Becoming...

As you all know...or at least now you do...I have TRUTH on Tuesday nights!!! It is an off campus bible study at my church that I attend here in the great city of Huntsville, TX!!!!! :) All I can say is that this bible study has absolutely taught me more and blessed me more than I could have imagined!!! Every week I feel SO refreshed as I walk out of there. Every week, the Lord has something new to say to me. And, every week, I look forward to it...it gets me through the rest of my crazy week!!!

Last night was exceptional! I heard such a sweet new word from the Lord that totally changed my point of view on things. Afshin, our wonderful speaker, talked about HOPE!!! Now, yes, we all know what hope is, but, what do you hope in?!

While faith is the doorway, grace is where we stand, but hope is our fuel! It's what keep's us going!! If you haven't noticed, the opposite of hope is despair...which some of us so often feel. We feel like our life may not mean anything..just a heads up, that is NOT TRUE if you are in the Lord!!! He is our Hope!!

The main thing that really stuck out to me is what our hope rests on. There are 3 things we were taught, but the point that stood out above the rest was that our hope rests on what God is DOING in the PRESENT! This means no despair, no self-pity. This is me putting my hope on what God is doing, he is more interested in who I am BECOMING than anything else. My hope can't be what I want, what I am waiting for. This period of waiting is something I have to embrace, something God is using in my life. He is more interested in Growing us, but, growing takes time. God is not interested in what I get, as I have said this over and over, he is interested in who I am becoming!! I must wait in PRAYER!! Un-faithful and un-trusting waiting is an insult to the Lord, he deserves our trust more than anyone else does!! If we don't trust him we are telling him that what he did wasn't enough for us...what a lie!!! I have to decide today that HE will be my constant JOY!! I have to decide today to take my eyes off of 'stuff', but rather place my eyes on him...the author and perfecter of my faith!!

I guess this hit home because so often I wallow in self-pity! As we all know, all my wonderful best friends are either married or engaged!! Don't get me wrong....I COULD NOT be happier for them...this time is SO fun!!!!! But, so often, I wonder why? Why isn't it me? Why have I never had a boyfriend? Why am I always a bridesmaid, never a bride?! And yes, now you can see how selfish that is! I am so focused on that, I can't get anywhere else. So then, I start hoping in my future. Start 'looking' for guys! I hope in the fact that one day I will be married...when my hope should be the fact that God is working in my life right now. He is teaching me things at this time in my life, this season!! So, that is why I loved last night!! I learned that my hope should be in who I am BECOMING...and for that I am eternally grateful!!!

I hope you all learned something new last night!! Or maybe this morning!! The Lord longs to teach you something today, just listen for him!!!

HUGS to all of you!!