Inspiration

Today I was talking with my friend about blogging. It inspired me to try and start blogging consistently again! Thank you Tasha for the inspiration! 

Recently I have been learning about contentment. The Lord is so gracious to me and has been teaching me so much this year about trusting Him with my dreams and desires. He sees me. He sees my desires. 

I went to Fall Retreat this year and it was pivotal in changing my perspective on things in my life. I get so wrapped up in desiring what I don't have (a boyfriend/husband) that I forget about the purposes that God has for me now in my singleness. 

One of the couples who shared at the retreat read the verse from Psalm 37 verses 4-5 "Delight yourself also in the Lord and he will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord [roll and repose each care of your load on Him]; trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass."

This was a great reminder that my job right now is to delight in the Lord. I was brought back to the idea that I need to spend time with and get to know God right now and delight in Him and in time He will give me the desires of my heart. It was good to remember that God cares about the things that I care about. He gave me specific dreams and desires because He wants to fulfill them, not because He wants to torture me by not giving them to me. 

I trust the Lord's timing for all of these things. God's timing is perfect. He is never late.


It's also been good to learn patience.  

Patience: The capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. 

Patience is a great virtue and something that I desire for myself. I've come to the conclusion that it is not a bad thing to ask for. Yes that might mean I have to wait for things that I deeply desire. But that doesn't mean I shouldn't ask for it. 

"In the process, in the waiting You're making melodies over me"

 

Great Quotes from A.W. Tozer

“Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers met together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become 'unity' conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship." from 'The Pursuit of God'
 
“We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts” from 'The Pursuit of God'

“O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need for further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, so that I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, ‘Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away.’ Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long.”


“A man by his sin may waste himself, which is to waste that which on earth is most like God. This is man's greatest tragedy and God's heaviest grief.”

“Yet if we would know God and for others sake tell what we know we must try to speak of his love. All Christians have tried but none has ever done it very well. I can no more do justice to that awesome and wonder-filled theme than a child can grasp a star. Still by reaching toward the star the child may call attention to it and even indicate the direction one must look to see it. So as I stretch my heart toward the high shining love of God someone who has not before known about it may be encouraged to look up and have hope.” from 'The Knowledge of the Holy'

“If man had his way, the plan of redemption would be an endless and bloody conflict. In reality, salvation was bought not by Jesus' fist, but by His nail-pierced hands; not by muscle but by love; not by vengeance but by forgiveness; not by force but by sacrifice. Jesus Christ our Lord surrendered in order that He might win; He destroyed His enemies by dying for them and conquered death by allowing death to conquer Him.” from 'Preparing for Jesus' Return: Daily Live the Blessed Hope'


“We are saved to worship God. All that Christ has done in the past and all that He is doing now leads to this one end.”


“Let every man abide in the calling wherein he is called and his work will be as sacred as the work of the ministry. It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does it.” from 'The Pursuit of God'


“Did you ever stop to think that God is going to be as pleased to have you with Him in Heaven as you are to be there?” from 'The Attributes of God: A Journey Into the Father's Heart'

2 Corinthians 3:16-18

"Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him." 2 Corinthians 3:16-18

I love this verse! It brings me a lot of hope! :) God is the one who removes the veil from unbelievers faces, and when He removes it they finally recognize that He is living and real!

I also love that it says there is nothing between us and God, and that our faces shine with the brightness of His face! Oh how I want my face to be radiant because of God working in my heart and life! And how encouraging is it to know that as we allow God to enter into our lives we become more like Him and we become evermore beautiful and bright!!

Lord shine brightly in me! Lord, help me to open up to you and allow you to enter into my life so that I can shine for you!!

During my Beth Moore study, Breaking Free, I was reading about Jotham one of the kings of Israel. Jotham was a man who sought the Lord during his time of reign and he had much success as a king. However his people were not so dedicated to the Lord and they continued to practice their corrupt worship of idols. One of the reasons this was the case was because Jotham didn't destroy "the high places" which were places where they would go to worship the pagan gods.

Something that was interesting that Beth Moore wrote about this situation was, "Jotham sought God faithfully and walked steadfastly before Him, but he refused to demand respect for the One and Only God. Jotham was boss. He could have destroyed the high places, but he obviously feared the people more than he feared God."

Isn't this a sobering thought? When I read this it made me think of my own life. Sometimes I am just plain content with seeking the Lord on my own but then I don't fight for all that He is. I mean Im not a King or Queen or in any situation where I have power and authority over what people do but I can still have influence on the way that people treat the Lord.

I find that far too often my life is characterized by the words of Beth Moore,"[she] obviously feared the people more than [she] feared God." I allow fear sometimes to shut my mouth in situations where I should be defending God. I don't speak about the great things that the Lord does in my life for fear that people will mock me. And I even find myself sitting and simply allowing people to mock the name of Jesus and His followers.

Most of the time I also realize that during these situations I am working in my own strength. It's generally times where I have been out of the Word for a while or slacking off with my time spent with the Lord. I loose sight of all that God is and I begin to see how frightening confrontation is. I begin to see how much I desire approval of other people and not so much approval of God and that begins to cloud my mind and tends to lead me to speak things that I wouldn't normally speak or to not speak anything at all.

At those times that is when I need God the most. The Holy Spirit is the one who gives us power in those situations to speak the truths of God. If we continue to look to ourselves in those times and beat ourselves down for not speaking the right thing then we are completely disregarding Jesus. However if we humble ourselves and realize that we are never going to be able to do it in our own strength and ask for God to fill us with His stregnth and His Spirit then we will have power in those situations.

"Your Great Name" by Natalie Grant

I love this song:

"Blessings" by Laura Story

Here is an amazing song by Laura Story... The lyrics are fantastic and they're at the bottom of this post! It's so beautiful and so true!

We pray for blessings

We pray for peace

Comfort for family, protection while we sleep

We pray for healing, for prosperity

We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

All the while, You hear each spoken need

Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

What if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You’re near

What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom

Your voice to hear

And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near

We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love

As if every promise from Your Word is not enough

All the while, You hear each desperate plea

And long that we'd have faith to believe

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

What if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You’re near

And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us

When darkness seems to win

We know the pain reminds this heart

That this is not, this is not our home,

It's not our home

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

And what if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You’re near

What if my greatest disappointments

Or the aching of this life

Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy

And what if trials of this life

The rain, the storms, the hardest nights

Are your mercies in disguise

This Song Brings Me Hope

Listen until the end! It's good... It really ministered to my heart