Up and Down, Good and Bad

I guess that's life. We have to take everything in stride. My sister just emailed me to tell me that last night Mom looked out the window and saw our new hay barn, 12,000 bales of hay and hay baler where all up in flames. That stinks! Not only did we lose all that but there is still hay to be put up and no where to put it and the good equipment is gone. I am going to call home tonight but knew I better wait until dark or no one would be in. So that's why I decided to go ahead and post a blog about this mornings church in Kou Kadishaw.

The group had asked me last week if I would speak. I had been hesitant up to this point because I didn't want them to depend on me too much but with only 4 weeks left we all know they can't count on me too much longer. Plus, I have a lot of things to say and I like to speak, so I agreed.

The Lord led me to several verses really quickly. They all were focused around humbling ourselves before God. We should be honest with Him at all times- even if it means crying, grieving or just being silent. Then, as promised in James 4:10, He will lift us up and restore us. The last 2 of the verses we looked at were Moses' and Joshua's experiences when the Lord told them to take off their shoes because they were on holy ground and they bowed down to the ground. Humbleness can come not only from our heart, but our posture as well. So I asked "Do you know what I am going to ask you to do now?" And I bent over and untied my shoes. They got the picture. I told them that we could all bow before the Lord. We didn't have to speak just to humble ourselves and wait for Him to answer. As soon as I hit the ground my mind was going a million miles an hour, as always, I was praying for everyone to hear God, I was wondering if everyone had even followed my lead, etc, etc. And I finally told myself to shut-up and listen. Then I heard God say "I love you Lindsey. And I am proud of you." It was really cool because I can't say that I have often heard God audibly like that. It was like a thought, only not coming from me. I don't know if everyone else got as much out of my own message as me but I pray that they also got a word from God. Isn't that crazy to think that the creator of the world and ruler of everything would take the time to tell me that He loves me and is proud of me? Too amazing!

(If you want to review the verses I studied with the group they are James 4:6-10, 1 Peter 5:6-7, Luke 18:9-14, Psalm 46:10-11, Ecc 5:1-7, Exodus 3:5-6 and Joshua 5:13-15. I like to use a lot of verses and tie them together because I think it kind of completes, or rounds out, the Bible's teaching on a topic. Since I don't have to elaborate much, but allow the Bible to speak for itself, there is no chance that my message could be false and I can also rest assured that I have to right Creole words since I am mostly reading.)