are you running the race at God's pace?
Do you ever have those days or moments when you're really struggling with unbelief - or in my case yesterday, battling the unbelief of impatience?? I opened up my monthly mail from DesiringGod ministries to find this newsletter entitled: "Willing to Stand in God's Place or Go at His Pace"
'Are you waiting for something? I mean really waiting with deep longing in your soul for something beyond your control? You might be waiting to conceive a child, recieve financial provision, see a loved one come to faith, get married, see a serious illness healed, or move in a ministry direction in which you feel called. Are you waiting for God to answer? If so, you are in a good (though hard) place.God highly values the fruit produced in the soul that learns to wait patiently for him. So he takes pains to cultivate it in us. That's why God dealt with Abraham as he did and recorded Abraham's story for us - to encourage our anxious waiting hearts and show us what walking by faith looks like.Learning to walk by faith and not by sight is hard. It was hard for Abraham and Sarah. It is hard for all of us. It is God's process of mercifully weaning us off of self-sufficient delusion and letting us taste the JOY of what it means to HOPE in him alone. Learning to patiently trust a promise from God develops our capacity to really hope in eternal life. We learn not to trust OUR perceptions or emotions but God's promises. And over time the unseen reality of heaven becomes more real to us. There is nothing like the experience of tasting hope when all looked hopeless to teach the soul that the death we fear is not the end."The opposite of impatience is a deepening, sweetening willingness to stand in the place that God has appointed or to move at the pace that God has appointed...to stand in God's place or go at his pace."'For me, right now, it's about going at HIS pace - not mine. And learning to only hope in Him and nothing else...
"For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him" (Psalm 62:5)
To read more go to
http://www.desiringgod.org/AboutUs/News/Newsletters/
G, C & D
So I've discovered that apparently Camden is the rock/indie music capital of Britain, and probably by extension, the world. (Actually TRUE? Not sure.) Interesting bit of info, seeing as I'm finally trying to teach myself how to play the guitar so I can see if I actually have any songwriting ability. It's been pretty entertaining thus far.
I started playing my first song last night. Ok, it's not really MY song - it's 'Poughkeepsie' by Over the Rhine. But it's encouraging to actually play a song, nonetheless. I have no aspirations to be famous or popular. I just want to be able to sing and play when I feel like it - and maybe even bless those around me. That would be cool. I'm still asking Jesus for that humble confidence so I sing more often and am bold about it. He gave me the talent - I'd like to actually use it for him. It's slowly but surely coming.
I thought I'd go up Poughkeepsie,
look out o'er the Hudson,
and I'd throw my body down on the river.
And I'd know no more sorrow,
I'd fly like the sparrow
and I'd ride on the backs of the angels tonight.
I'd ride on the backs of the angels tonight.
I'd take to the sky with all my might.
No more drowning in my sorrow,
no more drowning in my fright,
I'd just ride on the backs of the angels tonight.
There are those who know sorrow
and those who must borrow
and those whose lot in life is sweet.
Well I'm drunk on self-pity,
scorned all that's been given me,
I would drink from a bottle labeled Sure Defeat.
I'd ride on the backs of the angels tonight.
I'd take to the sky with all my might.
No more drowning in my sorrow,
no more drowning in my fright,
I'd just ride on the backs of the angels tonight.
Then the skies, they fell open
and my eyes were opened
to a world of hope falling at my feet.
Now I've no more or less
than anyone else has,
what I have is a gift of life I can't repeat.
So I go up Poughkeepsie,
look out o'er the Hudson
and I cast my worries to the sky.
Now I still know sorrow,
but I can fly like the sparrow
'cause I ride on the backs of the angels tonight.
I ride on the backs of the angels tonight.
I take to the sky with all their might.
No more drowning in my sorrow,
no more drowning in my fright,
I'll just ride on the backs of the angels each night.
knot surprising
“Why is it that when we speak to God we are said to be praying, but when God speaks to us we are said to be schizophrenic?” — Lily Tomlin
It's hilarious how God speaks to us sometimes.
I've been having some major issues with my upper back - stress related I'm sure, but also from sitting at a desk all day at work. A co-worker of mine (who isn't a follower of Jesus) is pretty good at massage, so she went ahead and tried to work out some of the knots. While she was working on one particular tight spot, she quietly said to me, "Let GOD do it." Huh?! She knows that I'm a Christian, but for her to say to me that I need to let God do it was a major wake-up call for me. Especially in regards to raising support. "Let ME do it, Rebecca. That's the only way it's going to happen." I love how our Father uses ALL things to glorify himself and encourage his kids. Even people that don't believe they can have a personal relationship with Him!
Anyway, the flags flying in the photo represent my new home (Lord willing!) come May 2007. London, England, United Kingdom. Sweet-nass.
Do you ever have those days or moments when you're really struggling with unbelief - or in my case yesterday, battling the unbelief of impatience?? I opened up my monthly mail from DesiringGod ministries to find this newsletter entitled: "Willing to Stand in God's Place or Go at His Pace"
