I already haven't posted here as much as I would have liked to, but that's OK. Still figuring out some scheduling things. I've been a bit busy these last couple of weeks with year two of Bible school having just started a month ago, volunteering four days a week, my bachelors degree program continuing in full force (And me getting way behind in my homework too. Abnormal psychology...what's up with that?!), as well as some work-related stress.
But God's been so good to me. I've been blessed to have had some amazing moments with some of my girlfriends this last month - moments of encouragement and joy and bonding. I realize how very thankful I am for the ladies in my life! The world has bought the lie that women are catty and mean-spirited, but that's just not the case. Girls need each other, and we're to be an example to those around us. We need to lift one another up, and pray for one another, and be kind to those women who seem to be so unkind to us.
As I mentioned, I was faced with a stressful work situation this past week. I won't go into the details, but it led me to have a moment of self-pity and frustration with not only a situation, but also with an individual. I remember silently complaining praying to the Lord about the situation, venting my frustration to Him about everything that had taken place, when all of a sudden, the Lord spoke these words to me:
"I thought you said you wanted to live in a glass house."
I couldn't say anything. I just chuckled quietly, shut my tear-filled eyes, and shook my head. I had said that. Less than a week earlier, I had said that as my husband and I had both made the decision that we were going to live a life of intention and of purpose. We had decided that we were going to take on the "curse" of ministry that is living in a glass house and embrace it with joy and deliberateness. We were going to live with the constant pebble in our shoe that this life is never, not for one moment, about us; that it is always about others...always about the Kingdom...always about the lost being saved.
I was then faced with a situation in which I had to come face to face with my own hypocrisy, and while that's not fun, it is good.
"...do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
nor detest His correction;
for whom the Lord loves He corrects..."
Psalm 3:11-12 (NKJV)
"If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."
Hebrews 12:7-11 (NKJV)
Oddly enough, I enjoy getting corrected by the Lord. Not because I'm sadistic, but because I know that God loves me and wants me to be what He's made me to be: a vessel of honor. I know that God is proud of me when I obey and listen to His gentle, whispering voice that leads me closer to Him and His plan for my life.
I challenge you today: take a break from everything, and listen. Listen to that still, small voice on the inside, beckoning you to come a little bit closer, to go a little bit deeper, a tiny bit higher...what is the Holy One whispering to you right now?
Listen to Him. He knows you like no other.
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