Welcome back!!! I’ve missed you!
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year. I thought it was so nice to take a break and it’s been great having my family all home under one roof!
Hopefully, you are all caught up and ready to resume our study of the book, Greater by Steven Furtick.
I don’t want to overwhelm anyone on our first week back, so we are keeping it simple this week.
Our Assignment
Today, read Chapter 8, Trust Fund Baby and find comfort in these words from Pastor Furtick:
God is too faithful to waste your faith. He is too wise to make a mistake. He is too loving to disregard your heart. And He is overseeing every prayer you pray, making good on every promise He has made.
Isn’t that sooooo amazing? God cares about YOU!!! He sees and knows you inside and out and He will NOT waste your faith, so let’s hang on sweet friends!
Reflection Verse(not to confuse you, but it the same as last time)
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. ~ Romans 8:28 NIV84
Blog Hop (again not to confuse you, but it is the same as last time too)
If you wanted to participate our last Hop, you still have time. Same topics plus a preview of next week’s topics will be posted tomorrow, 1/4/13.
Coming Friday
For all you Pinterest fans, you will not want to miss this! Our beautiful friend, Veronica Herzing spends hours each week creating “pins” to accompany our study. On Friday we will receive the links to these pins and some history about where the pictures came from and how they inspired Veronica.
Your Thoughts Matter
After you’ve read, Chapter 8, please share your thoughts! How do you feel about the idea that God has a trust fund for each of us in which He deposits our faith for payouts to come later in ways we don’t anticipate? So, our faith is really never wasted. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Do you believe it? Have you witnessed it in your own life or someone else’s?
Also, how can we be resources to each other for drawing nearer to God?
Thanks for checking in today! It’s great to back with you in Online Bible Study! Let’s finish strong on our journey to “ignite God’s vision for our life.”
Sponsor a Child
{ 65 comments }
my thoughts are that God has a trust fund for each of us collecting our faith and making a plan to use it in a greater way. it makes me feel good knowing that our faith never gets wasted.
yes,I believe it. and no, I have not witnessed it in my own life or someone else’s.
we can be resourses to each other for drawing nearer to God by
(1) praying for or with one another
(2) doing a bible study toeghter
(3) sing some praise and worship songs
Great to be back on board, Melissa! I had a chance to get all caught up on my reading over the holiday break. This study has really given me time to reflect on my life and why I am having a difficult time answering the questions during this study. I have not yet been able to figure out the greater part of my life quite yet, but keep praying about it. So, I hit a stumbling block during the first week questions. I have asked my group leader and other group members to pray for me during this study. Naturally, I want to find out what greater things God has for my life just like everyone else. So, I just keep praying about it until He provides me with the answers. This allows me to stay in communication with Him and lets him know how much I still love Him and value my relationship with Him. This is only my second OBS study to participate in and honestly I didn’t have any trouble answering the questions in the last study (Unglued). Thanks for your words of wisdom and guidance in this wonderful study each week! So glad God has blessed me with your presence in my life in addition to all the other wonderful ladies with Proverbs 31 Ministries. Here is hoping you all have a prosperous new year and may God richly bless your lives in the coming year. Love to all my wonderful sisters in Christ!
Hi Charlotte! I can relate to you having a harder time with the questions in Greater than you had with Unglued. I’m having the same issue! I will send up prayers for you that you will find your greater in your life.
Love ya,
Kyndra
Charlotte-girl I can so relate to your post! I had a really difficult time with the first set of chapters that we read. I kept thinking “I have absolutely no clue what my Greater is”. But I had to remind myself that my Greater didn’t have to be become a missionary in Africa or starting a charity. It could be doing something that I’m already doing (or something I’m struggling with doing- which is what He revealed to me) with a greater passion and desire to do it for The Lord! Don’t give up, He will reveal your Greater to you!
Also, I will tell you that I literally devoured the rest of the book yesterday. I could not put it down. I do need to go back through them and reflect and answer the questions but I found great revelations in these chapters!
I’m so glad you both wrote this too! I struggled with the first part of this study. I have no idea what my greater can be or is right now. Thanks for sharing that. But loved chap 8. Hit me right where I am.
