Go back?

The Lord has inspired me through various outlets this morning ... 1."Faith will rise as we wait upon the Lord," a verse from a popular Christian song by Chris Tomlin. 2. Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" devotional for today - March 19th. 3. The story of the Exodus of God's people from Egypt and lastly, the parables of the Ten Virgins and the bags of gold - Matthew 25:1-30.

I won't bore you with the sordid details of my first thoughts this morning, just know they were quite pitiful. I was rehashing all that has happened to my mind and body since January 5th and feeling quite sorrowful about it. Since I was a camp counselor for three summers the first song to get me out of my funk was, "Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice!" With resolve I grabbed my coffee, weighed myself, (15 lbs gone)and sat down with Oswald and Jesus. The first cries of my heart were, "I want to go back to the way it was before all this ... when is it going to be over!!!" Mr. Chambers reminded me, "Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading." Ahhhh ... now that is some serious Holy Spirit breath to my weak bones. Then I began to think of the Israelites and how wandering in the wilderness, without acknowledging who HAD them and was keeping them, had to be miserable. And then WHAMMO! The Lord pulled out two of my favorite parables - the ten virgins and the bags of gold. Both of these parables (read them NOW if you've forgotten the stories), are teaching us about being ready, trusting our Master, and using what He's given us instead of shirking from the responsibility. Ding, ding, ding! I realized that I will never go back to the way it was and God doesn't want me to desire that. He wants me to move forward in His calling and this journey will have been in vain if I try to bury it and return to the way things were. I can't let that happen. We all go through trials and hardships and we should USE those experiences to draw ourselves and others closer to our Source of Power. Why is the natural inclination of humans to hide their weaknesses? I say flaunt it baby! Let the world know what Jesus has done for you. Take those bags of gold and double, triple or better yet, quadruple them so that the Kingdom of God will be known by all. WHAMMO .... God just reminded me that our hardships may seem like the pits to us, but they are BAGS OF GOLD to Him. Our blood, sweat and tears on this earth are gold to God and He will let us spend it if we will just open our hearts and mouths! Wow. Ain't God good. I woke up at 7:30 feeling like poo, it's 8:27 right now. In just one hour God has taken my rags and turned them into Bags of Gold. SHAZAM! That is something to smile about wouldn't you say? Will He do it for you? YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!!!

Love you,
Ann
xoxoxoxo