Always Praising?!

As many of you know I have been in a season of waiting. Waiting to go to Honduras, waiting to earn the money to go to Honduras, waiting to get the job to earn the money to go to Honduras...you get the picture. I have been waiting on things for my family as well...waiting for salvations, for them to live fully committed lives, for them to understand what I am doing isn't just something I think will be fun (although it is fun most of the time).

Right alongside this season of waiting has been a season of trusting. Trusting that God will provide. Trusting that He will take care of my family...I mean the guy has the whole world in the palm of His hand, right.

It has seemed like forever. Waiting and trusting takes a long time, but in reality it has only been about a month. So much has happened in this month that I have not really thanked God for. It took Israel 40 years to get to know God, to understand His character and they still got a lot wrong after all that time.

Now I see that along with waiting and trusting should always be praising. We can't just give God props when everything is going like we think it should. We should want to praise Him all of the time and for everything He does for us and to us.

I read something this morning and it really got me..."If you are really in God like you should be then anything that gets to you has been allowed by God to reach you. We should be thankful..." WOW! That paints a picture...I thought of being inside a God bubble and Him approving everything that came inside that bubble. Some of the things I like and some of the things I didn't. Some of them hurt me and some of them were awesome...but they all had purpose, they all took part in shaping me. Therefore I should be grateful, thankful even, for every challenge, every wait, every opportunity to trust and I should PRAISE God in all things.

I'm glad it only took a month for me to figure that one out. I don't want to have to go another 39 years and 11 months without praising God like He deserves. He is my rescuer, my savior, my provider. He is almighty, benevolent, caring, discerning, Elohim, father, great, healer, impassioned, just, kind, love, merciful, near, omniscient, present, quiet, righteous, sinless, trustworthy, unchanging, victorious, worthy, exalted, yearns for us, and He is Zion.

So learn this lesson quick. Through the waiting and trusting make sure you are also praising the God who gave everything for a chance to save you.

Hanging On

OK, you have probably read the earlier post on waiting...and if you have been reading since then you probably picked up on a pattern in my posts.

Yes I am waiting for something. You guys are so smart.

There are a lot of things I am waiting on and still trying my best not to worry about them, but there is one thing in particular that I need you help with. I am waiting for a job. It is out there...just beyond my grasp but I know it is there and I know it is for me.

I am reaching the end of my own strength...sound familiar?

I am running out of money which is not surprising to me at all, but it is still a little concerning. I am running out of time, there are only 5 months left between here and Honduras. But there is something else that I am running out of and I can't quite put my finger on it.

Whatever it is... it hurts me to think I don't have enough of it. I am leaning hard on God. He has whatever it is that I need. If you have some time...a minute or two in the morning, before you eat lunch, while you are in the bathroom, whenever God leads you...please pray for me.

Pray that I will lean on God. Pray that I will trust Him. Pray that I will savor the wait. Pray that I will have victory over the fear that is threatening my peace of mind. I need you guys. I need your prayers. I need your help...now more than ever.

Savoring...

A friend of mine once told me that patience is waiting and being happy about it. I am trying to learn to savor this season of waiting. It is not as easy as one might think.

So what would the definition of savor be? Waiting and being so happy about it that you wish you could linger there a little longer?

Please pray that I would learn to savor this waiting season as well as all the seasons to come. I want to soak up everything I can from where ever I am.

Walking and Waiting

I have been in this state of stop and go lately. I take a few steps forward and then wait around for a while. It has given me a lot of time to think, to read, to spend with God and to heal.

I took a step of faith yesterday. I take a lot of them I guess but this one was intentional, haha. I drove into Baton Rouge for a meeting at church. I really felt God drawing me there but I didn't have enough gas to get back home. So I struggled with whether or not I should make the drive. In the end I made the decision to go and if I ran out of gas on the way home then praise God I ran out of gas.

The meeting was incredible. We received an encouraging word from Bro Billy Hornsby, who if one of the founders of the ARC and and incredible leader. It was so good to be back home at HPC and see everyone that I have missed so much. Bro. Billy shared some incredible life principles with us but one of them hit me harder than the rest. He said that if you spend your life helping others succeed then you will be successful.

WOW! You may have to chew on that for a minute but not me. I had been waiting for someone to tell me that it was OK to do that. I needed permission to build others. You see the world tells us to strive to make ourselves beautiful, strive to make ourselves successful, strive to make ourselves a living...but what I really want to do is help others put into action the dreams God had given them. Of course I have dreams of my own, to have a family and serve God with them, but I trust God with those dreams. I believe that if I serve Him with everything I've got by serving others then He will take care of me.

Matt 6:33 Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. This has become the driving force for all of my decisions. I really trust God...with everything. Every single thing. And because I put my faith and trust into action by making the drive out to Baton Rouge to go to that meeting God met more than just my need for gasoline (thanks Mary Beth) He healed something deep in my heart and gave me ability to trust Him completely.