Praying for the wisdom of God

O Lord God, infinite in wisdom and knowledge, as I consider your purpose and plans, grant that I might live in total awe and reverence for you, feast daily upon your Word, ask for your wisdom in every situation , and trust you completely when life doesn't make sense. Let me know your will and help me to follow it wholeheartedly, remembering that you already know every ripple of every action throughout history , now and forever. Because of your wisdom, you freely offer your best in every situation, and you provide it to all who ask. So today , I ask. In Jesus's name , Amen.

God as He Longs for You to See Him by Chip Ingram

Trust

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct^[a] your paths.

Psalm 3:5-6

I will be honest I have really been struggling with trust lately. What is trust exactly? One way of defining it is  " a person on which one relies...God is my trust." When I truly sit here and think about my trusting him...do I? Yes, I trust him. I know he knows the future and therefore, he knew what was best for our family...and Lucy. I can fully rely and depend on him. He will not lead me astray. This work that The Lord is doing in us is for our good. He is refining us and transforming us. He is doing a serious work on my heart! It is trials and difficulties that bring us to our knees and make us fully rely and TRUST in Him. 

I love the song Oceans.  This is one of the last verses and it really spoke to me this morning at church!!

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters

Wherever You would call me

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made stronger

In the presence of my Savior

Lord, continue to lead us where our TRUST has absolutely no borders!!!

Enjoy the youtube video of Oceans by Hillsong

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dy9nwe9_xzw

Joy

I am learning about what it means to have true JOY. The kind we sing about in the song that goes like this...
     "I've got joy down in my heart
       Deep, deep down in my heart
       J-O-Y down in my heart
       Deep, deep down in my heart
       Jesus put it there
       And nothing can destroy...stroy....stroy...HU!!!"
Our losing Lucy is not something to be happy about.  Tears fall often and there are moments that sadness and sorrow overwhelm me!  But I am learning a lot about true JOY. Not joy because of what I have...a nice car, a big house, a closet full of stuff, etc...this is JOy that is deep! deep down in my heart. This joy comes because I have a savior that loves me so much!!! A savior that knows the number of hairs on my head...a savior that knows my faults but loves me anyway...unconditionally! Ahhh...pure, sweet J-O-Y!

Does this deep, deep joy mean it makes losing Lucy easier? Nope...but in my moments of deep grief I look in the face of our Father and find peace...and then the joy returns!

"he sees Gods face and shouts for joy;"...Job 33:26

Even more on God's Goodness

" ultimately, God isn't good because he does good things for us. And God isn't good because of something in us. God is good because of something in him.  He can be nothing else. Both God and his choices remain good, even when they may not feel or look particularly good to you. His intrinsic eternal nature, in all of his attributes, is good. God is, in Tozer's language, "Cordial, benevolent,...open, frank, and friendly...he takes holy pleasure in the happiness of His people." In his wisdom and sovereignty, he decides the perfect times to respond to your cries of distress, to deliver you, and to display his greatness. God doesn't have to respond at all, nor every time, nor even in the same way every time. He acts because he is merciful and because he is good. He longs for you to get to know him and trust him in a way that causes you to turn to him when you crash. Why? Because God is for you. He wants to bless you- generously.  Once you start keeping track of God's goodness, you will find you can't keep up. His blessings through nature are countless(Psalm 145); his rescues are continuous (Psalm 107). There is no safer person to go to in the universe. There is no surer source of deliverance or blessing than God's goodness. And yet, beyond all this evidence, the apex of God's revelation of his goodness is in his Son."

Taken from...
God as He Longs For You to See Him by Chip Ingram

More thoughts on His Goodness!

Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind! Psalm 31:19

I was walking with a friend today and started verbalizing all the ways the Lord has shown his goodness to me. I decided it would be a good idea for me to write them down as a reminder, and I also wanted to share them!

I have seen his goodness in
-dear friends that are walking this road with me
-our church body surrounding us in countless ways
-pure joy i find in being in the presence of my children
-the fact that i am not walking around bitter and miserable
-the peace he washes over me daily
-providing me with a weekly prayer group that is amazing!
-my strong husband

I know I will think of many, many more.  I will add to them as he brings them to mind!

God's Goodness

The last couple of weeks my emotions have been all over the place...shocker!! I know!! I went through several days of just being angry! I tried to sit down and read a book about the goodness of a God! Well, I slammed it shut. I wanted to scream at him... "Your not good! You took my little girl!" Once again, I sobbed...really, really hard! I begged and pleaded for him to wrap his arms around me. Again, he picked me up off the floor and washed a peace over me. And there were moments that followed where he reminded me that he is Good!

Well, several days later we were in church. Sundays tend to be hard days and this particular Sunday was very hard. Don't know why but it was. It was nearing the end of the service and we were singing. Hunter put his arm around me and I broke down. I buried my head in his chest and wept. But as I stood there sobbing I could physically feel the Holy Spirit hovering over me. The music got extra loud and it was as if I was the only person in the room. The floor was shaking from how loud our worship music was! It was absolutely one of the most amazing moments! It was like he was simply telling me, "I love you my precious child!" It was such a wonderful moment where I was reminded that he is GOOD!

And The Lord said, " I will cause my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, The Lord, in your presence." Exodus 33:19