The work of Gods hands: my life, your life

It has been so beautiful outside for the past couple of days. The sky is so clear. The temperature is perfect.

There is a tree in my backyard that is especially caught my eye today. It is a short tree, like all the trees in Texas, but its branches are far reaching and thick with those brand new spring-green leaves. I have never been so impressed by the beauty of a tree. I just had to say, "WOW!" out loud (really loud), even though I was by myself. (Weird I know, but you can't tell me you don't sing loud and talk to yourself in the car when no one is with you.)

"It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High: To show forth thy loving kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night, Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound. For thou, LORD hast made me glad through the work of thy hands. O Lord, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep." -Psalm 92:1-5

There are three things that I am having a really hard time with:
First, I don't understand the direction God is taking my life. It seems disjointed. It is like a puzzle to which I am missing half of the pieces. It doesn't look like anything yet. Second, I don't like my spiritual gift (which I think is mercy). I feel like I have been misusing it... I have a lot of difficulty in discerning when to be merciful and comforting and when to be firm. So my solution to this has been to go from one extreme to the next. One day NO ONE gets away with ANYTHING. Then the next day, I am so sorry for the previous day, I let everything slide. It is incredibly frustrating (to everyone). No one knows what kind of response to expect from me anymore. Thirdly, I am worried about some of my friends and family. I see them going through difficulties and I think I can help. But I don't know if I should say something or if it is none of my business. Even if it was right to help them, I don't know what to do. What I think they need may not be what they need at all, and it might just make things worse. It is like I am watching someone, from the side, scaling a mountain without a safety rope or anything. I know nothing about that kind of climbing, so as they struggle to keep their life and limbs, I see sweat drip from their chin and I yell, " You want a popsicle!" (or something totally random like that).

I was praying about all of this while walking back from my run. God really impressed me with the beauty of the fields, birds and bugs (butterflies) that I was walking past. Everything was so nice, but when I saw the beautiful tree in the backyard that was it. It just took my breath away, and at that time God reminded me of the verses that I wrote above (see above). :-) The tree and all of the beautiful nature around me is the work of His hands. I couldn't add one thing to make it more beautiful or to improve on it in any small way. It was perfect. Then He reminded me that I too am the work of His hands. He is leading my life in the direction He wants it to go. He gave me the gifts He knew would be best. And not only does He know exactly what He is doing with me but He knows exactly what He is doing with everyone else too. We are all the work of His hands.

My lesson today was to praise God even when I have no clue what He is doing. He showed me that regardless of how everything looks to me (good or bad) I need to be praising all the works of His hands. Though I still don't know what God is doing in my life or in the lives of other very dear people, I do know that it is always worthy of praise. And like the Psalm says, it is a good thing. :-)

I am Learning in Whatsoever STATE I am in Therewith to Be Content

Contentment. I have been the model of anything but contentment for the past... well never mind how long. I am surprised every day at the way things have turned out (or not turned out) for my family and me.

Still yet, we have no word on the move. Is it coming? Is it not? God, will You not let me plan? Will you not give me a heads up? For what should I prepare? How can I be ready? When will I know for sure?

And it isn't just the move. There are so many uncertainties right now. I have no idea how God is going to take me from where I am, and make me the most perfect and successful Christian woman ever. I just don't see how it is going to work, anymore.

But whenever I draw breath between the thousands of "future" questions I am asking God every day, He says "If everything really did go completely 'wrong' with this move and your future in general would you still trust me?" He is saying that my life isn't about getting from point A to point B, nor is it about realizing my dreams and becoming a successful woman of God. My life is about realizing the dreams of my God and embracing them. Life is actually supposed to be all about Him. Who knew?!

Truly, Ruth (from the Bible) was a very virtuous woman from whom I could use some lessons. I think that she not only understood contentment but she put it to practiced. She recognized that life was about the Living God and not about her. I know in my head that life is not about me and my pleasure/dreams, but in my heart there is no proof of this knowledge. Ruth was willing to be apart of His plan even if that didn't include good things for her. I want this attitude too. One of "OK, God, lead on because not only am I going to follow, but I am going to rejoice in the fact that I am following YOU!" I think that was Ruth's attitude. Don't you?

Paul, or whoever wrote Hebrews (13:5) wrote, "Let your conversation [be] without covetousness; [and be] content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. " According to the Scripture, contentment doesn't come from pleasant or good circumstances, and it doesn't come from bad or harsh circumstances. Contentment comes from enjoying the fact that Christ is with me and will not leave.

*I had to laugh when I came across the verse: Philippians 4:11 "Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever STATE I am, [therewith] to be content." He must have been thinking of me when He wrote this. That is pretty good isn't it?