Yesterday at work I found a quote by Hellen Keller. It said that we should lift our faces up to the sunshine and not live in the shadows because that is what the sunflowers do. I want to be like the sunflowers. Completely, utterly satisfied to just bask in the sunlight on any old day, no matter how heavy the clouds are that day.
Today I woke up and I knew that I needed refreshment today, and I knew that the only place I could ever find it was in the Word of God, of course, because God is everything that my heart could need. Sounds cliche, right? Well, to our sinful hearts it does, but He is the only one who can satisfy my deepest needs. Darling, help me to remember as I remind you that no matter what we long for, everything in us is pointing to the God who created us and wants us to long for Him. God created us with needs and longings inside and they point us to Him and how much we long for Him.
You know, once in a while I think, "yeah, I don't know what I'd do if that happened..." and even the thought of it makes me feel desperate... but the thing of it is that it's good for us to be afflicted. Yes, I said GOOD. Because it DRIVES US like wildfire to God!
"It was good for me to be afflicted so that I could learn Your statutes." (Psalm 119:11). I wrote that on my arm so that I wouldn't forget it... Baby, I'm feeling desperate! And I need to remember that my God will not leave me or forsake me, and that the reasons He is putting me through these times of desperation is so that I can LEARN His Word! The most precious jewels in the entire world <3 Darling, that is His Word... His words are more precious than the most valuable things in the world. They are more precious than anything, and now He's giving me more of His Word and it's so satisfying.
So today, I'm feeling desperate, right? Because of this affliction in my life... all of these changes that seem so unbearable, but I know that the Lord has led me to them (and I don't know how they'll turn out by the way! So it's a walk of FAITH which makes it even harder!). So this is how desperate I was feeling. I woke up and went straight to my front porch to sit down with my cold coffee from yesterday (yes, I didn't even brew a fresh pot!) and sat down to read the Word. I started reading Psalms. I took some in, went to do something... for about 10 minutes. Came back, sat down, read Romans. Went to go do something for about 5 minutes, came back, read more Romans. Got up, threw some laundry in the machine, came back, sat down, read 1 Samuel with Beth Moore... Oh my God, I cannot get enough of YOU! I couldn't stand to do anything else today! And I don't know what else to do other than just take in His Word and His promises...
Something I need to remember though, is that I don't want to just take in His word to fix my problems so that I can fix my life... I want to read His Word so that I can have a relationship with Him and grow closer to Him and learn how to run from Him.
Say I'm a sunflower in the Sunshine (which I am, because I'm going to choose to bask in His presence). I am a daughter who lives in the provision and light of her Daddy. My great heavenly Father is the Father of lights who gives me every good and perfect thing (James 1:1)7 There is no changing with Him even though my life seems to be going up in FLAMES right now!!! *rawr!*
My Good Daddy gives me every good and perfect thing... and that's enough for me.
So I had one of my dear friends come over today, not that I know her very well, but just that she has been there a couple times to talk when I needed her and she identified with me and was open with me. We sat down to talk and it was just simply wonderful to see another woman who loved the Lord so desperately and just wanted to see His will done in her life. Something I saw in her is something I want.
I want to bask in the light of my Daddy and know that He is going to provide for me no matter what. I spend an awful lot of time asking the Lord what I need to do to have His work done in me, but this young woman, she just sat there and basked in the Lord's sunshine. She just sat with her face up to the Lord, talking about something random and took in His light all day long, no matter how thick the clouds were. I want to be like that. I want to stop trying so hard to make the Lord's work happen in my life when He is perfectly capable of fulfilling His work in my life (Romans 8:28-30).
"We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God; those who are called according to His purpose. For those He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined to be conformed to the image of His son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; and those He called, He also justified; and those He justified He also glorified."
The Spirit of God is praying for God's will in my life even when I am not! (Romans 8:27). The Spirit of God knows what He wants in my life and that is what God is going to do. Thank God for that!!!
