Wow!! It has been 3 months since my last blog... haha... sounds like.. Forgive me Father.. It has been 3 months since my last confession!! LOL!
A Holiday season and a New Year has flown by and so much has happened!
Though the holidays were difficult this year as I wasn't able to spend them with family God still blessed me in many ways and taught me so much through it all! I used to think I could do without family and community. Yet through this move He reminds me how much I miss those close to me and need that friendship, fellowship and accountability!
God has graciously supplied me with two wonderful jobs! I started at Family Christian Store in November and worked right through the holidays as that was our busiest time of year! It is always great to help others find just the right book for themselves or others, hear what God is doing in others lives and be a smiling face for someone who is struggling!
In mid-January, God knew that the hours at the bookstore wouldn't provide for all of my financial needs so He provided the most AMAZING job! I am a nanny for a family here in Columbia. It has been an awesome experience to get to know the family and have them get to know me for who I am and who I was.
After much prompting from the Lord about letting Tammy, my employer for the nanny position, know about my past and the places God has brought me from I wrote her a letter concerning it all. What I expected was condemnation and a lose of job... what I received was so far from that!! Just like Jesus casts our sins as far as the East is from the West, Tammy showed God's unconditional love and grace, knowing that we all have a past and only by God's mercy are not there any longer! I have been welcomed into their home with open arms and so much love! I get to in turn provide love and care for their precious youngest child, Izzy. She is a joy, so smart and inquisitive and I love working with her! God showed me just like in one of my previous posts that when we hide our testimonies from others that God's light can't shine through our lives to show others God's unconditional love, grace and mercies!!
This Sunday I went to a church that for personal reasons have struggled with going to... but God really wanted me there and I am so glad I listened to Him! The pastor was teaching on Super Success in our lives. His verse he taught from was 2 Tim. 3:10-17 which says....
" 10 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
His points were as follow....
To be Successful~~~
1) We must know what success looks like in God's eyes.
"In fact, all those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."
So many times when people come to Jesus its with the assumption that their life will now be problem free and they will live this perfect life! Let me be the first to say that this is sooooo not true! I have seen and found more instances than not that when I am in the center of God's will for my life I have more opposition and trouble from the Devil than when I am doing my own thing.
Living a Godly life includes:
1) Applying God's word to my life.
"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus."
When we continue to grow through going to a Spirit filled and bible teaching church, grow in our own knowledge of the scriptures and then become wise through faith in Christ Jesus then we..
2) Trust God's word as truth!
" All scripture is God- breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
While working at the Christian bookstore, I am learning that there are a lot of books out there that may be leaving out some VERY key biblical principles!! Yet in the verse above we can be assured that if we fill ourselves with the scripture that they are God breathed and useful! So many times as Christians we want to be taught by a Pastor what we should or should not believe or think that some self- help book will give us all the answers we need to correct our lives.... WE ARE LOOKING IN THE WRONG PLACE!! God has promised us that its all right in there if we will only seek it out... He also warns us in verse 13 that evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived! I don't know about you but I don't want to be one of the ones being deceived and follow along on a path that doesn't lead to Jesus, the cross and ultimately heaven!
Lastly... if we are trusting God's word as truth then we will...
3) Allow God's word Authority to have its way in you.
This is where I want to be!! I want to believe that what I read in the scriptures are from God and God alone... that He will use them in my life to teach me, rebuke me, correct me and train me in righteousness! As I continue to turn to Him for my every need and thank Him each and every time He provides for my needs I will then grow in my knowledge of Him as my Perfect father and provider! I won't seek those things in anyone but Him! Lord willing... through this I will learn to be a blessing to others and able to shine Jesus' light to as many as possible!
So... At the beginning of this post I prayed that God would use me to write out what He wanted said and I hope that has happened...
I look forward to growing in Him, knowing that there will be persecutions in this life when living for Him, yet trusting Him through it all!!
