Ask and Trust
Got this from my daily "Insight for Today" emails by Charles Swindoll. I've read and re-read it and I love it. Thought I'd share. All emphasis is mine. I posted an update below it.
Read Esther 2:12--18
God does not mock us with the things He includes in His Word. He isn't in the business of making His people squirm under some unrealistic expectation that they can never attain---something that is totally unique to one person but remains for everyone else a frustrating and unreachable challenge. But I must quickly add, you cannot become these things by taking your cues from the world. That only brings defeat and frustration. You, as an individual, have your own pressures, your own difficulties, your own unique circumstances, but God offers ways to handle them and become His special person. The question is how?
First, ask God. Ask Him to cultivate character within you. Ask Him to give you a discontent for the superficial and a deeper desire for the spiritual. Make yourself available to His strength, His reproofs. Seek His counsel for the things you lack. Allow Him to help you set reasonable goals. Record them in your journal so you will have a written account of your prayer to Him.
Ask God to give you that kind of authenticity. To place more emphasis on what's happening deep within your heart and less emphasis on the externals, the superficial, the temporary.
Second, trust God. Trust Him to control the circumstances around you---those very circumstances that you perhaps are using as an excuse for not being the woman you want to be. Don't wait for your circumstances to be perfect. Remember Esther. At the height of competition, surrounded by sensual, greedy, superficial women, Esther stood alone. And, amazingly, God gave her favor in others' eyes!
Ask God. Trust God. We are completely dependent on Him for eternal life, for forgiveness, for character, for security. His light in our lives gives us a growing disgust for things that merely satisfy the flesh. It shows us the importance of character, the incredible change that can come by standing alone on the things of God. He alone can give us grace and winsomeness and keep us from becoming squint-eyed, cranky Christians. It is His working in our lives that uses us even in the harems of life to make a difference and to model a charm and a beauty, a dignity and an elegance that cannot help but cause people's attention to be drawn to Him and His power. Ask. Trust.
*********************************************
It's been a good week. I'm getting pretty accustomed to the life of 8-5. The transition for me has actually gone pretty well. I work in a great place, so that's a huge help. Kyle is still not real happy about daycare, but I think that just may be his personality. Madi has always been so independent, but Kyle has always been a little bit more clingy. He will probably be the child grabbing on to my leg when I leave him for Kindergarten. Madi was more like, "Bye mom! See you when I graduate!"
My funding FINALLY came in for daycare. I was not aware that there is a program to help low income families with daycare. I know now. It finally came in on Monday, so I will actually see part of my paycheck. Y'all know how expensive daycare is for one child...multiply that by three and that is what I've been having to pay for over a month now. I am soooo relieved, not to mention grateful for the assistance!
Have y'all seen the show The Baby Borrowers? The show where teens who want to have children watch babies for a week and see how it goes. It's so interesting! I'd like to volunteer my children for a week. I'll take a vacation and give some ignorant teen couple the best birth control EVER! In fact, I'm sure there are some parents in Lubbock that I could volunteer these services to for their teen children...everyone wins! :) Let me know if you're interested.
Life is...good. Still working through some stuff, but I'm doing alright. And as I've learned, you work through it, persevere, and on the other side is the prize. So I'm making a deliberate effort to work through it.
Anyways, that is about all for now. I need to go do the dishes...blah. I can think of about 10,000 other things I'd rather be doing. Oh well, such is life.
Read Esther 2:12--18
God does not mock us with the things He includes in His Word. He isn't in the business of making His people squirm under some unrealistic expectation that they can never attain---something that is totally unique to one person but remains for everyone else a frustrating and unreachable challenge. But I must quickly add, you cannot become these things by taking your cues from the world. That only brings defeat and frustration. You, as an individual, have your own pressures, your own difficulties, your own unique circumstances, but God offers ways to handle them and become His special person. The question is how?
First, ask God. Ask Him to cultivate character within you. Ask Him to give you a discontent for the superficial and a deeper desire for the spiritual. Make yourself available to His strength, His reproofs. Seek His counsel for the things you lack. Allow Him to help you set reasonable goals. Record them in your journal so you will have a written account of your prayer to Him.
Ask God to give you that kind of authenticity. To place more emphasis on what's happening deep within your heart and less emphasis on the externals, the superficial, the temporary.
Second, trust God. Trust Him to control the circumstances around you---those very circumstances that you perhaps are using as an excuse for not being the woman you want to be. Don't wait for your circumstances to be perfect. Remember Esther. At the height of competition, surrounded by sensual, greedy, superficial women, Esther stood alone. And, amazingly, God gave her favor in others' eyes!
Ask God. Trust God. We are completely dependent on Him for eternal life, for forgiveness, for character, for security. His light in our lives gives us a growing disgust for things that merely satisfy the flesh. It shows us the importance of character, the incredible change that can come by standing alone on the things of God. He alone can give us grace and winsomeness and keep us from becoming squint-eyed, cranky Christians. It is His working in our lives that uses us even in the harems of life to make a difference and to model a charm and a beauty, a dignity and an elegance that cannot help but cause people's attention to be drawn to Him and His power. Ask. Trust.
*********************************************
It's been a good week. I'm getting pretty accustomed to the life of 8-5. The transition for me has actually gone pretty well. I work in a great place, so that's a huge help. Kyle is still not real happy about daycare, but I think that just may be his personality. Madi has always been so independent, but Kyle has always been a little bit more clingy. He will probably be the child grabbing on to my leg when I leave him for Kindergarten. Madi was more like, "Bye mom! See you when I graduate!"
My funding FINALLY came in for daycare. I was not aware that there is a program to help low income families with daycare. I know now. It finally came in on Monday, so I will actually see part of my paycheck. Y'all know how expensive daycare is for one child...multiply that by three and that is what I've been having to pay for over a month now. I am soooo relieved, not to mention grateful for the assistance!
Have y'all seen the show The Baby Borrowers? The show where teens who want to have children watch babies for a week and see how it goes. It's so interesting! I'd like to volunteer my children for a week. I'll take a vacation and give some ignorant teen couple the best birth control EVER! In fact, I'm sure there are some parents in Lubbock that I could volunteer these services to for their teen children...everyone wins! :) Let me know if you're interested.
Life is...good. Still working through some stuff, but I'm doing alright. And as I've learned, you work through it, persevere, and on the other side is the prize. So I'm making a deliberate effort to work through it.
Anyways, that is about all for now. I need to go do the dishes...blah. I can think of about 10,000 other things I'd rather be doing. Oh well, such is life.
posted by Larissa at
6:41 PM
2 Comments:
ehhh . . . dishes smishes . . .
my kids are still in Florida...it is too quiet around here!
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