Weeks 4 & 5 Update

Once again, my intentions to keep this blog up to date have slipped…suddenly two more weeks have gone by with no post. Time just moves so quickly here and there is always something more to do or explore. I spent the last two weekends back in Wylie trying to get the final stuff moved out of the house so the renters could move in this weekend. Kelsey and my parents were both great helps in this and actually did most of the final work.

Here at school, things have been busy and intense. Week 4 had Angie Paris sharing many aspects, but focusing on our thought life at the beginning of the week, followed by Dean Sherman teaching on Spiritual Warfare for the second half of the week. I was especially excited about Dean Sherman’s teachings because he boiled it all down to the absolute truths of God’s word and explained how to engage in Spiritual Warfare with just two steps….Repentance and Faith. We took a brief time to do some warfare late in the week and it amazed me how easy it was to break bondage of some beliefs I had been holding onto, using these simple steps. I was reminded that we(I) make Christianity so complicated and God really is probably just amused by our feeble attempts to make it so complicated. I’m sure he’s just smiling, shaking his head and saying, “oh sweet children, it really is a lot easier than you make it.”

The fifth week of classes just ended with the teachings this week on the Plumbline. This is really about living in the balance of knowing God’s salvation and freedom from the hurts of the past. A couple of key take-aways for me included realizing that instead of praying to God, “help me to trust you”, I should be praying “help me to understand how trustworthy You are.” Trusting God has been a key place God has been working on in me and this revealed an incredible truth for me. God has already given me all that I need to have to trust Him, but my “eyes” have been blinded to understanding just how trustworthy He really is. I will tell you that by the end of the week I’ve definitely gotten such a better understanding of exactly how trustworthy He is. Not sure I’m at the deepest level of understanding, but have such a sense of peace in knowing that He is trust. The other really key take-away was a realization that in order to have complete freedom there must be complete forgiveness. We often think we’ve forgiven someone and yet continue to hold onto hurt. Then, when we are trying to run, there is no way to run with complete abandon because the weight of the unforgiveness makes us run with a limp or we run out of energy and can’t complete the course God has for us. Not that it’s easy, but complete forgiveness is the only way to achieve complete freedom with God.
On Thursday and Friday this week we had a time of ministry and it was overwhelming to see how God worked in the lives of each of us. People were set free from so much stuff of the past, hurts, deceptions, deliverances, and even new life in Christ. For myself, the complete forgiveness of those who hurt me in the past, including myself…and with that came complete freedom to rest in God and to fully trust Him with my entire being.

I keep thinking that at some point I will come to the end of all this deep level processing that God has, but have finally realized that the end of that will only come when I have finished the course that God has set and I join Jesus in heaven. And that is ok, I’m good with that, because I want all that God has prepared for me and want to be completely who He has designed me to be.

There is so much more to tell, but this has already gotten so long. I do want to say a huge thank you for all of you who continue to pray for me and for my classmates. I realize how important that prayer covering is and has been already to all of our growth and freedom. You guys are soooo much a part of all that God is doing here and thank you seems so inadequate. But know that your faithfulness has such a huge part in God’s kingdom being expanded. I love you all!

Watch for my next post about outreach….