Seasons of Change

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."
Anne Bradstreet

It became painfully obvious to me last week that I was moving, but without purpose. I was going through the motions, but without emotion. I was doing, but not getting things done.

I had outrun the place that God had called me to be.

It's an awful feeling, the feeling that you've left God behind and are going it on your own. It isn't a comfortable feeling by any means. It's downright scary.

The good thing is, it didn't take long before I realized where I was and what I had done. I was able to stop before I had wandered off too far. I was able to call out and wait.

And I wait. In a season where I still feel empty.

Although, I know that I am no longer alone, I still do not feel full of passion and purpose. I hear God telling me to keep moving even though I definitely don't feel like going.

He is there and I am listening.

I know that we go through every season for a purpose. We do not suffer through times of adversity without the benefit of clearly being able to rejoice during times of prosperity. We have to have the rain to see the rainbow. The seasons have to change.

I know that God will use this season for my benefit. I know that, if I let Him, He will shape and mold me in ways that make me better equipped to worship and serve Him.

I am not comfortable with feeling devoid of passion, but I pray I do not try to escape this season of emptiness so quickly that I do not take the time to hear what God is speaking to me.

I truly believe that God is telling me to keep moving, but to stop trying to lead and instead turn and follow.

"I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry"
Psalm 40:1 (NIV)

also posted at http://blog.myspace.com/melissaaallen

Thursday's Thought

Men are not against you; they are merely for themselves.

- Gene Fowler

Majoring in "Me" with a minor in "False Humility"

Selfishness vs. Servanthood... When the war is waged in our lives, we side with selfishness. We major in "me." We have this me, my, mine attitude in our lives and forget about others. We want someone else to serve us, to give us the massage, the pedicure, or the shoulder rub. We don't want to serve anyone else because we think of servants as weaker than, less than, or below us.

Ed Young http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/edyoung/

This Sunday I will be teaching about the Lord's Supper in Sunday school. The main focus of the lesson for the preschoolers is about how Jesus washes the feet of the disciples. I'll admit, as I prepared to write the lesson, I thought, 'Jesus is clearly preforming a job that is below Him to prove a point'. And then it hit me. The point I thought He was proving, was not the point at all; at least not for me.

Why did the thought even cross my mind that there was a job 'below' Him? Am I saying that Jesus was too good to wash dirty feet, but that scrubbing caked on dust and mud was a job fitting for someone else? Who? Who was I thinking was worthy or unworthy, as the case may be, of having that job?

How I have fallen short! I thought I was doing good at not assuming that there was any job that was 'below' anyone, but obviously that is not the case. My words express one thing, but my heart expresses quite another.

Are there jobs that I believe that I am above doing? Do I have a servant's heart? A heart that is willing to scrub dirt and dust from another's feet?

It's time I take a serious look into the type of servant I have become. I have spent enough time seeking a major in "me" and a minor in "false humility". It is time that I sincerely seek out what type of servant that God is calling me to be.