Self-Awareness vs God-Awareness

2 Corinthians 10:5 New Life Version (NLV)

5 We break down every thought and proud thing that puts itself up against the wisdom of God. We take hold of every thought and make it obey Christ.

1 Peter 3:15 New Life Version (NLV)

15 Your heart should be holy and set apart for the Lord God. Always be ready to tell everyone who asks you why you believe as you do. Be gentle as you speak and show respect.

Luke 2:46-47

6 Three days later they found Him in the house of God. He was sitting among the teachers. He was hearing what they said and asking questions. 47 All those who heard Him were surprised and wondered about His understanding and at what He said. 

Absent-minded is a good state to say that I have been in lately.  I have been so engrossed in everything that is going on around me, that I have forgotten small details or find myself walking aimlessly around on auto pilot.  

I am one who likes to pinpoint the “why” behind my feelings and state of mind.  I have been putting the blame on the 20 students that sit in my class daily.  To paint a picture of my class, go step on an ant pile and observe what the ants are doing.  They are going in every direction except the correct one.  Listening to directions or to instruction is almost an impossible task with this group of students.  I just wish that they would listen.  They are so engrossed in everything going on around them that they are missing small details and making mistakes.  That is when I realized that in God’s eyes, I’m just like my students.  I’m not listening to His direction or instructions.  If God had a foam finger and slapped me in the face, I still would miss what He is pointing out.  Why?  I am in a state of mind where I find myself in a Self-Awareness mode vs a God Awareness mode.  I’m turned inward.  My environment is feeding my emotions.  I am scattered in all directions looking for the correct direction.  I need to be more aware of God and looking vertical to Him rather than looking horizontal on what is going on around me. 

Is God trying to slap you with His foam finger?  Is God sending you little messages and you are just walking right through them?  Are you making mistakes and missing the small details?  If we would filter all of our thoughts through Him, how much easier would our lives be?  Grab onto a verse this week that really sits on your heart.  Memorize that verse.  Memorize it to the point of where you can’t help, but think of that verse in the toughest moments.  

Be Blessed!

He provides

Isaiah 26:3 New Life Version (NLV)

3 You will keep the man in perfect peace whose mind is kept on You, because he trusts in You.

Psalm 130:5 New Life Version (NLV)

5 I wait for the Lord. My soul waits and I hope in His Word.

Hebrews 4:16 New Life Version (NLV)

16 Let us go with complete trust to the throne of God. We will receive His loving-kindness and have His loving-favor to help us whenever we need it.

Have you ever been in a situation in which you were praying for answers, but didn’t receive them?  Wouldn’t it be nice to just wake up every morning and pull up an app that gave us direction for each day, month, year, decade?  Sign me up.  Where can I download that app?  I would love for HIM to scream those directions to me daily.  

Sometimes I feel like I could be looking so hard that I look right the finest details that HE is putting in your path. 

In those seasons, God is doing something inside of you.  He is wanting you to pay close attention to what HE sets in your path DAILY.  He is wanting us to not worry about tomorrow.  Pay attention and pray over each action and step.  

Matthew 6:26 New Life Version (NLV)

26 Look at the birds in the sky. They do not plant seeds. They do not gather grain. They do not put grain into a building to keep. Yet your Father in heaven feeds them! Are you not more important than the birds?  27 Which of you can make himself a little taller by worrying?

I read that verse this weekend while sitting on my lanai.  I stopped to listen to the birds chirping around me.  God has got this and will provide.  You just have to have FAITH and know that if you keep your eyes on HIM, you will be able to take today’s steps peacefully.  

Shaping and Molding Us

Jeremiah 18:1-6 New Life Version (NLV)

The Pot-Maker and the Clay

18 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, 2 “Go down to the pot-maker’s house, and there I will let you hear My words.” 3 So I went down to the pot-maker’s house, and saw him making one on the wheel. 4 But the pot he was making of clay did not come out like he wanted it. So the pot-maker used the clay to make another pot that pleased him.

