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muchfruit
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Name: Sylvia
Location: Phoenix, Arizona, United States
Gender: Female
Interests: To live, love, and laugh as I explore truth while endeavoring to nurture my relationship with God.
Expertise:
Message: message meEmail: email me
Member Since:
1/3/2006
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| Standing In Need Of Prayer
In the midst of a trial right now. Having trouble remembering
that trials come to make us strong. Hoping to gain some spiritual
growth out of this one. Not feeling very confident in my own
ability to make the right decisions. Clutching desperately to
the fact that God is made strong in my weakness. Endeavoring to
acknowledge Him in all my ways. Unsure of how to move forward in
wisdom, so I'm currently standing still waiting on the mighty hand of
God to move as He has in the past. Not necessarily looking to get
out of the fire, just hoping for a word of knowledge or a message from
on
high with instruction on how to proceed with a plan of action that
lines up with the Word of God. Pray for me earnestly; pray for
patients, wisdom,
clarity of thought, Godly insight, trust in the Father from which all
blessings flow; oh, and endurance, I
have a feeling this might be a long one.
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| How ironic that my system would go down immediately following my post
about the difficulty I have contributing to this forum in a significant
way. Well, as fate---luck---or God would have it due to technical
difficulties I found myself separated from the www and out of the
proverbial loop; and after several days of not
being able to stop in and get some food for thought, I came to
appreciate and recognize how instrumental this forum has been in leading
me to some very timely and needful topics for study, in addition to inspiring me to
think on things of God as I go throughout my day.
I'd like
to give props to LP and JC and many others for their faithful endeavors
to offer food for thought to those who visit xanga with hopes of being
ministered to.
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| My last post was in late January; and to be quite honest, I think I
took a step back from zanga because my original intention for joining
the blogring was to share and to receive something of spiritual
substance. But I must admit that while my daily posts where
generally substantive, I still found myself more readily engaged in platitudes,
and witty banter as I tried to respond to those who use this forum to
communicate cheerful greetings or FYI updates or heartfelt expression of the
noteworthy events of their lives. And if I'm totally honest with
myself I also recognize that this type of social interaction is more
suited to my nature mainly because I'm a social creature, as most women are, and it's quite a bit
easier to engage one another about the day to day goings on of our individual lives than
it is to expound on the truths of Gods word.
When you think about it there is quite obviously plenty of opportunity
to communicate in the spiritual arena as well. LP's following
alone gives us lots of food for thought. But somehow I've managed
to merely listen in and glean morsels of wisdom from these great
discussions. I suppose I'm a bit intimidated by the wealth
of scriptural knowledge and the passion that often lights a fire storm
of debate, making my less than confident input pale in
compassion. So instead, I chose to remain right at
home in a social setting and while there's no harm in the social aspects
of weblog forums, I believe God has gifted me to write thereby placing
a calling on my life to do so with the
intention of bringing glory to God. In addition
He's
challenging me to step out of my comfort zone and away from
seeking to satisfy my natural nature, toward deeper things that are a
witness
to the truth of His Word; which brings me to my next point.
I also struggle with critical perfectionist writing. I often
suppress what I believe to be a contribution of significant value simply because
I have trouble spiting it out. I
second guess my knowledge of Gods Word and proper hermeneutics. I over
analyze who might agree or disagree with my take on biblical
principles. I
over work the sentence structure, punctuation and grammar that I feel
is necessary to articulate intelligently. I even wonder if I take
myself too seriously, or if I sound fake or fluffy or
hyper spiritual. In general, I think way too much about how I come
across and how I'll be received rather than simply speaking what I
know to be truth in love with hopes that it might plant a seed or
water, or cultivate spiritual growth. And while I know that
only God can give the increase, I sincerely just want to do my part and
be used of God to pour into the kingdom as often at he
gives me utterance.
I'm asking all of you to forgive me if and when I fail to be socially attentive in this
forum, but pray for me as I endeavor to be obedient to Gods challenge
to me to speak up for and dig into the spiritual things of God.
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| In a grape vine, pruning redirects the sap away from wasteful growth
and toward desirable fruit. In our lives pruning is God's way of
making room for more of what matters most, and redirecting the flow of
His life through us so that we'll produce more of what will last for
eternity. (Secrets of the Vine).
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| If we are bearing some fruit, God is faithful to prune us so that we
might bear more fruit. Darlene Wilkinson points out in her book Secrets of the Vine for Women a few common points for Gods pruning shears:
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Priorities that need to be rearranged
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Relationships that need to change or end
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Busyness that isn't accomplishing what matters most
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Dependencies or attachments that we're ready to grow out of
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Personal "rights" that God is asking us to surrender to Him.
What areas of your life do you think could use some pruning? Selah
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