Trust YE In the Lord Jehovah

I just was thinking about some things today and I ended up thinking about this subject. 

I know that trusting the Lord sometimes is easier than trusting our husbands…heavy subject I know…even though we struggle sometimes to trust the Lord we know in the end that He has never failed us and so trust naturally…eventually comes.  Trusting our husbands sometimes takes a bit more effort because we see his faults and failures before us; and for most of us the thought of putting control of our life in the hands of another mere mortal is terrifying.  What we need to understand is that by trusting our husbands we ARE trusting the Lord.  He ultimately has control.    

I haven’t had to do this with too many LIFE decisions yet; but in our last few years we have had more of those come our way.  And at the present we are being faced with potentially another big one.  Now myself I begin weighing ALL the possible scenarios in my mind…good…bad…and the worse.  Some of them I think I could live with and then some of them I refuse to even think about…I know we’ve all been there. 

My mind went to a situation that we dealt with a few years ago.  To preface this…for 2 years my husband had felt to do something; but whenever he would mention this I would go NUTS.  No other way to describe it.  I FREAKED OUT.  Eventually he just quit discussing it with me.  Two years went by and I finally began to get the hint.  Yes…it took that long for the Lord to get through to me.  Pray for me.

I could go into a long story about why this was so scary; but those things just don’t matter and most of them weren’t even true they were just fears I had created.    

We were driving home from church one Sunday and my patient husband carefully approached the subject once again.  For the sake of making my point I am going to go ahead and tell you what it was. 

He asked “Davita…(long pause)…what would you think about us retiring from the youth group”?

Now mind you…that normally this would have sent me into a long line of accusations and preaching.  For this time though the Lord had been doing some work on me.  I swallowed hard…paused…and with more sincerity than I had ever felt before I said “well…it will be hard for me; but if that’s what you think we should do”.  I know that still doesn’t seem very submitted; but it was MILES from where I had been 2 years ago. 

As we drove we began to discuss it…calmly…rationally.  I did more listening and he did more talking.  I could feel the Lord talking and giving him the strength…and helping me keep my mouth shut. 

When we got home we put the girls to bed and began to discuss it more.  I voiced my concerns that I wanted to make sure it was the Lord’s will and he assured me that he felt it was.  Finally I could see he really wanted to ask me something so I encouraged him to say what he felt. 

He let it go.  He was afraid…my big strong John Wayne of a man was afraid…my heart fell apart.  He was afraid that if he made this decision that I would resent him for the rest of my life.  Talk about a wakeup call.  As he sat on the edge of our bed I noticed for the first time how his shoulders slumped with the weight he had been carrying. 

At that moment I felt the Lord move into our conversation.  He was getting ready to change our lives…our marriage. 

When I opened my mouth I knew without a doubt the Lord was in control. 

My words with tears streaming down my face were “Phillip…you are a GOOD man.  I know that you love the Lord and you are doing your best to follow him.  I know that you would never do anything that you thought would harm our family; and I trust you.  I’m so sorry for all the times that you have tried to lead our family and I fought you; but if you will give me one more chance I would like to follow you.  If you will lead I will follow.”

When I did that he began to cry and I physically saw the weight that he had been carrying for so long fall from his shoulders. 

To this day I will never forget the transformation that took place that night or the look of relief that washed across his face.  Our marriage has never been the same.  Not that we haven’t had small struggles since then; but without a doubt we have never been closer to being ONE. 

I promise if you ever experience something like this for yourself it will change your life. 

Since then I have watched the Lord work in so many ways…with me, with Phillip; and with my children.   Change was the hardest thing for me to go through.  It was hard for me to let go of something that I still had a burden for; but over the last few years I have watched that burden change.  I am learning to trust that my husband can hear from the Lord just as well, if not better than me.  I still love our young people…I still pray for them always; but I feel the Lord has increased a different burden in my eyes.  I am raising two beautiful girls whose ground I need to plant seeds in so that they can grow into THEIR full potential in the Lord.  I am joyfully burdened with the calling of raising potential Bride members!!   Oh my…where would we be if I hadn’t listened to the Lord that night and trusted in the Lord?  Where would my children be?  Thank you Lord for mercy and patience in working with us. 

I know in life there will be many more life choices we will have to make…and you may all have to repeat this back to me someday; but for now let me leave you with this song:

'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to take Him at His Word;
Just to rest upon His promise,
And to know, "Thus saith the Lord!"

Refrain:
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er;
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to trust His cleansing blood;
And in simple faith to plunge me
'Neath the healing, cleansing flood!

Yes, 'tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just from sin and self to cease;
Just from Jesus simply taking
Life and rest, and joy and peace.

I'm so glad I learned to trust Thee,
Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend;
And I know that Thou art with me,
Wilt be with me to the end.

Practice Peace

I am an imperfect mother at the least.  I fail daily…some days hourly.  I always begin with the best intentions; but some days those best intentions are never realized.

This morning I was praying and asking the Lord to help me be a good, kind; and loving mother.  This is something that unfortunately is not natural to me. 

