I can not believe today is the last day of September! I love change, and this beautiful season of Fall in the Midwest, as trees change and burst fourth in colorful new hews, is only a part of the shift I am enjoying. Tomorrow will begin a new month and a new chapter for me. God has done SO much in me lately, and I have just been taking it all in! This most recent season of growing has been so enjoyable in contrast to the last season of growth which was mostly painful. But it has been wonderful, even though it has been so busy!
With conferences, camps and retreats requiring so many weekends away, and working so many hours, mostly in ministry, I have fallen behind in a few areas. My house is not as clean as usual and I am months behind on making new baby gifts for a few friends, which I hope to complete this weekend, or these babies are not going to need what I am making! And I fall into bed every night around 1AM exhausted, but thankful. A full life is worth a lot!
God is so good to me and continues to change so much in me that is not what it needs to be. I used to repeatedly ask or even at times, beg God for things I thought I should have. Then I began to pray that he would bless me with what I needed for the day, or the season. Now, I ask him once for something I need or would like, and then after that I simply thank him for the thing that has been released in heaven, and is coming my way. And it is almost as though learning to let go and trust God this much, means I just do what he puts in front of me, and the things I need just seem to fall into my lap. That is the way it has been working lately, and I find a new blessing as I continue to work through to surrender as God brings different areas of my life to mind. I am not "fighting" God, or really myself any longer, and I have this deep well of peace that almost constantly washes over me. It is so amazing!
Sure, I have dreams and ambitions. I have learned contentment, but I am not satisfied. I have some good goals that might not look so reachable on paper, but I will not forget that I serve a God who owns the cattle on 1000 hills, and when I have a need, he can sell some of them for my gain. I have a good plan and I know God will make a way, because that is his nature, even if in the end it looks way different from what I expect. Sure, there is waiting involved, but that fire that refines us while waiting is there to get out all the impurities within, not burn us to a crisp. And I have come to realize that God does amazing things if we let him, while we wait on him. And then waiting doesn't look like waiting, but living a redeemed life.
So October, you are welcome here. Holy Spirit, come with your refining fire and blow though my life and refine me for this new chapter and this shift in seasons. Thank you, Jesus, for positive change! I cannot even begin to thank you enough!