Charolette you said, ” I have asked my group leader and other group members to pray for me during this study. Naturally, I want to find out what greater things God has for my life just like everyone else. So, I just keep praying about it until He provides me with the answers. This allows me to stay in communication with Him and lets him know how much I still love Him and value my relationship with Him.” And that brought joy to my heart. I think first and foremost His greater plan for you, for all of us is we seek Him and communicate with Him more than we do! You are on a great track and I am lifting you up!
I can relate to your struggle. My first OBS was Unglued. I feel like I have to re-read a lot of the sentences in Greater to get the point of it. I will pray for you to find your answer in finding your “greater”.
Wow, chapter 8 was incredible! I totally believe God has a trust fund for each one of us! It will be a year on January 25th since I lost my job. I was able to receive unemployment but lost that as well as of December 29th. Today I certified for my last and final unemployment check. I looked on the calendar because I am starting work for a lady in my area who runs a home daycare! The week I start for her is the week me and my husband would have been only running our home on his income and quite honestly, would have been freaking out. How awesome is God? He is incredibly awesome! I’ve spent the last year praying for a job or praying for some way to be able to stay home with my 2 year old! He brought this opportunity to work for this lady Mon-Thurs from only 9AM till 11AM and it will be what we need to pay bills and feed our faces!
God NEVER leaves us or forsakes us! He ALWAYS provides! And it most definitely sometimes is in ways we don’t expect at all!
I love this! I have found God is never late…He is never early but He is never late!
I am very much a late “join this group” reader!
I couldn’t help but want to post on your thoughts Brenna. Your posted reminds me so much of how I have always relied on the Lord to provide for me in my life. I try to not question his timing because regardless of how I feel, I know his timing is perfect. I smiled when reading your post, knowing that you have that trust in Him and that He will provide your every need. I think this book may help you in finding your “greater” and learning to use what we are all reading on how to wait and learn to put our faith in Him.
I love this as well! We have been struggling financially. I do not have children but would like to stay home with them when I do. I started running my own business cleaning houses and it has really picked up in the past couple of months. Im so happy that God was able to bless you for what you needed!
Did we do the questions from Chapter 7 or did I miss it?
Hi Jackie,
You didn’t miss anything Jackie. Doing the questions for Chapter 7 was not officially assigned but you are welcome to share your thoughts on the questions here at any time. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and enjoying the New Year.
Blessings
Kristi Seat
(OBS Leadership Team)
I am having problems with this concept. It feels like Steve is trying to say that we have to “pay” for our future joy/happiness/blessings with our prayers and faithfulness of now and the near/far future.
I don’t like this. Previously, if my prayers weren’t answered, I figured that my wants didn’t fit into God’s master plan. I was fine with that idea. Now, I’m wondering if I failed to pray enough in my past, or wasn’t good enough, and that is why my life has been such a mess for the past 5 years.
Did I so mismanage my spiritual life that my trust fund is empty?
Someone please help me understand what Steve was actually saying as opposed to what I understood. I must say that all of this is really depressing.
I think it can be both. 7 years ago my mother in law developed pancreatitis and after a month in the hospital passed away at the age of 51. Within a few days of her going into the hospital we were told she had a 10% chance of survival or less. She actually recovered from the pancreatitis and was out of ICU off the vent and talking to us when she developed pneumonia and died. I felt in my heart that God wanted me to know that He was big enough and strong enough to heal my MIL but that was not the plan. I think He grows our faith in those times when what we pray is not the plan. When I read this chapter I heard Pastor Furtick saying to keep being faithful even when it seems our prayers go unheard or unanswered. Just because what we ask for is not the plan doesn’t mean that we have wasted our time believing in God or in praying to Him. I hope that helps.
My understanding of the concept was different. Jesus has paid the ultimate price for us, and atoned all of us for our sins, so…we don’t have a debt to be paid to God. HUGE thanks to God for this! Our spiritual trust funds will always be full thanks to Jesus!
The way that I understood the concept is sometimes we send up specific prayers for something, but we don’t know the whole plan/picture for our lives that God has for us. To us, it seems like God isn’t answering our prayers; however, our faith is not wasted. God knows the plans that he has for us, and our prayers will be answered, but in His timing. The trust fund example I think was for us to realize that we are going to be blessed by God –maybe not in the exact way that we are asking for, but in many other ways.None of the prayers that we send up to God are ignored or wasted–our faith has value to God. Everything that we have is a blessing from God, but I know that I tend to forget that especially in times of trials.
