Opportunities...

Well...if I've learned one thing these last few weeks, it's that I sure don't have to understand God's will for my life in order to participate in it! Recently, I was asked by my good friends (the youth pastor and his wife) to serve in our church by teaching the Jr. High girls in the Youth on Sunday mornings. My first reaction was a combination of emotions.... I have been praying for God to show me where all He wanted to use me in our church and He has opened some doors along the way and has allowed me to get plugged in with our church family. So of course I was honored and excited about this opportunity to teach! But, I also am very involved in my current adult Sunday School class and have been for a while, so I was a little sad at the thought of being away from them on Sunday mornings because through the hardest time in my life, they have become my sounding board, accountability partners, encouragers, friends, and my family. After much prayer and discussion with a few trusted friends, I do feel called to teach in the Youth, so this coming Sunday will be my first morning to teach! I get to meet and love on all of my new girls on Saturday night and get the privelege of leading them in God's word on Sunday! Praise the Lord for this opportunity I have! Pray with me that God gives me the words to speak and that anything that is said or done in that classroom may be used ONLY for His glory. Pray for open hearts for myself and for the girls. Pray for this to be the beginning of a big BLESSING in all of our lives.

 

 

Another thing... I have heard of people going on a "Walk To Emmaus" before, from both of my parents, to my best friend, to several people I have known my whole life. I used to work at a church camp for a few years and was very familiar with the "Walks".... through all of this, though, I have never personally gone. One of my friends is on one this weekend and since hearing of him going, I committed to praying for him while he's there. Two weeks ago, THREE different women came up to me at church and asked me if I had ever gone on one and what I was waiting for! I felt convicted about it the more and more I thought about it and so I talked to my good friend from church and told her I was interested. She sent me the paperwork and I got it signed by our pastor the next day. She sent it in and told me there were only THREE open spots left for the Walk coming up at the end of September. We both (along with a few others) agreed in prayer that it was God's timing and that it all was in His hands and that I would be accepted on the Walk that He had for me. Last night, I got a message that it was official and that I am going September 27th-30th! Praise the Lord for sweet women in my life that show an interest in me! Praise the Lord for His PERFECT timing! Praise the Lord for providing me with opportunities to grow in my walk and to strengthen my faith in Him!

Meet Me

My most recent prayer has been a cry out to know God and not to merely know about Him. I desire to know Him intimately and to grow stronger in my faith, to meet Him every morning in my quiet time and to spend time in prayer with Him. This morning, as I do every day, I read the devotional for today's date and this is what I read...

 

"Meet me in my early morning splendor. I eagerly await you here. In the stillness of this holy time with Me, I renew your strength and saturate you with Peace. While others turn over for extra sleep or anxiously tune in to the latest news, you commune with the Creator of the universe. I have awakened in your heart strong desire to know Me. This longing originated in Me, though it now burns brightly in you. When you seek my face in reponse to My love call, both of us are blessed. This is a deep mystery, designed more for your enjoyment than for your understanding. I am not a dour God who discourages pleasure. I delight in your enjoyment of everything that is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable. Think on these things and My light in you will shine brighter day by day."

 

I was told about 'Jesus Calling' by a wonderful woman in my church that I met in a Beth Moore Bible Study entitled "Get Out Of That Pit". She told me that I would be blessed by this devotional and that I just had to get it! This was a year and a half ago...in what turned out to be the deepest, darkest, most vulnerable time in my life. I chose not to get the book at this time. It wasn't until January of this year that I picked up the book and started reading it. (This was after I had gone through a divorce, lost my 3 foster children who went back to live with their mothers, had a bad wreck totalling my vehicle and going without one for a while, moving from the house I had worked so hard to make a home, paying off debt that someone else had incurred in my name, and the list goes on!) It shouldn't surprise me at this point just how good God is or how He speaks to me because EVERY SINGLE DAY since I started reading this particular devotional book ("Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young), the Lord has touched my heart and renewed my spirit, He has grown me and strengthened me, He has prepared and protected me, He has saved me and given me redeeming love. I still am human and will be the first to say that I am far from perfect! I go through valleys and still have to learn some things the hard way, but now I know that He is reaching out with His strong and mighty hand when I slip into the pits of life and oh how He has proven to me that where He guides, He will provide and where He leads, He will feed! How great is our God! And sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, how great Thou art, how great Thou art!