Sometimes when I journal something I think, “Ouch! Should I have written that?” But then God assures me that when I pray to Him each morning for Him to speak to me and through me, that’s what He does. It’s not me, it’s God.
Much of the journaling that may convict someone of something they’ve done or are doing in their lives have not escaped me at some point in my own life. Trust me, I’m no saint. I live, make mistakes and hopefully learn from them. (Notice the “present-tense” in these verbs.)
A while back, a precious friend told me that her son-in-law mentioned to her how he appreciated the fact that my wall post (each morning this journaling also gets posted to Facebook) are uplifting and meaningful, and how I may get a little “preachy” at times, but it is all for God’s glory. (Yes! Praise You, Jesus! Thank you for using me to share Your love and word with others.) I had no clue that he even read soakinguptheson.com. I was and am so humbled by hearing that.
Well, this morning, God again assured me that it is all Him and that I should not be sorry for getting “preachy” at times. In 2 Corinthians 7:8-10a this morning I read, “Even if the letter I wrote you made you sad, I am not sorry I wrote it. I know that letter made you sad, and I was sorry for that. But it made you sad only for a short time. 9 Now I am happy, not because you were made sad, but because your sorrow made you decide to change. That is what God wanted, so you were not hurt by us in any way. 10 The kind of sorrow God wants makes people decide to change their lives. This leads them to salvation, and we cannot be sorry for that.” Amen! Again, thank You, Jesus, for your reassuring words.
There are moments in our lives when we just don’t like to hear what someone is telling us, because we know we are wrong and just don’t want to admit it or turn away from it. What we are doing may feel good to us at the time, or we are too embarrassed to admit that we’ve experienced that type of sin. (true to all, from a personal standpoint) But, when we do turn from our wrong ways and turn to Jesus, He forgives, forgets, renews and transforms us. Again…Praise You, Jesus!
Isaiah 2:3 says, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Temple of the God of Jacob. Then God will teach us His way of living, and we will follow Him.” Being a teacher, I can so relate. I don’t just teach my class a concept so that they can do the opposite operation (math). They’ll fail if they don’t do the right thing. It’s much like us in our daily lives. We need to go to God, meet Him in prayer time and when we open up His word, learn from the greatest life instruction book ever, and strive to follow Him. You want a self-help book? Open up your bible.
I sure hope you join me in learning from our mistakes (whether they are our own or through others’) and put self aside and desire to be more like Christ.
Blessings to you.
September 19, “Walking in the Word”
