My God is AWESOME!

For my birthday (back in February) Brent bought me 3 tickets to Living Proof Live with Beth Moore in Cincinnati. The original idea was that he was taking the kids to play with some of our friends while some friends of mine and I had a weekend to ourselves. I was ecstatic! This weekend it was finally time! At the last minute some of the plans changed, different people attended the event with me than originally planned, and the rest of my family ended up staying at home. Now that we are on the other side of the last minute craziness I see that everything worked out the way it was supposed to and the people who were supposed to attend were there. 

Living Proof Live was amazing! Beth spoke from 2 Kings chapters 4 and 8 about Elisha and the Shunammite woman. The story is about a woman who built a room onto her house for the man that used to stop there for dinner, a man of the Lord (Elisha). He had his servant ask her how she could be repaid for her hospitality and her answer was, "I'm fine." After some probing around they discovered that she did not have any children and told her that she would have a child within a year. Her response was, "Don't you mess with me!" This was obviously a sore subject, one of bitterness and pain. She had the child, then a few years later he passed away of a sudden illness while out in the field. The woman immediately went to find Elisha. She was halted by his servant who she greeted and pushed out of the way. When she got to Elisha she grabbed him by his ankles and begged for his help. Elisha sent his servant to the boy then followed with the woman himself. The boy was brought back to life.

Jump ahead a few years (to chapter 8) and you find out that the woman runs into Elisha again after she's been asked to serve her country during a famine for 7 years. She asks what she needs and her answer is no longer, "I'm fine," but she begs the King for the land she left to serve her county in return. She shared the story of Elisha with the King who was able to verify the story. The King granted her wish.

So, what's the big picture? What was my big take away... or few take aways? 

First, I am not "fine". And if I think I'm fine I am lying to myself. Seriously, who are we kidding if we think that we can do everything on our own without any guidance? In our life we have so many things that are frustrating on a daily basis. These things are not "big" in comparison to others, but they are our things. They are the things that we must depend on God for deliverance. Kid behaviors. Promotions at work. Scheduling. Marital spats. The little stuff. The every day stuff! 

Second, I can try to control the things that are "not fine" or I can give them to God. Often times I put the metaphorical bit into the mouth of the horse and pull. Hard. I honestly believe I can do it on my own. My power. My control. Leave me alone. I've got this... Who am I kidding? Really? 

Third, I must depend on God alone. Not his servants. So often I go to friends to figure out things that are God's issues. Jesus died so I could depend on Him for salvation. Yet I often find myself making phone calls to a friend to vent or think through it. I get so complacent about asking God for help that I convince myself that the things we deal with are not big enough to ask for help about. It's a lie! 

All in all my weekend was AWESOME! I'm looking forward to applying these truths this week to everything I do and say. I asked before I went that God would get my attention. He did just that and I'm excited how it affects everything in my life!