May 20, 2007

Willing to Wait on the Lord

Today was an awesome service......to be honest every Sunday is. I am especially grateful for where the Lord has led us to serve and worship Him. We were in a different church for over 4 years and there were so many problems. Not that God wasn't working and teaching us so much through all that we went through there. We did learn and we did grow in Christ. My husband wasn't in church at all when I started attending our old church and it was this church that God used to convict his heart and bring him to repentance, to wake him up and speak boldly to him calling him into a deeper walk with Him. Praise You Father!

We loved this church but the problems grew as we did. Looking back I find that so odd because logically it would seem that as we grew the problems would deminish but I suppose in the spiritual realm the opposite would be true. After a few years my husband and I began to view our church home differently and my heart began to long for a place that wasn't so full of strife and rebellion. For a little while this seemed to seperate us because in my mind since I had been walking with God longer I assumed that I was hearing God's voice before my husband and that I was right and he would eventually come to see that. :) The Lord taught me through this experience to lean on and trust my husband and to wait patiently upon the Lord. Even though my heart was longing to be free the Lord still had a work for us to do there and I'm thankful that my husband was listening more closely to God than I. I learned to be submissive and I relinquished my will and allowed God to be Lord in my life while allowing my husband to be the head of our house and lead this family spiritually. Which was after all the petition I had taken to the Lord many years before. It was God answering prayer. Isn't it funny sometimes how we pray for things and as the Lord brings them to pass they don't always unfold the way we might want them to but in the end we can see God's mighty hands and know that our Abba Daddy was taking better care of us than we could have ourselves!?

In January this year the Lord moved us. I have to say that even though my heart was longing for the change it made it none the less painful. Leaving a church home is like losing family and there is nothing pleasant about it. For three weeks we mourned so deeply that we couldn't bring ourselves to even visit other churches. But on that third week the Lord was beckoning my heart and I could feel Him leading me to a church, one that was close and that I was familiar with. Hmmmm...but God this isn't what I had in mind. Then He gave me scripture about gathering regularly and I said," yep, I hear You my Father but is that really where You want us?" It seemed too easy for Him to lead us to the church that only less than 2 minutes from our home. Then that Sunday morning the phone rang and the friend calling was visiting the very same church the Lord was calling me to and invited us to visit with them. Isn't that just like God? Such a caring Father that He didn't want us to go in alone? Finally we decided to give in and go.

God never ceases to amaze me. That mornings service was from Exodus on coming out of Egypt. That message couldn't have been anymore about what we had been through nor could it have been any more what we needed to hear and we knew at that moment that God was speaking to us boldly. We were reminded that our Father hadn't forgotten nor forsaken us and that His hand was guiding us where He wanted us to go. You know the Lord had prepared a place for us. You cannot begin to imagine the feeling, the realization of that. The love that our Father has for us is simply not famthomable. We have been at our new church home ever since and it keeps getting better. Our growth has once again picked up and my prayer for everyone is that they be where God has planted them in His perfect will. If that place is hard right now, listen and be willing to learn the lesson and be patient willing to wait on the Lord because He has a place prepared for you too!

Ps 25:5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

Ps 25:21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.

Ps 27:14 Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Ps 37:7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him

Ps 37:9 For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.

Ps 37:34 Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.

Ps 52:9 I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints.

Ps 59:9 Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defence.

Ps 62:5 My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.

Pr 20:22 Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.

Isa 30:18 And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.

Isa 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

La 3:25 The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.

La 3:26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.

Ho 12:6 Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.

Mic 7:7 Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.

5 comments:

Hen Jen said...

Thanks for sharing that testimony. The Lord is so sweet with us, isn't He? and so patient.

Karen Hossink said...

What a wonderful testimony to God's goodness and faithfulness. For as much as I don't like waiting for Him - I'd so much rather He operated according to MY time table - I am forever grateful He waited so many years for me!!!

Dale said...

I totally identified with so much of what you expressed in this post! In August of last year, I left the church I was attending - oh, how heartbreaking it is to do that! In March, God led me to a new church, and I relate to what you said about that utter wonder of realizing that He had gone ahead of me to prepare a place. He is such a beautiful faithful Father, isn't He?

Anonymous said...

It feels so weird reading your testimony about Mayo.I was there and experienced those feelings and learning to lean on husband. To wait patiently on the Lord, and the lessons I learned.And OHH how I grew after leaving.Now look God does put us where He can use us for the time being. Look at us now!We will work together for our Lord and Savour Jesus Christ!!

Anonymous said...

Hey on last comment I didnt mean it as boastfull. I meant the circumstances. Me out, you in there and now your gone and Im back. I feel God will use us both for the glory of his kingdom in this situation.