This morning, as I stepped into my new PWOC home here, I was greeted by a LARGE room full of ladies! It’s about 3 times the size of both of the PWOCs I have been a part of before. At my last PWOC, I wanted to jump in as soon as I got there…I was excited and full of joy, filled with the Lord’s love and built up by my previous and first PWOC in Daegu, Korea. Things didn’t go exactly how I anticipated…but God brought so much beauty out of all of it. Here, I am sensing God will lead me over time where He wants me. I am happy to be in this place of letting Him lead me over time 🙂 . I don’t know if I will be the encourager on the sidelines or if the Lord will call me to leadership. I feel no inclination either way for once! I know I am going to depend on Him to lead me where He wants me more than ever before.
A wonderful speaker spoke about a new change in PWOC–about the removal of regional and international positions. As I listened, I sensed the great sadness in everyone’s hearts over this new change. We prayed together as a body and our speaker, Julie M. talked about trusting God during roadblocks. She talked about how, when God asks us to be Still, He is in Action. She reassured us that the Lord has a plan and will bring beauty out of roadblocks…and how we have to be ok with that…and have hope and joy in that…instead of sadness or anger or frustration….and also how roadblocks can be for our protection or to redirect us to a different way that we wouldn’t have gone before. She told the story of how Paul wanted to see the Thessalonians, but, despite prayer on both of their parts, the Word says he was prevented by Satan. BUT, this produced two wonderful letters to the Thessalonians that we get to read even today! What a testimony! It reminded me of some things my husband and I have been praying for…and felt God encourage us in….but things haven’t gone exactly the way we’ve anticipated…and how we must trust God in His sovereignty, good plan and perfect timing. It will all make sense someday.
Our speaker reminded us that God cares much more about our spiritual state, than He does our comfort. This really hit home for me. I have rarely felt comfortable the past few months, and my heart has really struggled with selfishness. God showed me so many parts of myself that need changing…and I might have not known all of this if I had felt great during this time. I am very thankful. Julie and I were sitting right next to each other and were able to chat a bit afterwards. I mentioned some of the things God had been teaching me and she told me, “maybe this is a time when you stop relying on your identity and instead rely on God’s.” It was a profound statement that struck me hard. As I have been pondering it the rest of the day today, I sense there is so much to this…so much God has to teach me about this…so much I don’t understand. This is definitely a growing season. The new wine is here. But, there is so much I don’t perceive. I know He will help me understand over time.
God’s priorities are so different than ours.
Walking in Faith 