Omer 6: "My word does not return void" - God

by Melanie Irizarry on Thursday, April 2, 2009 at 11:48pm

So, a few years back I went on a missions trip to Australia. It was more a music ministry trip I guess than anything else. The group of people that went were from all over but we went under Larry Sturm Ministries. We traveled all over the East coast visiting churches, singing, and sharing testimonies. :) God is good! It was quite possibly one of the most amazing times of m spiritual walk with God. I heard Him most clearly in the most unexpected of places at every turn.

While on this trip I remember one day being out on the beach. We were in the Hervey bay area at the time. I remember there was this older man preaching up a storm in a seemingly meaningless area. Who was watching him aside from the hand full of members from his church that were there? Coming from a non christian background this form of communication always kind of erked me. It seemed so impersonal, detached, and I could hardly imagine how standing in the middle of somewhere preaching to the wind really did any good in light of eternity even as a believer. I had always seen the street preacher who preached without actions attached(i.e. feeding the hungry or clothign the poor at the same time) as something rather of a bad stigma for the church.

"They make us look loud, annoying, and unreal." I began to vent in my own self righteous words to God. "why do you let them make such a spectacle?" But somewhere in the middle of all fo this a still small voice spoke up again. It was almost as if God himself tapped me on the shoulder and said TURN AROUND. So, slowly I peered back over my shoulder. "look at them over there" He said, drawing my attention to a bar on the corner. IT was a neat place actually. It was a stone corner building where instead of having windows the whole facility was open with giant cut outs to the beach it faced. It was rather early in the day and they were already tipsy tervy. But, the look in their eyes spoke miles. As I sat there venting inside about how ineffective this type of ministry was God was saying .. "Look, MY WORD DOES NOT RETURN VOID". Every person sitting on the outter stone wall of that bar was glued to what the preacher had to say. Drunk or not they were being impacted and you could see it in their eyes. Even if they didn't drop to their knees that day I knew they had been changed. God's word truly does not return void.

No matter how it is preached know that in and out of season in the most sacred seeming of ways or most mundane of ways, when the word of God is spoken litteraly lives are changed whether we see it with our eyes are not. 

Omer 5: LOVE LETTERS FROM HEAVEN

by Melanie Irizarry on Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 5:19pm

Romans 1:20 "God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."

Sometimes when I look around me I think I see God. I'm not talking about the anvil that we pray for to fall form the sky sometimes or the miracles that we hear about where someones arm grows back. I'm talking about seeing him in the ordinary every day that we take for granted. I see him in the ocean, trees, the breeze as it touches me , and the sun as it warms my face,-I see God everywhere. He is obviously not the tree and the wind and the sun but his hand is all over this creation that he loves and he is so intimately entwined that very the imprint of his fingers can be found even unto the smallest core of what we know in science today concerning nature and the world around us. God was so personally involved in the creation/is still that we cannot look at it and gain nothing form heaven- even if we don't believe in heaven.

A few years ago though, I came to a point in my life where I struggled with whether or not to continue in the faith or all together say goodbye to that God I had held most dear for so many years. After much conversation with some friends at my first college began to twist and turn with knowledge I was gaining in my classrooms and my view of the world broadened I started to wonder if what seemed to be a driving point for me for many years wasn't all memories induced by an overactive imagination. Was it possible we could find ALL the answers we needed in a test tube? or in a lab? Could I trust something if I couldn't see it, understand it fully, be outside looking in at it? Was experience real? lol... without going in great detail I had many questions. After being scolded for my belief that the universe was older than a few thousand years at a church i all together quit trying to hold the conversation that may have helped. Without going into great detail it would be fair to say that for a short while I became rather agnostic and bordered towards the thought of atheism. I didn't want to let go of God but being real with myself in my heart I really was sure that it was all together possible he did not exist. I got caught up in the now and threw away everything God had brought me through.

