When God Says "No"

Over the past 6 years my friends and I have had this running joke that God wouldn’t let me leave the state for more than 7 days at a time. This spring He said yes to me for a trip to Italy. There is something awesome about getting what we want, but what about the times we don’t get what we want? God is still good. He still has a plan. He knows all things past, all things current, and knows all things of the future. He knows all. When we are told “no” we seem to revert back to our two year old selves and throw a mini-tantrum. God has a plan that I do not yet understand.

Ok, maybe not everyone; but I know I do. This is a problem, because in essence I am saying I think my plan is better than God’s. God knows what is best for me (and you). He has a specific plan for us and some things, sadly, just do not fit into His plan.

Although He has given me many yeses, there are still so many things where I am getting a big fat no. Some of them I understand and some of them I have been left in the dark. He is opening up some doors and quickly closing others, all-the-while leaving some slightly cracked. Originally I thought I was graduating in December; nope, there is more school to be done. Thought I would be taking another short trip overseas for the summer; nope, there is work to be done. Thought I would be doing this, that, or the other and so many things have changed (but stayed the same) in such a short amount of time. This time last year I had a completely different major with my current goal and vision. Now I am studying in a different department, learning completely different things and around drastically different people than before. God has a plan.

Sometimes I feel like God leads us in certain directions to test our faith and trust in Him. For instance, this year everything seemed to be working out perfectly for me to go overseas for 10 days with the university’s Study Abroad program. Then, things changed. God allowed things to work out everything perfectly until He told me no. He has me right where He wants me, and for whatever reason that is here … where I am currently writing this from – my job. He has given me a job, in the most unique of ways, and has allowed me to work with students from all over the world. He has also given me some of my best friends through this job. His plan is sweet and lined with good things (that doesn’t mean we always get what we want or that things are always going to be hunky-dorey either).

I don’t always get what I want. I didn’t marry that guy or get to date that other one I “liked sooo much”. If I did, my life would look quite different. I didn’t get to graduate within 4 years of starting college. If I would have, I wouldn’t be working here and most likely not even have the job I have now. I didn’t get to leave the country every time I wanted to or take the trips I wanted to take. If I would have, I would be in much more debt (let’s be serious, travelling is expensive – don’t let that stop… please travel! So much out there is just waiting to be seen). I didn’t get that job I applied for in Hawaii. There are so many things I have been told “no” on, but there are so many good things that have happened because I was told “no”.

God’s plan is so much better than my own and I miss that at times. When I am turned down for things it doesn’t mean I need to stop trying, it means I need to find where I should be trying. My efforts are not wasted, they are learning opportunities for what is to come in life. Our parents, grandparents, and elders didn’t become wise overnight. No! They lived, they learned, they were told no and had to figure things out. Don’t give up on God when you don’t get your way, ask where you missed the turn or where to go next. Sometimes our “GPS” needs to recalculate.

Trust God’s plan even when you don’t understand. That is something I have been trying to learn over the past 6 (almost 7 …) years. We have to surrender our own plans for the plans of the One who knows better.

Trivial Pursuit

As women we crave to be loved, cared for, held, and valued. We want to be told we are pretty and we want to feel pretty when we are around men. God made us to be different from men for a reason. Women have the role or responsibility to respond to men. Men have the role or responsibility to initiate to women (talking about initiating relationships here). God gave all things a particular order for a reason. To be honest, as a single and rather independent woman I have problems with His order occasionally. And yes, by occasionally I mean usually. I am in the trade of heart breaking, you see. Not the hearts of men, but rather my own heart over and over and over again. Sadly it is a repeating cycle, many times the poor man is unsuspecting and has no idea that I am taking a hammer with a pretty little picture of his face on it and shattering my own heart. Why do I do this? Well, not for fun… that is for sure. This is because I am going outside of God’s designed order and trying to create my own. I am basically saying that waiting for God’s best is taking to long and well, I’ll take that one. Then I realize I have made a mistake and not obeyed Christ and have, once again, shattered my own heart. I am left to pick up the pieces and bring them back to God and with tear filled eyes am begging Him to glue my heart back together.

When I go outside of God’s designed order I mess everything up, not that God cannot bless it, but because it is not what He has intended for me. (Mind you, He is not shocked that I am doing this … He knows all things and knows that I am a major screw up). God made men to want to be the leader. He made them to be the head of the household. When we as women go and try to lead, even by asking a man out on a date, it screws the whole thing up. I have used the excuse, “how will he know I like him back if I don’t show him in some way?” Well, asking him out is not the way to do that … that is for darn sure! When we put the metaphorical “pants” on in that relationship the guy begins to feel as if they are no longer needed as the leader and they fall in to passivity. That is not the way things were intended to be.   

“You see when God created male and female He created an object lesson a parable as it where of His entire redemptive plan. Manhood and womanhood, gender, sex, marriage all of those are mini lessons that proclaim the gospel. And when we talk about seeing Christ in the Old Testament we see Christ even in His creation of who He created us to be as male and female. The reason history started with God creating a man and a woman and a marriage, the reason it started with a man, a woman, and a marriage is because it is going to end with a man, a woman, and a marriage. That’s why! It will end when Christ the bridegroom is united with His bride the church and the two become one. This marriage will be consummated throughout eternity. That’s why we have male and female, it’s not about me, it’s not about my husband, and it’s not about you as men and women. It’s about displaying a story. We tell a story by virtue of how we live our lives as men and women.”

 - Mary Kassian, the Gospel Coalition, the Feminist Mistake.

There is much more to God’s design then us as women not being allowed to ask a man out on a date or take control of the relationship. God designed it to be a representation of Christ and the love He has for His bride. Honestly, everything comes back to the gospel so this should come as no surprise that marriage is a picture of the gospel. Christ loved the church so much that He was willing to lay His life down for her. When your boyfriend or fiancé or husband thinks that you might be in danger, what do they do? They run to the rescue no matter the cost, even if it may cost them their life. They love you enough to lay their life down for you. It is the gospel.

