Seasons

I feel like God is really growing and stretching me lately. I often look at it as a burden because as we all know, growth is painful. It causes "normal" life to be disrupted, it takes every comfortable thing and shatters it to pieces. On the other hand, being comfortable is not all its cracked up to be; don't get me wrong, I know we all appreciate having three meals a day and a warm bed to sleep in at night, but often comfort leads to complacency. I know from experience that the times in my life where I have been most complacent are some of the most dark and distant times in my life, it is in those times I feel most alone, most fearful, most distant from my Creator.

Lately I have been reading out of 1 Corinthians 3, it is a truly beautiful chapter that is all about giving the glory to God, recognizing that the things we try and accomplish on our own strength are foolish, but by humbling ourselves God desires to use us in our weakness. How countercultural is that concept?! We have been taught by the world that we must prove ourselves, that we must have the best job, the newest gadgets, that we should be full of pride and boast about the things we have. When really, God owns it all, he says when things start and stop, and he has numbered our days. That in itself is humbling to me, to think that although I claim to have control over my circumstances, I have control over nothing. This has brought me to my knees on more than one occasion and is something my flesh fights every single moment; I have to continuously lay this before God and ask for forgiveness. Although our world looks at humbleness with scorn, I can honestly say that it takes more courage and strength to be humble than it does to be prideful. So I am learning to find joy in the stretching because it really is the process that is most beautiful and not always about the result. If we, as Christ's people, can walk humbly we will be the most beautiful and useful tools for sharing the love of Christ with others. It will not be easy, on the contrary it will be difficult, stretching, and will take a tremendous amount of courage but how beautiful will it be to able to go before our Creator, stripped of our pride and tell him that we need him, so that he can tell us that he has chose us.

I have been in this season that is full of choices, everything from Project 61, to relationships, to future dreams and plans. It has been overwhelming to say the least, but has forced me to wait upon the Lord and seek his direction for everything. I often find that every season I go through teaches me something new and distinctly different about God's character, this season has been a different and rather vast aspect of God. He has been showing me that he is truly good. The simplicity of that seems rather ironic because it is something that has been a struggle for me to get a grasp on. Being a part of a fallen world, I find it easy to see the bad in everything. But everything about Christ is pure and good, I love when God is talking to Moses and he says "I am who I am . This is what you are to say to the Israelites.'I AM has sent me to you.'" How amazing is it to know that God is love, God is pure, God is good. His character knows nothing evil or sinful or fallen. When I am able to see him in this light it changes absolutely everything, and creates this hunger in me for a deep intimacy with him.

Well I feel like I have rather rambled on but sometimes I get these glimpses of him that are hard to put into words, but I want to try because they are so encouraging and life changing. I am sure that he is doing some awesome things in you and I want to hear about them so please post comments or email me. I love hearing what God is doing in you guys because it is so unique and individual to our characters but also can be used to teach and encourage each other!