Thanks Be to God

I really am not smart enough to get myself through life. Forget getting through without hurt, without pain or disappointment. Forget getting through life on this earth without major travesty or damage. I'm talking about getting through at all. The older I get, the more convinced and deeply persuaded I am that, on my own, I am wholly inadequate and totally unqualified.

I don't mean this as hubris, and it doesn't feel self-deprecating in my heart. It's just the plain facts. Without my God, I would...well, I would live the life I had before I surrendered my heart and will to the Lord of all. I fought everything in my life, and each day felt like a tiring and tireless battle. What feels most profoundly like the difference between "then" and now is the fact that I don't feel so exhausted all the time anymore. There is energy in Him I never knew. There is life. Abundant life.

And what I feel like I know is that there is even more to come. I know there is more to come. I believe there is more to come. The Word tells me this, and I know that it is truth. But, what is like the icing on the cake is the fact that I can feel it too. With anticipation. With acceleration, and with deliberation, He is bringing more abundance, more love, more richness and more bounty. Sometimes, day by day. It's awesome. And perhaps the most amazing part is that He's brought my spirit to a place where, as I see and acknowledge what He's doing in my life, I find myself overwhelmed with joy...and with gratitude...and (here's the best part) glorifying Him all the more! And that, I believe, is what it's all about. I am here to do His will. I am here to bring Him pleasure. I am here to glorify the One True God.

I pray continually for wisdom and patience and the ability to do these things more and more. I want simply what He wants of me, and the more I let go of what I want for myself, the more I understand that what He wants for me is better, way better. I love this God; I love the Lord. There is none other.

"But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says, What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, [all that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him [ who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed]. Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the [Holy] Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God [the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man’s scrutiny]" 2 Corinthians 2:9-10 (AMP).