Submission

We had such a good sermon on Sunday and it was especially valuable to me. We've been going through the book of 1st Samuel. It has been so interesting to see the disobedience of the Israelites and of Saul and to equate it with things that have been going on in my own life. Last Sunday pastor talked about how obedience shows faith and disobedience shows a lack of faith. Looking back I can see that in all of the times that I have been disobedient to the will of God it has been through lack of faith. When I don't submit to my husband it is because I don't trust that God will work His will through him. When I refuse to submit to the circumstances in my life it is because I am not believing that God will use them for my good and His glory. Always that unwillingness to submit and obey comes from lack of faith.
There has been one glaring instance of my unwillingness to submit here lately and that is in the case of the people who left our fellowship. I kept thinking that something I could say in my blog would somehow heal the rift. I was trying to be the Holy Spirit and convict hearts when it is God's will that things are as they are right now. Between the sermon on Sunday and several other things that happened over the weekend, I realized that I must submit to these circumstances. I need to obey and move on and allow the Spirit to use these things in my own life and turn away from the sinful areas of my own life.
I know in my own life He has shown me my own unwillingness to forgive others and through these circumstances has begun to cause me to repent. He has shown that the submission to my husband at times was only a surface submission and not real. I am beginning to learn what true submission to my husband looks like. He is showing me that not only in our church family, but in the events at work and in the world, He is in complete control. My boss at work, my husband's work, our coworkers, the lives of our children are all in His hands. He has ordered all of these things for my good and His glory.
The circumstances of our lives always either soften our hearts and bring us to repentance or harden them and drive us further from fellowship with the Lord and other believers. This, too is for my good and His glory. I am thankful for all of the circumstances that we have lived through in our lives. God has used them to bring us to repentance, He has filled our hearts with thankfulness and has brought us all closer to each other.
Our congregation, my family and I are right where we need to be right now. I know that all of the turmoil in our body was for our good and His glory and thank Him for it. I thank Him for all of it!
Till next time...