How God Got My Attention Today

God got my attention today and reminded me of the importance of putting him before material possessions.

I'm moving out of my condo to downsize and save money. I'm leaving the place furnished for my renters. That means all the stuff I accumulated to fix this place up will soon be enjoyed by others.

I got super sad about that right before I started packing. I stayed sad for most of the day; even though I know this is the right decision. I'm excited about the freedom and leverage this is going to give me in some areas of my life where I've been stifled. However, it's still hard to leave all of my hard work and creativity behind.

Here's where God comes in. For my devos I've been reading 1 Samuel. Tonight's chapter was about the Israelites demanding a king. God told Samuel to warn the people about how a king would take advantage of them, treating many of them like slaves and taking the best of their crops for him and his military. They still demanded a king because they wanted to be like other countries.

How's that for peer pressure? I never realized that was in the Bible. Maybe this is closer to keeping up with the Jones family. Either way it's bad.

God used the prodigal, material-minded Israelites to teach me. He showed me how moving away from all of this stuff I've accumulated is his way of putting my focus wholly on him. I love this place too much. I've been focusing on what others have and doing my best to keep up. He wants me to be free from this trap and submitted to him.

So much good is going to come out of this move. I'll see the evidence in my relationship with him and in his ministering to others through me. God used my sadness today in combination with my devotional reading tonight to totally refocus my thinking. I've completely changed from a feeling of sadness to an attitude of gratefulness.

I know he's setting me on a new course. I was telling some friends that last night. This is just one of many steps in the new direction he's turning me toward. I don't have a clue where he's leading, but I see the evidence that his work is in progress.

Being a Christian is Fun

Ever so often I'll get in a financial bind, or I'll see one coming up. I do get stressed about these just because it's my human nature. However, I know that God's always testing my faith a little when this happens.

This week has been one of those weeks. Business has been slow lately, but the bills are still coming due. This weekend I've spent a lot of time praying, stressing, and trusting that he has a plan.

Saturday I thought I had it all worked out. In the back of my mind I felt I was settling for something less than what God had in store, but at least it was a solution. (That's what Abraham did, too). Sure enough, that plan fell apart. In my mind I had such a peace about it and knew that God had another solution.

Right now it seems again like maybe I see the answer. This one is an answer that I feel good about and that it might be his will. I won't know until later. I'm kind of anxious to see what happens.

Being a Christian is fun. We get to learn some sweet lessons and see God's hand in the way things work out. The more we go through these times, the more we can relax and rely on God's faithfulness. The quicker we learn that God is faithful, the sooner we'll enjoy times like this.

It is amazing to know something is about to happen, but not have a clue what it is. And then see God pull it all together at the last minute. He seems to usually do it in a way that can be explained in no other way than that he had the solution all along and was waiting for the right time to pull it all together. That's how I feel about this situation. I'm starting to see the pieces come together.