Ironically though, one day , while I was sitting in my zoology class going over cladistics I found my self asking many of the same questions of science. I had no more answers on the other side of that line than I did when I had my faith in God concerning the things that were frustrating my mind. Why? There was still a small spark of hope in my heart that I was wrong in where I had found myself I guess. And, that day in the strangest of places I found God again. We were watching a detailed video on, of all things, Evolution and how the world came to be from nothing to something. I thoroughly enjoy this topic honestly and can say that in the middle of this video for whatever reason I saw the hand of God. I came to a point in my life where even if I believed "evolution" occured that at the beginning of it all was definately the God I had come to know and love in my earlier years. He was there burning his mark into the very basic fabric of our existance in genes... in the unexplicable mutations that instead of degrading information advanced life to progress and press through the ages taking it's physical form. I was thoroughly convinced I had found the very finger prints of God as they pressed down into the clay he was forming us from and still was. God truly is wonderful

The honest truth for me today without a huge conversation is that I have found so many holes held so many conversations found so many places to stand and fall in science and logic that my faith is more simple concerning the whys in my faith in God, and while I love entertaining theories of beginnings and knowledge that comes through deep study and testing at the end of my day it no longer will have any effect on my faith in God. When we intentionally remove God there are many plausible ideas that are not necessarily idiocy by academic standards and can come form honest search, but I Know that I KNOW that God has his hands in everything I see around m eand has made himself known in that.

Even the smallest piece of sand is perfect in and of itself. It's structure forged by the very hands of the God who breathed life into me, counted every hair on my head, hung the moon and stars in their place and today answers the cries of his children- Even if we don't always see exactly what we are looking for He is there working.

Omer 4: He is faithful...

by Melanie Irizarry on Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 10:26am

It was Sunday morning, and again the offering bucket was coming around the room, I held in my hand a $20 bill my mom had given me earlier that week. On stage was one of my favorite female evangelists that used to speak at our church. I loved her ministry and her and God and well... it seemed nonsensical to hold onto the money in my hand any longer. No prompting or preaching was needed. I just tossed it in the basket- heart and all. When we love something usually letting go of whatever we have before us is no big deal or if it is a big deal that seemingly big deal pales in comparison to that love and so is overshadowed. Likewise for me, when I was younger any time I had money in my hands it usually went straight into the church. I could think of no better way to spend it for me at the time and I had faith that everything in my life was taken care of. My mom on the other hand was no church goer and faced frustration I apparently was unaware of. Upon returning home that afternoon my mom somehow knew what had happened "where is your $20 I gave you? You threw it in the offering basket? You need to quit giving away the money I give you! You could use it for clothes!" I thought I had a fine enough assortment so that struck me funny, and it made me sad that my mom was angry about it all. I locked myself in the bathroom for a moment and prayed to God. I didnt' know how to respond so I cried and lifted my mix of emotions and thought up to HIM and then prayed for my mom that God would ease whatever it was she was going through".... The next day I went to church again. -yes, we had church every day of the week when we had guest speakers- This time I sat there and listened and didn't toss anything in the basket as it came around. At the end of the service prayer began and the lady who was preaching clutched her microphone pointing to the back of the room. "you " she said. I looked over both of my shoulders to see who she was talking to " you in the red sweat jacket" That would be my signature color and coat at the time so I looked at her " Yes, you... come up here" ... she began to speak words of encouragement over me - mind you I HAD TOLD NO ONE about what happened the night before. She put her hands on me " God sees you and you are soooo beautiful to him... beautiful.... know you are taken care of ... know God LOVES YOU... Know God sees your heart and everything else.... KNOW THIS...YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL " after a moment of praying over me she reached out her hand microphone away from her face and whispered in my ear "God wanted you to have this" as she put WELL over the $20 I had had earlier that week in my hands. "Go get a nice dress at Dillard"

I went home and told my mom all about it. She didn't' get saved that day or anything .... but it was funny that God used the one who usually gets to speak financially into that and my mom was never quite so harsh again on my church choices financially.

You don't give to get ... but don't be afraid to give.

