Walking with Christ 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.

When They Look At Me

Jaime Wiebel — Thu, 28 May 2015 19:29:00 +0000

The Jesus They See In Me

Driving down the road, I glance in the rear-view mirror.

The little guy I dropped off at
the beginning of the school year is now a whole year bigger.

I can’t believe a whole school year
has passed. I can’t believe my guy is getting so big.

He is so sweet. I turn around to see his beautiful face that
is now almost a third grader and give him a great big smile. I keep sneaking
peeks of him in the mirror and he just laughs and looks away like he doesn’t
notice. Being my first born and the only one in school I can only hope that
this gets easier.

The end of the school year is hardest for me. I know some
people struggle at the beginning of the year but I spend the last few days of
school sad about another year passing by.

As the tears stream down my face, I quickly search for my
sunglasses to keep him from seeing me melt right in front of him. As I force a
smile through my sadness, he just giggles. Thank God for those angel smiles
that He sends through our little kids when times are tough.

As I look in the rear view mirror at my guy, I wonder what
he sees when he looks back at me.

My inner struggle lately has been with second guessing my
thoughts, actions, and reactions to my children. My greatest desire is that my
kids will grow up to love Jesus with all their hearts. I feel this pressure as
being the person that they look at and see the genuine love of Jesus. I just
wonder who the Jesus is they see in me. As mothers we have a great influence on
our children that we should consider carefully.

One of our favorite things to do is sing. We spend every
morning driving to school singing to the tunes of our favorite Christian radio
station. We crank up the radio and sing loudly, well okay maybe just I sing
loudly. But I can see their little mouths ready to break out in song any day
now.

I often times get strange looks as I am driving down the
road because I have one hand on the wheel and the other hand lifted to the heavens
praising my Lord. I usually get funny looks because people are not sure if I am
waving at them or yelling at them (I do sing loudly in my car, not well, just
loudly). Don’t worry I focus on my
driving.

My kids know that I love Jesus. We talk about Him at every
opportunity. He is a part of who we are but my desire is that He is not just a
part of who we are or just pieces of us but that He defines all our actions,
thoughts, and ways. We Praise Him for constantly transforming us and making us
more like Him every day.

Paul gives us great direction for our personal
responsibility in Romans 12. In verse 1 Paul tells us that we are to give
ourselves to God because all He has done for us. This means that daily we have
to consciously and intently give up our own desires to follow Him.

In verse 2 Paul
continues, Don’t copy the behavior and customs
of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way
you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and
pleasing and perfect.

If I want to be able to look at my kids in the mirror and
wonder what they are seeing when they look back at me I can always look to the
instruction manual that God gave us for daily living, His Word.

Don’t copy the behavior or customs of this world. That is
hard. That is why we have to be intent about our choices. Proverbs
3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean
on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will
make your paths straight.

How many of us often times turn to the people around us for
counsel on our daily lives. We turn to our significant others, our family, our
friends, and social media. What is the problem with that? Some of you may be
thinking, nothing. Look at these two verses.

Proverbs tells us to trust in the Lord
and not in ourselves and our own understanding, Romans 12:2 says Let God transform you and your thinking, not
to conform to the thinking of this world.

What is the harm with turning to others? What is the problem
with going for advice or help with our kids, family, marriage, jobs, and
finances, to other people?

My thoughts and your thoughts are limited to our own
understanding. We are finite. Limited to what we can see and understand.

Psalm 147:5 says,
Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. (NIV) Other
versions use the word infinite. He can see it all, past, present, and future.
He can see the whole picture.

If I want my kids to see Jesus in me, Proverbs 3:6 says, In
all my ways, every situation, the Good, the bad, and the often times messy, I
turn to Him. I acknowledge Him first. I
go to Him first to teach me to be the mom He wants me be and to be like more
like Him.

His promises are He will guide my paths, He will make my
paths straight. He will guide me and transform me to be more like Him. I have
to let God transform me into a
new person by changing the way I think. Changing the way I act. Changing me
from the inside out.

Please SHARE with us. How do you handle the end of the school year? Please comment below and encourage us with your walk with God.

If you missed last week’s posts follow these links and check
them out.

