"As iron sharpens iron"

Thanks for the comments on my previous blog. And thanks to those of you who e-mailed me with words of encouragement. Proverbs 27:17 says it best, "As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend." (works for women too!)

After I posted that entry, I grabbed the Word and headed to my patio to read. I had felt the nudge to go to 2 Samuel 7. Verse 2 David says to Nathan "Here I am, living in a palace of cedar and the ark of God remains in a tent!" Nathan tells him to go ahead and do what he had in mind that the Lord was with him. That night God speaks to Nathan and tells him to tell David that he would not be building the dwelling place, but that the next generation would. David wanted to build this for God, his heart was in the right place, but it wasn't God's plan for David to do this.

The verses that really made me have a holy fit were 8-10. I'll give you the play by play.

God said to David: "I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel."
To me God said, "I took you from one ministry. The place you loved and poured your life into, to prepare you for something different, something new. Trust me, my plans are bigger than anything you can imagine."

God said to David: "I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off your enemies from before you."
God said to me: "I have been with you every step of this journey. I have provided for every need and protected you even when you didn't realize it was me."

God said to David: "I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men of the earth."
God said to me: "You are mine. I dwell in you, you are my temple. I know you "get" that to be mine and to be known as mine is more important than anything else. Let it sink in how much I love you, how much in awe of you I am. I will use you again, remember I placed the calling and desire in your heart! I will allow you to serve in ministry. Wait on me."

God said to David: "And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed."
God said to me: "I will provide. I AM more than enough. I will protect you because I AM more than enough. You do not have to fear, you are mine and my plans and ways are greater than anything you've dreamed. Let me be."

Okay, so at this point, the tears are running and I'm flat before the Lord. (I'm sure my neighbors have let everyone know how crazy I looked, but I don't care!) His word is alive and active and it was stirring my weary heart. It was spiritual CPR. I was so thankful for the time we had on the patio, but God wasn't done.

By the pool later that day, I told Chad what I was feeling and that I had asked these two women to hold me accountable in this area. He thought it was the right thing to do. His affirmation of this helped. But those two ladies took the "challenge" seriously. J. posted and is just precious to me. (We'll be hitting Starbucks after choir tonight.) and the other J. forwarded me a link to a devotional that spoke truth to my soul and backed up what I was reading and hearing from God on my own. God's working it out in the fine details of my life, showing me things that I need to change.

As the girls swam Tuesday, I was reading from "Lessons from the Heart" by Jack Graham. Of course the chapter I started was entitled "Restoring Your Spiritual Passion". (Okay you should know that I intended to take this book to New Mexico, but forgot it. This was the first time I'd picked it up in 3 weeks or so.)
So I get to this paragraph that references Hebrews 10:24-25 where we are encouraged to spur each other on, and not to forsake our assembling together. Okay God I get it! God does not intend for us to live the Christian life independent from other believers. We need each other even when we don't feel like we do. In this fallen world we are going to struggle. We need those godly friends to come along side us and hold our arms up. And you know what, they'll need me at some point to do the same for them. That's what we do. We love each other through the good, happy, mountain top times, and we love each other through the hard, dark, exhausting times in the valley. That's the body of Christ. So thank you for taking this walk with me. I love you.