Omer 3: FINANCIAL PROVISION- To England and beyond

by Melanie Irizarry on Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 10:03am

So, it's my junior year of high school and I'm walking through the halls. I see this sign for a trip to England. I have never had the desire before to go in my life and I hear in my heart that familiar voice "You're going to England". This time at the front end instead of questioning it as my overactive imagination though I was like "ok God" ... because in knowing myself I knew very well prior to this I hadn't the slightest desire to go. That night I went home and told my mom and dad "I'm going to England" -lol... them living across the street from one another this year of my life made it possible. After a funny look my moms first question was of course "how are you going to financially? " and my dad followed suit. I hadn't thought about it yet but it didn't bother me so much. When all was said and done the three of us struck a deal. If I got a job and could raise a third of the money needed that summer they would both meet me with a third. I went, I got employed with the YMCA day camp, I conquered. And, then, the twists came. My dad backed out on his end of the deal. He said he thought I wouldn't be able to raise the money.

At this point I thought to myself maybe I got it wrong this time. Maybe I had no idea what the voice of God sounded like in my own heart. So, instead of praying over the matter I said eh... forget it... and went out and bought my first guitar with the money I saved up.

England kept playing through my heart the entirety of my senior year though. Go Go Go.... I had no idea how though. In the latter half I learned about an organization that did missions with youth called AIM, and on 3 separate occasions the England/Ireland trip was presented to me. Finally after the third time I said ok... maybe this is what God meant by "your going to England" after all, I had imagined myself sharing Jesus with people even on the academic tour.... :) missions it is God! A month before all the moneys would be due I applied for this trip. I was accepted onto the team... not only that, but the day they called me to let me know they also informed me they had split the team into 2 teams, one was for England and one was for Ireland, and I was placed without my own hands involved on the England team.

How would the money come now was the questions. And, I have no other explanation but God. In my small church on the first day that I had a little cup set up to receive money with my youth leader helping me we raised over half the money. Most of the money came in really quick. I was also given gift cards to get what I needed for the trip such as clothes etc. On the last day though when all the money was due I was still short. NO ONE in the church knew how much I had or needed. NO ONE. I walked into a backroom and said "God you've taken me this far I KNOW you will take me the rest of the way if you want me to go and I give it up to you". A few minutes late my youth leader walked in and said one of the older ladies from our church asked her to hold me at the church because she had to do something. This older lady went home and came back with a check for me. She said God had told her to do it a while ago but at that moment she felt the urgency. SWEET RIGHT? to top it off I thought she gave me more than I needed for the trip but upon recalculating everything together it turns out my first math was wrong and that final check she wrote with no knowledge of the need was to the exact penny what I needed to turn in the rest of my money for the trip that day. GOD DOES PROVIDE.

Omer 2: PEACE

by Melanie Irizarry on Friday, March 27, 2009 at 11:44pm

Fast forward a few years now, 2 to be precise, after the first time I KNEW God was in my life, and another pivotal moment for me emerges amidst the chaos. My once frustration was bordering towards an angry feeling in my prayers when the stress of home life began to effect my relationship with my friends. The day before I had my best girlfriend over . Her and I were in the garage and long story short I ended up having go chase her down the street and comfort her at a near by friends house after she witnessed my stepdad throw me. When the sirens came down my street I knew where they were headed so I then left her there to make sure all was ok at my house. My once strong demeanor slouched a little following this as her face replayed back through my mind over and over that night when I tried to sleep. Things weren't ok. How do I process this?

The next night I was in a truck with some friends after service. They took me home but before i could get out of the truck I broke down and asked them to pray for my family and for me. I told them everything and they didnt' know what to do but pray. .... They prayed for me that God would bring that peace.

