Thursday, May 24, 2012

CONTENT: An Opportunity


Wow... its been over a week since I posted! Where does time go?? The last few weeks of school are busy, along with baseball, baseball, and, well, it leaves a Momma ready to lay her head down at night. By the time I slow down at night, I am a vegetable, so there is no way that I could possible put ONE thought together much less a post! 

With the word CONTENT that God gave me for this year, I have mentioned that in my quest to be content in my life, I do not want to be content in my walk with the Lord. This past weekend God opened a door for me to walk closer to Him. We had the opportunity to go on a Youth Retreat. I have to admit that I was thinking, whew, can I really handle this... along with everything else that is going on? I chose to STOP that train of thought and began asking ....

  • God to prepare my heart for the weekend. 
  • What He wanted for the Youth? 
  • What could I do to point them to Him?
  • What He wanted me to bring back home with me? 
  • Asking for Him to change me! I wanted to be different than when I left!

Sometimes I do things, and I fail to ask Him what He wants. 'Cause I am a little, a lot wrapped up in ME. And I did chose to look to Him, read His Word, really listen to the words in praise music as well as did my best to stay focused on Him. Oh, the enemy was at work (isn't he always when you are doing something the Lord wants of you??) yet, I prayed that God would just fill me so there was no room for anything else. 

I have to say the weekend was AWESOME... God worked in so many ways. I love, love how He puts things together, in His Way and His Time. HIS WAYS ARE HIGHER!! 

Some things that I brought back and am clinging to and pondering on....(yeah, I know that this was a Youth Retreat, but I can say that it wasn't just for the Youth!) I could go on and on about every one of the following thoughts...but, I don't have time to write a book so.... you can dig in for yourself!
  • God created ALL things..... did you get the ALL part?? 
  • God has a design for everyone..... He has one for ME!!! & you TOO!!!
  • The WORD was made flesh and HE is the GREAT I AM!
  • Who is Jesus to me? ( I could go on & on!)
  • I want to be like the Centurion and come to Him submissively, humbly, trusting, faithfully, & confidently (that one is tough for me).
  • Learn to take orders before I can give orders. (ouch!)
  • But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.Hebrews 11:6 ~ I need this reminder numerous times daily!
  • It matters how I pray, worship, love, live.......IT ALL MATTERS!
  • He's Alive! Worship HIM! HE IS WORTHY!!!!


Thank you Lord for giving me the opportunity to meet with you this past weekend, for allowing me to spend time with the youth, the counselors, our Youth Pastor and his wife. Thank you for the burden you have placed in their hearts. Lord, give them strength, liberty, mercy and grace to minister to this group of youth! Lord, thank you for the tender hearts, may you work in them so that they would desire to have a deeper relationship with you. Thank you for opening my eyes to the needs of some of those youth. Help me to point others to your Son in all I say and do!

4 comments:

Gail @ http://biblelovenotes.com said...

Wonderful post, Piper. Honest, humble, realistic and filled with things I needed to hear. I love your list...I need to read through it again. Thanks for linking up to B&BB at Bible Love Notes. May this week be blessed as God helps you apply all that you learned at the Youth Retreat. Bless you,
Gail

EverythingIam-blogspot.blogspot.com said...

Great Post Piper! Have a great weekend.

Rosilind Jukic said...

Thank you for stopping by and commenting. Wow - what a great post! I am so blessed by what you shared and so grateful that God spoke to you in such a profound way. Yes, we so need to be intentional about our encounters with Him, don't we. I pray you have a blessed weekend! - A Little R & R http://jukiczr.blogspot.com

Lee said...

Isn't it so true that Youth retreats arent' just for the youth. My husband and I used to be youth pastors years ago and we found that they ministered to us much more than we could have ever given them. So glad you were able to get away, be a blessing and be blessed.