Baptism

Jeremiah 29:11  –  “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Proverbs

Gotta love some Proverbs.  Little Nuggets of wisdom, truth and guides for your life.  I was catching up on reading my Bible in a year and this stuck with me.  Again one of those things where a verse sticks with you at that moment because what is going on in your life.

Proverbs 16: 8-9  I chewed on these. 

8- Better a little with righteousness then much gain with injustice.

In today’s world we want, want, want and we want it now!  We want a shortcut.  The first part which is probably obvious and this is “elementary” on my part but, It is better to gain and have little in life if you did it with honestly, integrity, and a Godly heart.  That is yours and you earned it and you can be respected for that and you did it in a pure manner.    But if you have a lot and you obtained it with dishonesty, bad intentions, unfairly and without a Godly heart, then people might envy you, yeah but, they will not respect you or trust you and you will one day have to answer to God.

So as hard as it is sometimes to keep doing the right thing and feeling like you are getting no where remember that it is better than the alternative and that you are keeping your integrity in tact and your relationship with God is not being diminished.  It is not about what we have or what we don’t have.

9- In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.  

First off, I love this because it reminds me of that Paula Abdul song,  Two steps forward and two steps back.  Okay, Sorry, I can never be serious for long without putting a joke in or some type of smart remark.

This reminds me to not get too caught up in my own head/heart/will.  The Lord wants good things for us and wants us to succeed.  You just have to be patient and know that God has a plan for you.  We are not always going to know the exact steps to take, how many steps there are or what direction those steps might take, that is up to God and what he wants you to learn along the way.  They might go in a circle before it straightens out again.  We must be patient when things seem far away and ready to accept change if it is presented sooner than expected.

Okay, just something to think about!

This is the stuff that gives you PEACE.

Psalm 9 : 9-10

9-The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a strong hold in times of trouble.  10- Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

Let’s break this down.

Refuge = Protection

Oppressed = Suffering

Stronghold = place for security

Trouble = Distress; hard times (Could be many different things for different people.)

Know =  understand as fact or truth; to apprehend clearly and with certainty

Trust = reliance on another person or entity; depend on

Forsaken = Abandon; To give up

Seek = go to; to go in search of; to ask for

The Lord is Protection for the Suffering, a place of security in distress or hard times.   People who understand you as truth will depend on you Lord, because you have never given up on those who go to you and search for you!

When I read this and wrote it in my journal I wrote a note to myself.

In times of stress and pain seek the Lord and trust in his power and will, not your own.  He will not forget you or let you down.

This is entirely my interpretation and by all means you should open up the bible and find this in context and the understanding for yourself.

 

In the dark and didn’t even know it.

Before knowing God I had no past beliefs except that there was a “higher power”.  Growing up we never talked about God except for one time when I was an early teen around a camp fire it had come up, don’t ask me how, we discussed it and I kind of remember us all coming up to the same conclusion/feeling that there was something of a higher power but what exactly we didn’t know.  I am pretty sure that they were proud of themselves for not “shoving religion down our throats”.  Looking back now I see that they didn’t know the truth or did not know enough themselves so how can they talk about something if they didn’t know what to talk about or how to approach it?  Once I got older and had my own child I could see myself going down the same path and repeating the same cycle.  I did not want to do that.  I did not want to be naive.  I wanted to know what this God thing was all about.  I wanted to come to my own conclusions.  Stop being ignorant and stay in the shadows.  Sad thing was, I didn’t even know I was in the shadows.

I started my walk first with the smallest of baby steps to grow comfortable in the unknown.  I mean I went to church with my Step Grandmother a couple of times but I was a kid.  Once my husband and I decided to go I can remember the feeling of being so nervous the first couple of times walking from the car to the building.  Wondering what others will think or say about you.  Wondering if you are going to say something stupid because you didn’t know how people spoke or spoke about in church.  We went more and more and it took time to feel comfortable hearing the words Jesus, God, Holy Spirit, Christ.  I was hearing more and more of Gods truths through the messages.  I learned right away that I had walls up.  Walls up that I didn’t even know I had.  Walls built out of ignorance and society.  I knew that I had to keep my mind and heart open if I was ever going to learn what this “Christian” thing was all about.  Don’t get me wrong I had help along the way with my husband’s knowledge of growing up going to church, bible studies and friends.

I don’t have a dramatic testimony or an “Ah Hah” moment and I can’t put my finger on one moment like others can when they “found Jesus” or was “born again”.  I’m okay with that now.  At first I felt like I was doing something wrong.  But God knew that I was like a delicate seed and I needed to take my time to get just the right nourishment to grow.  I was slowly taking everything in.  I was drinking from the living water in small amounts so I wouldn’t be over come and washed away.  I was taking my time to grow Fruits of the Holy Spirit.  It was a slow and warming process.  Like when you are up early enough to watch the sunrise.  First you can see the glowing orange over the horizon but it takes a while for the sun to get high enough before the warmth of the sun hits your face and body.  But once it does it feels so good and comforting, peaceful.

I have walked out of the shadows and into the morning-glory of God’s light!

BTW, I have read this and revised it about 100 times.  Putting yourself out there is scary!