A God that goes before me!!!

As many of you know we are in the middle of raising support to enable us to do the work we believe God is calling us to. Support raising is such a humbling and emotionally exhausting ride. It is amazing to see the generosity of other believers and so uplifting to have other believers in our corner! Throughout this time Derek and I have continued to see God work in our lives and the lives of others. But, my human nature causes me to have days where I doubt...I doubt that we can raise the money we need....or doubt that we will get it done in the time frame we believe God has laid out. But...every time I have ONE OF THOSE DAYS God meets me where I am and gives me an amazing dose of his love. I sit here crying as I type this...so humbled that God loves me. That God cares enough about me that on my lowest days that he would send a person, or a verse, or a song to remind me that HE ALONE is on the throne. HE IS IN CHARGE and HE IS CALLING THE SHOTS!

The other day Derek and I were enjoying an amazingly quiet lunch together (I have no idea how that happened!). We were talking and inevitably conversation turned to our current transition into ministry. I said "Derek, how are we going to do this?!?!". My wonderfully amazing husband responded with a somewhat irritated "WE aren't". (I forgave his irritation because we have had this conversation before:) And, he is right! I just needed to hear it. This task has never been ours and I am so thankful!

After lunch I sat down to do my Bible study while the kids were resting/napping. I am currently working through "Jonah" by Priscilla Shirer. The title for the day was "Set Up To Win". God spoke to me through that lesson. In the study Priscilla Shirer gave example after example of how God goes before us and paves our way. One of the examples was from 2 Chronicles 20:6-24. King Jehoshaphat was facing an attack by three separate armies. Defeat was inevitable. But, God stepped in and gave instructions for the Israelite army to go out to meet their enemies. King Jehoshaphat obeyed. Not only did his army go forth, but they went forth with praise and worship! Wow! Can you imagine? Thinking that there was a good chance you were marching to your death and still praising God along the way?!?! I realized that I need to do just that. I should be singing praise to Jesus my savior, to my God who goes before me, as I march along this path he has set my feet upon. He sets us up to win...all we have to do is step up and get in the game.

Our God's love is so lavish that he has continued to drive this point home with me. Very rarely do I have a chance to turn on the radio...nor do I want to:) If I get a chance for quiet, I take it! But, this morning after dropping Isaiah off at preschool, Simeon makes a request for some music. I turn on Star 88.3 and catch the tail end of a song by Needtobreathe. The very first words I heard were,

Yahweh, Yahweh...

Great is your glory when you go before me

Oh, we sing...

Holy, Holy...

Your ways are lovely. So high above me.

Yahweh

Isn't God amazing? He goes before us. He has good things planned for us. He sets us up to win. He is so high above us. He blows my mind...

Thank you Jesus.

-Lydia

p.s. check out the whole song through the link below:)

NEEDTOBREATHE - Signature Of Divine [Yahweh] (video)

Talents

Ever since I was little I have felt God's call on my life to enter into missions. I had this innate desire to go and serve. As a kid I thought I had to have medical training to be useful on the missions field- so I decided I wanted to be a nurse. Upon entering college I still wanted to earn a degree in nursing but it wasn't feasible to be in the nursing program while playing volleyball collegiately. I knew it was possible to pursue nursing after my playing days were over...but I let that dream die.

As the years passed the feeling that God was calling me into missions never went away. But I thought maybe I had somehow messed up God's plan for by not pursuing that nursing degree...

Then something wonderful happened. I realized I didn't need that nursing degree because God wasn't calling me to be a nurse! How freeing! I realized that what God was calling me to do was to use the talents he has already given me for his glory. I realized I could let go of all of my pre-conceived notions of who I had to be to be useful to our Lord. All I had to do was be willing to use the talents God has blessed me with.

Do you know that God has given you a unique set of talents and abilities for a reason? Are you using them to glorify God? You can be sure of this...if God gave you a gift he wants you to use it!

Because of Him,

Lydia