One thing that came to mind specifically for me was a prayer that I offered up many years ago. I had been engaged to a man for over a year when he broke off the relationship–not just the engagement. I kept praying over and over that God would restore our relationship so that I could fulfill my dreams of being married and becoming a Mom. I thought that my world was ending. Now I can see what a train wreck that would have been had God answered that prayer. As it turns out the guy has had issues all of his adult life, including a drug addiction. Now I am married to a wonderful man and have a beautiful daughter. Blessings from God that I would never have if my prayers for that relationship to be saved were answered. God didn’t answer those prayers, but he has blessed me through those prayers with the family that I have now.
Such a great example Kyndra and I completely agree. Sometimes our prayers don’t line up with what is best for us. God knows what is best.
I think that the goal here is to not stop trusting God and His plan for us, even at the worst of times, or when it feels easier to fall back on uncertainty. Faith builds. It does not deplete. He answers our prayers according to His plans for us, not our plans for ourselves. Everything in our lives can be a stepping stone to deeper faith! The key is to still trust and depend on God’s love and plan for us and trust that he always deposits blessings in our lives. Being alive, walking, talking, hearing, seeing are constant blessings in my life!
Hi Kim, I completely agree. “the key is to still trust and depend on God’s love and plan for us and trust that he always deposits blessings in our lives.” So true. We may not always understand at the moment, but we can trust Him to always be good and faithful.
I’ve never thought about the “trust fund” concept before, but I could see where it has merit. It did give me a different perspective on troubles from the past. I just considered them failures, but I like thinking that those setbacks may have just been setups for the future.
It’s possible that my trust fund is about to receive a dividend–we’ll see. I have a troubled nephew, that has been prayed over for years–thus far, to no avail. My dad was one of his most beloved people, and just passed away a few weeks ago. My nephew is talking about getting saved because he wants to go to heaven and see Papaw again. Maybe this tragedy will be a turning point for him, and all those years of prayer will finally be answered.
Sorry you lost your dad…You’ve reminded me of the great impact my dad had on my stepbrother. I pray that your nephew and my stepbrother would one day be reunited with our dads!
I’m sorry about your dad Beth, what a difficult time for you, especially over the holidays. What a huge blessing it would be if your nephew got saved because of your dad’s impact. Even if he doesn’t, God is surely working behind the scenes to bring goodness from the sadness of your dad’s passing.
I like the trust fund concept and its comforting to think that we aren’t just talking to the ceiling when our prayers go seemingly unanswered. I believe though it has more to do with God giving me what I need and not what I want. If I keep praying and remain faithful, God will show me a better path that I hadn’t thought of. It’s tough though to see it at times. I’m going through a rough patch now that I can’t possibly see ending well (difficult break up) but I know God wanted me to break things off and I have to trust he will repair my heart so I can move on and find the person He wants me to be with. Pray, pray pray is all I can say.
God is faithful Tricia…and you are faithful in trusting Him. Yes, pray, pray, praying for you that you will see the goodness of the Lord in this difficult time.
I’m sorry Tricia. I understand how you are feeling and even if you know in your heart that he was not the best person for you, it takes time to feel that in your heart. Take it day by day and continue to have faith that God is doing greater things behind the scenes. Praying for you in this difficult time sweet sister.
It’s easy to get excited about this study with your wonderful enthusiasm Melissa. Thank you! I had a great disappointment this past year when the book project I was hired to write was cancelled. Within a few months, however, I was able to launch my new website (www.CirclesOfFaith.org). I would never have been able to do that if I was still working on the book. One of those blessings in disguise…and there have certainly been many other incidences, some of them very difficult, that have proven God’s plans work together for our good!!
That is so true Elyse and thanks is for you kind thoughts above!
The concept of the “trust fund” for our faith was a new one for me, but one I love. It helps me visualize the deposits going in and the withdrawals being made when God feels we need it. Just like a parent does with their child and the savings or college account. We decide the correct time for our child to take funds from their bank account until they are mature enough to do it on their own. Since we are striving but will never be equal with God, He, as our Father makes the determination for us.
