Hello Again!
Well...we're about to close up our first week of classes at Liberty. Honestly...it was a little rough coming back from break. My family means the world to me and so time at home is so precious. Regardless...back to the grind now.
It's interesting...I'm just now realizing that it seems as though God teaches me something so new every semester-or, something so familiar, and something happens that finally brings it to absorbtion. Sometimes the lesson dawns on me at the end, where I look back and say, "ok...now I get it..." and things that confused me at the beginning come to light and all the pieces come together. Other times-I get a pretty big gulp for starters-and then have the remaining months of the semester to fully digest. I think this spring will be one of those.
Through a pretty big recent situation, I realized that as much as I try to encourage others to just trust God at all times, when it really comes down to the application -I do just the opposite-I go into panic mode, put on my work gloves, and go into problem-solver super-fix-it mode. As much as I hate to admit-what this really says is, "Ok God-this one's really big...no...really, REALLY big and I'm just not sure you're going to work it out (the way I think it should work out) and so I'm just gonna go ahead and take this into my own hands just to make sure everything ends well (I get my way)." Yikes.
How many of us could ever directly say that to God? Not many. But how many of us would reflect that through our actions in stressful situations? Probably most. Most of us would probably have to admit that we don't truly trust God as we ought. Most of us would probably admit that we end up "helping" a little by taking matters into our own hands.
Again..."perfect love casts out all fear"...it always seems to come back to the extent of God's love for us. If we truly trust that He loves us-why do we still act out of fear? Why do we lose sleep over situations we have absolutely no control over? Why do we constantly belittle the power of God and His sovereignty?
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear; because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love." 1 John 4:18
Why is it that I only began to fully trust God after exhausting all other options? Why is it that it took falling to my knees in desperation to fully surrender everything? Since when did the God of the universe become a last resort?!
I decided this year I would make weekly resolutions rather than yearly-it's just a little less ominous to set short term goals-and then it feels like more has been accomplished when the goals are met...a little less self-defeating.
My #1 resolution for this week (and ambitiously all weeks to follow forever after)
-fall before the feet of the ultimate mender in and for all things...
Luke 18:41-"What do you want Me to do for you?"And he said, "Lord, I want to regain my sight!"
The Lord granted the man His sight because he prayed a bold prayer-He presented a request before God. Now, God doesn't always promise to heal, comfort, or intervene the way we would prefer-and it's a good thing ;) He does, however, promise to hear our prayers, offered in faith, and answer us-if we are faithful to listen and wait...and when we get impatient with that...listen and wait some more.
"Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter, the one that remains faithful. The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in God the Lord, we have an everlasting rock." -Isaiah 26:2-4
em
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Ahem...Well for starter, your incredible. I cannot tell you how incredibly blessed I am by everything you write.
I know exactly what you mean about how sometimes God gives us a lot at first and then slowly confirms it more and more as time goes on. I think thats the way it has been for me most of the time unitl recently. Lately it seems that I am learning as I look back on things.
Its amazing how no matter how many time we read or talk about how much we try to do everything on our own, we always fall back into doing just that when the next big thing comes along. Even in our prayers we are panicing wanting to be able to trust God but knowing that we really aren't. I wonder when the last time was when we said "Hey, God is God, I am not. Therefore I'm pretty sure He can handle this so I'm just gonna pray and wait until I eventually, I am able to watch my God be my God in this situation?" For many of us, probably never.
We truly are so afraid that His love is gonna become conditional. That maybe He just doesn't quite care about us enough to take care of this one.
I think its time we took off the work gloves and put our hands together to pray.
Post a Comment