Encouragement

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I asked the heaven of stars
What should I give my love -
It answered me with silence,
Silence above.

I asked the darkened sea
Down where the fishes go -
It answered me with silence,
Silence below.

Oh, I could give him weeping,
Or I could give him a song -
But how can I give silence
My whole life long?
-Teasdale

I have been thinking and praying a lot about, what is love? The one thing that God keeps reminding me of is self control. I believe that an attribute to a godly love is self control. And if you disagree you should go read "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" or the Bible for that matter. I found this poem in "Passion and Purity" by Elisabeth Elliot. It reminded me of how important it is to have self control.

For me, right now, self control is holding back words that I want so badly to say or making a phone call. It is in the silence that I can hear God's words. My flesh cries out and says, "oh just make the phone call...its only a harmless conversation....." um yeah. Harmless for some people. Not for me. At this hour of my life a "simple" phone call would be an atomic bomb blowing up right in the middle of my walk with God.

Why is it that when God takes things away from us, for a season or for eternity, it is then that we want it so badly?! I found this quote that my friend had, "A woman's heart should be so close to God that a man has to seek Him to find her." Amen to whom ever took that down on paper. We should be fervently seeking God. Running after Him, laying aside anything that hindersus. It seems like we are always in such a hurry to get things done our way, how we want it done, and in our timing. But God has such bigger plans for us,if we would just stop to see. Elisabeth Elliot quotes, "The will of God is never exactly what you expect it to be. It may seem to be much worse, but in the end it's going to be bigger and a lot better."

Why are we always in such a hurry?

It is in the times that we are in a hurry, rushing, making rash decisions that we need to stop and ask ourselves where our self control level is at. I don't know about any of you guys but God never seems to be "exactly in a hurry" with the seasons that grow me the most. Right now it seems like a slow and painful death. I guess in some way it is, because I am dieing to self. But as time goes on I know that all will get better.

We need to waiting on the Lord for the person that He wants us to have in HIS timing. In other words, we shouldn't be hunting or settling for the first nice, attractive Christian who comes along. Just because they can quote scripture, are involved in church and are relatively attractive, does not mean that he or she is the person you will be marrying.

Waiting is...
steadfast, that is holding on;
patience. that is holding back;
expectancy, that is holding one's self in readiness to go or do;
listening, that is holding quiet and still as to hear.

waiting at the foot of the cross,

A.pennington

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