Lessons from Prince Caspian Part 2

At the beginning of chapter 13 in Prince Caspian, Peter has now met Prince Caspian and is getting ready to come up with "a plan". He says,

"We don't know when He will act. In His time, no doubt, not ours. In the meantime He would like us to do what we can on our own."

He is referring in this passage to Aslan.. and it stikes a very strong message to me personally.

In my life right now, I have been stuck in a transitional place, believing that the Lord has a plan for me, but totally unsure of what that plan is. I have been highly stressed for the past 6 months or so, about big issues like ~selling my house, moving, furthering my education, and wanting desperately to help hurting people.
I have felt "stuck" while waiting on the Lord to set things in motion. I have felt lost as I truly believed He was going to provide "open doors" for us in each of those things. But.. nothing has happened.

Peter's quote is exactly the reminder I needed.

I don't know when the Lord will act... and it's quite obvious that His timing is very different from my own. (my house has been on the market for 15 months now!)

But, I haven't been giving myself an "in the meantime" assignment! I have sat still, just waiting for "Him" to act. Perhaps He would like me "to do what I can on my own".

So... I am letting go of the worries about my house, my move, my job, my education, and my "calling". I am going to take what I have now, and use it.

Instead of focusing on the "I can't do this yet" I will stand up and focus on what I can do now.

I can keep living.
I can inspire, encourage, and support those around me.
I can trust that He will act in the perfect timing.
I can battle the enemy with everything I have.
I can make plans.
I can recover if those plans fail.
I can stand beside the people that God put in my life.

Lessons from Prince Caspian Part 1

I am so excited about the upcoming movie Prince Caspian from The Chronicles of Narnia. I challenged my small group of 6th grade girls to read the book before joining me at the movie and asked them to look for any ideas throughout the book that might remind them of our relationship with Christ here on earth.

I loved all the parallels that were found in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe... and I think I liked some of the Prince Caspian one's even more.

I wanted to share with you some of the ones I found... over a series of posts. Feel free to comment with your insights as well.

In my copy of Prince Caspian (Chapter 9)on page 128, Lucy is speaking to Susan after they are forced to kill the wild bear in the woods. She says,

"Wouldn't it be dreadful if someday in our own world, at home, men started going
wild inside, like animals here, and still looked like men, so that you'd never
know which were which?"

Lucy is so insightful! Sadly, I fear that her statement has become truth here "in our world" already. There are so many men and women who look just like anyone else, but inside they have gone wild and are capable of doing very harmful, scary things.

I find it very interesting that Susan had paused in her reaction to seeing the bear at first, because she was afraid it might be "a talking bear". She feared hurting/killing something that had good inside.

She was then embarrassed for not reacting quick enough.

I can draw a parallel from this simple section of the story to the whole Kimkins saga. I for one, am one of those that "didn't react quick enough". I was sure that there was "good" in Kimmer and Kimkins and if it weren't for the swift actions of those that could see her for what she was, I may have ended up more firmly in her grasp.

When Susan wonders aloud if the bear could have been a nice bear...the dwarf answers her with this,

"I saw the face and I heard the snarl. he only wanted Little Girl for his breakfast"

He was able to tell the intentions of the bear, because he had been around wild bears before and recognized the look and the sound.

We can learn from this, by realizing that we do have instincts. After we have been exposed to people who are now "wild" inside, we will be able to recognize their intentions when we hear them. We can't refuse to react in order to protect someone who might hurt us.

In the book, Aslan is not yet with the children. But the dwarf is there to help them.

Even when we aren't aware of our God's presence... we can take peace in the fact that He IS there. He might even be diguised as a dwarf!!!!

Prince Caspian Countdown!