I have seen God answer my prayers and prayers of others many times. I have also, however, watched as people have torn each other down. When working as a Financial Planner there were a few sayings we had “Avoid the Corvette Syndrome” This one was for parents to make sure their estates were set up so if something happened to them while their children were young they would not have access to it all at one time and certainly not at a young age. The other phrase was “The first generation creates and builds it, the second generation runs it and the third generation destroys it.” This phrase refers to businesses. Numerous times we watched as grandchildren of the founders would start fighting over the business and in the end the operations were usually run into the ground and the only people who came out ahead were the lawyers hired to fight everything out in court.
As I have watched over the years, I’ve seen this come to happen even with churches. When you see so many disagreements in the operations it’s hard to tell who is calling the shots and who is just trying to create problems. There are so many ways we can help each other:
1. Be in prayer for one another & our families
2. Encourage one another. When someone is struggling help them up be it with words, a card, a devotional book that has brought you comfort and peace, some times all they need is someone to listen while they talk themselves through the issue and process it all.
3. If you are struggling let others know, this not only may provide you help but it lets others know they are not alone and sometimes that means more than anything else you could say or do.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts about encouragement and how God is always working behind the scenes when we need it but might not see it. I have had a difficult time sharing my feelings for years because of past relationships. However, when I pray about it and do share my thoughts, I have found that God will use that situation to help another or myself. Thanks again!
What I took from Chapter 8 was, “Every dead area of your life is under further review when you send it upstairs, to the God who has a higher vantage point and sees your situation from angles you can’t access.” So many times I (as I know most do) hide from God: my disappointments, hurts, anger, confusion and sometimes, even good things because I want it to be mine but that always leaves me feeling restless and joyless. It is only when I give everything over to God, even thanking Him for a close parking spot on a cold, dark night that I feel in partnership with God and experience His peace. We try to hide but He is above, seeing and knowing all but we have to send it to Him so we can feel His presence!
I do enjoy the concept of God having a trust fund of blessings for us and read a similar view In a Prayer of Jabez by Dr. Bruce Wilkinsin who focused on the notion – that God wants to bless us but most of the time we are afraid to ask for His blessing because we feel unworthy or that it isn’t Christian. He tells a parable God is waiting for us to ask. This is the parable: A man dies and goes to heaven, where Saint Peter shows him a heavenly warehouse filled with boxes, each marked with a person’s name. Looking into the box marked with his name, the man sadly discovers all the blessings God had intended to give him but he had never received.
Melissa,
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. I loved the parable and thinking about that box in heaven with my name on it! It’s so easy when we are in a difficult situation to miss the little blessings. Praising and thanking him for everything changes our perspective and opens our hearts to find joy. Thanks again dear sister.
oh, Melissa, very good!!! You helped me clarify and even confirm what God is saying to me about “allowing” myself to recieve teh blessings he has to offer!
Danaye, how well you tied your experience in with this chapter. As I read it I also remember in a chemistry class hearing a concept about nothing being destroyed. Only its state was changed. Like when you burn a log. All you see is ashes, but really the things that made up the log still exist, just not in the same way. I think my favorite quote from chapter was on page 115 “‘Upon further review…’ Every dead area of your life is under further review when you send it upstairs, to the God who has a higher vantage point and sees your situation from angles you can’t access.” I like that and I comprehend it. I was also told once that our lives to God are somewhat like a movie. The director know everything about the movie, every scene and how it will end, but to the movie goer it is an unknown. We see our life in scenes, but God sees the whole.
I loved the imagery of a movie. Steven Furtick did a sermon series about Living a Better Story. He reminded us that it is conflict that makes our stories meaningful. If we skipped the scenes that are painful or frightening, then we would never see the ending that God has prepared for us. Even though it may not feel like it at the time, it is in our difficulties that we find how powerful God is.
I think Prov. 3:5 sums it up well, not leaning on MY understanding but trusting the LORD to be my guide, protector, husband, daddy, healer, etc etc etc.
Like a good parent, in His wisdom, He knows when to steer us into a different direction when we are headed into the wrong path.
♥♥♥
We don’t always know why it doesn’t go our way – but most times He is saving us from something bad. Many times, we may have to find those details out when we get to heaven.