“We tell the story of the gospel with who we are as male and female. We uphold the gospel and that’s why it matters. … That is why gender is at the epicenter of the battle right now. Because if Satan can mar the image of male and female, what he is maring and what he is obscuring and what he is twisting is the story of the gospel and the display of the gospel.”

 - Mary Kassian, the Gospel Coalition, the Feminist Mistake

Does that not shake you up, even just a little? “If Satan can mar the image of male and female, what he is maring and what he is obscuring and what he is twisting is the story of the gospel and the display of the gospel.” There have been many times I have been so curious to know how a guy feels about me that I have wanted to scream and I have wanted to march right up to the man and say, “what the heck is going on here?” or even “what the heck are we?” Yet, I forget somehow if he likes me and if it is what God has planned, God will tell that guy we need to have a conversation and we need to figure things out. Now, I am not saying that we should be pulled around like little puppies on a string forever not knowing and being allowed to be led on, but I am saying if we trivialize what God has set up then we are messing with the whole process. God has set up the gender roles for a reason, even if we don’t like them. The grass is always greener on the other side.

This makes me think about every time I have liked a guy, and then have had my little heart crushed (unsuspected by him) when I find out he doesn’t like me back, or he has another girl in mind that he would like to pursue. There is nothing wrong with liking a member of the opposite sex, but when we take that and turn it into something far more we open ourselves up to heartbreak. When we do not let men be men we are taking away from what God has designed. Here is another personal example (no names used here). I have had many guy friends over the years. During college I can name and count the guys I have had crushes on and how I ended up breaking my own heart when they trusted me with the secret of who they were praying to pursue or finding out I am not the apple of this or that guy’s eye. Yeah, not an easy thing to deal with, but there are more than I want to mention and most of those guys don’t even know that they are “those” guys. When we try to take matters into our own hands and ignore the council given to us, God allows us to fall down. Even though we fall down, He is right there to pick us back up. He does not want us to trivialize the pursuit He has put in place. He sought us out and wants the men to seek us out as well.

Let men be men and let them be the ones to pursue. I write this mainly as a reminder to myself but also to those who are always wishing that this guy or that guy would like them or want to be their boyfriend or what not. It all pretty much boils down to contentment. When we are not content in where God has us we are much less likely to trust Him. When we do not trust Him we are trusting in something else, most likely ourselves. This means that we have made ourselves our own god. Let me tell you, we are not very good gods, that is why God is God. All of that to say, when we do not trust God and we trust ourselves we do what we want to get a result, even if it is not the one we want. In my case (in the past) I wanted to know so badly if this or that guy liked me so I would have other guy friends find out who that guy liked (this would be after months of being agonized by liking whoever the guy was). Yeah, it would come as a huge shock when it wasn’t me. Sometimes I would pray for months that God would show me how the guy felt, when I found out it wasn’t the same as me … well you get the point. God has a specific plan and when we try to make our own plan and ignore His, we get hurt.

Are you content or are you trying to make things happen for yourself?

"It ain't gonna be easy, but nothing worth it ever is."

Walking through the living room I heard two men on a television show talking. The only part of the conversation I heard was one man telling another “It ain’t going to be easy.” The other man replies back, “Nothing worth it ever is.”  Wow! Such words of wisdom from, well I have no idea what show it was from because I was just passing through, but powerful none-the-less. This phrase has echoed through my mind for the past few months. I see it played out often and have used it when talking to friends about things going on in their lives. I have used it when applying things to my own life. Nothing worth it is ever easy. Think about the things you value or find worth in …  Your spouse? Your kids? Your best friend? Your job? Your … anything else. Marriage is hard! Not that I know from experience but I know second hand knowledge. Having friends who are married and tell me about the struggles of marriage, “it ain’t easy.” Friends that have kids, and well, my poor poor parents. Having kids is not an easy thing, yet it is worth it to raise them and to love them. Having a best friend is not easy. Anything where there is more than just you, well it is not going to be easy. But think about the friendships or relationships you value the most … how many arguments or disagreements or frustrations have you endured? You look back now and most likely say, “It was worth it.”

We do not fight for things if we do not think they are worth it to us. I look back on some of the arguments I have had in the past and even the things I have spent my money on and ask my self why I thought it was worth it. Ecclesiastes (the entire book) shows us that everything outside of living for Christ is “striving after the wind.” Keeping that in mind, reevaluating things that are worth it seem rather difficult to me. What is worth the money? What is worth the time? What is worth the effort? And so on and so forth. I am reading a book, Every Woman’s Battle, and in this book it poses the question “what are you storing up in your heart?” About a week ago, or so, our pastor mentioned the same question in his sermon, “what are you storing up in your heart?” (I think God has been trying to get me to reevaluate some things in my life, what do you think? J). Both my pastor and the author are getting at the same thing, the entertainment (movies, books, music, television, internet, hobbies, etc) that I watch/listen to/read/etc are all storing up in my heart. The overflow of the mouth comes from the heart. Am I showing Christ’s likeness from my mouth? If not, the worldliness escaping my lips are proof of what I hold as valuable.

We as people store up what we find the most valuable. There are people that collect Star Wars memorabilia and they count that as their most prized possession. Others stock pile their money, money is what they value most. Some hang on to pictures because they value the memories. Everyone has something they find valuable. Yet, is your most prized possession worth it? Is it worth the difficulty? Men lose their families because they become workaholics thinking more money will make their family happy and satisfied. The original intent was not bad, they value their family and want to take care of them yet they lose sight of their kids needing a dad and their wife needing a husband. They lost sight of the original commitment. Their idea of value somehow was switched and they now seek financial gain as their sense of security completely taking their eyes off “the prize,” Christ. Christ saw us as something so valuable and so worth it that He came to earth, was born in a smelly manger, lived a poor and humble life for 33 years, was crucified, and died. All because He believed that something so worth it would not be easy. He paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we could have a chance at knowing Him. Not just that, but scripture says that He being man was tempted in every way. He was tempted by anger, He was tempted with financial gain … get this He was even tempted with lust and sexual desire. Yet, He overcame it all. He lived a perfectly sinless life. He saw YOU as something so worth it that He would fight the fight for you, even 2,000 years ago so YOU could have a chance to come to know Him.

