YES!...Yes?!...yes?...maybe...well, I'll think about it...

I've started a ladies Bible study here in Thailand, and we are studying the book “What Happens When Women Say Yes to God” by Lysa TerKeurst. In the first chapter of the book she challenges us to say Yes to God before we even know what the question is. As she puts it “What God says to do, do it.”

It's kind of like giving God a blank check to our life. It's like we are saying “Lord, I've signed my name, You fill in the rest. You don't have to tell me what the “what” is, I give you my life in full. In other words “YES, YES, YES Lord.” How many of us are willing to do that?

Thankfully the Lord is patient, because sometimes instead of saying a definitive “Yes” I come up with counter offers or I tell the God of the Universe why I do not have time to do what He asks.

Yikes! When I think about it, how dare I respond to the Lord that way.

Sometimes my immediate response is Yes, and other times I waffle, but thankfully I usually come around to Yes.

One time I was coming out of work and the Lord put it on my heart to go to a little store nearby. As I got into the car I began to reason with the Lord that I had been to that store the day before, and I just had enough time to run home let our dog out, gather my stuffed animals and my Winnie the Pooh costume to get to the nursing home on time. I continued to feel strongly that the Lord was telling me to go to this particular little store. As I approached a traffic light I put on my left turn signal (left would take me home), then I switched and put on right turn signal (that would take me to the little store) back and forth, back and forth. Do you know that the traffic light stayed red until I finally decided to make the right turn. As I drove the short distance to the store I told the Lord “All right, but I have no idea what to say. I am putting this in Your hands.” There were three people in front of me in line, and I just kept praying for guidance. Finally, I was up. The clerk said “Hey, weren't you just here yesterday?” I answered “yes”. “What can I get for you?” the clerk asked. As I silently cried out to the Lord for an answer, I heard myself say “Oh, I was going to get a soda next door, would you like one?” The clerk said “No, thanks.” I started to panic...now what? When all of a sudden the clerk started to openly talked about something that was on her heart. We talked for about 15 minutes, all the while it appeared that the Lord had locked the door to the store because not a single person came in while we talked. After we talked, I prayed with her, and as I turned to leave she said “You know, it seems like God sent you.” I smiled and thought “You have no idea.” As I headed for the door a stream of people entered and business returned to normal.

Well, as I got in the car and traveled home I thanked the Lord over and over again. I was so thankful that He had used me, and that I had said “Yes”.

I got home, let George (our dog) out, gathered my bag of stuffed animals and my Winnie the Pooh costume and drove the half an hour to the nursing home and made it on time. As I went around visiting the nursing home residents, giving out stuffed animals and praying with them I continued to rejoice.

As I drove home nearly two hours later, I chided myself and asked myself why I don't always just say “Yes” right away when the Lord asks me to do something. His plans are always so much better than mine, and I am always so glad when I say “Yes” to the one True, Living God of the Universe.

So, would you like to join me in a renewed resolve to say “Yes” to the Lord; before we know He is asking, without having seen the full set of Blue Prints. Lord, I say Yes to whatever You ask of me. YES!

How is that for definitive?

“YES, Lord, Yes!”

By April