More of my ramblings....:-)

Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope your week so far has been a good one. We've had a pretty good one here. Not much going on so that's nice compared to the crazy week before and next week is the kids Easter break, yes 3 weeks before Easter, who knew? So I'm preparing myself to have them home all week. I hope the weather continues to be as nice then we can go outside or to the park and stuff and pass the time.

Anyhow, I've been reading Romans and today, I read chapter 8. Wow! I took soooo many notes while reading because there is just so much to take in in that chapter. And I'm telling you God knew what I needed to hear because that chapter really spoke to me in a different way. Towards the end of the chapter is where I really just drank it all in. Starting in vrs. 26-27, Paul is talking about praying and how the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And my commentary really got into what exactly that means. What I learned was that when I pray I don't need to direct God or tell Him what I think He needs to do, I need to surrender the situation to Him and allow Him to work in it. That's what prayer is. The commentary said, "Prayer is not getting my will done in Heaven, it's getting God's will done on Earth." Basically I need to back off and say Lord this is Yours, take it and do with it what is best for me, despite my personal feelings, You created me, You know whats best for me. I thank God He didn't give me everything I asked for or thought was best, because I'd probably be in a heap of trouble if He did. I believe God would open doors and do amazing things in our lives if we gave Him the room to do it. If we kept out of it and allow Him to do what He does best. I also love in Rom. 8:15-18. It says that we have been adopted, where we can cry, Abba, Father and that we are not only heirs but joint-heirs with Christ because we have been adopted by God. He is not our ruler sitting on a throne with His hands clenched ready to pound us, He's our Papa. He's a loving, concerned, compassionate Dad who just wants the best for His kids. And like we do with our own kids, we discipline and correct and sometimes step back and allow them to fall, whereby they learn and grow and mature. That is who our Papa is, He is preparing us to be the best we can, He is preparing us for eternity. Where we will finally be the kids He created us to be. On that same point of being joint-heirs, the bible says that God sees us as if our glorified state has already taken place. When He looks at us He doesn't see sin, He sees His son. He sees righteousness. And not by anything we've done but by what Jesus did. The commentary said, what would happen if we stopped picking or judging each other and looked at one another as God sees us, we would see each other differently, I think if we did, we see Christ in each other. There's so much in that chapter I could write about for days probably. But to sum it up on my part, God is so much more than God. He's so much more personal than that. And I think I do myself a huge favor to continue searching the scriptures and learning about the depth of who He really is. I am going to end with one of my favorite verses ever, if I don't end now, I'll probably go for 1000's more words and you all don't have time for that, although I appreciate so much you reading my ramblings, anyway~Zephaniah 3:17~

"The LORD your God is with you,

He is mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you,

He will quiet you with His love,

He will rejoice over you with singing."

Did you catch that? He takes great delight in us, He quiets us with His love and He rejoices over us with singing. That brings tears to my eyes every time I read it. I think for too long I've missed that picture. God rejoices over me? He sings over me? He takes great delight in me? That renders me speechless.....

Why am I surprised isn't that how we feel about our children? He's our Papa, our Daddy, my relationship is different with Him because of the picture that verse brings to mind. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do. Love you all! :-)