Forgotten?

 

"Be still and know that I am God..." Psalm 46:10

Sometimes I wish I could always hear God audibly.  It would be so much easier to know what God wanted if He could speak to me.  Sometimes I wonder why He doesn't usually speak to us that way.  But then I think, would I even listen if He did always speak audibly to me?  

In the Old Testament, we read of the miracles God performed through Moses to let His people go free from the life of slavery they had lived under Pharaoh.  We see some pretty miraculous things take place from the plagues to the parting of the Red Sea.  And yet, even when the Israelites see these miracles first-hand, they still doubt God and still want to create for themselves an image to which they can bow down. 

Even when they saw miraculous things happen, they began to doubt God. Why?  Maybe it was because things were not happening as they would have liked.  They did not like that they were wandering around in the desert and that they were hungry and thirsty.  Doesn't it seem like we begin to doubt God when things do not go the way we want them to go?  We begin to feel as if God has forgotten us when life gets hard and when things do not happen in our time frame.  But, maybe we are the ones who have forgotten.  

Faith like a Child

"I want to be as a child, delighted in life, at peace with God, living in the grace of the moment.  I want to live above the pull of depression and cultivate a heart of joy from which others can draw.  I want to learn what it really means to be filled with the reality of God, and the joy of God every day, no matter what else is going on in my life." 

-Sally Clarkson

Since I have become a mother, I have learned so much spiritually.  I am able to catch just a glimpse of the love our heavenly Father has for us as I compare my own love for our children.  I am better able to understand discipline, and what the Bible means when it says: "For the Lord disciplines those He loves..." (Hebrews 12:6).  Just as my husband and I must discipline our children because we love them and want what is best for them, God must discipline us.  This past week I learned an important lesson by watching our children.  

Our family suffered a loss this past week as we lost a precious child through miscarriage when I was almost 10 weeks along.  It is hard to go through trials and a lot of questions filled our minds as we saw a heartbeat at 7 weeks and then learned that it stopped beating a few days later.  Life. is. hard.  Heartache is not fun, but I am learning that God can teach us through these battles if we will open our eyes and look to Him for our answers.  This does not mean we will always understand why things happen, but that He can teach us through them and He will never leave us.  

Entitlement

“You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased.” 
-Revelation 4:11

As imperfect human beings, many times we cling to entitlements.  We feel entitled to a paycheck because we have worked a day’s wages.  We feel entitled to good healthcare because we pay for our insurance each month.  We feel entitled to a good meal because we gave a restaurant our business.  The list goes on.  This self-entitlement can even carry over to our relationship with Christ.  Because our life on earth is constantly measured by this give and take mentality and the idea that if you work for something, you are due your reward, we can even begin to feel like God owes us something.  

Talking Too Much

 

“A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much." 

Proverbs 20:19

This verse caught my attention today as I was reading my Bible.  Yes, I know it is a sin to gossip and I work hard not to do this, but what about talking too much?  Talking too much is what leads to gossip in the first place, so just maybe if I worked on this part, I wouldn't struggle with gossip in the first place.   

I thrive off of people.  It seems like a lot of women are this way.  We love friendships and we love sharing our experiences with others as well as learning from the experiences of others.  While this is a good thing and these conversations can provide encouragement and affirmation, conversations can get us into trouble too.  When we are busy talking away and/or when we don't have a purpose with our words, we begin to talk about things that we should keep to ourselves.  

I am all too guilty of this.  When I look back at the conversations that have gotten me into trouble, many times it's because I did not keep a tight reign over my tongue and I just kept talking and talking and talking without first thinking about the words that are coming out of my month. Here are some questions I'm learning to ask myself before I enjoy the conversation of others: