Delight Yourself In Him

This past week I've sat and pondered some things. I realized that we...well, at least I do...spend so much time trying to figure things out, wondering why things happen as they do, always needing answers, instead of just TRUSTING GOD, and KNOWING that He is always in control and knows what He is doing. God has a reason for everything that happens in our lives and most of it is all done for HIS PURPOSE....HIS CAUSE.

God let me know the other day that I need to quit asking Him to change my circumstances because He allows those circumstances to change ME. This is so evident when we read about the life of Joseph. No, everything Joseph went through was not all good, BUT each circumstance served its purpose and God still was able to work all things for good that happened. And not only that but we see that Joseph DID receive his dream which was the plan and purpose of God for his life. Joseph DID reach his destiny in God. And that is what we need to be more focused on, NOT what WE want for our lives, but what HE wants.

The Bible says that if we DELIGHT ourselves in Him, He shall give us the desires of our heart. When God becomes most important in our life, then our desires become one with Him. We can't help but want for our lives exactly what He wants. They become one and the same. This is when peace and harmony is evident in our lives instead of turmoil and chaos.

We can get so caught up in our own hurts and pains and cares of this life, that His Word gets choked in our lives and the devil steals it away. We begin speaking negative things and actually bring so many curses upon our own self. We forget all the blessings and promises that are ours. We need to bring God into our pain and TALK TO HIM about it and what our needs are instead of complaining. And then begin to PRAISE HIM for His ability to intervene for us, and TRUST HIM to turn things around for our good.

So many times, we run to friends, family, food, or whatever the case may be for you, to try and make us "feel" better about our circumstances instead of going directly to GOD. And our circumstances get worse instead of better until we can't take anymore and THEN our last resort ends up being GOD...and HE STILL IS THERE FOR US. He is so faithful to us even in times when we are not. His LOVE is so awesome. He IS so merciful.

No matter what your circumstance is, KNOW that the Lord is in control and TRUST Him to work it all out for the good. It is so much easier to deal with situations when we acknowledge Him in it, knowing He'll have a lot to do with the outcome.

TRUST in the LORD with ALL YOUR HEART, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In ALL THY WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM and He SHALL DIRECT THY PATHS. Proverbs 3:5,6)

Connie J. Schmoll

The Footstool

Do you let circumstances in life or people around you always discourage you about your dreams? Do you allow "enemies to reside inside" such as anger, unforgiveness, hate, etc to disrupt the plans God has for you? Don't let these "enemies" dictate your destiny. Look to the Creator and find your true self. Re-discover your potential and purpose in life and just allow those “naysayers” to actually create the momentum needed to lift you off toward your dreams and goals. Jesus said he’ll make our enemies our footstool. What does a footstool do? It lifts us to higher heights, helping us to reach what we couldn’t reach before!!

Consider the enemies of Jesus Christ; they spent much effort in convincing and conspiring for three years until He was finally brought before Pilate. Because of His enemies' efforts He was severely beaten... thus enabling Him to fulfill Isaiah 53:5 "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."

His enemies became His enablers.

Because of His enemies efforts, He was crucified...thus enabling Him to set all of humanity free from sin and death.

His enemies became His enablers.

Without these enemies, He could not have fulfilled His destiny which was cloaked in "the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would NOT have crucified the Lord of glory." (1 Cor. 2:7-8)

It is upon the 'footstool' of our enemies that we are enabled to reach the 'high calling' of our destiny in Christ. Yes, the enemies are very real and would seek to destroy us if possible, and many times even remain our enemies as we tread upon them as a footstool... yet they are our enablers....IF we allow them to be.

"The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool."  
Psalm 110:1

Connie J. Schmoll

Trust Me!

When I heard the outcome of my dad’s court hearing that day, I was not very happy. I cried and was angry and actually pretty disappointed even with God, because we had a lot of people praying for Dad. He did not deserve all that was happening to him.

To be honest though, a while back I would have had a different attitude about it all. I would have just thought, "Well, Dad left mom and hurt her and he married this other woman so now he has to live with the consequences of his decisions that he made in life". BUT you see, now I see it completely different because Dad made things right with Mom before she died. So that is exactly what I told God and I cried and asked Him, "GOD, Dad made things right with mom, so doesn't THAT count for something?!!" I couldn't understand why my dad’s ex was always getting away with all she was doing. And it seemed that nothing was making sense. But as it was with my many other times of confronting God with things that confused me and disappointed me, His reply to me once again was simply, "Trust Me!" So I am. And I hoped that my dad was too.

Life is so unfair at times but we must trust that God has a better purpose for all that happens. I mean...think about the life of Joseph. He was falsely accused of things and ended up in prison as well, plus a number of other things that happened to him in his life, BUT he had a dream that God showed him that he held on to. He knew what his destiny in God was to be. He just didn't know what he was going to have to encounter to get there. THAT is why it is so important to TRUST in GOD no matter what, and He will guide our steps. We go through things so that we can help others. I had to believe that my dad’s life and what he was going through has a purpose.

