Hello everybody. I’m coming up for air here to express my gratitude and praise for all my blessings, namely our new daughter, Daisy Diane. I’ve been home lately with most of the boys, Mama, and our DAUGHTER, Daisy. It’s been a beautiful blessing and I have felt such love from many of you out there. Gifts and blessings, prayers and hugs. Thank you all for your love. We are feeling it!
So, I have been doing a little reading this morning. As usual, when I read I get inspired. Curious how work encourages growth. I always struggle to get up and get moving. And when I ask God for the strength to get up and to be inspired to work for His glory, I always find myself searching my heart all day for ways I can be of service and be thankful for all that is happening. It’s pretty cool knowing that when I commit myself to Him every moment, then that moment is thus blessed and purposed by Him for me and my good. When I think on this it makes difficult situations easier to handle. I find myself not getting upset at the turn of events simply because they aren’t going the way I want them to go. I realize that I have given myself to God and His purpose for the day and therefore, this turn of events must have purpose and there must be a better result waiting for me that isn’t what I thought it would be. If it’s not my plan, it must be the right one.
So, here’s one thing I read that made me think a lot:
C. S. Lewis: “Mere improvement is not redemption, though redemption always improves people even here and now and will, in the end, improve them to a degree we cannot yet imagine. God became man to turn creatures into sons: not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man. It is not like teaching a horse to jump better and better but like turning a horse into a winged creature.”
This truth is so very important to remember as we navigate through each day. We are all His children. Yes there is evil in this world. And no, I don’t know why He didn’t have us living in a perfect world without evil. (Well, actually that’s how it all started. But that’s another topic.) Perhaps we think too much of ourselves and haven’t fully given way to His love and to the power He holds for us when we submit to His authority. From my personal experience, He is absolutely real and absolutely at work in our lives. Yes I doubt. And yes I struggle. But my experience from time in His presence has proven His word to be true. My experience outside and apart from His presence has proven to be defeating, depressing, destructive, and painful. Always. You’re looking at an addict and a mess of a man when you look at me. The old me. Who I am now is still cursed with my old self sometimes. But my new self is not the same. My new self is exactly like CS Lewis describes. I am now able to fly where before I could only walk. But it’s not on my own ability. Everything new in me is because of, and thru Christ who is IN me and working thru me. The new self desires to be of service and not to be served. The new self believes and has seen a God who works miraculously when we let go of our own selfish desires in order to “do the right thing.” I have witnessed changes in my work, in my personal life, in my prayer life (this is something I didn’t really have before), and in my relationships with friends and family. God desires to have us become all that we are capable of being, all to His glory. He’s not interested in merely having us be nice. He desires to be “all up in our business” making our hearts expand and creating a mindset that trusts Him and His purposes so that we can give fully all that we have in order to witness Him at work. I am still in awe of who He is and what He does on a regular basis. I’ve been following Him now, whole heartedly, for quite some time. And I am not ready for the next cool fad. There is no “other thing.” And I am not brainwashed or confused. My faith is not based on mere hope in something I can’t prove. It is based on God showing Himself to me. It is based on Him talking to me. It is based on His promises. He will do incredible works in us if we submit to Him and allow His love to penetrate our thinking.
I pray that you have a weak spot in the wall around your heart. I pray that you allow Him to walk thru it and start knocking down that wall forever. Nothing is worth as much without some sort of sacrifice or effort. God requires us to sacrifice our old self in order to experience something beyond our imagination, our new self. I’m here to tell you that it’s real and it’s true and you should let Him into your life. It’s a total game changer. Be well and may God bless your steps today