Tuesday, March 4, 2014

It's a wonderful thing...

...to be able to compare events from one year to the next and know without a doubt that you are maturing in Christ. 

I'm experiencing that right now in my job search/thinking about the future. 

I don't feel this nearly-obsessive need to "figure everything out" anymore. I still consider myself a planner & organized, but more my plan is to simply wait on the Lord. How many times I've heard that sometimes cliche phrase, but I'm getting to the point of really understanding what that means. The Lord has proven to me countless times now how trustworthy He is. He's proven to me that His promise in Prov. 3:5-6 will totally happen every time. 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." 

When we acknowledge Him, our paths are always, always made straight. It might not be (and usually isn't) in the timing that we prefer. But our paths are made straight. This is where the trusting with ALL your heart is so essential. This is where you have to learn to never lean on your own very limited understanding. This is where you have to acknowledge that God's ways are so much higher than your ways. 

There were times this past year when I felt like I was just groping around in the dark trying to take just one little step on the right path. I'm sure I didn't walk perfectly, but I do trust that God was delighted in my sincere desire to acknowledge Him and stay faithful to Him. There were countless times when I doubted that I knew what my Shepherd's voice sounded like anymore. I thought I was acknowledging Him, but since I didn't feel any direction, I assumed that meant that I was doing something wrong in the acknowledging department. Did I have to ask Him more frequently throughout my day? Was I not sitting quietly long enough to wait for His direction? 

Or maybe, He really does just want me to continue to wait and be still. Maybe He's totally okay with me not always "doing stuff". Maybe He's not guiding me any further down the path, because He's not finished with me where I'm at right now. 

So rather than investing all my time and thoughts into thinking about what I might do in the future, I've learned a lot about what it means to invest it in where I'm at right now. How can I love Jesus and His Body right now? How can I grow in grace and truth right now? How is whatever I'm doing right now preparing me for this future ministry I feel the Lord calling me to? This is what I think part of waiting and being still means. I think it means being content in where you are in life--no matter how meaningless or random it may seem. I think it means trusting that God doesn't let His children who choose to acknowledge Him go down a path that He doesn't want them to. I think it means that knowing that when God wants me to keep moving down the path, He will show me in the way that I need it. He's not trying to make me play guessing games. 

Okay, now check out this blog I wrote last spring :: Straight Paths
See what I mean about maturing in Christ? :) 

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