Count your blessings....

Vacation posts coming soon and LOTS of pictures!  But for now...

First morning at the beach and it's raining.  My family has gone out to the store for a moment and I am sitting in silence, listening to the thunderstorms outside and spending time with the Lord.  And it has been a sweet, precious time.  No better way to start my 32nd birthday.  :)

Today in my Beth Moore study there were lots of nuggets that I would like to share for those that feel discouraged, are going through trials or having a hard time trusting others, or God.

In 1 Samuel 23, Saul is still pursuing David to kill him.  God tells David to go and save the town of Keilah from the Philistines that are pursuing them.  David tells his men and they question him and tell him they are afraid.  David inquires of God once more.  God confirmed once more to David what He wanted him to do.  I wondered if David was wrong for questioning God.  But was relieved when Beth Moore said this, 

"David did not ask God a second time because he doubted God but because he needed to be certain.  In the same way, you or I might ask God to reconfirm His direction, not because we doubt God's word but because we question our understanding.  To doubt God in the face of clear direction is the sin of disobedience, but to double check our understanding and interpretation of God's will is prudent.  David's will reminds us that doubting God and doubting that we understand God are two different things."

Then God sent David's encourager Jonathan to the rescue, just when he needed it.  God used Jonathan to reconfirm God's calling on David's life and David began counting his blessings (while his life was being sought after I might add...I'd call that a trial friends!)  Beth then said some things that I highlighted and underlined in my book and they are such good nuggets of truth.

"Counting our blessings when we're betrayed, wrongly accused, and hunted by ruthless men is a different worship than counting our blessings in the safety of Sunday worship.  No better time arises to count our blessings than when we are tempted to believe we have none."  

Why was David going through all these trials?  Because God was equipping him to be the best king He would ever anoint prior to His own Son!

"We often want to be called of God, then ushered painlessly into a position service and honor, miraculously possessing the character our callings require.  God doesn't work taht way.  Our appointments are not about glamour.  They are about glory.  GOD'S glory!"

 God often works the same sequence in us that He worked in David:

1. He calls us.
2. He prepares us.
3. He uses us.
4. He prepares us some more.
5. He uses us some more.

"Painless or painful, enjoyable or distasteful, God always works to prepare us to serve Him, but he rarely prepares us in ways we expect.  Why must we experience such preparation?  Because any work we've grown accustomed to is usually a work completed.  As soon as we've learned one lesson, He brings another.  He will continue to work in us until we see His face, because that, beloved, is the ultimate moment for which we're being prepared!"

I hope your heart was as blessed by today's scriptures/study as I was.  It has been a light bulb moment for me and God is truly starting to show me more of Him because I am willing and open to hear Him.  Shut off the world around you today and see what He has to say to you too.  You will be blessed beyond words.

Psalm 62:6-7 (Psalm David wrote counting his blessings during these days of trial) "He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress...my mighty rock...my refuge!"