Grace, Healing, On the Journey Together, Words of Endurance

For we who worship by the Spirit of God
Are the ones who are truly circumcised.
We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us.
We put no confidence in human effort.
PHILIPPIANS 3:3 (NLT)

The other morning Dave and I were discussing our most recent experiences and feelings. I shared with Dave my positive experiences and feelings but also my insecure and negative thoughts. At the end of our conversation, Dave said to me, “Jan you need to have more confidence in yourself.”

I was touched by what he said – at first I took it as an encouraging word as I know he meant it to be. But immediately my thoughts went to how could I be confident in me (my sinful flesh) when I had made so many wrong sinful choices in the past? But then I realized that within me there is not only my sinful flesh but there is also the Holy Spirit. And while I cannot be confident in my flesh I know I can be confident of the Holy Spirit that lives within me.

Over the past two years Dave and I have been on a journey to confidently trust God with who we truly are. This journey has been more difficult for me than Dave because my confidence and trust has wavered between myself and God. I have found as I looked back over my Spiritual journey that I would continually surrender control of my life to God but during life’s most difficult trials I would take control of my life back – finding my own ways to escape the pain.

Over the past year, I have chosen to surrender control to the Holy Spirit and trust Him to lead me and be my strength because I have come to the realization that I could no longer trust myself. And since that critical choice He has led me on a path to healing that I never dreamed possible.

My word from God for 2017 is “Confidence”. Not confidence in my flesh but knowingly confident in the One who dwells within me – confidence within Whom I place my Trust and Hope.

But blessed are those who trust in the LORD
and have made the LORD their hope and confidence.
They are like tress planted along a riverbank,
with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
and they never stop producing fruit.
JEREMIAH 17:7-8 (NLT)

ON THE JOURNEY WITH YOU,
JAN DRAVECKY