Faithful or not?

Judging from the date on my last post I've not been very faithful to blogging. But don't let that make you think that God hasn't been speaking and things haven't been happening. God is oh so faithful, and I'm praying that one of the reasons I haven't been posting is that I've been being faithful to doing what He wants me to do and being faithful to who He wants me to be.

It's also intimidating to start posting when your heart has been on a long journey. How do you share the great depths? Words can't capture it all.

Let me try to start with two areas. First, God has been working in my heart to change an area I'm ministering in. It's so amazing to see how God plants seeds and nurtures them. In the beginning of the summer I was working with some wonderful teenage girls from our church to help them prepare for their roles in teaching Vacation Bible School. I was blown away by their hearts and filled with a great love for them. This love continued to grow when several of them were with me at Girl's camp later this summer. Part of me was really sad though at each time because I rarely have time to visit with them, let alone have deep meaningful conversations. I can't say that I really prayed much about this, except to praise God for the opportunity and question if there could be more. Well, God does have more.

A year or so back some ladies in our church began searching for a way to have a high school girl's Sunday School class. Since then, nothing really seemed to have been happening. Guess, God had other plans, because suddenly I was asked what I thought about teaching such a class. I was so excited by the possibility and after praying, I said I would but only if my existing ministry, the women's Sunday School class had a leader.

At this point, God was also working and preparing another woman's heart. I think he's actually been working on a few hearts, so there wasn't a shortage of willing leaders. It's been so amazing to witness God's hand at work. And encouraging, because as I beginning to launch this class I am humbled by the responsibility and uplifted that God is keenly aware of what needs to happen.

So, pray with me for my girls and our new adventure. I am VERY excited about the opportunity to disciple and learn from these beautiful daughters of God. Also pray for my ladies. I will miss them. God has been very kind to increase our class lately and saturate it with His presence. May they thrive under new leadership and more ladies also join them so that they too can walk in the ways of God and bring Him glory.

Another thing has also been happening that is related to this first area. Remember the posts on my 40 days of prayer? God is continuing to be my patient teacher. Several events have had me flat on my face before Him and have kept my knees trembling so that I had to be in prayer. I love this reminder of dependency on Him. I love the communion and fellowship I've had with Him. And He's challenging me with a relationship with someone who is also needing to experience their own prayer relationship.

I know this is a long post, but let me leave you with this. My morning reading was Habakkuk. It's been my heart's desire to do a deeper study on this, and I will at some point. But this is what I found for now. Habakkuk knows that God's judgement is coming to Judah in the form of the Babylonians. He questions why God would use even more unrighteous people to judge His people. But then comes to the conclusion that God is mighty and glorious. God will use the Babylonians to bring His people back to Him, but the Babylonians will not escape judgement. It's Habakkuk 3:16-19 that held my treasure today. Habakkuk says he will wait patiently for God's judgement on these people. He knows that hard times will befall Judah. Things will not be easy. The consequences of sin are weighty and hard to deal with. But Habakkuk says he will still rejoice in God. God is the God of his salvation and God will enable him to stand in these precarious times, even as a deer is able to scramble on the mountain heights. Even when we're facing consequences to sin, if we honor God in his place as Lord, he will help us endure the consequences. These were some sweet words for me today as I've been walking with someone through a time of hard consequences.

Praise to our God who is faithful, unchanging, gracious, and merciful. May He enable you to stand firm today!