Saturday, June 14, 2014

10 years ago today...

...I felt the Lord calling me to be a missionary.  I learned to trust Him then as a thirteen year old girl with my uncertain future and I am still learning to trust Him with it now!  The plans that I made as a girl were not always the plans that the Lord had for me, but in everything, His will is perfect and His plan is good.  I don't know exactly what the future holds for me, but I know that when God begins a work in a person, he will complete it (Philippians 1:6).  My Lord has been preparing me for the past ten years and I can't wait to see what the next ten hold!

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thought of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."
Jeremiah 29:11


"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts."
Isaiah 55:8-9


"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths."
Proverbs 3:5-6



Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Not Many Wise, Not Many Mighty, Not Many Noble



"For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.  But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.  But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God - and righteousness and sanctification and redemption - that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the Lord". "
-1 Corinthians 1:26-31

I have always loved the above verse.  
It amazes me that God, in all His righteousness and goodness and holiness, would use people like me in His kingdom work.  Even in our foolishness, God is working.  Even in our weakness, He is moving.  Even in our base lives, He is transforming.

As Matthew Henry states in his commentary:

"Few of distinguished character in any of these respects were chosen for the work of the ministry.  God did not choose philosophers, nor orators, nor statesmen, nor men of wealth and power and interest in the world, to publish the gospel of grace and peace.  Not the wise men after the flesh, though men would apt to think that a reputation for wisdom and learning might have contributed much to the success of the gospel.  Not the mighty and noble, however men might be apt to imagine that secular pomp and power would make way for its reception in the world.  But God seeth not as man seeth.  He hath chosen the foolish things of the world, the weak things of the world, men of mean birth, of low rank, of no liberal education to be the preachers of the gospel and planters of the church.    
His thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor His ways as our ways. 
He is a better judge than we what instruments and measures will best serve the purposes of His glory."