Christ knows that following Him is not easy. He knows that we are going to be tempted by things. Following Christ is not easy, but oh is it so very worth it! Living for Christ is the only thing that is truly worth anything. We cannot take our money, clothes, material possessions, entertainment, etc with us when we die. NO! It is temporary. We can only take with us the things we have stored up for eternity. Scripture tells us that all our words and deeds will be put to the test by fire. It says that all things of hay and stubble will be burned up but all things of gold and silver will come through. What do you see when you look at your life? God created us to glorify Him. Glorifying Him “ain’t gonna be easy, but nothing worth it ever is.”

Is what you are living for really worth living for?

Faithful Obedience

God’s word never ceases to teach me something new. No matter how many times I read over a particular section there is always something new to learn. In August of this year I decided I wanted to go through and re-read the Bible. It took me a year and a half (ish … maybe longer) to do it the last time so I decided to do it again. Well I finally made it to Numbers and if you have ever tried to read Numbers you know it is not necessarily the easiest to read. Yet, something about the Old Testament pulls me in and makes me excited to read more and to know more about what is being presented. My pastor calls himself a Old Testament nerd and I have come to find that I too love it dearly. I love the whole Bible but I really like knowing how everything came to be.

There are many cases in Numbers where the Israelites are obedient and show this in various ways, however, this is one of my favorite ways in which it is shown. In Numbers 9 I have seen what it truly looks like to trust God. I mean to really trust God. God told Moses when he and the people were to camp and when they were to travel. The people did exactly what they were told. We are not told if the people complained or if they drug their feet on hitting the road, all we are told is that they obeyed. So I take it like it is, the Israelites obeyed what God told them to do. If there was a cloud covering the Tabernacle they were to camp and stay where they were, they knew they would eventually be moving but they did not know how long they were going to be camped where they where or where they were going. They knew they were called to obedience. If the cloud was lifted from the Tabernacle they knew they were to pack up and head out.

“At the command of the Lord the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the Lord they camped. As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they camped.”

~Numbers 9:18

The second half of verse 18 really gets me, “As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they camped.” They really had no idea how long they were going to be there. That is amazing to me! I have a hard time waiting when I know how long I am going to be waiting, it is especially hard to wait on things when I have no idea when they are going to happen. From chapter 9 verse 15-23 it continues to repeat that the people were called to obedience and they obeyed. In scripture, as in other books (such as textbooks), repetition means REMEMBER THIS or KNOW THIS! Numbers 9 is no different. The repetition here tells me that we may not know how long God has us “camping” out in a certain area but we are called to obedience. We are to be where He has us, even if we do not like it very much. God has us where we are for a reason.

Here is a personal example of this whole idea of being where He has us even if I do not like what He has me doing. I love working with and ministering to international students. God has given me a very unique opportunity to work directly with over 1,000 students from other countries. My hearts desire is to live and work directly with them in their own countries. However, God has me camping out in the US for a while. I have no idea how long He is going to have me here. Yet I know He has a plan for my life and He knows far better than I. So as much as I want to be a bazillion miles away in another country I remain here doing what He has called me to do here. He has called me to obedience. Obedience in this situation means seeking Him daily and growing closer to Him.  That when He does lift the cloud and have me move from this camp to the next I cannot say I have wasted my time wishing I was somewhere else.

The Israelites were obedient beyond my comprehension. They did exactly what God told them to do. It was like the endurance version of the game Red Light, Green Light. They couldn’t really look to what was ahead because they had no specifics. God continued giving them reason to trust Him. We live in a society that teaches us to be independent and to look to ourselves only for everything we need. So as a Christian in this day and age a common struggle seems to be that of putting our full trust and obedience in Christ. God shows His faithfulness throughout His word but also everyday. He reminds us of the promise to take care of our needs with the rain. He reminds us of the promise He will not destroy the Earth again with floods by the rainbow after the rain. He reminds us of His love by giving us another chance everyday. He also promises to return someday and reminds us of this by death of people, plants, and animals. He reminds us daily of His promises and of our role. It is up to us to trust and obey. (Yes, I just used an old hymn reference … good luck getting that out of your head). 

Unique Childlike Faith

Tonight was a very interesting night, one that I hope doesn't leave my memory. God has reminded me that children are such a precious gift. Each child is different. They are creative in their own ways, communicate in their own ways, talented in their own ways, show love and affection in their own ways, and have unique needs. I also continue to notice that children are drawn to me like a magnet to a refrigerator door. There are two children in particular that I absolutely adore and cherish. They brighten up my day (or night) by simply seeing them. For being four and two years old they are both very bright and very ... very funny!

The local home school group put on a Thanksgiving feast and talent show tonight. My mentor or disciple leader or personal Yoda or whatever you would like to call her invited me to tag along with her and the fam. Two of her children were performing as well as other children from the church. Her two daughters and a friend from church sang a song written by the eldest of the two daughters. The song, you might be wondering is titled "Me and My Bunnies." It is hilarious! (If you would like to view the hilarity please click here ... I highly recommend watching). Earlier in the show one of the classes performed. It was the Hands Praise Class (could have butcherd the name, if so I apologize), this class teaches children sign language to praise songs. One of the little boys in the class is autistic. He is in the Sunday school class I help with and so I am particularly biased to things that he does. As I sat and watched him go through this song I cried. No idea why, but I did. Like a big baby I cried as I watched him with the biggest smile do the motions to a song praising Christ our King.

