Hard Seasons

You know when you're in a season that's hard, but you decide to not try and figure everything out, and you just move on with life and try to Trust in God?


And then when you're in a season that's hard, but you're tired of not trying to figure everything out, because you can't stand seeing all of the junk going on around you?

..Well, I'm in that second category.  It's so hard for me to see people who I really care about not walking in the freedom that God intended them to have.   I think I've been taking on other people's junk lately.  Which is never a good idea.  I'm not talking about helping carry other people's burdens, but I'm talking about taking on the sin from their lives and bringing it into my life as if it were my own.  I think ultimately, I need to learn to separate their sin from my life.   So that I can still walk in my own freedom from the Lord and so that I can then actually help them where it would be wise for me to.


So, to whoever is reading this,   
God knows what I need, as well as what my friends need, which I think is recognizability, repentance, which can then bring freedom.  So please go to Him on my behalf as well as my friends behalf. 
Thank you brothers and sisters.

Lesson learned, but many to come :)

Confession:

While I was working in Wilkesboro today, we were finishing up a job and I saw one extra little piece of trash on the property where most people would really never look.  So I said to my-self, "Always be thorough" as I stumbled over to the seemingly inconspicuous location.  And would you know, there lied a 20 dollar bill right next to the piece of trash!....

...Now for the lesson...

As I picked up the $20, the first thing that came to mind was, "how can I invest, spend or save this money?".

I was thinking to my self: "Yeah, that's it, I'm being responsible with this $20 that I found, most people would just blow it as fast as they found it right?"....Well, maybe, but that's not what God wanted me to do, in fact, He didn't even want me to do any of the things I was thinking about doing with it.

So, as I was walking back to the truck, the fourth and final option of how to use the money came in my head as my mind settled from the exhiliration of finding "free" money....And that thought was I believe from the Holy Spirit, saying: "Leif, Don't save, invest, or spend this money... give it".  

I was like "wow,  Thanks for that thought God, without you, I would've probably totally missed that one."

Even when I received that word, I still was contemplating how much I should give percentage-wise, because I already give a certain percentage of my income, but this was so different, I got this money for free!

Still, the Lord ensured in me to give it by buying the person I was working with lunch and then setting the rest aside for the next time I see a need in someone else's life.  

When I got home today, this Scipture came to mind, it's talking about more spiritual matters, but I think the latter half could definitely apply to how I handle some of my finances.  

Mat 10:8   Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.Confession:

While I was working in Wilkesboro today, we were finishing up a job and I saw one extra little piece of trash on the property where most people would really never look.  So I said to my-self, "Always be thorough" as I stumbled over to the seemingly inconspicuous location.  And would you know, there lied a 20 dollar bill right next to the piece of trash!....

...Now for the lesson...

As I picked up the $20, the first thing that came to mind was, "how can I invest, spend or save this money?".

I was thinking to my self: "Yeah, that's it, I'm being responsible with this $20 that I found, most people would just blow it as fast as they found it right?"....Well, maybe, but that's not what God wanted me to do, in fact, He didn't even want me to do any of the things I was thinking about doing with it.

So, as I was walking back to the truck, the fourth and final option of how to use the money came in my head as my mind settled from the exhiliration of finding "free" money....And that thought was I believe from the Holy Spirit, saying: "Leif, Don't save, invest, or spend this money... give it".  

I was like "wow,  Thanks for that thought God, without you, I would've probably totally missed that one."

Even when I received that word, I still was contemplating how much I should give percentage-wise, because I already give a certain percentage of my income, but this was so different, I got this money for free!

Still, the Lord ensured in me to give it by buying the person I was working with lunch and then setting the rest aside for the next time I see a need in someone else's life.  

When I got home today, this Scipture came to mind, it's talking about more spiritual matters, but I think the latter half could definitely apply to how I handle some of my finances.  

Mat 10:8   Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

O Praise Him

One thing the Lord has helped me realize is that I've not been living in complete utter thankfulness and praise for all of the things in my life.  I mean sure we'll go through seasons where we learn about one thing in God's Word or in our life or other things.  But above all things going on in our world, should it not be completely covered in gratefulness to God?   I pray that my praise toward God would not just be evident when things seem great, but when they seem not so great.  And whose to say, things are great or not so great.  In what perspective do I make that statement? 

James 1:12 Blessed [is] the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

So whether it be temptation,suffering,victory, or overcoming, I know that if I love my God, He will work together all things for my good and His Glory.

Romans 8 :28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.

There's tough things in our lives a lot of the times.  I'm going through some very tough things right now in my own life.   But I know, that our God is greater than all things.  And I will choose to Praise Him.

A day of learning

Something God had in-store for me to learn. 

As we were on our way home, I was talking with a friend about lots of different things that God has been and is doing in our lives.  And at some point in the conversation, my friend shared something that they had lost a long time ago.  Something very dear to their heart.  It certainly wasn't directly in connection with me, but it felt so much as if it were somehow.  Right then, I didn't need some perfect thing to say or at the perfect time to say it, I just needed to be there and in some way just let God work on my own heart through what my friend shared.  I felt like I totally broke, sitting right there in the passenger seat.  If I could have, I would have fallen down on my knees.  My heart broke for my friend,tears came pouring out of my face, my heart broken before God.  My heart went out to my friend with mourning, but also my heart cried out in surrender to God.  It was not a brokenness like I had been hurt, but like a breaking down at the foot of my Savior.  A realization to how  wonderful and mighty our God is.  God will use many things in our lives to mold and shape us.  And this was certainly one of those things for me.

I thank God for the drive home that night.  I thank God for helping me realize how much I need to live in complete surrender to Him.

All I can say is, how grateful I am for Christ.  He really is The Way unto knowing the Father, The Truth in all things that He says and does, and The Life that is in me.