I ran across an article about this mom who always seemed to find herself yelling at her kids.  As I was reading she was telling about an experience where she could feel herself getting frustrated at her child and before she confronted her child she took a minute to pray and ask God to help her.  Her prayer was really honest and so I included it in this link so you could read it.  http://www.thebettermom.com/2014/05/01/really-want-yell/   

I really enjoyed her honesty and after I read her article I thought of these two words.  PRACTICE PEACE.

I thought wow that’s strange.  My whole life I have heard the phrase “practice makes perfect”.  But that’s exactly what she was doing.  She was practicing what she already knew to do. 

Sometimes in order to become skilled in an area like music or sports we have to practice. 

If I want my home to naturally be peaceful then I must first practice being peaceful myself.  When I feel that frustration rising I must practice responding in peace if I want BE peaceful.  I just thought this was a really good way to look at it. 

Lord help me practice peace.  At the very moment I can feel myself getting frustrated let me stop for a second to ask for your help and then let me proceed with caution.

Dedicated to God

Listening to a meeting in Hurst and Bro. D.L. Jones made the statement below and it got my mind to thinking…
“You’re dedicated to coming to church.  You’re dedicated sometimes to doing your job…preaching…teaching… etc.  But are you really SOLD OUT to this God?”

“What you do is a reflection of course; but it has nothing to do sometimes with what we do.”

He’s not saying it doesn’t matter what we do; but that is not our primary reason for serving God.

I thought WHOA this is a deeper definition of going through the motions.  You can be faithful to church…sing in the choir…testify…even praise the Lord; but there is a depth that even goes past all that He is looking for.  This cannot be a life that we just DO, it has to be a life that we ARE.  It has to be a life we live from the time that we wake up in the morning to the time that we lay our head on our pillow at night.  It must be a life we live whether we are up or we are down.  It must be a life we live whether we are “accepted” by those around us or we are not.  It must be a life we live when we’re sick or we are well.  We must not just surrender our Sunday mornings and our Wednesday nights; but we must surrender our LIFE.  We must give up our wants for HIS desires.  Give up our ideas for HIS truths.  We must give up our worldly pleasures for HIS treasures.  We have to give up our reactions for HIS responses.

If He says do something we must do it…without question…hesitation…or argument.  He says stop we must stop.  If He says we can’t go there…don’t go.  If He says don’t watch, listen to; buy that then don’t do it.

I tell my kids…when do we obey?  RIGHT AWAY.    

At some point we…I…have to get to the place where HE directs our every step…thought…action. 

TOTAL…unfeigned…whole hearted…non-conditional…dedication!!  Not dedication because we have something to DO; but complete dedication to our Savior because of who HE is. 

We aren’t faithful to church just because we enjoy being there, or pray just to hear ourselves talk; but we should DO the things He’s asked us to DO because of what He did for us.  Because we want to lay down OUR will and OUR time and OUR comfort to honor Him.  It is not about us…it’s about HIM.  He didn’t save us because we are so great, or have so great a talent He couldn’t live without; but He looked down on us because we needed Him.  What do we have to offer Him that HE hasn’t given to us?  Nothing!!  We should dedicate our life to Him because He laid down His life for us.  He didn’t have to…he made a choice to have mercy on a group of sinful people who without Him had no hope.  Why shouldn’t I lay my life down for Him and allow Him to direct it as He chooses.  My goodness my life is the least I could give Him and that is not even a drop in the bucket for what He did for me.    

 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:”               Gal. 2:20

Help me Lord.

Tis So Sweet

I am so thankful for the words that we heard this weekend!!  It is words like what we heard that will resonate in our minds and keep us when things get harder.  When I went home Sunday night I was very sober minded.  I have heard things about the beast…revelation…the dragon my whole life; but when you see evidence of those things truly coming to pass it makes it more real.

Monday morning I was sitting at my desk and kept going over and over these things in my head.  I found myself stepping into the what if’s…we’ve all been there.   I can feel the Lord really working in the spirit in our services and at home in my own personal life.  I feel this urgency to work on my life as I’m sure you all have felt.  I almost felt this fear settling over me.  I know its crazy; but this life…this way means so much to me and the thought of missing out on what the Lord is doing is almost too much to think about.

I began telling the Lord, “Lord what if all I am is scaffolding and that when it comes time to take my place in the building I will just fall away…”  Seriously…this is how I was thinking.

I have believed in the Lord what seems my whole life.  I have believed this is the way He showed me to go.  Not just because I was raised here; but because the Lord himself opened my eyes to what He’s doing!!  I KNOW without any doubt or reservation that this is God’s church!!  HIS work in the land.  My eyes can see and my ears can hear; but because of that I am so afraid that I am going to miss something.  That I’m not going to hear His voice in some area or that I’m going to fail to finish my course.  I know I am 33 years old and this may sound silly; but I don’t want to fail Him.  It is too important!!  It is my LIFE!!  It is my children’s LIFE!!  I don’t want to miss out on the BRIDE.  I know that if I fail to finish my course and I’m striving that I will come up in the resurrection; but (I’m sorry if this is offensive), I don’t want to settle for the new earth.  Not that that wouldn’t be amazing too; but I want to be in the Bride.  Since I was a child that was all I have ever wanted.  That was my entire goal and ambition in life.  I want to make it.    

