The Lord has been very good to me in Midland. I had such a hard time here, but prayer has solved every problem I have ever had in my life. And so it has been a good almost-three weeks.
There have been a few things the Lord has spoken to me, & one of them is a prayer of my heart.
The first one occurred as I was reading Daniel, which I don't know why, but the Lord led me there. I read in Daniel 10, when Daniel had a vision and a man, or "one having the appearance of a man," spoke to him and in verse 12 tells him: "Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words." I was really touched by the characteristics used to describe Daniel: he set his heart to understand and humbled himself before God. Those are two things I have been praying a lot about for myself.
Secondly, as I was driving, I was uncomfortable with some social situations (as I usually am...) and I was praying panickingly, not really expecting the Lord to answer, about all of my anxieties and worries. And then He calmly told me, I am the orchestrator of the world. And I thought, wow, what a great God we serve that He even answers frantic, senseless prayers. Anyways, what was cool, was that in the end, I am very certain that everything happened exactly as the Lord intended, with more blessings to be had!
Thirdly, in prayer, I was comforted by the Lord's Spirit in knowing that I have need for nothing else in this world because I have Jesus. What a great prayer! The Spirit brought me such peace in this, it's indescribeable! I thought, what else do I need? Nothing! We have need for NOTHING with Jesus!
This last note means a lot to me, mostly because coming out to Midland was not easy. It may have been the most difficult move-of-faith in my life. I left my family and friends and came out here, with Jessica going to the other side of the world. For about a week I would brood a lot, and I was working myself into a little depression. Before, I never would have said I struggled with depression, but in that first week, I would have readily admitted it. But Satan is a theif of joy, and seeks only our destruction. The Lord saved me from so much. Not because He gave me more and changed my circumstances, but because He reminded me of who He is. In Him we have life in abundance.
I also started reading the cost of discipleship. I can't believe I never read this before, and I partly have caroline to thank for this. I'm only in the second chapter where he's talking about the call to discipleship. It's about how obedience and faith are intrinsic to each other, and one thing he repeatedly says is "only those who believe, obey and only those who obey, believe." I'll have more thoughts on this book as I get further in. It's by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and YOU should read it.
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