Stop Squinting

I can't take credit for this great little snippet. I blatantly plagiarized it from my super-hot, super-smart, ppt-ly blessed friend, Amanda.

...all those WOAs and the shameless blog plug make up for stealing it, right DeMo?

The snippet is from a devotional she gets in the mail called "God's Will." He's been doing some great stuff in Amanda's life and it's really blessed me to watch her on this journey. Her post today really got me thinking about whether I truth trust God for my future or if I try to worry things to death.

"What is God's will for my life?" is not the best question to ask. I think the right question is simply, "What is God's will?" Once I know God's will, then I can adjust my life to Him and His purposes. In other words, what is it that God is purposing where I am? Once I know what God is doing, then I know what I need to do. The focus needs to be on God and His purposes, not my life!"

What a concept! So often I try to squint and see waaaaay down the road into my future. I wonder if this person or that person will be a part of it, I wonder if I'll be married yet, I wonder if I'll still be babysitting grown men (aka being an office manager in an HVAC business) for money. I can get myself completely wrapped up in the "what ifs" of my future and miss what God has in the here and now. I need to remember that my focus should be on God and His purpose. If I am daily asking Him if I'm where He wants me to be, then I'm choosing to trust Him and not my own planning. Today is the only thing we're promised. There is no guarantee that I will even see tomorrow morning.

I need to remember that even though I can't see my future (even if I squint) God can. He knows what is down the road for me. Instead of questioning and worrying and thinking about what will happen I can rest in the fact that I know God knows what He's doing. Far better than I do!

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." (Psalms 139:13, NIV)

Painful Pearls

Nearly 2 years ago I bought "A Jewel in His Crown," by Priscilla Shirer. I had forgotten about it...until this morning.

Priscilla is the daughter of Tony Evans. (That means she knows her stuff!) Her book is written with the purpose of helping women rediscover and reconnect with who they are in Christ. I'm sure you'll be seeing quite a few posts referencing things I've found in her book!

This morning I came across a passage in Jeremiah that she used to illustrate a point on God's ability to transform our pain into strength.

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah 1:5, NIV)

Most everyone knows how pearls are formed. If, during an oyster's life, something irritating makes it's way into the muscle, the oyster secretes a thin sheet of a substance called nacre (Confession: I had to look that up.) The nacre encloses the object that is irritating the oyster and begins to change and reshape it until it is no longer an irritation, but a pearl.

Priscilla goes on to say that God often uses the painful and uninvited irritations in our lives to change us into something that was not in us before; something extraordinary. It's our job, when uncomfortable situations invade our lives, to wrap ourselves in the Word of God. It's filled with substance and will change us into something stronger than we were before.

If Jeremiah 1:5 is true, then God knew long before we were born what we would go through. He knew the struggles we would face. He knew the hurts and disappointments that this life would bring us. If He knew all those things, then He also knew exactly what we would need in order to overcome those hurts, disappointments, and struggles. Before we were even born He was building in us the inner strength we would need for this life on earth.

I pray I remember this when life gets irritating. No matter where I am, God has given me what I need to be there.