Watching him and thinking back to him with that big ole' smile makes me think of the verse encouraging us to have the faith of a child. There is nothing like watching an autistic child who trusts his parents fully and locks eyes with his mother the entire time he is on stage. He grinned from ear to ear, more so than anyone I have ever seen. He watched her wanting to make sure he was doing what she was reminding him to do. He didn't want to lose sight of what she was showing him, he was trying to mimic her exact motions. That is child-like faith, trusting everything your Father shows you and wanting to mimic everything He does. Just like this little boy and his mother, she knew that he would not be able to get everything 100% correct but he gave it all he had and he smiled the entire time. God, our Father, has a purpose for us and gives us instruction. He made us, therefore He knows we are going to screw up. He does not expect us to do things 100% accurate, He loves us and wants us to trust Him. He wants us to have faith like a child trusting his mother to provide instruction. He wants us to be happy where He has us. He loves us enough to provide instruction and to give us grace when we fail. I will be the first to admit I am a failure, but I am a failure for Jesus. At the end of the day I can say, "at least I tried." Even if I fail, I can look back and ask myself if I have done all things for the glory of God. If I failed but did it trying to glorify God, I am going to go out on a limb here and say that He was glorified. This little boy was giving all he had trusting his mother and reminded me just how much I need to follow his example. I want to be so reliant upon God that I am looking only to Him for instruction, not caring if I get everything right but just trying to do what He wants with a big silly grin on my face.

He made me cry, but not in a bad way. He made me cry in a way that makes me thank God. This little boy is "near and dear to my heart," as we say here in the South. One of his favorite things to shout during Sunday school for an answer (to any question really) is "obey God!" He says it with such gusto and excitement I can't help but smile when he says it, he is such a Jesus lover! He shows such unique childlike faith. Usually when you see kids who trust their parents it is encouraging but when I watch him I see who I want to be as a child of the King. So I thank God for little Zeke and his trusting heart. It makes me want to get down on my knees and beg God to someday make me a parent that is worth trusting and worth looking up to in Him. I want to be so focused on the Lord that when my children lean on me and look to me and follow me they are leaning on, looking to, and following Christ ... not me. Zeke makes me want to be a better parent to children I don't even have. I truly thank God for Zeke and his ability as 1st/2nd grader to push others to Christ. His family is truly blessed with such a great example of childlike faith.

Setting Us Free

Here recently I have begun going through the entire Bible again. In spending time alone with God I want to know more of His character and know who He is. Just like getting to know a friend there are questions I have that can be and have been answered through prayer and reading through scripture. This morning (and by morning I do mean noon) I was going through Exodus 3-4. I didn't realize how applicable these two chapters were today until I read them again today.

Chapter 3 begins with Moses approaching the historical burning bush. As I read this I realized how hard it was for me to shake the movie Prince of Egypt out of my mind. Reading through this before I knew the movie was not quite accurate but then reading it again made me realize how inaccurate it really is. Not that I am knocking the movie, I like it and it is a good one to watch. Anyway, back on topic. Going through chapter three it is neat to see that God tells Moses Pharaoh's heart will be hardened. He tells him it will take time for the Israelites to be set free. Not just that but He reveals to Moses some of what he will be required to do.

God knew Pharaoh would order all baby boys to be put to death. He knew that Moses' mother would attempt to save him. He also knew that Pharaoh's daughter would find Moses. God had a reason for Moses growing up in Pharaoh's house, among the Egyptian people. He knew what was going to happen when Moses went to speak with Pharaoh to set the Israelites free. God was not surprised that Pharaoh's heart was hardened, God was the one who hardened his heart. He knows all things and sees all things. God is outside of time, He is the creator of time. He sees the end of time just as clearly as He sees today and the beginning of time. He knows all, sees all, and has created all. Nothing surprises God.

Just like God had a plan for Moses, He has a plan for you and me and everyone else. He had Moses grow up among the Egyptians because it allowed Moses to have a connection with the royal family. He automatically had an "in" so to speak. Pharaoh knew him, he was raised in Pharaoh's house. This had to be a humbling situation for Moses, going into a place where no one believes in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This was the family that he knew. He chose to leave the and be with the Israelites, the Hebrew's - his people. God has a plan for each of us. He has given us all the same purpose to know Him and make Him known. Moses was 80 when he and Aaron went to Pharaoh. He had been in the desert for 40 years, which means that Moses was raised in Pharaoh's house for 40 years. Do you get that? He was a grown man! He only knew what it meant to be a child in the palace. He was not raised as an Israelite at all. -Now do you see my problem with the Prince of Egypt? Haha, just kidding! - God has a reason for you to have been born in the family you are apart of, it was not an accident. It was ordained by God for you to have the parents you have, to have the brothers/sisters you have. God has had all things happen for a reason.

Look around and ask God why. Ask Him why you are in your family. Try to see what God's purpose is for you there. If you are a believer but your family is not God has had you come to Christ among a group of non-believers. You are on your own little island, your own mission field. You have a sweet opportunity to ask God to deliver your family from hell. Maybe you are a college student and live on campus or in your sorority/fraternity house and are surrounded by lost people. Whatever or wherever you are God has you in your own little mission field. We have been deceived to think that the only mission fields are a bazillion miles away. My heart is to see international students and people from other countries come to know Christ. But I also recognize it is not practical for every true believer to get up and leave the U.S. to go overseas to share the gospel. Who would evangelize the U.S.? Like I said before, God has you where you are for a reason.

"Then Moses said to the LORD, 'Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.' The LORD said to him, 'Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say.'"
                                               ~Exodus 4:10-12

Chapter 4 we see Moses telling God how inadequate he feels. But God tells him He has made all and He can be trusted. Going back for a minute, God had Moses grow up in Pharaoh's house. God choose Moses to speak to Pharaoh and set the Israelites free. He hardened Pharaoh's heart. God was not blind to the situation. He was choosing to make the people see His power and His faithfulness. The Israelites were treated worse when Moses and Aaron went to set them free. The mental image in my head is the Israelites hearing about Moses and Aaron wanting to set them free. They all rejoice. Then Moses and Aaron speak with Pharaoh, Pharaoh makes the life of the Israelites worse. The Israelites are mad at Moses and Aaron for making things worse. Talk about fickle! Then again that is the image I have in my head. The Israelites were very upset that they were caused more pain but as far as the other stuff ... that is how I imagine it going down. God is showing His people He can be trusted. He uses a number of miracles to display His power: Moses and Aaron's staffs turning into snakes and swallowing the magicians snakes, all the water turned to blood, frogs all through out the land, insects and gnats everywhere, all the Egyptians cattle died, boils and sores on all the Egyptians and livestock, hail, locusts, darkness in all the land, and the deaths of all the first born among the Egyptians. God chose to display His power. He wanted His people to trust Him. He showed the Egyptians and the Egyptian magicians that He has power over all things.

