December 16, 2018
"Dumb Decisions" (12/16/18 sermon link)
After listening to Pastor's sermon on "Dumb Decisions" and digesting the teaching for a while, little nuggets of thought came to me reinforcing and adding to the lesson. Today it was through Psalm 27:14.
Sunday service was all about being aware of the process of making good decisions. When we are careless about the process, we can end up in situations where we are asking God to give us His will through the choices that we pick out. This isn't leaning on God's wisdom and trusting God. This leads to us making dumb decisions.
Pastor encouraged us to not be so anxious to come up with solutions to the obstacles, desires, or "gaps" that we have. It is important to recognize that God is doing something in you and in your situation during your period of waiting and expectation. "Sometimes God creates a void so that He can fill it."
The teaching was in tune with other reflections I've had in the past couple of days. A pretty famous blogger recently shared her story of God miraculously restoring her marriage. Her determination to wait on God and allow God to work on her husband while they were separated was brave. It was definitely an example of her being aware of the process it takes to make good decisions because she included God and trusted Him and didn't try to fix her situation by herself.
I reflected on her testimony and thought about the things I've been desiring and hoping for - promotion, direction, more children, and industry. I thought about my past testimonies and how it felt to acknowledge that I had no control over my situation, while believing that God could and would do something. I thought about how it felt when my doctor said, "You will likely never have a baby on your own," and I verbally told my husband, "God is good." I reflected on how painful the doctor's words were and how hard it was to acknowledge the goodness of God. Still, I trusted Him and in the next month, my baby was miraculously formed. Now, not every prayer is answered with a yes, or a right away response and God could be working on your situation for years. There are still hopes and dreams that I continue to wait for an answer on.
Psalm 27:14 says, "Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart." After hearing the sermon and reflecting on the thoughts that kept coming to me during the week, my prayer is to make me courageous as I wait on Him. My prayer and expectation is for God to make my heart strong as I wait for His better plan. King David said, "I would have lost heart ('fainted' in other translations), unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." (Psalm 27:13) We can hand our heart to God and ask for Him to strengthen it because it is hard to trust God in the process of making decisions and it takes courageous faith.
Thankfully, as with any exercise, when we repeatedly stretch our faith muscle and trust in God, it gets easier and easier to do. The situations and hardships may change throughout our life, but with a strengthened heart of faith, we can easily live in those seasons of voids. With a strengthened heart we can trust that God's better plan will absolutely be GOOD and WILL happen.
🎶🎶🎶- Isaac, by Hollyn
"Dumb Decisions" (12/16/18 sermon link)
After listening to Pastor's sermon on "Dumb Decisions" and digesting the teaching for a while, little nuggets of thought came to me reinforcing and adding to the lesson. Today it was through Psalm 27:14.
Sunday service was all about being aware of the process of making good decisions. When we are careless about the process, we can end up in situations where we are asking God to give us His will through the choices that we pick out. This isn't leaning on God's wisdom and trusting God. This leads to us making dumb decisions.
Pastor encouraged us to not be so anxious to come up with solutions to the obstacles, desires, or "gaps" that we have. It is important to recognize that God is doing something in you and in your situation during your period of waiting and expectation. "Sometimes God creates a void so that He can fill it."
The teaching was in tune with other reflections I've had in the past couple of days. A pretty famous blogger recently shared her story of God miraculously restoring her marriage. Her determination to wait on God and allow God to work on her husband while they were separated was brave. It was definitely an example of her being aware of the process it takes to make good decisions because she included God and trusted Him and didn't try to fix her situation by herself.
I reflected on her testimony and thought about the things I've been desiring and hoping for - promotion, direction, more children, and industry. I thought about my past testimonies and how it felt to acknowledge that I had no control over my situation, while believing that God could and would do something. I thought about how it felt when my doctor said, "You will likely never have a baby on your own," and I verbally told my husband, "God is good." I reflected on how painful the doctor's words were and how hard it was to acknowledge the goodness of God. Still, I trusted Him and in the next month, my baby was miraculously formed. Now, not every prayer is answered with a yes, or a right away response and God could be working on your situation for years. There are still hopes and dreams that I continue to wait for an answer on.
Psalm 27:14 says, "Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart." After hearing the sermon and reflecting on the thoughts that kept coming to me during the week, my prayer is to make me courageous as I wait on Him. My prayer and expectation is for God to make my heart strong as I wait for His better plan. King David said, "I would have lost heart ('fainted' in other translations), unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." (Psalm 27:13) We can hand our heart to God and ask for Him to strengthen it because it is hard to trust God in the process of making decisions and it takes courageous faith.
Thankfully, as with any exercise, when we repeatedly stretch our faith muscle and trust in God, it gets easier and easier to do. The situations and hardships may change throughout our life, but with a strengthened heart of faith, we can easily live in those seasons of voids. With a strengthened heart we can trust that God's better plan will absolutely be GOOD and WILL happen.
🎶🎶🎶- Isaac, by Hollyn
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