5 Then the Word of the Lord came to me saying, 6 “O people of Israel, can I not do with you as this potmaker has done?” says the Lord. “Like the clay in the pot-maker’s hand, so are you in My hand, O people of Israel.

Mackenzie, my 8 year old daughter, loves crafts.  She will spend hours perfecting each movement she makes on the pieces she is creating.  Tonight she brought me a ceramic pumpkin that she had been painting.  With tears in her eyes, she showed me her precious  pumpkin.  The black she had used for the eyes had bled into the orange.  She had tried to fix it, but that had made it worse.  I took her precious piece of art, sat with her, and helped her paint over the black traces.  It will need another coat of orange tomorrow, but she saw hope in her creation.  She saw that the mistakes could be fixed and made new.  She went to bed pleased with what she had done.

God is consistently molding us and making us new.  We may spend so much time trying to cover up our mistakes or decisions by trying to make them right.  Sometimes that works, but other times our “fixing the problem” can make it worse.  If we hand our problems to our Father, He will take our mistakes and mold them into something beautiful.  With that, we will see hope.  We can know we can be made new again.  We can rest our heads pleased with what He has done.  

This sounds easy, but unless you truly hand over your problems to Him and lay them at His feet, He cannot make it new.  We have to be willing to give Him control of our next steps.  We may not understand the way the Lord is molding a situation, but if we trust and obey, it will turn out to be a beautiful, perfect piece of pottery.  

Be Blessed!

Fearful, vulnerable, lonely, weak, unsure...

2 Corinthians 12:8-10 New Life Version (NLV)

8 I asked the Lord three times to take it away from me. 9 He answered me, “I am all you need. I give you My loving-favor. My power works best in weak people.” I am happy to be weak and have troubles so I can have Christ’s power in me. 10 I receive joy when I am weak. I receive joy when people talk against me and make it hard for me and try to hurt me and make trouble for me. I receive joy when all these things come to me because of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Fearful, vulnerable, lonely, weak, unsure…

Those are words that can slap us hard in seasons where you are being molded by Him.  When you face the rushing world around you, it is hard to hear and see what He is putting in front of us.  This summer I had the vision below placed on my heart (this was taken from an earlier Thoughtful Thursday in August):

Imagine that you are standing on the banks of a river.  This river is not a calm flowing river, but a river that rushes in front of you.  A river that has waves and ripples that come crashing into anything that it meets.  The whirling of the rapids can be exhilarating and spectacular to watch.  However, you have to cross this river on foot.  There is no steady foothold in sight.  You take a deep breath and pray.  As you open your eyes, a stepping stone comes to surface.  This stone is one that is not covered in moss and is not going to waver.  It is a sturdy place to step.  You take your first step, trying not to let the rapids falter your balance.  The minute you look to one side you loose focus, and anxiousness begins to take ahold of your mind.  You close your eyes, pray, breathe, and then open your eyes to see another stone has been placed before you.  Just like the stone you’re standing on, this one is just as secure.  You continue to take one step at a time.  As you are crossing this river, you continue to have moments of anxiousness.  You may even fall into the river, but then pray that He pulls you out so that you can continue to move forward.  

I reread those words in awe of WHY that vision was placed on my heart this summer.  Because now…I’m in the middle of those rushing waters.  I have waves slapping me down, but God is reaching out to rescue me.  He is making huge moves in my life.  These pieces that He is putting into place are so beautiful and exciting.  However, there is a huge gray area that is clouding my vision of what He is asking of me.  So the words of the song “GOD HELP ME” by Plumb have been washing over me this week:  

“Help me to move

Help me to see

Help me to do whatever you ask of me

Help me to go

Help me to stay

I feel so alone here

I know that you are faithful

I can barely breathe

God help me!”

Let them wash over you: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wRpTySE_8A

Be Blessed!