God has power over all things. He has control over all the money in the world, all agriculture, all weather, all things! God is in control. Yet, here I am little ole me wanting to be in control of things in my life and thinking I have somehow earned the right to have that control. I cannot change people. I cannot change the weather. I cannot change myself. I have no control. Now if that does not leave you feeling helpless, I do not know what will. But because God is in control and God is the creator of all things (including you and me) He has designed a plan for us. He wants to reveal Himself to us and He wants to show us His faithfulness. He is our Father. We are a fickle people just like the Israelites were fickle. They were happy when things were good and they were angry when things were bad. We jump from thing to thing to find what we think is best for ourselves. Yet, we do not seek God to see what He considers best for us. We think bigger electronics, more stuff, and nicer clothes is what is best for us. We are sadly deceived. God's best for us does not involve wealth and prosperity (of an earthly standard that is). God does not intend for us to be in perfect health all the time. We are people, our bodies are imperfect, we are going to get sick. Health, wealth, and prosperity just doesn't seem to fit into the gospel. God has a plan for you and for me, but no where in scripture does it say we get a whole bunch of earthly stuff. God has you right where you are for a reason. So seeking out bigger and better is probably not going to be in that. It is a harsh truth but one thing we have to realize is the gospel is not about ourselves. The gospel does not revolve around me, or you, or your favorite pair of shoes. The gospel is all about Christ. It is all about God's love and mercy and grace. God sent Moses to set His people free just like God sent His only Son to give us an option to be free from the bondage of sin.

~*~ Challenging Questions ~*~
  - Where does God have you right now? Can you see why He has you there?
  - Are you trying to be in control of your own life? How can you turn this over to God and allow Him to regain control of your life (or begin to take hold of your life)?
  - Are you allowing God to set you free from sin in your life?

Lusting After the Wind

This little shpeal is a hard one for me to write. This one bears a little more of my soul and my heart. Recently I started going to a new Bible study or class at church on Wednesday nights. This class is for young adults and we are studying the book of James. God has used this to teach me much about Himself and what He has called me to. This past week we were going through James 1:12-18, but this part of scripture is not particularly what I want to share with you. A comment was made that I hadn't truly thought about. The guy teaching the class made a statement about lust that I hadn't really ever thought of before. He was talking about when he is at work in the office, he would lust after being somewhere else such as the lake. At that moment I realized that day in and day out I have a major lust issue. I am not content with where I am. I long to be in the mission field a bazillion miles away. Not just long for, but lust after. I want that more than anything. But here is the thing, I have two dreams and sadly lust after both. I lust after marriage and lust after missions.

Wanting something is not bad. The definition of lust (according to Noah Webster's New International Dictionary) is a longing desire; an eagerness to posses or enjoy. Wanting things is not bad, but when that want turns into a longing desire that is eager to posses or enjoy ... when you put that want before your love for God, there in lies the problem.

So, when he made that brief little statement about lusting to be at the lake when he is working, yeah let me tell you ... that hurt. It still is wearing on my heart. My desire to live a godly life, turned to lust? Really, wow ... how did I let that happen? God's word says as we are going we are to make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Christ has called us to live a life that is radically different than what we consider following after God. My heart sank when my friend and teacher made that statement, not just sank but I realized I had turned something God had put in me as a pure desire into something so ... so ... so disgusting and sinful. My heart is to go to a place that most missionaries do not dare dream of. Only 1% of the world's missionaries go to what is known as the 10/40 window. This has been on my heart since Christ draw me to Himself. Uhh! I get so mad at myself when I think about turning a Christ-like desire into something so gross!

Currently I am reading a book called Christian Atheist: Believing in God, but Living as if He Doesn't Exist, one of the chapters is titled When You Believe in God but Don't Think You Can Change. The whole chapter was about how we do not believe God can change us. We do not believe that God is powerful enough to change us to be more like Him and to know Him, which is our ultimate purpose. Here is the thing, knowing Christ and being like Him is what we will be doing for all eternity. If you don't like knowing God or even being Christ like, eternity is going to be miserable. Any how, back on track. Craig Groeschel, the author, goes through what it looks like to change and let things go. I only mention this because, although I caught myself in the act of lusting after a dream I also caught myself thinking that I could not change and that it is something that I would do forever (turn godly things into not so godly things). God can use all things for His glory. Let me say that again, God CAN use all things for His glory. It is not just that He can do it but that He will do it. Although my behavior is sinful, God will make it glorify Himself. So there is a little hope there, but I want to live in a way that is honoring to God and by turning a godly desire into a selfish and lustful one does not seem to be the way to go about that. God can change my lust and bring me back to a place of God glorifying desire. To be completely honest, I am not there yet but am working toward that goal and praying God changes me. A key part of that is it is not just God that does the changing but we have a part to uphold. We have to want it, what do we do when we want something? We go for it. So how am I going to go for it? I am going to labor in prayer and seek God's word for wisdom. I have simply been lusting after the wind rather than running after the God of the universe.

Well, I hope all of this rambling makes some type of sense.  ... oh who knows!

Unmasked Blessings

To be honest, I just love blessings in disguise … well when I can unmask them that is. Today the co-worker I usually go eat with couldn’t do lunch as usual so I went to lunch alone. But the great thing was I spent some unexpected time with God. Something that was much needed seeing as how I didn’t get a chance to spend time with Him this morning. Anyway, done rambling about that, when I was eating I started to read the Proverb of the day and was blessed by that and brought light to some things in my own life. Then I wanted to read a Psalm, so I went to Psalm 100. When I was there I saw that I had made a note in my Bible that sent me to Ezekiel 34. It was like a little treasure map, but a treasure that I didn’t know I was looking for. It turned out to be exactly what I needed to read. As soon as I read it I wanted to share it with anyone reading this.

