Jul 13

Jul 13 What is your Source?

'Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.' Psalms 1:1-3

Half way through the year and it can feel like you're running up a sand dune - never quite achieving as much as you set yourself to do.

For me this year brings a lot of new challenges because literally EVERY aspect of my life is new.

I'm living in a different house, have a different job, different means of transport, serving differently at church and have completely new classes at uni -and I started this NEW BLOG!! Sounds a bit crazy right?

Of course if it was my plan I would have spread these new changes out and worked out exactly how I could handle them all -myself. Sounds a lot more manageable -right?

Thing is with God is that he doesn't give us gifts, skills and opportunities so that WE can handle them - so we need to stop complaining when we can't!!!

God showed me a picture of a person trying to carry all these little and big gifts -in their own two hands.

All they did was keep dropping one, trying to pick it up and then dropping another -they kept getting so frustrated that they couldn't carry them all!

But then they got given a big container and suddenly all of these gifts could easily be carried with none of them falling out.

God is like the container, just like he is the everlasting spring - he holds everything together and he is the one that can supernaturally sustain us!

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:4-5

I am a planner. I love writing lists, following recipes and I literally planned out the first 6 weeks of this blog (25 posts) before it even went live.

But as much as I (like most people) would love to avoid the unpredictable -I have learnt that the best opportunities and relationships have come out of just letting God do his thing!

So even though I planned and wrote all of these posts - I had to give them over to God and say 'not my will but yours be done', 'I don't want to do or go anywhere -if you're not in the mix God!'.

This is not just a once off thing either, when I started back at uni and starting getting in the habit of going 'I have to do this, and this' and 'how will I be able'. I had to catch myself and go NO 'not by my strength but by your spirit God'.

When life gets hectic and especially when you've always loved being independent -like me-, you have to make a conscious decision to stop carrying the burden that God didn't ask you to carry!

You need to hand every worry over to him and then intentionally 'fuel' yourself on the word of God!

So when I felt tired and weak, I’d stop and listen to a sermon or play some worship music! Or when I felt discouraged -I’d start a praise/dance party!

I've learnt that it's in the times when I feel like giving up -that is when I need to remind myself - Who am I relying on? What am I consuming? Who am I running to? And ultimately who am I doing this life for? It is my own name or the name above ALL names?

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8