Avoiding Potholes

I once heard a story about a boy who was walking home from school.  He went down a street an accidently stepped in a big pothole filled with water, his mom was not happy when he got home.  The next day he walks down the same street and sees the pothole just as he is about to step in it, his mom was not happy.  The next day he walks down the same street, sees the pothole, and goes around it.  Mom was happy that day.  The last day he decides to walk down a different street.  This is an analogy of life and how we often fall into patterns or do things that are life-giving.  Jeremiah 17:5-6 says this, "Thus says the Lord, cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord,.  For he will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when prosperity comes, but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, a land of salt without inhabitant."  Recently my wife and I had a weekend just the two of us together where we began to get a more clear focus on where the Lord was taking our family and seeing the barriers.  I was feeling really great about the progress we made over the weekend and the agreements we were coming to.  Then the pothole, I asked my wife if she was ready to proceed with the plan.  She said she was still thinking and praying about.  We had sowed financial seeds and have been waiting for God to be faithful to His covenant to see a harvest, while there also were some extra expenses coming our way.  My heart was beginning to turn away from the Lord but I didn't realize it.  The next day my wife called to compliment me on how I had stewarded our finances after listening to "Dave Ramsey" on the radio, I thanked her for the compliment.  Yet I began to take credit for God's faithfulness and His wisdom in our lives.  I have had difficulty sleeping in the last couple of years, then I went to bed last night and tossed and turned.  My heart had turned away from God as my Provider and security towards trusting in myself, how was I going to handle our financial needs, how was I going to get my wife to agree, and how was I going to plan for our future.  As I listened to a sermon on Grace the Lord convicted me that I had turned towards trusting myself and thus anxiety, fear, and feeling overwhelmed.  I amazed at how subtlely the Enemy sneaks in to get us to trust ourselves and throw out the covenant promises God has made to each of us.  I repented and turned my heart to Him to be my righteousness, my Provider, and my security.  If He doesn't show up then I am sunk.  Jeremiah 17:7 says "blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord."  I am praying that as I humble myself under His mighty hand that He will show me that the pothole is coming so I can walk around it or better yet walk down a different street.  I thank God for His grace and His power, all I supply is the weakness.

In His Grace,
Bret