Unmoveable

What is the heart of the matter-really? So often I struggle with things... circumstances, people... and I feel the Lord is asking me... what is the true nature of my struggle? Is it really the person? Is it really the circumstance? Yes, people disappoint and circumstances may hit us square in the face and be truly tragic but I think what the Lord is getting at with me is, what is my response? A lot of times, the anger,the doubt, the fear or the frustration that rises up in me point to deeper issues in my heart. Like- do I really trust Him? Do I really believe that His ways are higher and better? Do I really beleive that He loves me? I am realizing that although the Lord does hear our cries for help and He delights in rescuing us from situations, He still is most interested in our heart... I beleive that's why He allows difficult situations in our lives... So often we think- if only this situation would resolve itself or this person would act right I'd be happy... Would we really? It's time to quit blaming and to start examining our own hearts where the real problem lies...

I've seen so much tragedy lately and I think- Lord, keep our eyes on eternity, on Your Kingdom and purpose and glory. May we live for eternity and not for the moment. I want to be rooted and grounded, trusting in Him... so no matter what comes my way, I won't be tossed to and fro by circumstances and people's opinions.. I don't want to be up one day and down another... I want to be unmoveable, steady, grounded, settled... in Him.

Jeremiah 175 "This is what the LORD says: Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD.6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.7 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."

Matthew 13 says 18"Listen then to what the parable of the sower means:....22The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. 23But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. (faith) He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."

Ephesians 3 says 14 "For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

There's a song that I heard at IHOP by Misty Edwards that is my favorite right now. It talks about our relationship with the Lord and how we are a dwelling place for Him... How our relationship with Him is like a garden. We are His very own locked garden. What's going on the inside of us, with Him, is what needs to affect us, not what's going on on the outside... Again- Unmoveable! The lyrics get to me every time I hear them...

Garden by Misty Edwards

Here alone have I prepared a place for You

Here it's You and me alone God
You and me alone

You've hemmed me in With skin
All around me
I'm a garden enclosed
A locked garden
Life takes place
Behind the face

I'm no longer my own
I'm Your garden (repeat)

I don't want to waste my life
Living on the outside
I want to live from the inside out
I don't want to waste my time
Living on the outside
I want to live from the inside out

So come into Your garden

That's all for now. Ya'll have a blessed weekend. Kayla