That is why it’s so key and important to pray, be in the Word, be still, and listen for that voice – the voice being a quickening in our spirit, or our “gut”. Sometimes it He confirms the answers in obvious ways – like get a check in the mail when we need it the most, or making us late or early for an appointment and we found out the timing was off because there was an accident that he protected us from being involved in, had we been on time.
Or timing may be off. — but it’s God’s “perspective” that we can rely on. We can trust His GREATER GOOD for our life – is always the best!
Every step we take, every season in life is a time to grow our faith. We will conquer one issue, and know that another lesson will be up the bend awaiting us! We are “ARE” more than conquerors! in EVERY area of our lives.
Pg 114 ” having greater faith in God’s greater plan”.
Never ever ever give up – don’t loose hope – with GOD – ALL things are possible, if we only BELIEVE.
Let us DARE to believe for the greater things HE has in store. When we are lined up to HIS will for each of our unique, wonderful sweet lives, it works out fantabulously! ♥ ☺
Stay IN his WORD and PRAY like your life depends on it!
I completely agree. There have been many times that I know God has saved us from something bad when a prayer has seemingly not been answered.
First, i am not sure I can post in here on a subject that i just caught up to in reading. I have read through chapter 8, but this is the first one I can fully comment on. The thought of a “trust fund” is appealing to me. I have often wondered what happens when we feel that our prayers are not answered. I tend to come away with, if my prayer is not answered, then it meant I was able to handle the situation with the faith I had. I don’t think He ever puts more on me or anyone than they can handle. Honestly what got more of my attention was the “football review calls” and I smiled inside because to me it was a reminder that “you should not do things that you would not do in front of other people watching you.” This applies to how I view that thought of watching over us, He sees everything, so why try to hide? When we feel that our prayers are not being answered or His timing is off, keep in mind this chapter. I believe that He is reviewing our prayers and what we are praying for. Sometimes we need His intervention and His ability to lead and other times He lets us go on because we have that faith in Him and trust that He will not lead us where we are not to be.
Personally I would have too look deeper at my life to see how this has happened in my past. I am sure it has. I know that my faith is never wasted…because the greatest thing I know is love and without God there really would be no love.
I’m so glad that you commented Kim! Your response was so insightful. If we think about our lives like a football game and God as the ultimate play caller in the booth upstairs, it gives me peace to know that he won’t let me keep fumbling without intervening. And, he can see the good in a situation even if I can’t see it at the time.
Thanks again for sharing your heart with us! It was what I needed to hear today.
Blessings sweet sister
Kristi Seat
(OBS Leadership Team)
Thanks Kristi,
I figure with more time up here and getting used to this format and this group of what appears to be some rather amazing women, I will get more comfortable. For now, I am reading and thinking more than writing. I love to write and am learning to sit and think first with this new way of learning.
I do have to add that its been about 15 years since I have “craved” anything. I have had my reasons for walking away, but not once did I forget God and what He has done for me my entire life. I may just be a “Peter” when it comes to believing and then walking a bit without relying on my faith, only to find that my faith and my God never left me. I think perhaps He just waited for me to say…”Ok, enough, here I am, show me the way.”
I’m not sure how I feel about the “trust fund” idea either. I do believe that even if God does not give me what I want when I pray that He hears me. I believe He hears my heart. That above all I want His will and His best (greater) for my life regardless of my current request. A few years ago my husband and I were foster parents for a short time then we took a break when my son was born. Last December I really felt like God was calling us back to fostering. I contacted the local agency to see about getting us reopened. I was told it would take 45 days. 10 months later they still had been unable to complete the small amount of required paperwork despite my calling every 1-2 weeks to check on it. So we decided that was not the route we should go. The door seems closed. I keep praying that God has a plan to use the preparation we have done in a way we did not plan or understand at the time. I know God saw my heart and our obedience and I know He will honor that even when I don’t understand why he led us to that door and then closed it.
Hey Lacey, I understand that closed doors can be disappointing. We just need to trust Him that there was a reason for that door being closed at this particular time. He knows things we don’t know. He knows the future. I pray that God will reopen that door for you when the time in right.
Thank you for sharing your story Lacey. I can’t imagine how difficult that situation must have been for you. I know God saw your obedience and your faith as well as your vulnerability to share your story with us. Praying that God will open a door to His greater plan for your life and that you will be sharing a praise story with us very soon.
