“You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed and placed and purposefully planted you, so that you would go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit will remain and be lasting, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name [as My representative] He may give to you. This [is what] I command you: that you love and unselfishly seek the best for one another.” John 15:16-17 AMP

If you’ve been following this little blog at all, you may have noticed that I haven’t written in a while. Sometimes, it’s easy to get lost in our own struggles and forget to spend time on the gifts and callings God has placed in our lives. I’ve been learning valuable lessons in recent weeks, though I suppose we go through life in a constant state of learning. Still, there are certain lessons that stand out a bit more than others.

The biggest lesson I’ve been experiencing is this: when we choose God first in ALL things, God never fails to work out the rest. The last several days have brought more loss and grief, but also healing and great comfort. I’d fallen out of regular choir attendance, but when I prayed for and was given the strength and courage (yes, I needed courage) to return, I experienced a night of Satan’s vicious attacks on my heart, mind, and spirit. But I leaned into God and He gave me what I needed to get through. I have been making a conscious and intentional effort to continue to put God before everything else, and as a result, He has continued to bless me beyond anything I could have expected.

So often we go about life with the mindset of, “if I just work this part out, then I can move forward and make the choice/decision I know God wants me to make regarding that part.” We tend to forget that our relationship with God doesn’t work that way. He tells us to NOT do things based on our own thoughts and understandings, but to follow Him and He will direct our paths.

“Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him, and He will make your paths straight and smooth [removing obstacles that block your way].” Proverbs 3:5-6 AMP

When you realize you are choosing to do something YOUR way, and thinking God is just sitting back waiting on you to sort out your own worries before you start choosing HIS way, then you’ve got everything backwards. Many times we know in our hearts what God wants us to do in any given situation, but we are frequently afraid to move forward and do it out of fear that it will cost us something we value. Now, just think about that for a hot minute….It is written all over the scriptures that taking the leap and making the Godly choice will always remove obstacles and bring blessings beyond anything we can imagine, yet we fear taking that leap because we don’t truly trust the promises made by God.

Consider how long the Israelites wandered through the wilderness because of their hard headed choices made based on their fears. A journey that could have taken them less than two weeks took them FORTY YEARS because they simply couldn’t choose God’s way over their own. It was only a couple of months ago that I began to see and understand the necessity and value of putting God before everything else in my life, including my finances. One of the first steps I took towards that choice was to start paying tithing. When my paycheck comes in, before I put even one penny towards something else, I pay my tithing.

Just a couple of weeks after I began doing this, my husband and I decided to sell the house we live in now and move to a new home here in the area. About two weeks after we started looking, we found and were under contract on a home we both felt to be exactly what we wanted. Then, about two weeks after that, before ever even listing our current home, it was under contract, as well. God has been working things out that make no logical sense from my worldly perspective, but then, He doesn’t need to operate by the world’s rules, does He?

My point is this: even something as seemingly benign as buying and selling a house will happen according to God’s will if WE choose to put His will first. We may think we know what is best, and we may believe that by making one choice we know to be right in the sight of God, we will lose all else that matters most, but that just means we are putting our own selfish desires first, and we are putting more confidence in our own power and knowledge than in God’s.

The truth is that God can DO anything, CREATE anything, HEAL anything, PROVIDE anything…but only if we put ourselves aside and choose Him first. We absolutely must get out of His way if we want our lives to be blessed to the extent that only HE can bless them. He is our Father. Nothing in this world is too big or too hard for Him. How can it be, when He created every last bit of it??

The equation is easy…the choice is simple…just choose God. If there are things you are doing your way because you’re afraid of what you might lose by doing them God’s way, then you’re trusting yourself over God, your vision of life over His. The trust needs to be in the fact that His vision of life is far more blessed and beautiful than our human minds can begin to comprehend.

If there is something in your life that isn’t happening, though you know in your heart it should be, perhaps it’s because you’re not doing it God’s way… maybe God is simply waiting on you to move out of His way. I know without a doubt He was just waiting on me.