TODAY, I can now report that my dad is home and God did some miraculous things in his heart while he was serving his time. Sometimes we do not know the place that God has to take us until we are finally willing to let Him in. It’s hard for us to sometimes accept things that are happening at the moment because we are incapable of seeing the reasoning for it and what the outcome may be. But God knows the beginning from the end. He sees the whole picture. He sees the very heart of the individuals involved. God KNOWS what He’s doing.

Trust is a very hard thing but I am so thankful that I have so many memorials that I can look back on and see that God has never let me down yet. He has proven to be the only one that I CAN truly count on and trust to work things out for the good. Thank you GOD for what you have done in my dad’s life!

Below is my devotional titled, TRUST ME!

Trust Me!
By Connie Schmoll

Many times this past week, I found myself asking, “Why is this happening, God?” And every time, His reply was simply, “Trust Me.” And He led me to His Word, bringing to remembrance Scripture that I could stand upon all week. One thing that I have learned is that our Father has “a word” for every situation in life if we bring our cares to Him, of which the Bible refers to as “...casting our cares on Him.” And then we need to trust Him to work it out. The key is taking the time to listen and then apply His Word to our life.

The two principles for having direction in life are (1) Logic vs. Trusting God - knowing who to trust (the Lord) and who not to trust (self) and (2) Acceptance - learning to accept the things God brings into your life.

Logic is a valuable tool given to us by God. For many decisions in life, a person needs to use logic and act on common sense. However, sometimes logic has to be set aside. There are some decisions in life where logic does not lead us in the right direction.

When we come up against some things in our life that are perplexing, we cannot assume that our human understanding of things is always a perfect guide. Human understanding is limited by a person’s knowledge and experience. But God sees the bigger picture and knows the ending from the beginning. Sometimes we need to look past human wisdom and allow the Spirit of God to direct our life. Our human reasoning wants an explanation, but the Spirit of God says, “Trust Me.”

Acceptance is a very important attitude that we must have in order to incorporate our trust in God. We are to accept God’s involvement in our lives and the way we express this to Him is by having a grateful spirit. The essence of the words found in Proverbs 3:5-6, “In all they ways acknowledge him...” is the same way we find in New Testament teachings.

“In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (I Thessalonians 5:18) and “Giving thanks always for all things unto God...in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20).

Our giving thanks for all things is actually recognizing that God has allowed every happening in our life and we accept it as good. As we develop this type of attitude, we will more easily find direction that is best for our lives. To acknowledge God is to recognize that He is active in every happening and that He is always working out everything for our good. Therefore, we can give Him thanks, no matter what happens. Giving thanks is saying, “I don’t understand this situation, but I acknowledge that God knows why it is good for me.” By trusting God, we are not “leaning on our own understanding”.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct they paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

I'm Sorry

Do you ever have something happen, or maybe you might be reading something and it triggers the memory of a past event that happened in your life? I know that I am not alone in this. I'm sure it's happened to a lot of you reading this.

Many times I read things on Facebook that are happening to people and right away I feel burdened for them because I can relate. It is so painful to be hurt by those you greatly respected. I have situations in my life that I doubt will ever be resolved but not because of me. I have done my part of trying to make amends but the actions of those who I once greatly respected have shown me that Christians can be the hardest people to make amends with. Sad, isn't it? But I have gotten to the place of accepting the fact that it may never happen. But God knows of these troubling times and is always there to teach us great lessons if we are open to receive them. It seems in my life that He always gives me OTHER events in life that end up being a great help in overcoming those disappointing times.

I remember an incident that happened back in 1990 while we were living in Minnesota. My husband was hurt by a man that he greatly respected. This weighed heavily on his heart and I could tell a difference in him. He carried this hurt for a whole year until one day we received a phone call. This man actually called Don to say he was sorry for what had happened and was sorry for hurting him. Wow! It was as if a heavy load was lifted from him. I could tell that healing took place immediately!

MY RESPECT FOR THIS MAN SKYROCKETED! To have someone in the leadership position that this man was in, call and say "I'm sorry", and admit his wrong brought us to respect this man for his humility. A year of hurt healed instantaneously just by hearing those two powerful words, "I'm sorry."

If some people in such positions as this man is in, could only know what those two words, "I'm sorry" could do for someone and even for themselves, they would be willing to say it more often.

Anytime that I hear this man's name, Gerald Grant, this will always be what I remember of him...the day that he was willing to admit his wrong that he did towards someone and was man enough to say, "I'm sorry". He is a man that I will ALWAYS highly respect. He will always be remembered in my heart for that one phone call he made to our home that day.

It is moments like these that happen, that help me overcome the disappointment of others who can't admit their wrongs, because it shows me that there ARE people out there that ARE willing to make things right. It gives me hope.

So anyway, I guess the memory of "my hurtful times that have not been resolved" was triggered but I immediately had this incident that happened for Don come to mind and it made me smile and feel very thankful. I even asked Don, "Do you remember how you felt that day that Bro. Grant called you and said he was sorry that he hurt you? Didn't that make you feel really good inside?" He answered, yes and it was then that I told him, just as I'm telling you now, that THIS my dear friends is the kind of thing that we should all want to be remembered for. This is the kind of thing "I" would want to be remembered for. Never be afraid to admit the wrong you may have done in someone's life. Learn and experience the power of those two words, "I'm Sorry".

Connie J. Schmoll