Blessings dear sister
Kristi Seat
(OBS Leadership Team)
This chapter is right where I am at and just what I needed to hear. Now for me to choose to live believing that I belong to One whose vantage point is greater than mine.
Praying that God will use this chapter as a starting point in seeing His perspective for your life. May He open doors and rain blessings down in your life. Blessings dear sister!
Not sure that I go for the “trust fund ” idea completely…
Its not something that I ever heard growing up or til now…
I do believe that God wants us to trust Him completely… and that He always hears my prayers.
I cling more to the verse about His ways and thoughts being higher than ours..
Or Jeremiah 29:11..
Praying and asking for His will in situations is all we can do… I know that God always does what He says He will do. Scripture also talks about praying in faith and believing…
And remembering that what we want for an answer may not be what He knows is best for us and the outcome maybe completely different than we expect. But that doesn;t mean our prayer wasn’t answered. God knows each of our situations… and I don’t believe there are any points necessarily credited to us..
or different accounts…
I know that in the many situations I encounter with God… that I can’t limit Him to a box because He is so much greater than ANYTHING we can comprehend.
God always does things far and above anything we could ever imagine.. just maybe not in the way we think it will be…
I understand the trust fund idea, however to me it seems like waiting for my “ship to come in” which I have been doing most of my life. A bit frustrating. I will keep the faith, because I know my God reigns in all situations. I tend to feel a bit faithless at times and have to keep telling myself, it’s not how I feel, it’s how I believe.
I know how you feel Anita. It’s often difficult for me to believe something if all I can see or feel is “evidence to the contrary.” Hebrews 11:1 states “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and evidence of things not seen.” Your faith is a portal to God’s action in your life. It’s a process and I know that it can get frustrating especially when you feel as if you have been praying the same prayer for years. Praying that God will use your prayers and steps of faith to open doors that are undeniably from God. He can do immeasurably more than we can imagine.
Blessings dear sister
Kristi Seat
(OBS Leadership Team)
When I came on here yesterday, I couldn’t think of an example in my life that fit this. However, there is one big one that just came to my mind and I don’t know how I forgot it! There was a period of about a year and a half when my husband did not have a job. I had a 6 month old baby that I really wanted to be home with but I had to work full time to pay bills. I prayed and prayed for my husband to have a job. No answer for a year and a half! I kept hearing the Lord drop the words, “Do you trust me?” into my spirit. God did a complete overhaul of my heart in that year and a half and I will forever for thankful for the wrong heart attitudes He revealed to me. He taught me to love others. He taught me to trust Him. He taught me find joy and peace through difficult circumstances. After the year and a half, Chris did get a job. I have had the blessing of being home with my babies for 8 years (only working 2 days a week while they went to MDO). God is always good and faithful. The attitude of my heart was more important to Him than answering my prayer quickly. I am forever thankful.
Thank you so much for sharing your story Sue. I know that small voice “Do you trust me?” I’ve heard that often over the past year and I understand your journey. So thankful for your sweet spirit and for your heart. You are a blessing to so many of us and I am thankful for you! Love you sweet sister!
I missed our bible study over the holidays. I am trying to refocus on where we left off.. Yes-God does not always answer our prayers..I have been praying for a better relationship with my son for the last 9 yrs.He is 14 now and his father and I went through a seperation and my ex has displaced all his anger on to my son and he has been carrying his Dad’s anger for him.. God only recently has answered this prayer but in small segments. My son and I still have alot of work to do but I am finally seeing that ray of hope. But I never once gave up praying for my relationship with my son… I am learning keep prayering and hold on to faith…God bless….
Hi Monika,
I know that situation must have been very difficult and I’m so thankful that God is starting to restore your relationship with your son. I can’t even imagine how difficult those years must have been. So thankful that you are doing online bible study with us and praying that God will continue to work in your life and in your family.
Blessings dear sister
Kristi Seat
(OBS Leadership Team)
Thanks so much for your encouragement…
Hi Monika,
Your thoughts touch me in a very profound way. I try to remember that God’s timing is always right, sometimes it doesn’t fit our time but He is always right on. Maybe it has taken some time because there were many people involved in how the timing needed to happen.
