God is good! Here I am typing at 12:59 A.M. My family has been struck with an intestinal virus and so here I am awake as my daughter is now affected by stomach upset! I happened to begin reflecting on the last month, as I shut my eyes to go to sleep! I thought of how our "family" was able to experience God's presence in a powerful way. Now, do we give up on experiencing it, even though we did not get the answer we wanted? Is prayer powerful and effective? How do we know? How do we stay motivated to stay close by His side? Well, I will tell you one thing! The challenges of this world do not end, and so we cannot go very far going "solo"! My own children had to ask me, if I had prayed about getting over my stomach upset! I really did not, for I just took it as part of life! Strange after pursuing God so intensely, would I forget so soon to get on my knees! When, I finally took my children's advice, God not only restored my health and energy, but also gave me peace and joy! Do not wait to pray, I waisted much time on the couch!

Anyway, as I thought and prayed in the dark this evening, God seem to cast some light on my questions! God and His Word are kind of pursued like seeking a "scientific discovery"! God cannot be put into any kind of scientific limit or formula! But, He requires dedication and study! We may even make mistakes, but that only helps fuel our knowledge of Him and His direction. He is faithful to keep going with us! It is too easy to give up when hitting a "road block"! We struggle with the fact that God requires us to allow Him to make the decisions and to decide what is good and best. This never limits our discovery, but only blows our "discovery" out of this universe! I can remember praying for Kole and not giving God, in my heart, the right to do what He wanted! I wanted Kole! God wanted Kole! I have learned that to pray under His authority, means having His authority. I also learned to trust Him, over myself. I will still pray for God's healing touch, yet under His authority. God is a good and righteous authority! We have difficulty trusting authority here on earth, because we see so much corrupt leadership! Our enemy tries to make God seem corrupt! He did that to Eve in the garden! She bit "right into it" and listened to the snake! God's authority led to the "tree of Life" and to the garden of Eden. Satan's authority led to this fallen, diseased, and sin ridden world.

Does God want us to give up on His presence? No, He wants us to learn and keep going on our pursuit to know Him, His Word, how to pray, and how to live and obey! There is no going back to living dependent on ourselves, and the "easy road"! God has reminded me with this "intestinal bug" that He still desires attention and involvement in our lives consistently and constantly! Is that a drain--- to require such dedication. No, instead He fills us with His amazing strength and wisdom that comes through His Spirit! The Spirit is called a "stream of living water". The Spirit's power and ability flows and never runs dry. "Burn out" comes--- when we attempt to take on our troubles and responsibilities by ourselves, in the limited strength of our flesh and will. We, then, run out of strength and become overwhelmed with the burdens of this life! God's burden is light! It is difficult to fight against what God wants! What He wants is much better for everyone. He knows all and is unlimited! How do we know what He wants? We open ourselves up to Him, we open up His Word and diligently seek Him in prayer! We than know we are His own, for He becomes very personal. We can truly say we "know Someone in high places". "Someone" who has all say and all power. This is the discovery of our loving Creator God and Father of this universe. If you feel like you are a "no body" in ability to impress this world! I want to remind you that we are here to build His image! His image is already complete and not lacking anything! So, we get the simple job of pointing to Him, who is worthy to be praised. No person is worthy of praise! It is hard and empty work attempting to build our own image! I was free the day God redirected me to invest my life, building His image! I do not feel like a failure anymore, when the "Jones" pass me up!

I want to remain open to His leading! I think of what Jesus said to His Father, " Not my will, but Yours be done". It takes immense trust in God to allow Him to have that freedom and authority in your life! I have found that "He does not strike you with lightning" on the spot (Ha!--I can actually remember cringing when giving God permission with my life). He does, however, light a fire in you ! He gives you a purpose, a hope, a love, and a relationship with Himself that blows your imagination. I would never want to go back. Giving Him the driver's seat in my life has led to meaningful, rich living and an close loving relationship with Him. God decides the day your born and the day He comes for you! You decide whether to cooperate in the in between! He makes our life a success! He does the "sweating", we do the "bowing on our knees"! It is much more relaxing and comforting, to be on our knees! Anyway, God's sweat does not stink! Ours does!

God is free to pursue and the reward is huge! I tell my children whenever they read God's Word or pray, that they can look at it like putting money in a "spiritual bank account"! I had them memorize Psalms 103, when Kole was first diagnosed with cancer! I paid them ten cents a verse and threw in a few more coins when they would meet extra challenges! When they were done they had a little over 2 dollars to spend at our small town coffee shop! However, I reminded them they had 2 million plus in their "spiritual bank accounts". Sometimes, we feel trapped by our lack of education, status, and finances. We do not feel, we have what we need to make our physical dreams a reality! God gives us everything we need to make Him a reality. He has already paid for our tuition. He makes life happen in more abundant ways than you can ever dream or scheme up! He is free for the asking! He unties your hands and remakes your dreams even better. He lets us out of our financial and relational prisons. Isaiah 61 states that He come to set the captives free and to release the prisoners. Sometimes, it is a blessing to have our hands tied! Then, God is the "One and Only" available to us! Being a housewife with small children, ties me down to my home! I do not have a retirement account with my own name on it! It is laughable, to look at my Social Security statement! However, I am free to study God's Word and pray!

Anyway, I encourage you to never give up on discovering what God has for you! Do not hold back! Build your "spiritual bank" account. Become a "scientist" seeking discovery. I believe that even in our failures or in God's veto, that there is even more to discover! He does not shut a door, but opens up the entire universe! Just like with the discovery of our antibiotics! It came with much failure. The discovery was really a fluke! I believe it was not a fluke, but the hand of God saying "watch this"---go my way! He pointed the scientist in the right direction! He will point you the best way as you build your "bank account" and learn from your discoveries! The Bible is a vast treasure, prayer helps you spend it or should I say invest it! God is worth it all! I would say God has made the most of our trial, by leading us to His side! He has kept us! We would not want to be anywhere else. Kole is just on "His other side"! We are both hugging God, but on different laps! It is like, we are at God's left lap and Kole is at God's right! There is comfort in that---God bridges the gap and we all share Him! Comfort would not last in having Kole here with us. Comfort lasts in having God!

Today I was fed this from 2 Thessalonians 5:24
"The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it".

This reminded me of the verse in Philippians 1:6
"...., being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus".

He truly does the "sweating"/work in us and through us.

Jodi