Here I am Again

Here I am again, facing the unknown, another health issue that is such a nag.  As I cry out to the Father I pray that:

I will yield to His way.

I will remember that His ways are perfect and so is His timing.

I will not take my eyes off of Jesus but stand firm in the truth of His great love for me. 

I will listen, hear and obey. 

I will not allow the goodness of God to go unnoticed.

"The Lord of hosts has spoken, As I have planned so shall it be, as I have purposed so shall it stand." Isaiah 14:24 ESV

I have been blessed with a husband who loves the Lord, six children, who have each made a profession of faith and eleven grandchildren.  These are the facts, but when I look at their lives through my vision I get discouraged.  I don’t think that Isaiah did that.  Isaiah loved God, listened for His voice and said “yes” without being entangled with the results.  Isaiah spoke to God but left the results with God even when the people he tried to help would not listen to him.  He simply did what God said and kept doing it as long as God said to.  Isaiah’s obedience astounds me.  I, on the other hand, often get all entangled with what I see, with what I understand.  I see it my way and want God to make things fit into my plan and lose my way in self.

I have just finished reading Beth Moore’s book, “Audacious.”  It was so good I am going to read it again.  She wrote many things that challenged me about God’s love for us and our love for Him.  One of the questions she asks is, “What is your dream/your vision for the future?”  At my age I don’t think very much about the future, but what she wrote made me think: What do I want my future to be?  What dreams can come true? 

With God each day is a new beginning.  I do not have to stay the way I have been.  I can dream big dreams and change my ways and put them in line with God’s ways.   I can obey Him. 

Another question Beth asks is, “What do you really, really, really want?”  Can I, or can you, answer that with “You, Jesus, all of You?” knowing that this life will be a struggle, that counting your blessings will be hard some times and that change is an act of love and obedience, not a feeling.

Here’s an excerpt from Beth’s book:

Faith is not the clinging to a shrine

But an endless pilgrimage of the heart.

Audacious longing,

Burning songs,

Daring thoughts,

An impulse overwhelming the heart,

Usurping the mind----

These are all a drive towards serving Him

Who rings our hearts like a bell.

Abraham Joshua Heschel & Samuel H. Dresner in "I Asked for Wonder: A Spiritual Anthology".

Sharon Herzog

Treasurer – CBS Rutherfordton Day Class

Originally presented to the Leadership Team