Ok with my laptop being repaired we missed a few weeks of blogging so I'm going to pick up on a lesson a few weeks ago and then skip to the one we did last night. I have really been wanting to blog about this and share whats on my heart and everytime I have tried to, even tonight I have been distracted by Satan and have had annoyances and haven't been able to do it. Well we are going to push through it tonight!!
I was really convicted about this lesson. One of my greatest struggles, well really probably the greatest struggle I face is my need for control. My need for control and wanting to do/get what I want to do and what I think is right. So often I don't seek God's leading and go off on my own. And when i see that maybe his plan isn't what I have laid out and I just don't see it working I throw that to the side and go do what I want to do. This ALWAYS ends up with major heartache and problems.
The author (Joanna Weaver) has several points that I'd like to share
These were so powerful to me and I really think the quote that someone said in our study pretty much brings all of these together. They made the point that God's plans are like a quilt. We can only see the underside of the quilt, where all the thread is going this way and that way and tangled up in knots and looks like an absolute mess, but God sees the design of the quilt on the top, the beauty that is a whole picture. I thought that was so true. We see all of these things in our life and think we're in a horrible place and have no clue why we're going through it or how it could be good for us, but God knows and he's using all of it to make something beautiful.
There was a quote by Martha Tennison that really hit home.. " We only trust people we know... If you're struggling to trust God, it may be because you don't really know him."
Whoa.. Let that percolate for a minute.
The Author also adds "While we may never fully understand why God's love sometimes lingers, we can rest assured that God's love is always at work. He may not move according to our schedule, but he is right on time for what is best. And he has our ultimate good forever in mind"
For me that's really good to remember. When you're going through a storm of life or constantly being hit by something, one thing after the other, its hard to think oh, God's at work he's using this for good yay!! At least I don't think that, maybe you do and in that case we need to chat! Seriously though, for me when I am in a bad situation I whine. I whine to God and want to know why I have to go through it and when it will be over and done with. When really I should be trying to learn what God is teaching me and actually be THANKFUL that i'm going through something because that means he is trying to stretch me and grow me and mold me.
Something that I had never though about was that Jesus Understands. I mean I know he's our creator and knows everything but i hadn't thought about how he was in human flesh on this earth and went through everything we have. "He doesn't ask anything of us that he wasn't willing to do himself, and he promises to be with us in all we have to go through" after that the author gives a page full example of things that he faced on earth that I also face. That was really big and I think for me its helped my prayer life even more because I can talk to him about things and I think about how he dealt with it and how he must have felt.
Psalm 73 is a really good chapter for this subject, I particularly like verse 28 "But as for me, It is good to be near God. I have made the sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds"
I am at a place right now where I am seeing God's work in my life. I have had a very messy bottom of my quilt, but he is giving me glimpses, tiny ones, of the top of my quilt and it is looking beautiful. Last night as I was talking to him I was overcome with emotions and joy over what he has done in my life. He has brought me through several trials and hard things and stress and heartache over my health but he has always been there for me. Even when I have almost lost hope and have been whiny and wondering why I had to go through certain things. I can see now why I have been through some things and how it has drawn me closer to him.
I am so thankful for this study and the women at church. We share our hearts with each other and i really think that being so open and real with them and seeing what God is doing in my life has just opened me up to him more and more. I have a renewed zeal for him and I kind of just want to tell it to everyone and talk about Jesus!
I was really convicted about this lesson. One of my greatest struggles, well really probably the greatest struggle I face is my need for control. My need for control and wanting to do/get what I want to do and what I think is right. So often I don't seek God's leading and go off on my own. And when i see that maybe his plan isn't what I have laid out and I just don't see it working I throw that to the side and go do what I want to do. This ALWAYS ends up with major heartache and problems.
The author (Joanna Weaver) has several points that I'd like to share
- God's will does not always proceed in a straight line
- God's love sometimes tarries for our good and his glory
- God's ways are not our ways, but his character is still dependable
- God's grammar rule # 1: never put a period where God puts a comma
- God's grammar rule #2: Don't put a comma where God puts a period
- The end is never the end; it is only the beginning
These were so powerful to me and I really think the quote that someone said in our study pretty much brings all of these together. They made the point that God's plans are like a quilt. We can only see the underside of the quilt, where all the thread is going this way and that way and tangled up in knots and looks like an absolute mess, but God sees the design of the quilt on the top, the beauty that is a whole picture. I thought that was so true. We see all of these things in our life and think we're in a horrible place and have no clue why we're going through it or how it could be good for us, but God knows and he's using all of it to make something beautiful.
There was a quote by Martha Tennison that really hit home.. " We only trust people we know... If you're struggling to trust God, it may be because you don't really know him."
Whoa.. Let that percolate for a minute.
The Author also adds "While we may never fully understand why God's love sometimes lingers, we can rest assured that God's love is always at work. He may not move according to our schedule, but he is right on time for what is best. And he has our ultimate good forever in mind"
For me that's really good to remember. When you're going through a storm of life or constantly being hit by something, one thing after the other, its hard to think oh, God's at work he's using this for good yay!! At least I don't think that, maybe you do and in that case we need to chat! Seriously though, for me when I am in a bad situation I whine. I whine to God and want to know why I have to go through it and when it will be over and done with. When really I should be trying to learn what God is teaching me and actually be THANKFUL that i'm going through something because that means he is trying to stretch me and grow me and mold me.
Something that I had never though about was that Jesus Understands. I mean I know he's our creator and knows everything but i hadn't thought about how he was in human flesh on this earth and went through everything we have. "He doesn't ask anything of us that he wasn't willing to do himself, and he promises to be with us in all we have to go through" after that the author gives a page full example of things that he faced on earth that I also face. That was really big and I think for me its helped my prayer life even more because I can talk to him about things and I think about how he dealt with it and how he must have felt.
Psalm 73 is a really good chapter for this subject, I particularly like verse 28 "But as for me, It is good to be near God. I have made the sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds"
I am at a place right now where I am seeing God's work in my life. I have had a very messy bottom of my quilt, but he is giving me glimpses, tiny ones, of the top of my quilt and it is looking beautiful. Last night as I was talking to him I was overcome with emotions and joy over what he has done in my life. He has brought me through several trials and hard things and stress and heartache over my health but he has always been there for me. Even when I have almost lost hope and have been whiny and wondering why I had to go through certain things. I can see now why I have been through some things and how it has drawn me closer to him.
I am so thankful for this study and the women at church. We share our hearts with each other and i really think that being so open and real with them and seeing what God is doing in my life has just opened me up to him more and more. I have a renewed zeal for him and I kind of just want to tell it to everyone and talk about Jesus!
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