As I was thinking all of this I was firing back at those thoughts and saying things like “Bro. Wright said that if we were just scaffolding we needed to pray and ask the Lord to help us do whatever we need to do to be part of the building…Lord help me do what I need to do”!! 

I was thinking and praying and fighting all at the same time LOL!!.

As I stepped away from my desk I heard a sweet little phrase “Tis’ So Sweet To Trust In Jesus…Just to take Him at His word…”.   I thought wow where did that come from?  It’s not a song I just go around singing.  I went back to my computer and decided to look it up to see what the rest of the words were; and WOW!!  As I began to listen I felt this sweet peace wash over me.  I thought yes…I can take Him at His word…I can stand on His promise…and I can rest from all the what ifs in His precious peace!! 

Here are the words and the link to the video I watched :0)

'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to take Him at His Word;
Just to rest upon His promise,
And to know, "Thus saith the Lord!"

Refrain:
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er;
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to trust His cleansing blood;
And in simple faith to plunge me
'Neath the healing, cleansing flood!

Yes, 'tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just from sin and self to cease;
Just from Jesus simply taking
Life and rest, and joy and peace.

I'm so glad I learned to trust Thee,
Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend;
And I know that Thou art with me,
Wilt be with me to the end.

 https://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=slv1-swat02&p=tis%20so%20sweet%20to%20trust%20in%20jesus%20lyrics&type=

THIS is how you just let go.  THIS is how you trust the Lord!!  How?  Because we can take Him at His word.  Why?  Because He has proved Himself to us over and over and over!!!  When we…I…take Him at His word there is no more fear!!  There is no more stress.  There is no more worry.  Why?  Because He has NEVER in 33 years EVER forsaken me.  He knows my heart and He will help me!!  The task may seem daunting; but the Lord will finish the work.

What does HIS WORD say?

What promises has He given that we can REST in?

Rest from what?  What do we need to rest from?

Has He proved Himself faithful time and time again?

A few weeks ago Shaelyne gave a testimony about being on a merry go round and just letting go and enjoying the ride.  She talked about getting in the middle of that merry go round and letting go…trusting in the Lord.  I have listened to that testimony over and over.  I could really feel it!!  THIS is how you do that!!!  You have to trust that if you keep taking steps…moving when the Lord says move…staying when the Lord says stay…that in the end it will be enough.  Trust that the Lord will not forget your labor and in the end WILL say “Well done Davita…well done”!!!  I long to know without a shadow of a doubt that I have done all that the Lord has required of me. 

So for now I am going to step into the center of that merry go round…throw my hands in the air…keep taking steps…working…pressing…praising the Lord…and trusting that if I’ll keep working HE will keep helping me; and in the end He will say “Well done thou good and faithful servant…enter in to the JOY of the Lord”!!!!  GLORY GLORY GLORY!!!!    

Watching...Listening...Learning...Doing

All my life I have watched people.  What do I mean by that?  I have watched my parents...I have watched my aunts and uncles...I have watched our ministry...I have watched the saints in our church.  I have watched how they acted...I have watched what they respond to...I have watched and watched and watched.  Today I was thinking...as I get older I am seeing those people that I have watched all my life begin to pass away.  I am watching how they go through their different situations...constantly learning. 
What will I do if suddenly one day I look up and all those people that I have watched are no longer there and suddenly I am the one that is being watched?  Have I watched enough?  Have I listened enough? Do my footsteps line up with theirs as they did their best to line their footprints up with Christ?  Do I have enough of this vision in my life that if all the people that I am watching...are no longer there to watch...that I will stay in the way...stay the course...be a leader for those who are watching me? 
As I thought to myself today...what am I going to do without those people I have watched if the Lord chooses to take them on? 
Well...I will do what I have been taught while I watched all these years.  I will go to church...I will keep going...and I will keep going.  I will keep walking...I will keep listening...I will keep praying...I will keep striving.
I have not just learned by people who have talked the talk I have learned by people who have walked the walk.  I have been taught to do the right thing...even if you would rather no.  I have learned to depend on the Lord...even if I'm not sure of where we're headed.  I have learned to think on the good things...even when it seems the bad things would overwhelm me.  I have learned to help and serve others...even if I am in need myself.  I have learned how to be strong in my convictions...while still loving whole heartedly those who's convictions may be different.
These are things that I have learned by watching those around me.  And even if those who I have watched are no longer there I still will have the things that they have added to my life.  I will still hold on to the vision that they helped the Lord plant in my heart.  I still will hold fast to the vision that I have been given...not because it's THEIR vision; but because somewhere along the way it was no longer THEIR vision it became MINE.  Because my vision and convictions finally go deeper than just those people who I have watched for so long...they are connected to one they originated from.  The Lord...and HE will always be there to guide if I will keep listening...and watching...and praying...and walking...and striving...and shouting!!! 
Thank you to all that I have watched and learned from.  Thank you for staying on the job no matter what.  Thank you for living the vision before me so that I could see my faith in shoe leather. 
I love you !!!!!