A POSTURE OF SUBMISSION

This is Tuesday, and that means Holley Gerth gives us something to blog about and then link up. This week's assignment was:

For this week: “Sometimes we feel alone not because we need to be with others but because God wants to be with us. Our lives are busy–especially when we’re pursuing a dream–and God may want to pull us aside for a bit” {You’re Made for a God-sized Dream, Chapter Six}. The most important part of any God-sized dream is the Giver of it. Set aside a particular time this week to be with Him–to pray, journal, take a walk or simply sit quietly and listen. Write a post sharing what your heart hears or receives then link it up below.

I was super busy today, so this is really the first chance I've had to sit down to write this post (ironic, isn't it?), but it's been rattling around my brain all day.

The past few weeks have been pretty busy - much of that busyness has been out of my hands, but others have been very much of my own making.

There have been a few things though, that God has been speaking to me in the quiet moments I steal with Him here and there. One is a picture I've been getting for several weeks.

It is a picture of myself in a position of submission - on my knees, head bowed - before God Almighty. God has been pressing on my heart that a) I certainly can't do this dream thing without Him and b) it's not really about ME anyway.

The gifts, the talents, the abilities He's given me aren't really about me at all - they are about bringing Him glory. The only way I can do that is to be in a constant state of complete surrender. It's in being broken that He can build me up.

So often, I get afraid or feel unsure, so I immediately want to grasp onto control and fix things - make them neat and tidy and nonthreatening.

Other times, I am just lazy and comfortable. It's easier to do my own thing, go about my own agenda than to put in the work it takes to follow God's leading, His path. Just because it is a God-sized dream I'm following does not mean everything is easy and life is a bed of roses.

Worst of all, are the times when I start making it all about me. I start to worry about the way people see ME, worrying about MY performance, getting uptight about MY goals - forgetting that it's not about people seeing me but more about the way they see God IN me that counts.

The other thing God's been pressing on my heart is the need to be still. To stop, to quiet my mind and my heart so I can listen. It's so easy to get caught up in the busyness of everyday life, to feel like I'm on a merry-go-round that never lets me get off. The slightly off key calliope music drowning out the sound that still, small voice. The voice that beckons me to come and find rest at His feet. To just be quiet for a minute and listen. To soak in His love and grace which He wants to lavish on me.

I notice when I see this picture that once again, I am in a posture of submission - kneeling at Jesus' feet. This time, my eyes are intently trained on His face, ears attune to His quiet whisper.

This is a place of peace, where worry and cares are far away. Why do I wait so long to find my place here? Why do I instead listen to the siren call of squeezing in one more thing or insist I can "do it myself"?

God-sized dreams are wonderful things, but they aren't about us at all. They are God-sized because God is the one who should fill them up, thus filling us up, and in the process put His glory on display for all to see. The glow we see on our own faces is His brilliance spilling over, splashing us with His grace.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,
that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory,
to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;
and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with all the saints
what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge,
that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,
to Him be the glory in the church
and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:14-21

~ Blessings, Bronte