Delighting and Trusting...Reposted from one year ago...

Dear Friends,
This is a repost from about the same time last year...I was waiting on the Lord to lead us and guide us and show us His plan...and I am happy to report that He did in fact guide us to make some huge decisions last winter that have put us in a new place...a new "Open Window" of opportunity and life...we made a major move...not very far away, but in some ways a whole world away.  I thank the Lord for His guidance and for giving us the desires of our hearts in helping us to make this move at this time in our lives.  I can honestly say that God has fulfilled these following verses in our lives in so many ways, just in the past few months since this was originally written.  I pass this on to you again, because the verses speak the truth!  I hope you will find encouragement and hope written between these lines just for you.  
Blessings to you and yours,
Pam

Psalm 37:3-5~(3)"Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 
(4)Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. 
(5)Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass."    

Who among us has not ever read these words of the Psalmist and claimed them as a promise from God to those who will believe and trust in Him?  I know I probably have read and re-read these verses hundreds of times in my lifetime...as a matter of fact, I have the 4th verse written on a little memory verse card sitting on my windowsill today...and it has been there for several years.  It is actually stuck onto a photograph of me with our grandson Noah when he was about three years old, and we are planting a bush of some kind together.  We have since moved away from that house, so I don't know if that particular plant survived or not, but that isn't the point...

The point is this...just as Noah and I were delightfully sharing a bonding time together...planting "seeds" for our future relationship to blossom...so do we bond with our Lord when we delight ourselves in Him...we plant seeds for our future relationship with Christ to blossom...

How do we "delight ourselves in the Lord"? you may ask...  Well...it's all about trusting, committing, dwelling with Him.  We delight ourselves in the Lord when we "Trust in the Lord and do good"...when we "Dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness"...by reading His Word, spending time in prayer and praise and worship, and serving Him with gladness.  We delight ourselves in the Lord when we commit our way to Him, trust in Him, and rest in Him. 

Verse 7 of this Psalm says, "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;" and that is the key to the second part of verse 4..."and He shall give you the desires of your heart."  

I don't know about you, but I sometimes feel like I have been trying to wait patiently for Him for a long time...and I know I have also tried to "delight myself in Him" in every way that I know how...and yet, I still don't feel like I have been given the true desires of my heart. Don't get me wrong, I've had many joys and blessings in my life...way beyond what I deserve.   But I've also had my share of disappointments, heartaches, and failures.  There have been goals that have never been reached and most likely never will be, and I sometimes feel like giving up on "the dream".  But that's when Jesus comes alongside and whispers in my ear (heart), "Rest in the Lord...and wait patiently for Him..."  "Don't give up hope..." "Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way...cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret...it only causes harm..."

Because..."The meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." (Psalm 37:11)  and again..."The Lord knows the days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever.  They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied."  (verses 18-19)

Yes, I need to keep delighting myself in the Lord, for I do believe, that in due time...in HIS time, He will give me the desires of my heart...and it will be exactly at the right time and place for my life.  I do not need to fret or worry...God is in control!!!

POST SCRIPT: (7/9/12) This little bear cub came a calling, seeking his
greatest desire...to eat a few seeds from our bird feeder.  As he stood there
contemplating whether or not he could do this, he finally got up his
courage and tried...

And this was his reward...he just stood up and helped himself to all
of the birdseed he could eat...and he played peek-a-boo with us as we
snapped his picture from our kitchen window. 
This is just one of the delightful surprises we have had in the past few months
since taking this big step of faith and moving to the woods!

Yes, God does give us the desires of our heart as we seek Him first, and delight ourselves in Him. This is just a small part of the bigger picture.  Thank you, Lord...for your abundant blessings each day! And for all the fun little surprises that You throw in for our enjoyment as well.  Thank you.

Amen. 

Who's Directing YOUR Steps?

I've been talking a lot lately about "life changing moments", things that happen unexpectedly, whether good or bad, that change the direction of "our plans".  Most of us have some kind of plans for our lives...goals that we hope to reach by a certain age, places that we'd like to visit, degrees we'd like to attain, the way in which we would hope to spend our retirement years.  There is nothing wrong with having these types of plans and goals...they are actually good for us and keep us motivated to continued growth and mental development.

But what happens when those unexpected life changing moments occur, and our dreams and plans have to be scrapped?  Again, these are not always bad things...just perhaps different than what we had anticipated. For whatever reason, our "Plan A" gets shelved, and we have to come up with a "Plan B".  I love the resilience of our human spirit...we get back to the "drawing board" and develop a new idea. We regroup, take stock of our situation and our resources, examine the possibilities of new ideas, set new goals, forge ahead.  We may, at times, feel like quitting, want to give up, wallow in our misery, lick our wounds...but usually, after a time of reflection, we get back up and start all over again.

When we allow God to be the author of our dreams and schemes, we need not fear what the future may hold. 

Psalms 37:23-24 says "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds him with His hand."

I know I've shared this verse before, but it is worth repeating again:

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11

Our future is always secure when we place our plans in the hands of God.  He will direct our steps, and He (God) will delight in our way. Also, when we: "Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness, delight (ourselves) also in the Lord...He shall give (us) the desires of our heart." (Psalm 37:3-4)

So, again I ask, "Who's directing your steps today?"  I am asking myself the same question...

Lord, please help me to always allow YOU to direct my steps...and keep me on the right path. Amen.

Proverbs 16:9 "A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps."
Psalms 119:133 "Direct my steps by Your word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me."
I Peter 2:21 "For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps."