..but I want to QUIT.

                       

If you're going through a season of testing, I want to encourage you NOT to quit. WHEN we are tested we go through a season of weaning. This is where God is weaning us from bad emotions, bad relationships, "material toys we think we need to have" and wrong attitudes.

 If you can imagine yourself as  playdough. God flattens you all the way out and then he takes a cookie cutter and presses down really hard. (while you are screaming, OUCH--that HURTS! I like my wrong attitudes, I like my stuff, I like this.. that hurts God!!) THEN, He starts pulling off the playdough around the cookie cutter. Those include those friendships, relationships, or anything that doesn't qualify to be in your life. It's hard to lose friendships with people that you care about. Especially when their season is up. When my husband and I moved because God told us too.. we lost a ton of "friends"--but I realized that they were never my friends, only acquaintances. No hard feelings AT all because I know this .."A Friend sticks closer than a brother." (Proverbs 18:24) I understand that that where God is taking our life, everybody can't come. And if you know me, I want to have a big party & invite everybody & their mama. :) Long story short, everybody cannot be your friend & when you start placing your value in some stuff, God will rip it from under you. If you have to have anything more than HIM to be satisfied, Satan will use it against you. Over..and over again.

So as you are going through this season of weaning, it may seem like God forgot about you, or things aren't quite working out, but I want you to know that God is behind the scenes, working out everything for YOUR good. He is rebuilding your foundation. Most of us kinda sorta trust God and HE wants your LIFE. He doesn't want to be your Sunday morning. He wants to infiltrate every part of your being .. and then OUT of that flows godly relationships, the right attitude on your job, pure trust in Him..love and everything else. So now that your foundation is SET, when the winds & storms of life come, it won't "blow" your house down. It will be able to withstand some things. So don't resist Him. Is there an area in your life that you are playing tug-of-war with God?!

                                                         Let it go.

                                             What do you do?

GO harder. Whenever I get tested, I recognize that I need to make sure that I'm fellowshipping with God. As soon as that connection is secure, my entire outlook changes. The grass is a bit greener, the birds are chirping louder.. and it's not because anything has changed, but because my perspective has changed. Spending time with God will give you HOPE in hopeless situations. And you aren't spending time with God to get Him to "do something for you"--for GOD wants your heart, all of it. He wants you to be satisfied with Him, and Him alone. So let's all walk together. Let's pass these tests. And when the pressure gets turned up..that means that you are so close to your breakthrough. However, you must settle this trust in your heart, that even if it doesn't happen, you TRUST God. The plans that He has for your life are good! He loves you!! I've also learned that when I spend time with God, I am more drawn to think about others over myself. It HELPS me to help other people when I'm going through something because it won't give selfishness an opportunity to creep into my heart. My eyes are off of "woe is me" & on to somebody else. But beware! Don't try to do this when you're empty. Let CHRIST fill you, then go pour into someone else.

                             How do you spend time with God?

The same way you would spend time with a friend. Just sit there.. vent to Him, put on beautiful worship music (my favorite gospel artists are Jesus Culture, Hillsong & Kari Jobe), journal to Him, go out to eat, cook with Him, acknowledge HIM, read a bible you can understand (new living translation, message bible, AMP). Make it fun! Go to a park, on a rooftop, in your closet.

So, Smile, find joy in a hopeless world & keep your eyes on heaven & not on earth. LIFE is but a vapor, you'll blink and end up at the gates of heaven or hell. So don't get so distracted with the details of life. Just serve Him instead & He'll make all things plain to you.

HE loves you madly,

Heather