This was a very intriguing chapter for me. I like to think that I walk in God’s ways, but I realize that I don’t always do it. This past week has been excruciatingly hard on me, and I realize that if I had stopped to ask God’s help or for God to help me to do his will in all the situations I faced, it might have been a better, more organized week.
Here are some of the things that stood out to me that I underlined from my reading…
“We (women) know a lot about what we’re supposed to be doing, but we often have a hard time doing it.” Why is this so? I find, in my own life, that it probably is that I am just not walking in God’s will…listening to what he is telling me, and just trusting him that if I do it, I will be blessed. Omartian says, “I asked God to help me be disciplined enough to be daily in his Word, to pray faithfully, and to take the steps of obedience that I need to take.” This is exactly what I need to do. I need to start praying that God would help me with this area of my life.
“We get into trouble with we think we know what to do and we stop asking God if we’re doing it.” I know that I am guilty, very guilty of doing this until I get so overwhelmed that I cry out to the Lord for help. If I had spoken to the Lord for wisdom about a situation instead of jumping in head first, it probably would have worked out so much better and easier then how I thought I could do it.
“It is important that you keep asking God to show you what He wants you to do.” I think, for me, this goes along with the last point. I worked for many years teaching private music lessons. Came a point when I put all my eggs in one basket, teaching lessons for one school….and I lost my job at the end of that school year. I tried all summer to find other schools to teach at, but could not. So as a last resort because I REALLY needed to work, I went to a friend who was the director of a business that I never thought I would work in… child care. She hired me and I started there part time….6 years later, I am still there and I am the director. Never would I have thought that I would be where I am today, but I know it is what God wants ME to do at this time in my life. So I will stay here as long as God wants me to be.
“When we do things we don’t like simply because we know we need to do them, it builds character in us. It makes us disciplined. It forms us into a leader God can trust.” I can tell you in my current field of work, 90% of it is SO much fun. I love it. It’s the 10% that I so dread that I rely on the Lord. Do I WANT to press parents for timely payments…NO, but if I don’t, how do I pay my bills and my employees. Do I WANT to call a parent to tell them they need to take their sick child home after they left them there one hour ago… No, but I have to to follow state guidelines and rules. Do I like conflict of ANY KIND in the workplace…an issue with a child, an issue with a parent, an issue with an employee… no. Do I like calling Child Protective Services and deal with the aftermath when a family guesses it comes from me? NO. But it is the law and I have to do it if I have suspicions. The biggest thing… I have to “trust that He knows the way and won’t hurt (me) in the process.” (parenthesis mine)
What insights did you pull from this week’s lesson? What is keeping you from walking in obedience with the Lord?
Christian Nymphos 