I had a dream one night. In it, I saw an open barn, hay on the floor, and a sparrow on the ground. The sparrow had a broken wing and was trying to get away. He fluttered its wings but couldn't fly away. Then an old man came into the barn with a cardboard box and gently tried to coax the sparrow into it. But the bird tried to fight the old man by snapping at him with its beak.
"Don't fight me." A voice said as the dream ended and I woke up.
I prayed about it. I knew it was about me, but I wanted to be sure. So the Lord answered and said that I was an uncut diamond with a fiery spirit. I needed direction. I needed patience, I'm stubborn, and I needed to be tamed. This "fiery spirit" analogy made me think of an untamed horse.
And just like the sparrow with the broken wing, I constantly wrestled with the Lord as He was trying to put me into a box of protection so He could take care of me.
When a shepherd has a lamb that constantly runs away, gets distracted from the group, etc. He goes after it and breaks the leg. Not out of meanness, but out of love and compassion. He then lives with that lamb, feeding it, taking care of it, and carrying it around his neck as he directs the rest of the herd. God is doing that to me and probably you too. How many people can relate?
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and He will make straight your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6
Reading over these verses the following questions hit me:
1. How do I trust in the Lord with all my heart? Like the lamb with the broken leg, I need to look to the Lord for everything because He is the one who sustains me. He is the One who gives me the words to write and the drive to write them.
"Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs on your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows." Luke 12:6-7
If God can take care of the sparrows, He can take care of us.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Matthew 6:25-26
2. What does "lean not on your own understanding" mean? To forget what you know. When God is telling me to trust Him when life hits, sometimes I overthink things. Thoughts swirl around about what to do to remedy a situation when all God wants me to do is to stop and be at peace knowing He is the one I should be focusing on. So I give it all over to Him and thank the Lord in advance for answering the prayer. This is a form of trusting Him with the situation.
3. What does acknowledging God mean? It means recognizing that He is God and acknowledging His authority over our lives and what we are doing. So, when I'm writing this blog post I'm acknowledging God's authority over my words and letting Him direct me to finish it. The same with this verse. If we acknowledge His authority over whatever He gave us to do, the Holy Spirit will direct us to finish the task.
4. What does "submit to the Lord" mean? It simply means to listen, obey, and follow Him. When thinking in terms of our daily lives it can also mean giving everything we are, we have, we struggle with, our family, friends, work, etc. over to the Lord and believing He will take care of things. It is believing His promises are true and that God will never leave us, never abandon us with our troubles. It is being at peace with what we have and knowing our path is in God's hands.
5. What does "make straight our paths" mean? This is a promise from God that whatever we are doing for Him, he will bring it to completion. He will make successful our path.
"The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." Proverbs 16:9
"Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." Proverbs 19:21
6. Putting it all together - Give the Lord All of your heart and put away your idols that are leading you away from Him. And don't overthink stressful situations. Give them over to God and thank Him in advance for answering prayer. In all of your ways listen, obey, and follow Him, and He will direct you in whatever He gave you to do to completion.
7. So What is the Lord telling me personally in this verse? Just like the dream of the sparrow, the Lord wants me to look to Him to take care of my husband and me. He wants me to stop wrestling with Him and worrying about life. With work scaling down hours I will panic about paying the bills. God wants me to give Him everything and let go of the things that take away from my writing time - Youtube, games... He also wants to move me forward and build on this foundation of my craft to move me to another level - speaking. And speaking to crowds frightens me, so I'm curious how the Lord is going to work in my life in this area.
"For I know the plans for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" Jeremiah 29:11
Is the Lord trying to move you also from the place you are right now? Maybe you're not serious about your walk with the Lord or in reading His word and He wants to fix that. Or you're struggling with finances like me and God wants to be the One who sustains you and your family. Don't be afraid. Take everything and give it to Him. Talk to Him about it. The Lord and I have been talking for years. I know He will answer you. He wants to take care of all of us and He loves you too much to let you struggle.
Building our spirit up requires prayer, reading God's word, studying it to be approved by Him, and submitting our plans to the Lord because maybe His plans are better.
Here's to an exciting year as the Lord works in all our lives! I pray God will bless you as you are being built up in His word. And whatever plans He has for you will come to completion and leave you in awe at how powerful our God is!
