Peeling Away

I guess I am like an ogre – I have many layers.

In this process of sanctification, I see that I have many layers needing to be peeled away. The Lord will continue to peel away my sin through various means. I have peeled away to Ohio and I look forward to seeing how the Guide of my life will change me in the coming months. I DOUBTED His being able to change me in Washington. I FOUGHT returning to Washington. I thought I would be friendless, stuck in my sin, and destined to a life of spinster living in her father’s home while knitting the household some red socks for winter. (I am not joking. I wrote out a list of about 16 fears I had in coming back to Washington from California. I looked back occasionally, sometimes they were lived out, but overall God provided for my needs and I had no need to fear.)
God is GOOD! He knows my sin and He wants to conform me to the image of His Son!! He will NOT allow me to linger in my sin and He will NOT forsake me. I have seen His faithfulness and His goodness in the land of the living and so I am eager and willing to place my faith in Him to do the same NOW. He does not forsake His sheep! I am living and so He still has a purpose for my life! He used me in Washington (I pray), and He will be faithful to put me to use in Ohio.

Some things that I have contemplated and have been contemplating while making my decision about going early to Ohio or not:
Do Hard Things by the McDowell brothers. Yes, this book is for teenagers, but I got some good stuff from it.

DO HARD THINGS:--Outside your comfort zone,
--That go beyond what is expected or required,
--That are too big for you to do alone,
--That don’t pay off immediately
--That go against the crowd.
Ohio seemed to fit there.

“On the Line” – what am I willing to put on the line? What do I have to put on the line? What am I willing to risk, by faith, not knowing for sure what the Lord will do in response? – Ohio sounded good.

Did I leave “too early”? I guess that was part of the risk.
Does God direct our steps even when man plans the way of his heart?
I guess that was the part of stepping out in faith.

I have now learned to love and lean on the reality that God is sovereign. He does direct our steps and He has planned our ways. All things work for His glory and for our good!! That includes this move. That includes choosing to move and choosing to keep myself under my dad’s direct authority.
I don’t know if it was “too early,” but since He [my Heavenly Father] didn’t prevent me from going, I am going to say that it was right on His time. I will seek His goodness in the land of the living! (Psalm 27:13-14)



(2nd Corinthians 4)

 BECAUSE our inner man is being renewed day by day.
 BECAUSE our light and momentary affliction works for us an eternal weight of glory.
 BECAUSE God is preparing us a house that is eternal, in the heavens.
 BECAUSE we will be further clothed as mortality is swallowed up.
 BECAUSE God is preparing us to receive these glories; (needed: trials).
 BECAUSE we have the Spirit as a guarantee; (not required – His goodness bestowed upon us).
 BECAUSE we are confident as we walk by faith and not by sight,
“THEREFORE, we make it our aim, whether present or absent, [from the Lord] to be well pleasing to Him.” 2nd Corinthians 5:9

So, as I tour around Ohio and try to figure out why God brought Him here (which, perhaps I will never know,) I will endeavor to be faithful to Him. He has given us these promises. He gave up Himself and He asks that we follow Him. He asks that we lay ourselves down as a sacrifice – holy and pleasing to Him.

…PLEASING to Him…

What does that mean, again?

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
“Walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called – with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love.”

Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep Him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”

At Grace, the Lord taught me the importance of the Body. He taught me what it is to truly love the Body. He used all my former experiences and learnings and understandings and seemed to be balancing me and chiseling me.

Now, I am entering into a new fellowship to apply what I have learned. The Lord has brought great teaching through Grace and has used it to peel away my sin – layer, by disgusting layer. Now, I have come to FBC, Ohio. May I be faithful here! I am excited to see what Faith (haha) will teach me -- what layers it will peel away.

Please pray:
That I would find a job soon and that this would be the place where God has the right people to whom I can minister appropriately. (Nice money flow would be a good prayer request as well.)

That my dad and I would bond during this “alone time.”
[The Lord has so changed my attitude toward my dad. (CRAZY!) I see that he is an honorable man who is trying (with all diligence and perseverance) to walk worthy of his Lord. My dad wants to be able to stand before God blameless and holy. He wants to be held as a good steward of his family. –PRAISE THE LORD!]

That I would find where I should be ministering in the church – that my eyes would see the needs of the souls and take action.

That I would find some friends.

That I would find some older women…and bond quickly. (Some may have found me already.)