“For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I Myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out My sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I Myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I Myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy.”
- Ezekiel 34:11-16

One thing I used to do when I would send encouraging notes to my friends was take a section of scripture and just use it as a guide to encourage them. I want to do that because it is such a sweet passage of scripture.

For thus says the Lord God:
How often do we just stop and realize that these are the words of God? We recognize the red letters in the New Testament as coming from the mouth of Christ, but here… here it says “Thus says the Lord God.” Wow, how I miss that far too often. It makes me think of earlier in Ezekiel 33:30 “Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord”. We are invited to hear and examine the words of the Lord. How precious!

Behold, I, I Myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out My sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.
God has sought us out. If we are His He searched for us. He pursued us and sought us out as a shepherd searches for one of his sheep when they wander out. It says that He will rescue us from the places we have been scattered. The day of clouds and thick darkness… that is a scary place to be, but He is there to rescue us. Ezekiel 33:30 sounds a whole lot better now, does it not. The Lord Himself has just told us that when we are scattered about, in the midst of a trial or a hard time, He is there. “I, I Myself…” The Lord Himself seeks us out. That excites me to no end and just makes me want to jump for joy. But there is more.

And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I Myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I Myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD.
Our God, the God of the universe is going to bring His people out of other countries and into His land (our land). God promises to feed us. He promises to take care of us. More than any man could even take care of us. He is the ultimate provider. We, as girls, desire to have a man take care of us and provide for our needs. God promises to do that. Philippians 4:19 says “And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Oh my gosh, that makes me excited! God. The God of the universe, you know, the One who created all things … He WANTS to take care of us and provide for us. In Ezekiel He tells us that He will provide food for us by the ravines and the mountains. He will give us a place to lie down. So we get to eat and sleep at peace with Him. He does not go back on His promises. Psalm 23:1 “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” That says it all. He is our Shepherd, the good Shepherd. The more you read in Psalm 23 the more encouraging it gets. He tells us that we get to rest, He leads us, He restores us, we have no fear with Him, He comforts us, He provides for us, He anoints us, He overflows what we need; He is such a good Shepherd. He again reminds us in vs 15 of Ezekiel 34 that He will make us lie down. He will make us rest in Him. Sometimes we run ourselves ragged, He didn’t tell us to do that, we did that on our own. But He makes us lie down and rest in Him. He wants good things for His children. Just like we read in Matthew 7 and Luke 11 we are reminded that our own fathers give us good things, but our heavenly Father gives us so much more and such better gifts than even our earthly fathers do. Our heavenly Father knows what we need before we ever ask, He just wants us to ask for it. He provides in times we do not know what we need. He is such a good God!

I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy.
He seeks out the lost. People come to Christ all the time, but our Lord and Savior is seeking out the lost and He is drawing them into Himself. It is nothing we could have ever done. Our salvation is not merely based on what we do, it is Him working in us and through us and through our brothers and sisters. We can do nothing without Him. He is going to bring the strayed back to himself. He is going to bind up the wounded. Psalm 34:18 says “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” Psalm 147:3 “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” He wants to bind up the injured. He wants to heal us when our hearts are broken. He wants to draw us into Himself. He says He is going to strengthen the weak. II Corinthians 12:9 says, “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’” Ok, so there is so much to unpack in that verse but I want to just look at the last half, “My power is made perfect in weakness.” He is our strength. There are a ton of verses that tell us how powerful our God is and a ton of verses that tell us He uses the weak to do crazy awesome things. But here is the thing, Moses didn’t think he was doing anything crazy awesome at the time. Neither did Noah or Paul or Abraham. Even the women that we look at as being great women of the faith: Ruth, Ester, Abigail, Mary … These women knew they were working for the King, yet they did not know that in their state of imperfection and weakness God was making them into strong women that we would be looking up to. His power is made perfect in our weakness. It is ok to be weak, God is the biggest, badest, strongest being ever! He cannot be defeated and cannot be shaken. He is the supreme ruler of the universe. He formed you in your mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13). He chose you before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). He loves the weak and comforts them and gives them strength but the fat and the strong He will destroy. They do not seek Him for provisions or for strength. God wants us to rely on Him. He wants us to look to Him for all of our needs, wants, and desires. He is the greatest thing since sliced bread (well, He is way better)!

Our God loves us and wants us to find our satisfaction in Him. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost,” (Luke 19:10). He wants to bring us to Himself, He is drawing us closer and asking us to let Him be everything we want and need. He can fill us up to overflowing; “because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5b). We cannot fill ourselves up with love, He pours His love into our hearts using the Holy Spirit whom He gave to us. It is not about us at all. It is all about Him, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the unglodly.” (Romans 5:6) … “but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8). Did you catch that? We were sought out by God because we were lost. If we are saved we were once sought out. But here is the kicker, Ezekiel 34:11-16 tells us He continues to seek us out when we mess up or when we stray or when we lose our way. He at the right time sent Christ to die for our sin. Not just your sin but mine and everyone you know and don’t know and everyone in between … yes, even the person you cannot stand to be in the same room with, Christ died for their sin because they have just as much importance and value as you do in His eyes. Christ loves us so much He died for us and then rose again to prove to the world that nothing is too much for God to deal with. Our God is a powerful God.

A Heart Like Hannah

A couple of months ago I read "Twelve Extraordinary Women" by John MacArthur. It really made me think about who I am as a woman in God's eyes and who I want to be before Him. One of the women that really impacted me and whom I desire to be like is Hannah.

Hannah's backstory:
She was married to Elkanah. Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. He married Hannah first and loved her more than Peninnah, yet Hannah could not have children so he married Peninnah. It was evident that he loved Hanah more. He gave her double portions when it came time to sacrifice and feast. Peninnah would constantly remind Hannah that she could not have children and that she wasn't worth anything. She treated her awful as if she was insignificant. Elkanah tried to comfort her but Hannah wanted to bare children. She wanted to use everything she had to raise a son in the name of the Lord.

