Let me just start out by saying just how wonderful it feels to be blogging right now! My last post was in November. 8 months without posting anything is just WAY TOO long! I've sat down a couple times since then and started one, but never finished it. Well. This time I'm actually going to!
Since my last post, my husband graduated college (YAY!!!), we moved to Nebraska (so not any different than living in Kansas...lame), and we have started going to a new church. I had gone to the same church for 20 years, so to be at a point where we were scouting out and having to find a new place to call home just felt weird. It took only one time of visiting our now home church to know that God wanted us there. We have started getting involved in the men's and women's Bible studies, as well as the worship team. It is a blessing to be able to use the gifts God gave me!
The women's study we are currently doing is called Named By God. It is a great study by Kasey Van Norman. It's a great study that digs through your past, present, and future as a person and a child of God. To any and all women - I encourage you to pick up her book or go through the study. God has broken me and helped me let go of past hurts while He speaks over me my true worth in Him!
I was on Facebook earlier this morning and saw an update from Kasey Van Norman. It was simply put, yet so profound. "God's love for His own is not a pampering love; it is a perfecting love."
Since my last post, my husband graduated college (YAY!!!), we moved to Nebraska (so not any different than living in Kansas...lame), and we have started going to a new church. I had gone to the same church for 20 years, so to be at a point where we were scouting out and having to find a new place to call home just felt weird. It took only one time of visiting our now home church to know that God wanted us there. We have started getting involved in the men's and women's Bible studies, as well as the worship team. It is a blessing to be able to use the gifts God gave me!
The women's study we are currently doing is called Named By God. It is a great study by Kasey Van Norman. It's a great study that digs through your past, present, and future as a person and a child of God. To any and all women - I encourage you to pick up her book or go through the study. God has broken me and helped me let go of past hurts while He speaks over me my true worth in Him!
I was on Facebook earlier this morning and saw an update from Kasey Van Norman. It was simply put, yet so profound. "God's love for His own is not a pampering love; it is a perfecting love."
WOW! Sometimes we have to see something in front of us before we truly grasp a great truth about who God is! God loves us - I hope we all know that! How God loves us is beyond compare.
Have you ever sat there and been angry at God because He didn't allow something to happen in your life? Or maybe you suffered a great consequence due to sin or doubt in your life. If God really loves you, would He have let you suffer in that way? That seems like a tough question to answer. But really, it's quite simple.
God loves us too much to let us be stupid humans! Sometimes we think because God loves us, our lives will be without struggle and without correction. When we stumble and fall, we expect God to let us be on our way without consequence. We think - I learned my lesson. I'll do better next time! But He loves us too much not to discipline us!
When I was younger, if I lied or disobeyed my mom, I would get spanked. Oh my goodness! I know. Call the police. My mother spanked me. Many times. Why? Because I kept choosing to disobey. Would a parent allow their child to continue to lie, steal, hurt others, or do something that could be dangerous? No, because even we as humans have enough love to correct that behavior and allow the child to live better.
How much more does God love us as His children? It's not all butterflies and unicorns. He loves us enough to, through correction and discipline, continually break us of our flesh. His desire is for us to live according to His will and calling. To live a life pleasing to Him, honoring Him in all we do and say. To live a life that is encouraging to others instead of creating stumbling blocks. We earn the discipline God gives us by what we do.
His perfecting love is also shown in what He allows us to endure. Did you lose your job? Do you have a sick family member with a bleak outlook? Do you still struggle with what that next step is going to be? Sometimes God allows us to go through a period of wilderness in our lives in order to grow us into the man or woman He calls us to be. Sometimes those trials and hardships come not to break our spirit, but to cause us to truly lean on Him!
He loves us enough to not let us do life on our own. He gives us those gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) reminders that He is in control and all we have to do is trust in Him!
So. What does God's discipline look like in your life? In what ways has He shown you HE is in control and that your trust needs to be fully in Him? Are you in a period of wilderness in your life? If so, what is God trying to teach you?
Take time to praise God for His discipline and for that wilderness, because that shows us He truly loves you and desires more for your life! He loves to sing His love and mercy over you! Accept that, and go sing His love song to the world around you!