You are right to keep praying and remember, He will never leave you and all you need to do is seek him and share your heart with Him, for he knows all. As children grow up, they become a bit wiser in situations of “broken homes” and your son will see your empowerment, encouragement, and your faith in the Lord and he will have to choose if he is going to believe words about you or believe what he sees in you as a Mother and a leader of your family.
Finally, always know that there is a ray of hope, it is the light and that light draws on you daily to seek more! God bless you in your continuing journey and take from it strength to get you through troubling times ahead.
I loved this chapter and all the comments. My favorite quote was ” God doesn’t’ always answer our prayers. But God never wastes our faith. I have found that true in so many instances. I struggle and prayers seem to go unheard but I gain strength from the struggle and I am able to be strong when my husband is not, resolute when my kids rebel, comforting when a friend needs it. All gained for the strength of living through a difficult time and coming out stronger in the end. Not the answer to my specific prayer but maybe the answer to someone else’s.
Uncertainty is hard. Trusting in what you cannot see is also. But I believe this quote with all my heart and soul….” Maybe one day we will see that the greatest setbacks in our lives were actually the greatest setups to seeing God’s glory in places we didn’t even know to look.”
Thank You Father!
This chapter could be regarded very negatively, as a way to keep people complacent and unquestioning in their lives. OR it could be regarded as another way of stating the old saying “what goes around comes around.” I choose the second. I do believe that things that have happened in my life have paid into my bank account, and that because of living through them, I have good things coming. I do not believe it is a given that I get them. I still have to work hard, live a good life, etc. But, when I am feeling most down, as I have been this past week, I hang on to my belief that I will have happiness and peace someday. As a survivor of a horrific childhood, I know that someday, my home will be a place of refuge. I just need to keep learning the lessons God is putting in front of me, so that when my “house” appears, I am a capable owner of it!
TRUST in the One who sees the whole picture. I once heard someone say that our relationship with God is like our relationship with our horse when we ride. A good horse and rider truly trust each other. The horse will jump anything if he trusts the rider because he knows the rider can see what is on the other side and will protect him. We are the horse and God is the rider. He can see the other side of the fence and we must trust Him completely. He has our best in mind and He will protect us. NO, it may not be what we expect, or even want, at that point in time. But it for our best. God is good all the time!!! Even when we cannot see His Hand.
I would just like to take a moment to say how much I am enjoying this study and let you ladies know that this “Dream Bigger. Start Smaller” concept is working for me. I am starting the New Year out more confident and aware of the things I want to pursue based on the gifts God has given me as well as the courage to step out and do some of those things!!! I am aligning my priorities and setting goals thanks to a challenge I started Jan 1st too. The goals are aligned with being more “present” for my family and putting God first! I’m excited for 2013!!!
So glad to be back! I missed my sisters! Chapter 7 & 8 were eye openers and also very comforting. We WILL face adversities on our way to Greater things and sometimes things wont work out even when we thought we clearly heard from God. BUT, God IS faithful. He sees our lives from a different vantage point than we do. He wants the best for us and sometimes that means He remains silent when we THINK we are in a dire situation. He always always shows up <3 its just not always when WE think He should. Im so glad that our God cares about us enough to look at our lives from a greater vantage point than from where we see it…in the middle of the play with a restricted view. God is good, ALWAYS.
I am not sure if I believe the whole trust fund thing either, but I do know for a fact that God hears our prayers. However, His timing does not work like our timing. There are so many factors…like when in order for your blessing to occur something or someone else has to say “yes” to God. And my friends, the devil has come to steal and destroy. If he can confuse us, he will; becasue each time I hit a wall or something is coming at me, I know it is the devil becuase God doesnt work that way! And the devil is hot because I am doing something or making something happen for the Lord! The devil is a hot mess, and will attempt to get in the way everytime. But our Father is so faithful, merciful, trusting, and loving! He will always be here for us, even if we think He isn’t. He is always listening and answering prayers even if we can not see it. So our job is to remain faithful to Him and the “bigger” plan that we cannot see and know without a shadow of a doubt that our God will deliver! He always comes, and it is always right on time! I heard someone say the other day how a man was so angry with God and asked God, “Where were you when my son was dying?” And the Lord said, “The same place I was when mine was.” Let us always remember His suffering enables us freedom! Thank you Jesus!
