Joyce Meyer definitely tells it like it is...which is good, especially for someone that needs to hear THE truth! I am currently reading on her books (actually I've been reading & studying it off & on over the last few months) and it has some profound messages in it. The book I am reading is "Enjoying Where You Are On The Way To Where You Are Going" - longest title ever! Allen was super sweet and took me to the Joyce Meyer conference here in SA earlier this summer. After we left, we weren't ready to go back to the wonderful trailer so we decided to go have a coffee & browse Borders Bookstore where I then purchased this particular book. I am not an avid reader by any means...I normally lose interest rather quickly BUT I knew I need help in the area of just being able to enjoy life NOW at this present moment. Allen or my mom will tell you how I'm always searching for "what's next?" instead of living for today. When I was in college, I was constantly thinking of life AFTER college, when I was engaged, I was thinking of married life, and so on...and I'm really not sure why just something I do and have done for years! But if definitely is something that brothers me and I wish I didn't do...essentially a constant struggle which I know is not the way God intended me to live my life.
These past few months have been extremely difficult for me for many different reasons. But like I said in a previous post or posts actually - I mentioned how I felt God was dealing with me in the area of PATIENCE! While I'm going through trials in my life, (like most I'm sure) I begin praying and waiting for an answer - meanwhile during that time, I feel like I quit living life or more like I'm so focused on what is to come instead of what is going on at that present moment. While tomorrow has no guarantees, why should I be so concered with it? Well...it's something I have always done - bad habits are hard to break! But during this times (trials) Jesus is simply asking us to draw close to Him & cling to what we do know! Which is amazing love for us! His amazing grace! And His mercy!
Last night I attended my first Women's Bible Study here in SA - a friend I haven't seen since A&M (fall of 2005) met me and it was wonderful to see her & visit with her. We were doing some catching up & I was explaining to her all the things I've been going through lately and I told her I felt like "I was waving in the wind...or drifting a sea, waiting for something or an answer from God about what it is He wants me to do or be in life"
While doing a little devotional before bed, I was reading in Joyce Meyer's book about "Simplicity" and how life can be and is as complicated or simplified as we want it to be. Joyce states "when we are complicated inside, then everything else in life seems that way to us." Joyce also gives the Webster definition of the words: complicate and simple. Complicate is another word for "bewildered" and "when I mix doubt and unbelief with belief, I feel bewildered, not knowing what to do, but busily trying to figure it out." Joyce then talks about how we seem to think our problems are too much and wonder why our prayers are not heard or being answered. Wow, this was so profound to me and my current situation...but the great new is this...James 1:6-8 which Joyce uses as an example of the double-minded (complicated, bewildered) man who is unstable in all his ways & thinks he shall not receive anything from the Lord - including wisdom & guidance.
James 1:2-8 NKJV
"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in doubts like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from that Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."
And this is when I realize what an amazing and wonderful God we serve! While I have been busily trying to figure it out "feeling as I was waving in the wind, drifting a sea" and doubting His will for me - God was only making me perfect & complete, lacking nothing. Simply amazing! Thank you Jesus for loving me even when I "wave in the wind, or drift a sea" and letting love & grace be enough.
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