How will history remember you?

When the Lord gets a hold of us, sometimes we just have to let him take us where he wants us to go. No, scratch that, all the time we need to let his take us where he wants us to go. I say this because we may have our plans, but, he has something far greater in mind for us than we could ever imagine.

How will history remember you?

We never see the full extent of our legacies. Generations upon generations upon generations see the magnitude of what we have done even if we cannot see it in the moment. You know, the things you consider ordinary in the moment or the things that you are begrudgingly doing. Yeah, those things. I can think of a few stories throughout the bible where the people in the moment did not know the impact their stories were going to have on future generations. I do not think the Hebrew boys - Hanania, Mishaek, and Azaria knew the significance they would have in history when they were thrown in the fiery furnace. Along the same lines, I do not think Daniel knew the significance of him being thrown in the lion's den. Nor did Moses when he struck the rock, or Joshua when he said "As for me and my house...." or John when he talked about Jesus' divinity or Ruth or Deborah or even Rahab for that matter.... I do not believe that these men and women knew that history would remember them as being great.

How will history remember you?

When the Lord gets a hold of us, we need to just let him take us where he wants us to go. Our past present and future are wrapped up with him. It is up to us to do what he instructs. It is up to us to do what he directs us to do..... Who knows how history will remember you because of it. 

Finding Peace in the Closed Door

If I was to tell the truth, I would have to say I am happy. Happier than I've been in months. I find myself in this truth having been out of work for almost a month. I thought I had the perfect opportunity. You know the one that would jump start this illustrious career. I thought God had ordained it. Maybe he did. Maybe he did so that he could then close the Door.

Why would he? Why would he present such a perfect thing, to then close a door? I can think of a few reasons. It could have been me. I may not have been ready. It could have been that I was ready, just not for that place. It could have been that he wanted me to see something that I would have not seen otherwise. Why would he have closed such a perfect opportunity?

If I had to commit to something, I would say that he closed the door to remind me. He closed it to remind me that there are things I need to do for him. He needed to remind me that it is in him that I need to rely on. He is giving me my David on the run moment.

I have mentioned David in other posts and I keep coming back to him because he has such an amazing story of hope, faith, and trust. At this point in the story, David is on the run from Saul. This is after he's been anointed king. So imagine how he felt. He was anointed king. He was given the ultimate job opportunity, but he couldn't step into it yet. He had to take the time to learn how to navigate that world without forgetting himself or where he came from. He had to learn how to navigate that world and still keep God at the forefront. The only way to be able to do this is by knowing who God is in his life. The way in which God drives this home is to strip us of the things in which we rely on that take us away from him. Once he has done this, we are then forced to reexamine the role he has in our lives.

Maybe you have noticed these moments in your life. The moments when everything feels like it is in place, but then the bottom falls out. I would venture to say that God is getting us ready for greatness. He is getting us ready to become "kings" and "queens". He is getting us ready, but we need to know who he is. We need to know how he has operated in our lives because we will hit moments where who we are will be questioned. We will hit moments where we will need to stand up for who we are and who God is. It will be in these moments that we remember the things that God has done for us and how he has looked after us. It is in these moments that we can stand the strongest.

So what if he closes the door. I am willing to bet my life on the fact that God has better for us. We just need to hold fast, hold steady, and be faithful.  

Struggles

*I pray that wherever this finds you, it gives you the encouragement that you need to press forward and not give up.*

We go through struggles every day. Whether it be on the job, our families, our friends etc... We struggle to get us to dig down deep, to get us to think about what it is that we need to possibly turn around; Not only with in us, but with the world around us. Sometimes we struggle because we need to struggle. If life stayed good, we wouldn't learn about who we are because we wouldn't take the time out to stop and spend time with God getting to know HIM.

He uses our struggles to teach us to place our cares on HIM. In Matthew 11:28, Jesus tells us to rest in him when we are weary. To lay all of our burdens on him... How do we learn to do this if we aren’t forced too? I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember ever doing it naturally…. It was through struggling that I began to depend on God more and more than depending on my own understanding of things.... It was through struggling that I am learning that God knows our potential and that HE wants us to live up to it 100%. It is through struggling where we learn that we are stronger than we thought.

So let us rejoice because God never puts anything on us that we cannot handle and once HE knows we can be trusted with the little things, he will start to move us into where HE needs us to be and give us more. Think about it, how can you be given more if you are not a steward over less?

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.... Proverbs 3:5-7