...show me your glory

Exodus 33:12-13 Moses said to the Lord, "You have been telling me, 'lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me.  You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favor with me.' if you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.  Remember that this nation is your people."

Wow, as I embrace the next step of launching Our Village Hands, I stumble back over these verses.  I think of how I've come to God asking and repeating back to Him what He's told me.  "Lord, you said to care for the orphans, and you put it on my heart as a child to adopt.  You said you'd never leave me or forsake me and that I would always have what I need.  You further said that you want to bless me with overflowing blessings when I am walking in Your will.  I didn't expect it to be easy, working with brokenness is exhausting, and we've taken in a lot of difficult kids.  We've poured into them and poured out our love to be broken; back-stabbed or left empty handed.  You've told us in these circumstances to pick up our head, that your burden is light, and that our faithfulness would be rewarded.  

Then you blessed us with a little boy whom we excitedly welcomed with open arms.  Then the struggle began, and intensified when we said "of course!" to his little sister.  Financially we questioned where our help would come from, and as the impact of trauma unraveled in our home, conflict ensued. Lord, you see us, and you know.  You led us to purchasing a new home, showed Chris and I a way to fund it, and we're still walking in faith.  Our desire is to find favor with you as we pour into Jaxon and Elizabeth, not forsaking the first 2 wonderful kids you gave us.  We're praying Holy Spirit's presence in our home, to change the atmosphere as Chris and I realize it begins with us.  Lord, we need your favor, we need your wisdom, we need your presence, and we need your provision!"

The Lord's reply to Moses in verse 14, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Whew!  As I struggle to breathe (day 2 of intense pain in my upper right shoulder), I am excited for rest!  Lord, I lay this all down before You: it's Yours!  This is the rest that says I am not doing this alone, that He is with me, and that He will provide the strength and direction I need, and even bring alongside others to do this.  I am so thankful that over the years He did provide, and I want to focus on the ways He's providing now.

I love the following, Moses needs the comfort of God.  He needs tangible.  He is desperate for God's presence and confirmation that he really isn't going this next mission alone.  I am so sure of launching Our Village Hands.  But it is a mountain.  I'm believing for God to take it right past "0 to 60" and hit "100".  As in, it's going to launch like a rocket and blast right past expectations for the amount that will be brought in and dispersed amongst families. We will be His hands and feet to provide not just the rooms needed for their children, and the seats in the vehicles, but the peace and rest that God will always provide for their children.  I dare not go alone.

Verse 15, "Then Moses said to the Lord, "if your Presence does not got with us, do not send us up from here.  How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us?  What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?"

I need You, God, to go with me, before me, announce your pleasure in this mission and your servant.  Make clear the way, and impress on the hearts of many to join in this mission, financially and partnering with Our Village Hands and adoptive families.

Verse 17, "And the Lord said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name."

Oh, the Comfort and Joy of being known and called by God.  The excitement, and the self-doubt and overwhelmedness that can creep in.

Verse 18, "Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory."

Oh, how I want to be reassured that He is with me.  In every day, in every step, but especially as I step out before many and attempt to lead a new thing.  I feel called not only to start Our village Hands, but also that there will be speaking opportunities, and there is a book that will be going out soon, ministering to many.  All these things could bring lots of attention to me, and will call me out of the daily of what I'm now focused on:  my family.  "I must know that You are with me, that You go before me, that this is Your will.  I want Your glory to go before me, and You to be the one that gets the glory in all these things!"

Verse 19, "And the Lord said, 'I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence.  I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.  "But, he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live."

Then the Lord said, "there is a place near me where you may stand on a rock.  When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I passed by.  Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen."

When we get to see what God has done, the impact He makes, we have seen His glory.  When others see the impact He has made on us, then His glory is seen.  When we share testimony and the Word He tells us to share, then His glory is known.

Then the Lord commanded Moses...   

When I read this years ago, I felt God was telling me, "You will see me, pay attention, for it is not in those moments of intensity that you will see me directly, but when we are past them.  Then you will know that I was with you and you will recognize my glory, my strength, and my power was with you.  Then you will have testimony.   The people I have called will come, and whether by hearing or simply in seeing the radiance of your face, they will know that you were in my presence, that you were faithfully seeking me, that you were touched by me, and they will listen to you, and they will follow you.  I will bring them to you, be ready."

Isaiah 6:1-8  Lord, here I am, send me.  Where You go, I will go.  Give me the strength, the focus, and the discernment to do Your will, to be your ambassador, to engage in this adventure of Kingdom Victory!  Amen!