Take Heart...

A couple of Sunday's ago, standing in worship, I felt a zillion miles away.  Ever felt that way?  I think the busyness and all-by-myself-ness of band camp and the start of school kinda took over.  I'd been filling like my entire being was too crowded.  

Filled with good stuff, y'all.  Crazy kids and Angelina Ballerina and mac and cheese and scrapbooking and small group sharing and leadership training and...and...and...and...

Not a whole lot of room for things of The Kingdom.  

Standing there that Sunday, my prayer was, "Lord, pursue me."  My feelings do not change the absolute truth of God's word.  He already purses me.  Whether I am feeling that or not.  But a plea to Him, opens my own heart to His pursuit.  Opens my eyes and ears to allowing Him to wash over me.  

We sat down and Pastor John started speaking.  The sermon series is "Take Heart."  The previous week, he's presented the series using David as the example.  David being deserted by his king, his enemies and his own men.  "....But David found strength in the Lord his God."  1 Samuel 30:6

Our circumstances reveal our belief about God.  

Do we hang out in the "Whoa is me" land or the "Why me" city or "This is too big" state?  Do we look at our circumstances as, simply, too big for God?  Or do we accept the truth of God that He is bigger?  He is greater?  He has already overcome?  

Good stuff.  

The next week, this Sunday where I was pleading to feel God's pursuit, was the "how" to find our strength in the Lord.  When our circumstances feel just too much.

How do we strengthen ourselves in the Lord instead of weakening in our circumstances?

The title of that sermon was "The Hardest Thing to Do."

Gratitude.

Y'all.

I actually giggled.  

Doesn't He just meet us where we are?

Gratitude leads to the presence of the Lord.  The presence of the Lord leads to joy.  The joy of the Lord releases the strength of the Lord.  

Y'all!  

This sermon hit me hard.  My mind and heart are continuing to process this with the Holy Spirit.  My "gratitude" has most definitely turned into "thankfulness."  Where I am thankful for lots of things but rarely...RARELY...have I sat down and allowed my prayers to offer pure gratitude for who God is.  

Y'all, if you are in the middle of heavy circumstances and you want to know how to find your strength in the Lord...give thanks in the middle of those circumstances.

I firmly believe the reason Chris and I both continue to counsel, love and walk through infertility with couples is because we did not have one of those horrible, darkest hours of our lives, just want to forget it ever happened journeys with infertility.  We had the opposite.  We had a complete revelation happen because God taught us to be grateful.  

God taught us to be grateful.

And in that spirit of gratitude, we found Him, we found His joy, and we found His strength.  

I'm gonna add the link to the sermon.  He hits gratitude about ten minutes in.  I'm certain there's a way to actually post the video here but I'm not that technologically advanced.  

http://valleycreek.org/media/all-series/take-heart/take-heart-the-hardest-thing-to-do/

If you've got time...or even if you don't have time but you are willing to make time...watch.  Really.  Gratitude is life-changing.

Hard to ignore His pursuit of me when He sends me a message on gratitude.  He was, is and will forever be the same.  My heart simply moved.  I allowed the craziness...even good craziness...to get in the way of me being in His presence.   

Oh how He loves us, y'all.