This life is like a jigsaw puzzle.God knows His work wouldnt be complete without us! I dont know about you, but I am an optimist in that I have always had great expectations and confident assurance that most of my desires would eventually be fulfilled. To say it in a word, I have hope. That is, I have always trusted and relied on the confident expectation that my desires would be fulfilled. But, let me throw in a qualifier statement. You see, when I was much younger I guess I had some pretty wild and rather immature hopes and desires. Now I know that they were actually a passing fancy, something I thought I wanted but really didnt want or desire. In other words, I was glad some of those hopes were not realized. What Ive learned over the years is something Id like to pass along to you and it is this. Before I was a saved believer in Jesus, I had a lot of self-centered desires and hopes. After I was born again, my viewpoint gradually changed to that of a Christian with a heartfelt need, desire and hope to please my Lord. Then, I began to try my best to see things as if I were seeing them through the eyes of Jesus. Gradually, over a long period of time (I guess Im a slow learner), I began to submit my desires and hopes to the Holy Spirit and to ask Him for His advice, wisdom and guidance. Slowly it dawned on me that in order to lead a life that was pleasing to Jesus, I had to learn to put things that were related to: I, me, my and mine in the background and put the Lords hopes and desires for me - regarding His glory - in the foreground. Thus, in His gentle way, Jesus showed me that He wanted the things hed created in me to simply be available to Him for His purposes whenever he needed them. So, at that point it became my hope to always be available to the desires and needs of my Lord. You see, He only made one person, one human being, exactly like me. Therefore, there must be something unique and special about me. Something the Lord needs to make use of today, tomorrow or at some special time in the future. Im sure it must be something He knows only I can do for Him. Now, with this insight in mind, I try my best to keep myself accessible and available to Jesus and His needs and desires by simply telling Him in my daily prayers that whatever happens, He is - the hope of my life. Terry Weber Note: This is an excerpt from my book: Anchors Of Faith. You can learn more about my book at the following website: http://www.crafty-ones.com/web/viewproduct.asp?prodID=1244 |
