God is Good

I have been wanting to sit down for days now and write a new post but I've had a terrible case of blogger's block (love that term). That and I've got piles of laundry to be folded and put away. I so hate to do laundry (hence part of the reason it's been sitting for days). Do you think we'll have to do laundry in Heaven? Will glorified bodies need clean clothes everyday? Perhaps so. Jesus does have an affinity for washing whiter than snow.(sorry. couldn't resist that one). He's better than any bleach alternative for sure. (ok, I'll stop)

Besides I have something cool to share. Well cool to me, anyway. Yesterday I got to enjoy the first of a three-session teaching by Beth Moore called Measureless Love. No homework, just teaching. Well, it was wonderful. What made it more wonderful was God's hand in all of it as evidenced by a number of testimonies I heard. This one's mine.

Throughout yesterday's video, Beth spoke about a number of things that I had just prayed about that very morning as well as during the last couple of weeks. She also talked about things that were in her study called Believing God which I had done about 4 years ago. What was interesting about that was that I had just pulled out my BG workbook the night before and was reviewing some of the very things she spoke of in the video. I cracked up. God is so funny to me sometimes.

But here was the coolest thing. One of the biggest changes to come out of the Believing God study was a desire to grow beyond mediocrity in my life. What I mean by that is my excitement in and about Jesus and how that carries over into every other part of my life. When I first became a new believer in Christ, I was so excited about it. My sins were forgiven and I was a new creature in Christ. My life had a purpose and the question that I was missing something in my life was answered. Unfortunately, over the years, that excitement diminished and I eventually grew fairly stagnant in my walk with Him. I was certainly saved, still loved God and was often involved in church to some degree but was by and large a "pew warmer" for years. I saw and knew people who seemed to have great passion for God but I had come to think that was for the ones with special "callings" on their lives - missionaries, pastors, pastors' wives (yes I so believe that is a calling), church leaders and such. It was like revelation to me to learn during Believing God that God does not call any of us to a life of mediocrity. This theme has popped up off and on during the last few years and was a strong message to me during this year studying the tabernacle in A Woman's Heart God's Dwelling Place. God certainly does nothing half way.

I looked up the word mediocre on dictionary.com yesterday and here's some of what I found. Mediocre: average, commonplace, cut & dried, garden-variety, indifferent, run-of-the-mill, undistinguised, unexceptional, unremarkable. Now does that sound anything like our God, the God whose very Spirit lives in us if we call Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior? Absolutely not. That being the case, how can I ever be satisfied with anything less than being "filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (Eph 3:14-19) As Beth said, "Anything less is unacceptable." I agree whole-heartedly but what do I do with that?

Something else I recently began trying to put into regular practice during my prayer time is praying scripture but until yesterday it didn't even occur to me to do that over my desire to live beyond mediocrity. Even if it had occured to me, I doubt I would have known what scripture to use. Well, hey, this might be a good one.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:17-19

Yes, God is so good.

Be blessed.
Melanie