Keep choosing to grow, my Friends, it is so worth it!
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Pr 22:6 ESV
Ok, so I shared the condition of my heart in my BC Life (before Christ) yesterday and now let me tell you what happened after I became born again. Oh how I would love to say, every time I saw those bread crumbs on the counter, I did not lose my cool anymore…but that is not what happened! I still went out of my mind for hours! It was as if nothing had changed! I lost my peace Before Christ and now I was still losing my peace and joy After Christ…that is, until I began growing in Christ.
I can remember that faithful day when those bread crumbs began to mock me and I began to feel that same old reaction come up inside of me, but this time, I heard God loud and clear. He stopped me in my tracks and said, “Clean them up, throw them out and move on with your life.” And so I did…no more ranting and raving. No more demeaning my wonderful husband. No more having my witness to my son destroyed. Only peace and joy intact. It really was that simple.
God was training me to use self-control and choose to stay in peace and joy, no matter what others did, or didn’t do, around me. God was training me to be more and more like Jesus, to not react to this world, but to respond according to His righteousness. Those bread crumbs no longer had control over me. And you want to know the really interesting part? After it did not bother me anymore, my husband stopped leaving those crumbs all over the counter! Now please understand, that was not even Joe doing it on purpose. It was more like the enemy saw it didn’t bother me anymore, that it actually started making me laugh instead, so the enemy stopped prompting my hubby to do it. You see, the enemy is quick to flee when we resist because we have submitted to God…yeah, I know that was last week’s verse, but see how it all fits together!
Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:
January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10
February: 5- Jn 10:10; 6- Ro 6:23; 7- Rev 21:4; 8- Php 4:13
March: 9- 1Pe 5:7; 10- Jn 8:32; 11- Dt 30:19; 12- Jn 3:30; 13- 2Chron 20:3
April: 14- 2Chron 20:12; 15- 2Chron 20:15b; 16- 2Chron 20:17
May: 17- Ro 8:28; 18- 1Co 13:13; 19- Php 2:12; 20- Mt 5:4
21- Lk 23:42
22- Jas 4:7
23- Pr 22:6
<>< Peace, Diane