Am I In the Way? and Family Fun Friday

The post When They Look At Me appeared first on Seeking God with Jaime Wiebel.

Courage For Today

Jaime Wiebel — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 16:39:00 +0000

Lord Give Me Courage,

This blog post is going to be a little bit different than I
usually write because today it is a prayer. I ask that you pray with me and for
me as I continue on this journey. I also ask that if you are at a place in your
life and you want to give more to the Lord or you want to begin in your journey
with Him, this may be your prayer.

My Gracious Heavenly Father,

I ask that you give me the courage to live
boldly for you. Living out Your Word has so many blessings and I want to be obedient
to you.

Lord, I am not always courageous, I am not always the one to
stand up for you or for what is right but I want you to change my heart. I want
to not only be a hearer of Your Word but I want to be a doer of what you ask of
me, even when it is difficult.

I know that I struggle with always giving you my whole
heart. Worshiping you with my whole heart and all my strength gets put aside
to my selfishness and “me time”. Lord please help me to overcome myself and keep
my eyes focused on Your truths.

Lord, I know that I can accomplish great things in your name
and for your Glory, if I will not be the one to opt out when you want me to
give it my all.

I know that living for your glory is my choice. Lord I ask
you to give me the strength and the endurance to fight the good fight and keep
the faith to the end and not just when it is convenient.

You have given me this freedom from the bondage of my past
and yet I sometimes cling to the hurt that I have caused in my own decisions. You
have given me everything, including my freedom to live and not be bound to the
chains of sin. So Lord I ask that you help me to not only live but live freely.

Lord, I ask that you continue to walk beside me and give me
strength and courage to be the person you have designed me to be.

Lord, I know that I mess up, even daily; I thank you and
praise you for your forgiveness. I pray that you use my insecurities, doubts, fears, and my faults
as a reminder that I can be more in you and with you.

Lord, I pray that when I look in the mirror I will see you
and I will not walk away and forget what that needs to look like and be like.

I pray that you use Your Word to correct my attitude quickly
and swiftly and take those undesirable attitudes and actions and turn them into
something that is pleasing to you. I pray that you turn me into something that
I, too, desire. I thank you for constantly transforming me into the person that
you need me to be.

Lord, I want to have a heart that gives my all. I want to
face each day with the courage to face
each day.

Lord, my greatest desire is to love you. I praise you for loving me
in spite of whom and what I have been.

Father, until the day when I can be with you, I want make a
difference that will further your kingdom. My greatest desire is for the people
that I meet and even the ones that may only be reading the words that you have
been giving me is that they will have a heart for you and they will be with you
in paradise.

Lord, I thank you for giving me the love for each and every
one of these people and for their lives to be transformed through your Saving Grace.
Lord, I ask as I continue to use this ministry to reach others with your word
that they will not just notice my words but feel the love, grace and mercy that
you have for them.

I thank you for sending your Only Son, Jesus, to die for my
sins and raising Him up so that I, too, could be raised up to your Glory on the
day I leave this world. Thank you for doing what it took to restore a broken relationship
between us.

Lord, You are amazing. You alone, are awesome. Thank you for
each step of this journey. Walking hand in hand with me each day. Thank you for all your
promises and truths that you pour into my life.

Lord, I give all the glory and honor to you and I praise
Your Great Name for the blessings that you have abundantly poured upon my life.
I love You.

Amen

John 10:10 I came that
they may have life and have it abundantly.

Deuteronomy 4:29 But if from there you seek the LORD your God,
you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Joshua 1:7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do.

The post Courage For Today appeared first on Seeking God with Jaime Wiebel.

Take a Walk on the Light Side

Jaime Wiebel — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 16:27:00 +0000

Do you hang out in dark alleys? Some of you may be thinking
that is a crazy idea. Some of you may be thinking you would never be caught
anywhere close to a dark alley or any alley at all. On the other end of the
spectrum, some people may be saying, “I am in a dark alley all of the time,
what is the big deal?”

Think about your answer carefully. Don’t answer too quickly.
What is it that is going to make you come up with an answer? Is it your
experience? Is it the idea of the darkness? Will your answer be formed from
unknown or perhaps misinformation or prejudiced information? Does it stem
straight from fears?