This is what makes her stick out to me, when the family went up to the house of the Lord Hannah went and prayed to the Lord. She wept bitterly and begged God for a son. She laid everything at His feet. But as I read about her and pick up on things from her life I noticed that not only did she lay everything at the feet of the Lord but she left it there. She walked away and had a burden no more. She trusted that God would be faithful to answer her prayer. Eli, the priest, mis-took her for a drunk. As she prayed her mouth moved but she prayed in her heart. When she told him what she was doing he said to her, "Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him." Although Eli had no idea what he was telling her, God was still faithful. She had the faith to lay it before the throne of God and leave it there. She walked away at peace with the situation.

God has been showing me what it means to take things to the foot of the cross. He is also teaching me what it means to leave it there. One of the hardest things to do is to leave things with God. Which is silly, because God is constantly showing me that He is the ultimate caretaker. I keep praying that God will give me a heart like Hannah. Even when Peninnah was being rude and crude and had an attitude (yes it rhymes on purpose) Hannah did not react in the same way. She acted gracefully. She was still respectful and laid it all at the feet of Jesus. It really makes me think about child-like faith. She trusted that God would take care of her, all her needs and wants and desires. She made an oath (or promise) to God. She would commit her son to the Lord if she was allowed to have a son. God heard her prayer and answered it. He not only answered it, but He continued to answer it. Hannah had other sons and daughters. She had unwaivering faith.

As a woman, I read stories like Hannah's and want to be a woman like her. She truly displays Christ-likeness, even though Christ was not yet made manifest in the flesh. She was a woman of faith, humility, prayer, peace, patience, worship, sacrifice, devotion, and she trusted God completely. Often I pray about becoming Christ-like and exhibiting the characteristics of Hannah. God poured Himself into her and made her like Himself in so many ways. That is my desire, to be made like Him.

Hannah sacrificially gave her first born son to the Lord. She bore him, nurtered him, and placed him in the hands of the Lord. She visited him and loved him. God blessed her for her devotion to Him. She was incredibly feminine and displayed a heart for God. Our purpose being here is to know God and make Him known. Hannah did this, she got to know God and she made Him known to her son. Often as I pray I ask God to give me a heart like Hannah.

To Be Called Beautiful

Almost every little girl I know wants to be called beautiful by their daddy. As little girls we want to be our daddy’s little princess. We will put on our cutest dress and play make-up and add our little crown. “Daddy, don’t I look pretty?” little girls will say. At such a young age we may not clearly know what beauty is defined as but we want to be it to our daddy. Then as we enter into our teenage years and beyond we want to be beautiful to those around us. We want others to see us not just pretty but something to be desired by men. We want to be wanted. Even in my walk with God I have found myself wanting to be called beautiful by my Daddy. Reading through scripture has brought me hope of becoming beautiful in the sight of my Father.

”...let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” I Peter 3:4

As women we will do whatever it takes to be beautiful by worldly standards. Within the extremes we starve ourselves to be thin, then once we are thin we need new clothes so we buy new clothes to fit in with what is hot and young, once we have the clothes we need the haircut, after the haircut we realize we need the phone and the car and the shoes to match the clothes. We realize that keeping up with the beautiful people around us is almost a full-time job. We will end up spending our energy, money, and time on being beautiful. But here is the kicker, God’s word which is holy and perfect says we are to “let (our) adorning be the hidden person (in) the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious”. Did you catch that? Our beauty is what is within us. So all the old ladies at church were right… it is not what is outside but what is on the inside. Not only that but it is “very precious” in the sight of God. So we have let the world tell us a big fat lie! Yes, I just called the world and it is no joke! Our beauty is not merely skin deep, it goes much deeper than that.

“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” Romans 10:15

Scripture also tells us that we are beautiful when we take the gospel to the lost. Right before this verse it says “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” (verses 14-15). God finds us beautiful when we are working for Him. When we are laboring in the fields, with sweat dripping, no make-up on, in our dirty work clothes, God finds us beautiful. Our Father finds us the prettiest when we do not try to be this outwardly beautiful person yet when we are working hard for Him with our beauty hidden within our gentle and quiet spirit, we are His beautiful daughters.

Now, do not get me wrong… I do not expect you to find a husband being dirty and filthy all the time so if that is what you are looking for, know that I am no match maker. But, what I am saying is if we are looking to the Lord and seeing His beauty and He sees ours, we are far better off than spending bunches of money on beauty products and new clothes and such. God is perfect and has perfect timing. He will provide a significant other in right timing if He so desires. He may have you single for the rest of your life, who knows… well, He does but you know what I mean. Sisters, I urge you to keep on pressing closer to Christ. Trust in Him and know He is good. He is faithful. You are beautiful!!

I Am Who God Says I Am

Often times we forget who God says we are, this is such a good reminder that we are not only His but we are forever His.

Here is a sweet article about who He says we are if we are in Him. Also, here is the weblink if you would like to find more helpful articles from this author:

I am a child of God John 1: 12
I am a joint-heir with Christ Romans 8: 17
I am the righteousness of God in Christ. 2 Cor.5: 21
I am the temple of the Holy Spirit. 1 Cor. 6: 19
I am the apple of His eye. Zec.2: 8
I am an ambassador for Christ. 2 Cor.5: 20
I am free from condemnation Romans 8: 1
I am more than a conqueror Romans 8: 17
I am the salt of the earth. Mathew 5: 13
I am the light of the world Mathew 5: 14 & Eph. 5: 8
I am a member of the household of faith Gal.6 :10
I am a branch of the True Vine John 15: 5
I am the will of God James 1: 8
I am in the palm of the Lord’s Hand Isa. 49: 16
I am covered by the shadow of His Hand Isa. 51: 6
I am loved by God as much as He loves Jesus John 17:23
I am in God’s Hand and none can pluck me out John10:28
I am delivered from sin Romans 6: 7
I am free from weaknesses and diseases. Matt.8: 17
I am complete in Him. Col.2: 10
I am translated into the kingdom of God’s Son.Col.1:13 I am delivered from the power of darkness Col. 1: 13
I am accepted in Him Eph. 1: 6
I am dead to sin and alive to God in Christ.Rom.6:11
I am seated in heavenly places in Christ. Eph. 2: 6
I am redeemed from the curse of the law. Gal. 3: 13
I am in Christ. 1 Cor. 1: 30
I am hidden with Christ in God. Col. 3: 3

This revelation of God concerning me is found in His Holy Word. Sense knowledge (the knowledge gained through seeing, hearing, smelling, touching and tasting) and my varying circumstances may not reveal the same and in reality contradict this revelation, but when I stand on the naked Word of God alone, God confirms His Word.

