Encouraged by Community

Christianity is a sense of community, a body of believers; their purpose other then ultimately following and worshiping God together is to encourage, strengthen, and uphold one another in the values and truth's of God's word.  Sometimes we are the ones speaking the truths and forming the words to encourage others, but other times it is the word of a Christian brother or sister who encourages us and strengthens us and roots us again in God's promises and truths.  While, these words I'm about to share are not uniquely mine, they are from God because they are the words my heart has been needing to hear.  My hope in sharing these is to pass along the encouragement and truth of God working in His children, in His Church, and in His body of believers.

J. Hampton Keathley III writes in his article Waiting on the Lord...

The essence of waiting is trust or faith in the nature and character of God.  No one can wait on the Lord if he or she does not truely trust in God as the rock of their strength and refuge in all of life.  Waiting means claiming God's promises by faith and resting in what God is doing in our lives so we can faithfully follow God's principles and keep his values, priorities, and pursuits.

 The opposite of waiting and resting by faith is turning to our solutions of self-protection because of anger, fear, and jealousy.  We fret, we moan and groan, we withdraw or run from the problem.  We may try to control others, call attention to ourselves to bolster our feelings of inadequacy or to defend ourselves against the comments of others.  Out of fear of failure or loss, we may compromise our convictions or what we know is right.  But fear, which has displaced faith in the Lord, causes us to lean on the arm of the flesh.

Lamentations 3:25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him.

Psalm 62:5-8 My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be shaken.  On God my salvation and my glory rest; The rock of my strength, my refuge is God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah.

Isaiah 8:17 I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob.  I will put my trust in him.

In Finding Your Identity...

The biggest lesson God is teaching me in finding my own identity and in understanding who I am as a person is that it’s not always about me. This was a shocking realization because for so long I had been under the mindset that if I just better understood who I was then I’d be better able to handle the world around me, not let it have such a strong affect on me, and find my confidence to stand within it.


In finding our own identity, we often only find selfishness. It becomes all about me, my wants, my desires, my needs and my world grows smaller and smaller as I become the center of its universe. If you can take a step back, focus on someone else for a moment, you will then learn that who you are grows more in the light of those around then in the spotlight of your own stage. Too much light does not allow for growth, it blinds us to all that is around us, and it magnifies our own flaws. While the spot light seems warm and inviting, it is a lonely place. Character is developed in adapting, growing, and responding to situations beyond our own control. It is in better understanding others that we can then understand ourselves.

My attitude has been adjusted, my focus shifted, and I am learning that finding my own identity means less about me and more about those God has put around me. It’s not always about me. ..and for that I am thankful!

The Deep Desire for Change...

Change is in the air…

Change is going to come…

Change is just around the corner…

We put our hope in change, in the mindset that things will not always be like this. We often think that if pain or hardship or uncomfortable circumstances come, that God will be quick to bring a change into our lives to rid us of our pain, to take us from our hardship, and to change our circumstances. How often do we find ourselves in a battle with God because His timing is not our timing and because we get frustrated that He hasn’t brought the change that we prayed desperately for. I’ve had circumstances change overnight, some in mere hours, but then there have been hard times that have lasted for months and even years. I found that I battled with my belief in God over how quickly he delivered me from those hardships.

The lesson that I leaned in all of it is, that more often than not, the change that God brings into our lives is a change of heart and not of circumstance.

If we ran from every pain, every hardship, every unpleasant circumstance—we’d spend our lives running. God, however, teaches us, grows us, and helps us to become mature not only in our faith but in our strengths and weaknesses. When we change what is on the inside then we can see what is around us differently. More often than not, the problem is not in the circumstances around us, but in our own hearts. God is a God of strength and growth and while He promises that if we ask we shall receive, he also states that His ways are not our ways and that we often do not even know what to ask for. God pushes us beyond our comfort zone, changing us from the inside out.

So next time you pray for change, remember that more often than not, the change will begin in you.