Week Six: Believing God's Word is Alive and Active in You

God really spoke to me during Week Six -- what about you?

I loved how Beth encouraged us to think of loved ones and their needs and to pray specific Scriptures. For example, one couple that I prayed for needs God to answer prayers about the sale of their house, schooling for kids, etc. A couple of the verses that I am now praying for them are Psalm 119:133a ("Direct my footsteps according to your Word" and Isaiah 8:17, "I will wait for the Lord ... I will put my trust in Him.")

And I was reminded of the many times when I've prayed for things and later have been so grateful that God did not answer my prayers. For me this included houses that we did not buy, jobs that I didn't get, places that we didn't move to. God just knows so much better than we do! He has the big picture of our lives. Too often I'm caught in the "nows" of life.

I thought what Beth said about Jabez was really interesting--How "his mother had named him Jabez saying, 'I gave birth to him in pain'" (1 Chronicles 4:9).

What did you think about this paragraph that Beth wrote: "In the story of Jabez a blatant association occurs to me. In my opinion his mother made an idol of the pain associated with his birth. I wonder how many of us have also made an idol of our past pain. Not only did she bow down to it, she also inflicted the same sentence on Jabez--until one day when he decided maybe his God was bigger than his name. Bigger than his pain."

I've sure known people who have made idols of pain. And there have been times when I've done that myself--not good. Have you ever done that?

He is able,
Mary
http://www.marymaywrites.com/
http://grandconnection.blogspot.com/