It is so good to get back to reading and study again in earnest. The christmas break although enjoyable felt like being slightly off balance and now I am back on balance.
So, having read Chp 8 of Greater, I now take the challenge of sharing my thoughts with you.
Firstly, the reflection verse Romans 8 v28.
For the past 6 months this very same scripture has been in my heart and on my lips, bringing me through a very difficult family situation.When I read ‘ALL things’ it means to me ‘ the Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ as life is not pretty sometimes. I am trusting God that all these circumstances are working for the GOOD. Not just for me but for the others involved.I am beginning to see glimpses of this.
The idea that God has a trust fund for each of us in which he deposits our faith for future outcomes that we cannot yet imagine, has really encouraged my heart.There are many situations that I have poured my heart out in prayer for to see change and other times I have been called to do things by faith inspite of no visible changes. At times I have been tempted to ask myself ‘is this all a waste?’. Now i am convinced these prayers and actions are not a waste of faith.
It is faith that drives us on, to work with the insight, wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit. The words of Chp 8 have underlined this for me.I am asking now to see things in a Greater way, from God’s perspective in the days to come.
‘Whatever the situation is, it’s not over as long as Jesus is on the scene’..
‘ And even in situations that feel wasted, wrapped in sorrow, cold to touch, He has the power to bring forth one thousand new lives.’ (p117)
This is the Hope I carry into this New Year, that Jesus is closer than ever in my life circumstances and those I pray for and serve.
How can we be resources to each other for drawing near to God?
a) Share the Word with each other as often and in as many ways as possible. Written or spoken.
b) Encourage each other with acts of kindness and help each other to be valued.
c)Reflect what we learn in Church family life in the way we relate to others in the community around us.
d) Encourage each other to do good works through our own example.
e) Pray for each other.
Thankyou that Proverbs31 Ministries reflects all the above.
I enjoyed chapters 7 and 8 quite a bit when I made time for them this week. I’m looking forward to blogging and posting regularly again through the next few weeks as we finish this study.
What a nice surprise! I had forgotten when we would resume. So apparently I am a trust fund baby! My questions I had about prayers that seemingly went unanswered were given a new prospective. My favorite part was the last paragraph of chapter 8!!
It feels so good to get back into socializing with the group. One of my resolutions this year was to respond more to other ladies comments in the discussion board. I do believe that it takes a lot of faith for the “trust fund” concept. It can be very hard to keep beleiving in something when you can’t see it face to face. Even when people say that God is “everywhere” when you pray and pray and nothing happens you can get really discouraged.
I think that my New Years resolution shows how I can be a better resourcce for others. Being in tune with how others are feeling about the OBS makes me think about the chapters from a different view point and its always good to know when someone is supporting you, or when you can support someone else.
My favorite part of the chapter was when Steven was talking about a conversation he had with his dad. “Do you ever struggle with feeling like the prayers we’ve prayed for God to heal you were all for nothing?’ Stevens dad responds that if it wasn’t for God’s presence in his life he would have taken his own life a long time ago. He talks about God being with him through all of his pain and that he has a hope in heaven.
I have depression and anxiety along with a condition called IC or intersistial Cysitis (sp?) The IC is a bladder disease and can be very painful and make life frustrating at times. I have never tried to take my life over my condition with IC but I have struggled with thoughts of suicide stemming from my depression. Even with my faith in God and knowing that I will go to hell for taking my own life (thats my personal belief) I still struggle with it at times. But I am also comforted by the fact that God has never left me even in my darkest times. For anyone else that has anxiety or depression it can be a constant battle but there is hope that God is always with you.
Hi Jamie,
In reading your thoughts on the chapter and personal health issues, it is apparent that even though you have these medical issues, you have your faith. It is amazing how when we believe that even pain comes just a bit easier, because we know that this is a suffering that is only in this earthly body. Once we go to be with our Father, we will have no more pain. The walk of life on Earth is not intended to be an easy one. I can’t imagine how one gets through life without faith in God. It must be a rather lonely life to live. I am glad to see that you ponder your choices but always come back to what you know is tried and true, The Lord’s word that Love will get you through it all, His love! God bless and I will send prayers your way.
I no longer want to receive an e-mail about EVERY post. Thanks!
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