Have you ever wanted to be an animal at some point in your life?
Well, one Sunday the pastor at the church I was attending taught out of Proverbs 30, about four little animals that have great wisdom. There is the ant that plans for the future by storing up food in the summer, the rock badger that knows its limitations and puts its trust on something bigger than itself, the locust that lives in humility, not comparing itself to others but being content in each circumstance, and finally, the lizard that has a quiet boldness about it.
In the past I had always dreamed of being a bird. Free to fly wherever, whenever. Not to mention, I would have my own share of wonderful and delicious bugs! Slimy, yet satisfying. However, now I find myself wanting to be more like the lizard…
This past year in the School of Discipleship, The Lord gave me the verse Romans 8:28 to dwell on as my promise from Him. Which is really interesting to me because He had given me this verse before in my life, and that was in the midst of a major trial. But the words of the promise still rang true through this year. In each and every circumstance, the big and the small, God brought this to mind and I held fast to it.
After doing a bit of research, looking up some words in the Greek to find the real meaning of the verse, I came up with this:
We believe in our hearts that ALL THINGS, not just those that we choose, God will cause to be beneficial, spiritually profitable, and useful to those who love Him and are selected by Him to be used for Him.
Despite all that I’ve been through, I know from past experiences that God will hold me in His arms, and everything will be alright. As Proverbs 30:5 says “Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him”. It took a while for me, but I have finally put my trust in God about 98% this year. I say 98% because I’m still a work in progress. However, without fail, when I think of Romans 8:28, it calms me down and I’m able to sit back, relax, and watch God work. After all, He knew this all was going to happen before the foundations of the earth were made! Who am I to question that?
Here are some practical things I’ve learned that have helped me this year, hopefully they can help you too.
- Learn from your past, don’t just ignore it.
- Ask God for His wisdom in everything
- Memorize scripture. I’m really bad at memorizing things, but what I have memorized has proven helpful.
- Learn from watching other people.
- Get out of your comfort zone and allow God to grow you.
- Take every thought captive and stand firm on what you know is truth.
- Recognize when discouragement takes place and shut it down before it can take hold.
- Meditate on what is good and live for eternity.
As I mentioned before, I want to be like the lizard. To have a quiet boldness to step out in faith to trust God’s got my back and has it under control. Are you ready? I know I’m excited to see where this takes me. 🙂
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