Now think through your answer and say it out loud to
yourself.

Lets further explore the darkness according to God’s Word
and maybe we can get a clear perspective on what it is that may evoke certain
thoughts on the matter.

Genesis 1:1-2a, 3—4a In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and
empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. Then God said, “Let there be light.”
And there was light and God saw that the light was good. The idea of God’s
creation being good from His perspective is absolutely amazing; it means He
created it the way it was supposed to be, the way that made it all work
together.

1 John 1:1 says, “We
proclaim to you the One who existed in the beginning, whom we have heard and
seen. We saw Him with our own eyes and touched Him with our own hands.”
John goes on to say in verse 5-6, “This
is the message that we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light
and there is no darkness in Him at all. So we are lying if we say that we have
fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not
practicing the truth. ”

In the beginning when God created the light in the world it
was to displace the darkness. John attests
to the light that he saw. He said he touched Him with his own hands and saw Him
with his own eyes. John also attests to the fact that God is light and in Him
there is no darkness.

In the darkness we cannot see. That is why there is so much fear in the
darkness.

Do we fear darkness
itself or what may be revealed or exposed in the light?

At night when my kids are fearful, I turn on the light and
ask them point out the things they are afraid of? Usually, there is nothing there.
Then I tell them that the same things are there when we turn the lights outs.
We often times pray for God to take those fears away in the night.

The commentary in NLT Life application Study Bible says of 1
John 1 5-6: Light represents what is good, pure, true, holy, and reliable.
Darkness represents what is sinful and evil. The statement “God is light” means
that God is perfectly holy and true and that He alone can guide us out of the
darkness of sin.

Light is also related to truth in that light exposes
whatever exists, whether it is good or bad. In the dark good and evil look
alike; in the light they can be clearly distinguished. Just as darkness cannot
exist in the presence of light, sin cannot exist in the presence of a holy God.

So here is the connection that we can make and a couple of
questions we can ask ourselves.

Because God is light, walking in the presence of a holy God
can do two things, reveal our true selves and give us a peace beyond our
understanding.

Walking close to Christ and getting exposure to the SON can
expose all of our fears, worries, troubles, faults, insecurities, and sins. All
the things we want to keep “in the dark”.

Is this why you stay away from the light? Is this why you
may have distanced yourself from a real or active relationship with Christ?

I love reading God’s Word but sometimes I am so convicted
that I can’t wrap my head around what God is trying to teach me. I become
agitated and frustrated because I know there is something that needs fixed and
clearly I don’t want my faults pointed out to me.

A couple of months
ago as I was reading some passages, I just kept feeling agitated. I finally
said God, you are obviously trying to fix something in me so can you do it swiftly;
I am ready to change whatever you are trying to change in me.

I am not always so “adjustable” sometimes it has taken God
years to set me straight. In the mean time He

allowed me to live with my issues
and let me just deal with the consequences of my hard heart or stiff necked
self.

On the other hand, the light gives us a hope and peace that
we cannot otherwise see. Walking close to God takes our whole heart, mind, and
strength. This is exactly what He wants of us. He wants to make us more like
Him. The benefits of having a close relationship with Christ are so real and immense.

I have had many many times in my life when, on my own, I was
a complete mess. But the moment I turned it all over to Christ he made things
more clear and gave me a peace that I could not have gained on my own.

What hope we can gain walking in the light. Psalm 119:105 tells us, Your word is the
lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Do
you need your path lit up? Do you need help and guidance to know which way to
go, which decisions to make?

In the beginning I asked if you would walk in a dark alley,
what did you say? If your answer is never, then

ask yourself why you would walk
through life in the darkness. Why do you continue, daily, trying to navigate in
the dark?

Take a walk in the
Word. Take a walk in the light.

Questions to ponder:

Do we fear the dark or what may be revealed or exposed in
the light? Have you been exposed to The Great I Am?

Do you need your path lit up? Do you need help and guidance
to know which way to go, which decisions to

make?

Please encourage others by posting comments below. SHARE from
your experiences how walking close to the light or completely out of the light
has affected your life or answer the

questions above.

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