God's glory...

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a big God moment like this one, so I thought I would share it with you…

This week in our bible study, Living Free, we talked about pride. Along with that, we talked about humbling ourselves before God and allowing Him to break down our pride and, through that, break down other strongholds in our life, and through that, turn it around to give God the glory. Wow! It was hard, but God REALLY worked in my heart this week.

Some of you know what my family has been going through for the past month, and some of you don’t, but that’s ok. God is allowing me (us) to get past that and has worked me, personally, through some things through this week’s study. For that, I praise God!

Let’s address pride first, and I apologize if my thoughts seem very unorganized, but I was overwhelmed with the number of things God revealed to me this week. The very first thing that stuck out to me this week was that pride is ANYTHING revolving around myself. I remembered a time when I was talking with a group of girls about our self esteem, or lack thereof, and I mentioned that I hated being around a large group of girls because it felt like anytime I entered the room or left the room, the group of girls would whisper or laugh at me, or so it seemed. It was then that one of the girls subtly said, “It’s not all about you!” That really stuck with me and the point was driven even more with this study. In Proverbs 8:13, God says, “I hate pride and arrogance.” I hate the thought of God “hating” my attitude and I want to change that even if it means that I allow God to change the lack of self esteem that I have. I am loved by God. I want to practice humility because God “respects” the humble. (Proverbs 3:34; James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5; Isaiah 57:15; Isaiah 66:2) I have to remember that humility is God-focused and not self-focused. God, help me to overcome pride.
This was a hard one for me as I was working through some things. What God is doing in our lives, the church, etc. is not about me… it’s all about Him! Who am I to make it about me, or my family? Who am I to worry about an apology from someone because they hurt me or someone that I love? That’s not what it’s about! It’s ALL ABOUT GOD’S GLORY and the work we do for Him, through Him, to expand His Kingdom.

That all led me to my next point and to me the most important:
I know that God has my family right where we are supposed to be. There are so many things that God has orchestrated in our lives. He has provided a way for our family to be taken care of financially. You see, Zack and I had prayed and decided that God wanted us to move to Texas for school by the beginning of 2007 in July of 2006. This was when we had no idea how we were going to pay for school, where we were going to live, etc. Then we found out we were going to have Andrew and even then, we were still convinced that God wanted us in Texas by January of 2007. It was a huge step of faith, but we were still committed to it. Then, Zack was called as the Children’s Minister here at First Baptist Watauga, and from there, God took care of a whole bunch of other things that I won’t get into here, but it was all for His glory. Even after some personal struggles that we have been facing, we still know that God has us here and it’s where we are supposed to be. He even provided a way for Zack to afford to go to school by giving us a place to live with little or no financial worries.
There is a lot more that God revealed to me this week and that I am very excited about. I know that God loves me and my family and I know he will always provide. I will leave you now with one last thing:
I thank God for our church family here at First Baptist Watauga. I thank them for loving on us, taking care of us, and supporting us through the hardest 2 years of our lives.