An hour or so later i was in my room. I felt like in my heart God was saying "READ MICAH" I had no idea of that was even a book in the bible so I chalked this inkling of a specific demand up to an overactive imagination. This word came to me again and again though throughout the night until finally I said ... OK... I'll go ahead and flip it open to see if this is even a legit idea. The only place I had heard the name Micah at that point was in regards to a kid in my algebra class. Sure enough when I opened the bible I opened directly to the book of Micah. I went ahead and read. At fist I dint' have a clue as to why God would want me to open to this page if in fact I even was hearing his voice..... but then all of the sudden as I read it was like an entire line jumped off the page "HE WILL BE THEIR PEACE" - Micah 5:5. A peace cme over me and I knew in a moment everything I needed to. It wasn't about finding eace in my life in the outward things. IT was never about that. God never promised us that if we accepted him that everything would begin to function to our desired specifications in the world around us but rather that in the good and bad we could have peace in knowing HE IS WITH US. The peace I felt I was lacking was only lacking because I was looking to an external environment that was wrecked to give me what only God in my heart could give me. HE IS MY PEACE, HE IS MY ROCK, HES IS MY REFUGE IN THE MIDST OF THE STORY.

GOD IS OUR PEACE.

This truth carried me many years without even allowing room for a question or a faltering eye. I KNEW God was never far off.


And the truth is even today is not. 

Omer 1: The onset of my testimony in Christ

by Melanie Irizarry on Friday, March 27, 2009 at 11:12pm

It was Easter Sunday of my 9th grade year in high school. I was in the backroom at my house and my mom and step dad were fighting as always. I stood there in the room contemplating life and what it was worth. I was never a particularly depressed individual but things were just so overwhelming that if there was no "reason" or a hand I could believe in from God somehow intimately intertwined in my life I didn't know how much farther I wanted this to let things go. The night before I had even run away;however, I found myself dragged back in the middle of the night not by hands but by the sound of my step dad yelling at my mom as she frantically looked for me in the middle of the street. I came out of the abandoned house I had found a few hours of sleep in to save my mom from anymore pain. Running away was no longer an option. So in the back room I prayed "God if you are there I NEED TO KNOW NOW" . I was about to say "so I know life is worth living" as I eyed the knife I had in the back room but before I could even take it so far my mom opened the back door. My mom and stepdad stopped fighting long enough to answer the phone and toss it in the room with me. My friend Esther was on the other end of the phone. She has been at church that day and experienced the power of God like never before. She and I both "believed" at that time in a God somewhere there... but it was more of the far off God. The person on the other end of the phone that I KNEW was somehow different. She kept going on and on and on about how SHE KNEW she was not alone anymore. SHE KNEW God was right there with her. SHE FELT his hands in her heart... SHE FELT GOD in the deepest part of her soul where it's just you .. in that place she found God with her, and it was like SHE KNEW for the first time ever SHE WAS NOT ALONE. After listening to her story of what God did that day in church I concluded for myself that there was no other explanation for this timely even then God himself answering my heart. I didn't fall out in the Holy Spirit in that moment or have some major life altering experience I could convey but the faith that was birthed then sealed the rest of my years. I believed in on just any God in that moment but the God of the bible and all that came with that, and I KNEW I was not alone even if i didn't understand anything around me I knew that now. 

Omer of Manna Revisited...

A while back on Facebook I started a project where I was going to start collecting and posting stories  about things that had happened in my life, God had done/and or spoken over/to me.   I've decided as of today I'm going to  revisit that.  First of all by posting  the initial testimonies, and secondly by  creating new entries over the course of the rest of this year.   I hope this blesses someone.  At minimum I know it will help me to remember God's goodness and the reality of His hand in my life.

 The idea of the title Omer of Manna  comes for God telling Aaron to set back an omer of manna  in a jar in the holy place for future generations.   We are a forgetful people if we don't  set back stories, mementos, or build altars in our life where God  so evidently reached in and touched us-like  they did with the stones from the middle of the jordan as they miraculously crossed it-sometimes we can get so caught up in what the moment    spills on us that we forget we ever realy KNEW God's hand in our life to begin with.  It's not because the past moments in our lives where they intersected with the divine are any less relevant, but because we become so caught up with a finite piece of a much bigger pictures  that we are consumed and shaken by what we see rather than having faith, resting and knowing that the same God who  met us at our point of need a year ago or  a day ago is still right there with us in the middle of the storms of life and has the best outcome in mind for us if we will hold onto him through the fire.

This world is temporal, but God's  sight stretches beyond the finite and into what  we cannot even fathom.  Rest and know that He is a good God.