An unknown future with a known God....

The quote of my day has to be from the devotional that I went through today. At the very end Corrie Ten Boom said this; "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God". It took me a few times of reading this to just start to put it all together. And when I look at everything in the past few months, I look at how gracious and glorious our God truly is. I feel like that within the past few days things have started to just really fall into place. There is no other way to describe it other than the fact that I have put this all in God's hands. And then this quote...how amazing it is. How much it was needed to be heard today. The timing of our God is so perfect and amazing.

There have been a few things that I have been thinking about since I have a lot of time to do just that. One of the things that I ahve really enjoyed thinking of is how amazing it would have been to be Ezekiel and to see God. But not really "see" Him since He is a bright fiery light that is blinding. And the only thing that Ezekiel is capable of is to just drop to his knees. I started thinking about how awesome it would be to see that. And then after a conversation with such an amazing friend there were more parts to this that I never even considered. The fact that God would consider us worthy to even be in the presence of Him would be so awesome. But what if these occurunces happen all around us, but we are too busy and too consumed with ourselves that we don't even notice them. And God is screaming out loud saying "You want signs and you want to see me, and I have been here showing you, but you have not paid any attention!" I wonder how many of those times I have passed up or neglected.

But then after analyzing that, I then come back to this summer in Poland of Exodus 34:14 - for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. *record scratch* Whoa! Here again is this proof of God taking on another name, this time Jealous. The word for this name of God is El Qanna. This is so profound because the past two ideas tie in with this. God wants our all, he wants our attention, our focus, the glory that we are supposed to give Him (the glory that we were created for ) and He wants it NOW. So if I want to not be afraid of an unknown future, I give it all to God and allow Him to move. If I want to experience and see and be in the knee dropping presence of God, I must give Him my all, must put all my attention and focus on Him. And maybe, maybe He would find me worthy to reveal Himself. But I think that He has already revealed Himself and has shown Himself all too many times, but I/we have been so blinded. So consumed with everything else.

So in the midst of all this thinking the common factor that keeps coming up is the future. I know that myself I constantly am thinking about the future. Or atleast I was before Poland. But there was something amazing that happened in Poland, and I think it was the culture of Poland that really helped this out. The thing that happened was that I do not worry about the future, don't think too far ahead and sometimes do not even think of it all. Because in Poland you just take each day as it comes. Each day is a blessing from God, make the best of it. If you spend most of your day thinking about the future, how much do you miss out on in the now? It is amazing to not worry too much about the future when you know that God has complete control of it in the first place. Matthew 6:34 says "Do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

I have been reading Erwin McManus' book "Seizing Your Divine Moment" and have been really moved by the words that have been placed in there. I think it is amazing that I bought this book about a year ago, and right after from getting back from Poland I decide to finally read it. The first chapter I am blown away at the wisdom that is poured out. The idea that there are moments around us, that we must make the step to take them and not hesitate is so uplifting and encouraging. But what is more encouraging is the idea that regardless of what moment I take advantage of, whether it is backed up by God or not, the Sovereignty of God is far greater than any doofus mistake I could make. And that right there is what comforts me.

I am amazed at how God can move so much in one little person's life. But not only that...but that He can move through millions of little peoples lives. Astounding to think how amazing and big and Jealous our God is. He is so good. Praise and glory be lifted up to Him. Forever and ever.

My Soul Sings...

"My Soul Sings, My Soul Sings, My Soul Sings, How I Love You"

Last night...wow what an amazing night of worship, what an amazing night of teaching, what an amazing night of God moving. I do not know what it is that has come upon me, my friends, my family or my entire life, but it is so amazing. Every moment and every day is a constant blessing, one that I wish to take advantage of.

I don't know what it is, but ever since I got back from Poland, I have been in such an uplifted mood. Nathan said that it is much like a high that everyone gets from time to time after going somewhere or being on a retreat, but this feels more than a high. It feels more than just a buzz that one would get after a mission trip. No not after experiencing the Polish culture or learning a lot about myself. Those things you cannot take away from a person. Growth....that is what I think I am going to coin this as. Growth in God, in faith, in love, in perspective, in humility, in passion, in kindness, in importance, in security, in worship, in prayer, in perseverance, in skills, in relationships, in openness...growth in LIFE.

Praise God!

Some amazing things happened last night both at the Post and after. I want to highlight on one aspect that I am still thinking of at this moment and may turn into more. The opening of this blog I wrote out the chorus of one of the songs we sang. It's a really profound statement. It's bold. It's not about the person, but it is about the inner self. The soul. The soul is singing out highest praise. The soul is singing out the love in which it has for God. How powerful! How moving! In this statement...in this anthem...we are proclaiming that it is not US who is singing to God, but it is our very being, our SOUL! It's the kind of worship that should drop you to your knees in total awe of the glory in which we are able to express ourselves from the inside out. It's not about the outward gestures that we do but it is about what is deep down inside of us and what our SOUL feels. A heart, a soul, after God, focused on God, will express highest praise! And that highest praise is the outpouring and the overflowing of the love in which God has given us.

"Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me. Bless His Holy Name." - Psalm 103:1

All that is within me, bless his holy name. Oh the outpouring that should take place every day so that we may be filled up new once again. How faithful and righteous is our God! And yet it is so often that we neglect the name of God, and we do not bless His name. Do we not mention the name of God because we are so full of ourselves that our name deserves more praise? Do we not mention the name of God because we are afraid of being judged? Do we not mention the name of God because we might get persecuted or not accepted? Do we MUMBLE the name of God in hopes that the one whom we are talking to will maybe not hear what we said? Why do we not proclaim His name BOLDLY?!?! How prideful we are to neglect the name of God? When will we get over ourselves and with ALL of our SOUL bless Him, with ALL that is WITHIN US? That time is now!

The glory of the Lord upon us is so amazing that we should not neglect it. Take advantage of it, use it and show it. It's not that hard, when you minimize yourself and maximize God. The nice thing about that is that it is easy to do. The God of the universe who made the stars, the moon, the earth, the sun, the galaxies and us....is HUGE! And yet we still attempt to make ourselves bigger. How foolish we are. But may we change, and find the humility to become so small that we are insignificant in comparison to God, and through that God will shine through us even more.

Oh how my soul sings of the love that God has shown me. Praises be to God.

Securly fastened in the glory of God

So some things are going on right now. A lot has happened since getting back from Poland. I have started to process a lot, and realized that sometimes seeing God's hand in your life is easier once looking back. I knew that this summer was God's leading and was all because He opened and closed doors. And now as I thought it would be over, I am still noticing God's presence and movement. This summer is not over. He is moving.

I started thinking yesterday as I received some news that could be life changing, that my security is not based on this world. It's based on God's grace and leading. Praise God. If my security were on this earth, I would be freaking out right now. But God's providence and grace is far more sufficient and wise than anything on this earth will be.

I was going around running some errands today and noticed how happy I was. Smile on my face, hop in my step and just a good attitude. Did Poland really do this to me? Or maybe it is just God exuding out of me. Lord I pray that is the case.

Ok so this is a bunch of rambling but it is good for me to get this out of my head. It feels so good, and praise God for all that is happening and will happen.