then our life is over. The choice then lies with
what we are going to do with this time.

In those
moments I realized all God has given me. So I give it all back to him in every
way I can.

My grandpa was amazing man. You can read more in a
tribute I wrote for Father’s Day in A Life Like His.

My grandpa was a WWII veteran. He was stationed on
the aircraft carrier the USS Lexington. The Lexington was stationed in Pearl
Harbor. Two days before Pearl Harbor was attacked they went out to sea to do
practice exercises and the Lexington missed all the attacks on that dreadful
day.

Lexi, however, didn’t escape the war unscathed. She
was later attacked, was sunk, and the men had to abandon ship. My grandfather
told how he floated in open water for hours before being rescued by another
ship.

At the time my grandfather was not a believer but
God had plans for him that he could not have seen. My grandfather came home
from the war, later met my grandma, and they both became saved. My grandpa
spent his life serving the Lord even to the end.

Four weeks after my grandfather passed away, my
soon-to-be husband accepted Christ. He saw the life my grandpa had lived but
more importantly he saw how my grandpa died with an overwhelming peace and the
security that he would soon be home in the loving arms of his Father.

My husband wanted that kind of peace. While my
grandpa would be dearly missed, God changed the course for my life with my
husband. I wasn’t expecting out of his passing my husband would gain life.

This has made all the difference in our marriage. We
expected on our wedding day to vow to each other through it all. Beyond our
expectations, our marriage covenant with God has become the glue that binds us
together.

Life doesn’t always go the way we expect. Not many
people need to be told that.

With Christ we can expect the unexpected because he can do far more than we ask or can imagine.

The real question is, what are you going to do in
life’s unexpected moments?

Please encourage others in the comments below with your unexpected moments.

SHARE with friends so they, too, can journey with us.

The post Expecting the Unexpected appeared first on Seeking God with Jaime Wiebel.

A Life Like His

Jaime Wiebel — Sun, 07 Jun 2015 22:30:00 +0000

Stop by the next couple of weeks for contributions to honor my
father and my grandfathers, and to my Heavenly Father. I hope you enjoy this little
journey with me leading up to Father’s Day.

For the LORD is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his
faithfulness continues to each generation. Psalm 100:5

Growing
up, my family and I lived upstairs from my grandparents. We lived in a duplex
house and had the amazing opportunity to see our grandparents’ every day. Growing
up, I always wanted my kids to know these two extraordinary people.

My grandma would be there to give a firm hand when we needed
and claims I am the only one she ever needed to spank. However, when I was
sick, I would go to grandma to be nursed and spoiled with all her attention.
Fortunately, we are blessed to still have her, vibrant and sassy, in our lives
and in the lives of my kids.

My grandpa was the most faithful man I ever knew. I remember
him sitting up early every morning, coffee in hand, and reading his Bible and praying.

My grandparents always served in the church and I can remember
Grandpa singing in the choir and like me he loved to sing loudly and it was
always a joyful noise.

They both served in the AWANA program. They went to Sunday school
and to church Sunday nights. Church was not something they just did out of
habit it was one way they served and worshipped their Lord.

In fact, my grandfather was often times the only one, along
with the pastor, who would show up every Wednesday morning for prayer meeting.
What an example of devotion to God and the opportunity for prayer.

Grandpa would take us to Sunday school every Sunday and if
we were not in the car the moment he wanted to leave he sat in the car honking
his horn until we arrived. We always
thought it was funny.

We would rush to the car and as we got in he would tell us
not to slam the doors. Then he would zip through town in his little car barely
stopping at each light and sign. Apparently, when my grandpa learned to drive,
stopping was more of an option and not necessarily a rule of the road.

My grandma and grandpa were not always believers and didn’t come
to the Lord until they were in their twenties. They became two clear examples
of people who knew what they were redeemed from and were grateful for God’s
redeeming grace.

I still have the awesome opportunity to worship with my
grandma and we are going to be in a Bible study together this summer. My
grandma has been one of my best friends and we have had many times together
sharing our faith. Grandma stories I have to save for another day.

My grandpa was fun, loving, honorable, and faithful. He was devoted
endlessly to his family, had a great sense of humor, and a love for Jesus that
was undeniable. He spent his life giving back all God had given to him.

My grandpa passed away six weeks before I got married. We
were all at the hospital his final week of life. No one wanted to leave him for
a moment because we wanted to absorb every second of life that we had left with
him.

My grandpa was at such a deep peace. He seemed to be the
only one ready to let go. He would call people to his bedside to take the
opportunity to witness to them or give them some final life advice.

He would sit and talk to my grandma and hold onto her for
every moment he had left to comfort her. If he had one concern it was that she
would be okay even though he knew God would take care of her like He always
had.

He would call my mom and aunt to his side to sing an old
hymn or to sing Jesus Loves Me. He would tell us confidently that he was ready
to go home to see his Lord. He was playing cards and loving each and every one
of us until the moment he closed His eyes and left this world.

Even though our hearts were broken they were filled with peace
because we knew he was no longer hurting, he could no longer be sick, and he
was in the most awesome place you could ever imagine being, in the presence of
his Loving Father.

Instead of filling the funeral home with tears and sadness,
it was a time to celebrate a life well lived. It was a time to celebrate the
promises of God. It was a time to remember this world is not our home and
someday we will be able to rejoice, like grandpa, in the presence of our
Heavenly Father.

My grandpa is missed so very much by the people who were
blessed enough to know him. He was a loving example of a Christ-filled life
that we had the incredible opportunity to be a part of.

My grandma told
me that grandpa’s favorite verse (although he loved them all) was John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life.

His life was a legacy of a faithful man. One I can look at long
after he is gone and know the reality of the promises of God and the blessings
of a life surrendered. He loved John 3:16 and his life showed that he loved
Jesus for choosing to take our place in a death that we deserved. He lived life
based on the promise of an eternal life. And he lived knowing and showing that it is an
eternal life that starts here. What a blessing!

I thank the Lord for the people that He gives us and hope
that we too can be that someone to the people that we are given to love.

We used to drive to Florida (24 hours) and listen to this song over and over and sing it to Grandpa. Takes me back.

Please SHARE a story about your grandfather in the comments below. I am already excited to read them.

The post A Life Like His appeared first on Seeking God with Jaime Wiebel.