I am the daughter of the Almighty God through Jesus Christ, His Son. Chosen before the foundation of the world to be His witness in this world and to do His will for His glory. My Heavenly Father promised to lead, guide and provide all the days of my life.

I am the Lord’s ambassador in this world. God by His Spirit indwells me and now I am His Temple. My relationship with the Lord is real and it is a privilege to know Him, love Him and serve Him!! Praise His wonderful Name!

Occupational Hazard

Over the past couple of days I have been watching several movies. This is quite out of character for me, I am not one to sit in front of the T.V. for hours and hours. However, recently I have had my wisdom teeth taken out. So to pass the time by I have been watching movies. To be honest I have watched about 8 movies in the past 3 days. That is right... wow!
Well, one of the movies was Prince of Egypt, it is a personal favorite from my childhood. Anyway, I am babbling but have a point. While watching the Prince of Egypt I noticed many things, but one of the biggest that stuck out to me this time was near the middle/end of the movie. Moses said, "Pharaoh has the power. He can take away your food, your home, your freedom. He can take away your sons and daughters. With one word, Pharaoh can take away your very lives. But there is one thing he cannot take away from you: your faith. Believe, for we will see God's wonders." This made me think about my own job. God has allowed me to work with international students for the past two years. I have been so afraid to live radically for Christ for fear of losing my job. Lately I have been convicted about this thought. No, I am not going to do anything stupid like stand on top of my office building yelling "turn or burn." I mean, God has given me this job for a reason. God has allowed me to be where I am to fulfill His purpose. My boss has the power to fire me from my job. He does not have the power to take away my faith.
Living in fear of the "what if's" and the "could be's" and so on is not going to get us/me anywhere. God's word tells us we are not to fear anyone but Him. The "Pharaoh's" in our lives seem to have so much power over us, yet we fail to see that God is bigger than anything else on this earth. He is the Creator. He is the Author of Life. He is the God of love, the God of hope, the God of salvation, He is the great I Am! There is nothing we can do to make God lose any power. He is the creator of power for heaven's sake! My fear of getting fired or of having my boss upset with me because I use my job as a platform to share the gospel, really is the least of my worries. God places us exactly where He wants us in His timing to do His will. He has told us our purpose is to know Him and make Him known. So my life goal is to know Him and make Him known in all that I do. Our lives are not to be sectioned off like a pie chart. When you look at a pie chart of your life you see what consumes most of your time. For example: work, friends, eating, sleeping, activities, etc. There are so many "compartments" in our lives it is easy for us to want to section them off. Yet, each of our compartments tend to spill over into each other. Our friends at work start becoming our friends outside of work. Our job ends up coming home with us at times. Our activities tend to include eating and friends and more. God is to be in every part of our lives. God is not a section or compartment of its own. He is the center point of each of our pie charts for our lives. He is the controller of each little area of our lives.
Even when we feel like us making Christ known could cause us to lose everything we have. We can remember that who or whatever our Pharaoh is in that situation cannot take away our faith. God promises to protect His children. He tells us in several places that His children will not be ashamed. Although we may be persecuted for our faith, we can stand strong knowing that God knows exactly what He is doing. Our persecutors can never take away our faith in God. How relieving?!

The Power Behind Dry Bones

The Valley of Dry Bones would not have been the most ideal place to visit in the world. Yet God sent Ezekiel there. God's hand was on Ezekiel and He took him to a valley that was filled with dry bones. I can almost picture an extremely sandy, dry, desert like valley filled with bones scattered about God, told Ezekiel to prophesy and He would cause the bones to come together, the He would allow sinews (tendons) to form on the bones, then He would cover the bodies in flesh, and then He would give them breath to breathe. (That would make a sweeeeeet movie! I am just saying, come on hollywood!) So Ezekiel did what God told him to do. God made the bones come together. He put tendons on the bones and covered them with flesh. Then He put breath in the bodies so that they could breathe. God made these dry bones come together and make living things. Dry bones, do you get that... DRY BONES! This is not like Juliet who drank potion that would make her appear dead temporarily. This is not like something you see on CSI where a person was buried because they were thought to be dead. These were dry bones. God's power is never ending. He can do anything. Romans 8:38-39 says nothing can come between us and God. He is too powerful for anything to separate His people from Him. He can not be defeated.
Just a chapter before God makes a beautiful promise to Ezekiel for Israel. "I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes and be careful to obey My rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be My people, and I will be your God..." The promise keeps on going. God has so much power and shows it in the best of ways, by loving His people. Even when His people were in the midst of sin to the point they had completely turned away from their Father and worshipped statues made of the very things God had given them. Although He disciplined them, He did it out of His love for them. He told Ezekiel that He was going to bring His people back together. Not only that He was going to that, but He was going to give them a new heart and a new spirit. He was going to give them a piece of Him.
God has the power to change dead people who have become dry bones into living breathing people. That means God also has the power to move mountains, the power to bring you through whatever tough time you are in, the power to save the souls of those you are praying for, the power to bring in support for foreign missions. God loves showing His power to His children. All we have to do is have faith in Him that He can do it. Ezekiel was obedient and faithful to God. God told him to prophesy and he did. There does not seem to be a break between God telling him to do it and him doing it, which leads me to believe that it was an immediate reaction. We are sinful and may not immediately be obedient when God commands us to do something, but your act of obedience and faith can show you just how powerful God really is.

CHALLENGE: Seek God on an area of your life to be obedient and faithful in. See God shine His glorious power into your life this week. (It is Wednesday so let's say from Wednesday-Wednesday). Try it, I double dog dare you to. See what God will do in your life this week as you are obedient and faithful to His call in your life.



God bless!!