Take It As It Comes

God has been working on my heart about a lot lately. I feel as though I need to go through each day and each situation and just "ponder things in my heart" as Mary did in Luke 2:19. I have tried to get in the habit lately of taking each day as it comes. As a creative and a girl, this is difficult. It's so easy to over think things or plan out exactly how my day will go, but so hard to just rest in the assurance that God holds me. Why is this? The One who created the stars is intimately involved in my day to day life, yet I cannot trust Him with the plans He has for me? It just doesn't make sense. I want to stop living like I am in control. I have really made a point to do that lately. Can I just say, it's an incredible feeling to simply let go? That doesn't mean not caring about the day or situation, but just resting in the peace that He really does work all things together for the good of those who love Him.

I have had a situation that keeps taking me by surprise lately. I really never know what to expect or how to act. I would cry to God and whine about it consistently and even store up anger and hurt in my heart. I finally said, "I have had enough. I can no longer carry this!" That's when I feel like God stepped in gave much needed perspective and peace.

It's hard to be where our feet are when we have dreams and desires. We automatically make elaborate plans and solutions. This does not leave room for God. How can we live in His will if we plan for Him? I for one am done planning. Not to say I'm going to go through life aimlessly, but that I always want to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and know that while things do not make sense sometimes, God sees the big perspective and knows what He is doing.

The way God works is so much greater than our ways, how precious are His thoughts! God gave me a beautiful picture of the way He loves tonight at church: We entered a time of prayer towards the end of the service and the daddy of a girl I know is on the leadership team, so he went up to pray for people. In a moment, the girl went up to her daddy and wanted him to pray for her. She put her hands up on his big strong shoulders and he looked at her with pure love. He swept the hair out of her face with his hand and leaned down to listen to her whisper in his ear. I felt like God said to me, "Emily, this is Who I Am to you. I love you like that." I was overwhelmed with emotion and the beauty of the way He loves.

He really does care for you. He really does walk beside you every day and wait for you to look up to Him and whisper in His ear. He really does listen when you talk to Him. He really does work all things together for your good because you are called according to His purpose.

^" For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

My Own Personal Nineveh

The book of a Jonah is a book that can relate beautifully to pretty much any Christ-follower’s walk. God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell them of His coming judgment, but Jonah disobeyed, ran the other way and took a ship to Tarshish. His disobedience caused a horrible storm, so he told the other men on the boat to throw him overboard and the storm would stop. The storm came to an end and God sent a huge fish to swallow Jonah whole. He stayed in the belly of the whale for 3 days until the fish spit him out after Jonah cried out to God. Jonah finally went to Nineveh and told the people to repent. The people reacted by repenting and fasting, and God spared them from destruction. Jonah sat on a mountaintop and complained to God. He was very angry that God had spared them, but The Lord responded by showing Jonah that He had the power and authority to condemn or show mercy. The choice was His.

            The reason I said I thought the book of Jonah can relate to pretty much any person who is on a journey following Christ, is because there will always come a time when God will ask us to do something or go somewhere and we try to run in the opposite direction. For me, that time was about a year and a half ago when I felt like God was calling me to do this internship. It was the last thing I wanted to do; my own personal “Nineveh”. I already had a perfect little plan in mind and started running the other way to “Tarshish”. But God kept drawing me back to Himself and His plan. Finally, after fighting God and crying out in prayer, I arrived at Nineveh. I jumped in the deep end head first, but God didn’t leave me alone. He moved and did big things. But like Jonah, I felt like God had told me what He was going to do. I had a picture in my mind of what it was I had to look forward to, of what was going to happen. I’m now sitting on a mountain top overlooking the whole situation, overlooking my Nineveh, and complaining and saying to God, “When are You going to move? Why aren’t You doing the things You said You would do? What about the things You told me and the promises You made?” My answer came in God’s answer to Jonah: “Because I am God and you are not. Do I not have the power to choose?”  I feel like this is the ultimate message of Jonah; that whatever we think we are in control of, we are wrong. God has a plan for everything and is in control of every situation. The difficult part is trusting that He holds it all and knows what is best. Which is funny, because looking at Who He Is and His character, how could we not trust Him? But there is good news! God knows us intimately and knows that we struggle. He delights when we make even baby steps towards Him. Just as He had compassion on Nineveh when they turned towards Him, He shows compassion and understanding in our own lives. All we have to do is look to Him, trust Him and pray like we’re in the belly of a whale.

“For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me…But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to You; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!” Jonah 2:3&9