Words I am pondering...

As you know by now, I read Oswald Chamber's My Utmost for His Highest each day. It is really great that it appears fresh each morning on my Google Homepage. It reminds me to read it sometime during that day...and it always encourages and exhorts me. Remember...that is all devotions are to do. They are not to feed you each day...that comes only from God's LIVING and ACTIVE Word! But, each day I need exhortation from those I respect and trust. I value what God has taught them and what, in turn, God can use in my life.

Here is what I read today...

"There are times when you can’t understand why you cannot do what you want to do. When God brings a time of waiting, and appears to be unresponsive, don’t fill it with busyness, just wait. The time of waiting may come to teach you the meaning of sanctification— to be set apart from sin and made holy— or it may come after the process of sanctification has begun to teach you what service means. Never run before God gives you His direction. If you have the slightest doubt, then He is not guiding. Whenever there is doubt— wait.

At first you may see clearly what God’s will is— the severance of a friendship, the breaking off of a business relationship, or something else you feel is distinctly God’s will for you to do. But never act on the impulse of that feeling. If you do, you will cause difficult situations to arise which will take years to untangle. Wait for God’s timing and He will do it without any heartache or disappointment. When it is a question of the providential will of God, wait for God to move.

Peter did not wait for God. He predicted in his own mind where the test would come, and it came where he did not expect it. "I will lay down my life for Your sake." Peter’s statement was honest but ignorant. "Jesus answered him, ’ . . . the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times’ " (John 13:38). This was said with a deeper knowledge of Peter than Peter had of himself. He could not follow Jesus because he did not know himself or his own capabilities well enough. Natural devotion may be enough to attract us to Jesus, to make us feel His irresistible charm, but it will never make us disciples. Natural devotion will deny Jesus, always falling short of what it means to truly follow Him."

I needed to hear the words...wait on God' s timing today. A friend told me today (one who has adopted twice from China herself) that she has never known anyone with a history of ANY kind of cancer...even skin cancer that has been approved to adopt from China. As I walked into the church service my heart was heavy. I was saddened by that news, because also on Friday I talked with 2 other agencies that said that not only China would feel this way...but the other countries as well. But, God spoke so sweetly to my heart during our time of worship and then tonight through my time of reading.

Wait, my child. Wait for Me and My timing. It is perfect. It is exactly what you would desire and pray for...if you only could see the whole picture. It's going to be so good...because I am GOOD.

This is the what I have heard God is speaking to my heart. Perhaps He can encourage and exhort you through this today also. What a time of growing this is becoming in my life. Thank you for your prayers on the journey. They are precious to me...and to Him.