Becoming a mother, especially a mother to many young blessings from the Lord, has taught me many things, and so it continues to teach me as time goes on.
I have learned to be selfless, to put others, especially my children, before myself and my own wants and desires.
I have learned what true innocence looks like by the way that my children look at me, with complete trust and faith in me and my abilities.
I have learned the complete and utter sobering fact of failure, when I betray that complete trust in any way and break that faith that they have in me.
I have learned the necessity of forgiveness, both of others and of myself.
I have learned to take everything to the feet of Jesus and lay it there, asking for and seeking His instruction and guidance on the matters at hand, from small to big.
Now....
I am learning to lean.
Learning to lean on Christ, and allow Him to carry me through the storms. Learning to lean on Him and His ways as He guides me through each day that passes.
I cannot do it on my own. The good Lord knows that I have tried; tried and failed miserably.
I read a church sign once that said: "The only place that you can go alone is away from God."
I can testify to that truth.
Leaning on your own power is dangerous, both to the mind and the heart.
Getting to a point where you think that you can do it alone, without the help of God, or those whom He places in your life, is a very spiritually dangerous place to be.
In these bodies of flesh, we are blind. Blind to the things of God, blind to the line between right and wrong, and blind to the paths that God has laid before us, the paths that Satan does his best to trample and overlay with other, more inviting and 'see-able' roads.
As the Psalmist says: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (Psalm 119:105) Apart from God, and His light (the Bible) we have nothing, and we are subject to be swayed easily, resulting in losing our way in Christ.
We have to humble ourselves: we do not know it all, we do not know it better, and we still have things to learn. We have to humble ourselves: there are other godly women and men who do know it better than us, and we need to heed their advice, measuring it by the Bible, even if they are younger than us. Timothy was younger than many that he ministered to, yet he was much more spiritually mature and 'in tune' with God than they. In times gone by, with age came wisdom. Sadly enough, the product of this emerging generation paints a different picture. Seems that age, now, brings a cutting arrogance and ignorance, because the elders (a majority) feel like they have the smarts and degree under their belts, and no one can tell them what to do,especially someone who is younger than they.
God help me if I ever get to that point.
God bless the grandmothers and grandfathers of this generation. That majority has it right.
Intelligence and knowledge are completely separate from wisdom.
Someone once said that knowledge is pointless without the wisdom to know how to use it. I think that goes for both book knowledge and spiritual knowledge.
Knowledge can be obtained by physical means. Reading, studying, etc.
Wisdom in only obtained as a gift from the Spirit. That gift is something that one must humble themselves and ask for, and seek enthusiastically and willingly.
I watched a movie last night in which one of the characters said: "We cannot fill a cup that is already full," speaking of training a young man in their ways of life. The same can be said of the Christian. The Spirit cannot (or will not) fill the cup of a person who thinks that they know it all already.
Lord, help me to empty myself of me so that I can be filled with You!
Learning to lean. Learning to trust. I suppose they go hand in hand.
I prepare for the future, as God gives me the resources to prepare with. All else, I leave in His holy and capable hands. God never speaks ill of preparing, and being ready for whatever He may put on our plates in the future, but He does speak ill of worry, and trying to take things into our own hands.
Learning to lean means learning to forget everything that we once thought to be true or 'common sense,' and leaning into God and His Word for guidance and support, seeking His Truth over all else.
My husband once said: "Joel (his boss) doesn't provide for my family, God does." Oh how true that is. The paying job is just a means that God uses to provide, as well as through the hands of others.
Learning to lean means learning to trust. Learning to trust means having the humility to know that you don't have it all together and you don't know it all, but God does.
Faith means believing it.
The "Operational Definitions of Character Qualities" shows humility as the opposite of pride, with the description of: "Recognizing that God and others are actually responsible for the achievements in my life. James 4:6"
I cannot stress enough how important that is in anyone'sspiritual walk with God.
It's all about Him. It's all for Him and His glory. It's not about me. My success is not mine, but the Lord's. My life is not my own, for I was bought with a price, therefore, I must glorify Him in both my body, and my spirit, because they are His (1 Corinthians 6:20).
If it's about me, then it should be changed because it should be about Him.
Learning to lean on His promises, and learning to humble myself to be used of Him.
All for His glory do I not shirk.
All for His glory do my hands work.
All for His glory does my mind think.
All for His glory does my mouth speak.
That is my creed.
I know it's difficult, and downright hard at times, but that is my aim, my higher goal.
All for His glory.
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