Testing...

Wouldn't you know it...yesterday withheld another "one-of-those-days"! After reading and studying over my devotion and doing my blog post yesterday morning, within hours I was "tested" on exactly what I had been taught...not just once in the day but twice. The first instance was in regard to a situation here at home and the second "test" correlated to a fragile circumstance our family is currently walking through.

As I meditated on Oswald throughout the early morning hours and then visited the blog of a dear sister that reads the exact same devotion everyday and had made reference to its contents, Kyle and I were faced with the "doormat test"...

It is one thing to follow God's way of service if you are regarded as a hero, but quite another thing if the road marked out for you by God requires becoming a "doormat" under other people's feet. God's purpose may be to teach you to say, "I know how to be abased..." (Philippians 4:12). Are you ready to be sacrificed like that? Are you ready to be less than a mere drop in the bucket - to be so totally insignificant that no one remembers you even if they think of those you served? Are you willing to give and be poured out until you are used up and exhausted - not seeking to be ministered to, but to minister? ~Oswald Chambers

It amazes me how so many times we feel like "we get it" and "we are prepared" only to immediately be faced with "the test"!

As I thought and prayed about the situation we were being "tested" over, I KNEW God had provision waiting...we had just read it, learned it...had we received it? What were we going to do with it? How were we going to handle it? What was our response going to be? Were we going to deny ourselves and walk in the grace of Jesus or were we going to stomp and pout, insisting on our own way? Would we be determined to set our faces like flint on our Lord (Isaiah 50:7) or were we going to dwell and entertain the lie of justification?

Unfortunately, neither Kyle nor I had immediate resolve (due to our carnal thinking) like we should have, instead we were angry, hurt, sorrowful, yet we prayed, rested, listened, waited...we KNEW what God had shown us, taught us, told us! We KNEW we had a choice in how we handled the situation! We KNEW that the RIGHT thing was to respond in what we KNEW and not what we felt...ouch!?!

We're getting there yet I long to arrive at the place where: After you have gone through the fire, there will be nothing that will be able to trouble or depress you. When another crises arises, you will realize that things cannot touch you as they used to.

Again, my heart is grateful for Jesus! With each day that passes, I find more-and-more how deeply in need of a Savior I am. The One True Savior has taken me in...I am rich indeed!