STOMACH THIS!

Every week I am excrutiatingly challenged during the lectures at Bible Study Fellowship. Today was no different. I was feeling "cruise control" taking over this week and routine going back to normal until this morning. I am made to think outside my normal thinking and reflect on things I wouldn't normally think to reflect on. From last week's study I realized that remorse and regret are fine and dandy but it doesn't amount to much until I truly repent and then can be forgiven. Two of the three principles given today put my thinking cap into overdrive. The first one was this: God trains his children through times of waiting. Over the last few years and I realized how true this is. I thought over how long we waited for a house to buy in town and all the lessons I learned along the way (of course at the time I wasn't so dreamy about the lessons I was learning). Upon interviewing for various jobs at HON the wait between interviews and answers has sometimes been months. These are little things but first to come to mind. The actual take home application I received from this principle today was that during these times of waiting we are to JOYFULLY submit and learn from God. I think the JOYFULLY submit part is hard stuff and I'm still in the process of learning this. The other principle was: God trains His children through circumstances and people. I thought about people lately I've had differences of opinion with. But looking at these differences and thinking what I should learn and what character building I need to do through this put the situations into a whole different perspective. And, while being alone throughout the week with four kids is sometimes entirely too lonely, I truly believe this is a learning and growing experience that I'll look back on someday and not want to trade for anything. Thanks God, for helping me stomach this stuff today!