Some Thoughts

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1Peter 5:6-7

My mom tells me that when I was little, one of my favorite songs was "Humble Thyself" based off of 1 Peter 5:6. I would say "Humble, MaMa, Humble."

These past couple of years have been ones of humbling for me.

My devotion this afternoon, (I was in a fog this morning having had ample extra time to pray last night due to Emily's double ear infection) was based off the same chapter, but the next verse, "Cast all your anxiety on Him for He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7. I had never realized before that the two were right next to each other. Humbling ourselves under God's hand then casting our anxiety on Him.

Charles Spurgeon writes "O child of suffering, be thou patient; God has not passed thee over in His providence. He who is the feeder of sparrows, will also furnish you with what you need. Sit not down in despair; hope on, hope ever. ...Doubt not His grace because of thy tribulation, but believe that He loveth thee as much in seasons of trouble as in times of happiness....With a little oil in the cruse, and a handful of meal in the barrel, Elijah outlived the famine, and you will do the same. " (Morning and Evening, morning of Jan. 6th)

Two years ago, when I was placed on bed rest, I basically was taken "out" of life as I had known it. The funny thing is when I got off bed rest, I never really went back. It wasn't something I wanted, but it happened all the same. For a while I struggled trying to make certain areas of my life the way I wanted, the way they were before. All I got were lots of closed doors. Then I resigned to the life I had but felt pretty depressed about it.

Then God started showing me more about His sovereignty. He started showing me how gracious He is being with me, how He is providing for me, and gently pruning areas of my life that needed to be cut out. Mainly it deals with friends and the value I have placed on what other people think of me. The Bible calls this the fear of man. I think that I have been learning to fear God more, and hopefully man less. Maybe this has been God's way of gently leading me to something else that he knows is better.

Mixed in with all this is a struggle we have been having with our home church (of 11 years). About the same time I was placed on bedrest, the church started making major changes. There are many people there that we care about. But it seems that as the church is moving one direction, God is moving us in the opposite. So we find ourselves wondering what to do. We still don't know. Being church "homeless" has been very humbling. The CD The Valley of Vision has been very encouraging and uplifting to me. The first song, In the Valley is my favorite. It puts my situation in perspective and reminds me to put my hope in God. On the hard days it's good to remember that the pruning or humbling is to make me more like Christ, and that's ultimately what I want.

"And though my humbling wouldn't be my decision
It's here Your glory shines so bright
So let me learn that the cross precedes the crown
To be low is to be high
That the valley's where You make me more like Christ"