As I grow closer to the Lord, I've shared before that He continues to change my mind. This week He has actually blown my mind! Like I've shared before, He has been stripping away layers. I've seen Him actively removing from me the idol of "material things" that I hadn't even been aware that I had. I've seen Him birthing in me a greater and greater appreciation for His provision. And I've been calmed by His faithfulness, learning ever more to depend on Him and trust Him, leaning not on my own understanding. As I relinquish control, He is faithful to show Himself as Provider, over and over again. He is growing within me a heart that is beginning to think of others before myself, where there had always been a heart that was self-protective and selfish. I pray that He helps me to continue to seek Him and obey
So, here's what blows my mind: He has been steadily working on me in the area of finances...teaching me to trust, not worry, and not to try to be in control. He has heightened my satisfaction in Him and in His provision, and He has removed from me the intense desire to have "more". He has shown His hand of provision over and over again, when things looked impossible.
And now the amazing thing: All of a sudden, I find that He has prepared for my husband and me a vacation like we could never have afforded ourselves. For my birthday last week, Scott told me that he and I are going to Florida from January 2nd-12th! We will be going to The Gathering, then staying for an extra week in two amazing Spa resorts right in Disneyworld. I feel like a kid! I've never been there before, and our flights and our resorts have been completely provided by two families very dear to us! It is unimagineable to me...we could never be able to do this on our own, and the way things were orchestrated are so clearly God that I am blown away.
Why? Why, when the Lord has so patiently been working on me, helping me to look for satisfaction in Him and not in material things, helping me to trust Him with our finances, and helping me to begin to see out of a heart whose selfish walls are continuing to be be broken down... Why would He then provide something so amazingly extranneous... So extravagant?
Because He's ABUNDANT. (Remember an earlier post? ELIZABETH means "My God Is Abundance"). He's ABUNDANT.
I praise Him and thank Him, for this broken and selfish vessel deserves nothing, and yet to her, He remains ABUNDANT.
10 comments:
You don't know me, but I've stumbled onto your blog. Please continue to write about God is molding you, and drawing you closer to Himself. It has been such an encouragement to me. You're right; our God is abundant. He is sooo good. Thank you for writing - please continue to share your heart. It's been a blessing to me.
Elizabeth, your post encouraged me today. I have been asking the Lord to rid me of a materialistic, worrysome nature as well: One that tries to hang on to control of financial possessions and disbursement, when I really want God to have full control.
A good reminder that He is the God of Abundance! He has proven Himself faithful so many times to me in this area- I get so frustrated with myself that I still tend to worry and be anxious.
What a wonderful gift you guys have been given! I am very excited for you and Scott and look forward to seeing pictures when you return! This is another reminder of how our Father loves to give good gifts to His children- even at Christmas time when HE is the one who should be receiving the gifts! :-) Hope you have a fun and relaxing time together!
Elizabeth, thank you for sharing this, it has blessed my heart to hear another testimony of God's abundance! He is abundant...wow, thank you for that reminder!
Elizabeth...it's incredable to me my life and your posts. Each post is so in line with my life i end reading in awe. I too and being shown to not want and to be selfless. I won't get into it on here...but wow. GOD IS ABUNDANT!!!!I second that statement out of thankfullness for the provisions he has bestowed upon our family.
What a wonderful treat! I'm so happy for you and Scott to get away together to just have fun time to play. What a blessing it is I'm sure.
Isn't it sweet the surprises He has for us!?
God has been working on me in this area as well. I wrote a bit on my blog about it on the "Money Sucks" & "Money Sucks Continued" post.
One of the things I am learning about God is not only how he provides, but his blessings as well. He certainly has blessed you with probably a much needed trip. Orlando is great. We were there in July. I will try to hook you up with the places to go. We know it well. :)
God is blessing us in a huge way(private matter...but will share when I can..) and it just blew me away.
I realized before this even happened that I didn't have enough faith. It was almost as if this huge blessing came our way via God to show me he is big enough. It was almost as the exact time of my repentance of worrying/wanting money and materialism that the blessing came our way.
What blew me away was how merciful God was. Here I was not believing in him enough and bam the blessings came down. God revealed it to me, I repented of it and then God blessed me.
Our God is so good!
right after i read this blog and posted my comment guess what happened??? I mean within minutes......I answered my door only to find a delivery man and he told me he had 6 big boxes for me. Someone and we have no idea who sent us an entire Chrisca Turkey Hamper. It took me an hour to unpack all the groceries. It blew us out of the water. We also recieved a deep freezer!!!! The crazy part is the goverment messed up somehow and didn't give us our child benifit this month and left us in a sense of panic grocery wise on wed. Thursday afternoon....$400 worth of groceries and everything down to the turkey for christmas dinner!!! ABUNDANCE!!! God is so good all the time.
Oh, praise the Lord, Roni! He knows our every need, and just wants us to wait on Him, eh? It boggles my mind that we have such a hard time trusting Him! Praise Him again...that's such a blessing for your family!!
I too have to share a new praise of the Lord's abundant care. I have been trying to surrender any anxiety when it comes up regarding our finances to the Lord and replace it with trust as of late. It has brought a peace...
The biggest stresser lately has been how to pay for all the medical bills associated with a pregnancy and birth in the US! Then yesterday, we received an anonymous gift from someone in our church marked as a "Gift for Baby expenses". We haven't even shared our need with anyone other than my parents. How good God is. We were both humbled and blown away yesterday by this simple, loving reminder from the Lord to just trust.
oh angela, that testimony brought tears to my eyes. I don't know what touches me more, being blessed or hearing of others being blessed. I am so happy to hear that the Lord has put a peace in your heart about the finances of baby delivery in your heart. I pray that the delivery goes well and that mom and baby are in good health.
God is greater then, the air we breath.
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