Janet Roller - Living Oak Ministries

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Hi. I'm Janet Roller: wife of one, mother of two, lover of coffee and writer of songs. I have just finished my first fiction novel and I'm looking forward to watching how God uses the simple story to minister to others. God is a big deal to me. My goal each day is to wake up and declare, "This day is Yours, Lord. Show me what to do with it."

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Car Wars

"Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.”
Psalm 91:14

One of my least favorite tasks as a mother was buckling my two-year-old into her car seat. She was a tad strong-willed. Let’s be honest, Dobson would have to write a new chapter for her! Not every trip in the car was rebellious, though. Most would consist of her compliantly allowing me to “buckle-up for safety”. Sometimes, however, she would decide she didn’t need the protection of a 5-point-harness. Then the full-body-stiff-slide would take effect. If you’ve never witnessed this with your own children, let me elaborate. Just as the buckles are meeting in the middle to the point of previous protection, her body would slink into a position just far enough from the back of the car-seat to make it impossible to snap her in.

As soon as I would return her to the right position, down she’d go again. This would continue until my patience was as thin as an icy lake in springtime. Ultimately, I enforced some sort of correction to remind her who was in charge.


God called the Israelites “stiff-necked people” in Exodus 32:9. Their pride and overwhelming want to do things “their way” nearly brought down the wrath of God on them! They were constantly turning away from God. Proverbs 8:13 tells us that God hates pride! Anything that makes you feel that your decision is better than what God has for you is pride – taking you out of His protection!


Aren’t we like that sometimes? Even though God has us in His protection daily, we feel sometimes that we can handle our own “life-ride” without Him. Out of His protection, a scary place to be when we disobey. But it’s easy to feel self-reliant when things are going along fine. But sooner-or-later there will be a swerve or a bump in life’s road that reminds us of His needed protective presence.


Are you safe in His protection or are you stiff-necked and stiff-backed slinking out of your 5-point harness? Thank Him for His guidance and rest in safety under His care.

God, I know sometimes I try to do life on my own. You are God so I don’t have to be. Please forgive me for the times I have strayed from willingly being in Your Will.

I will rest in Your protection.

4 comments:

Cheri said...

Great Post!

Why is it so hard to trust that God knows what he's doing? Pride.

Lord, keep us all from pride so our days are filled with peace.

Kimberly said...

I now need to go do some serious repenting for my stiff-backed slinking. Sigh. I remember when my girls would do that.
I am so often reminded by their behavior of how my own must look to God. How thankful I am He is longsuffering and a much better parent than I am!
Thank you for this post. His ways are so much better than mine. I need to surrender to Him all of the time. He is worthy to be trusted.

Carol said...

Now that was good! I hate it when the kids do that. I know exactly what you are talking about. UGH!

Kimberly said...

Hey!
I think Amy mentioned you are coming to see Carol Kent, too. If I am right in this, I am really looking forward to meeting you!
Blessings!
Kimberly