As lots of you know John and I are in our last week of groups for a season and we have been having some great discussions in our time of debriefing. Tonight we are going to look at Joel 2: 13.....
"Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity."
These words have ministered a lot to John and I this second half of this summer. They are in a song we are loving by Shane and Shane and we probably listen to it at least 3 or 4 times a day (I think they are getting it from Psalm 145). Anyway, as we have been living here in Nigeria we have become more aware of areas in our life that have assimilated somewhat to this world. And we have been asking ourselves where would the Lord have us return? On one hand, we are sooooo thankful he is slow to anger. Gosh, we make mistakes all the time and I am just plain grateful that he does not anger the way I do at my children and that he loves me and is gracious.... on the other hand, I think, man, I want to return my entire heart to Him!!!! He is amazing and I want to show thanks.
Just the other week, because of a decision I made, I put my husband in a very awkward and humbling position and he took it so gracefully and made amends where necessary and my heart hurt because of the undue burden I had placed on him and I thought to myself "I don't ever want to put John in a position like that again because he was soooo honoring to me in it even though I was the cause" and if I can feel that towards my husband, I want to express exponentially to my Lord and Savior who does that daily for me.
So, I hear and read, "Return to the Lord..." and I want to ask where have I left and how do I get back to Him? I hope today you find yourself in a place of intimacy with Christ because you have not chosen to leave him.
God Bless.
No comments:
Post a Comment