Complete in Thee: Answer to Trivia Question

Monday, November 23, 2009

Answer to Trivia Question

Oh my goodness! I am so sorry it has taken me so long to post this. You wouldn't be able to imagine how busy we've been! Okay, so here we go.

The trivia question was:
Which epidemic is causing more casualties this year than the swine flu?

The answer...

is....

shall I tell you......

I suppose....

since I said I would.....

I should.....

It's called the L1M1 flu. In other words, the Love One/Marry One flu; in other words, the Romance flu. In other words, has it occurred to you that there is a shocking amount of marriages/courtships/dating relationships going on??? Amanda and I were discussing how we can't even count on our fingers all the people who have gotten married this year, or engaged, or dating. It's crazy! One of my closest friends just got married in March. Two of my babysitters from when I was little got married this summer. Another friend now has a boyfriend. Then, one of my favorite cousins and longest-time friends has a girl he is "talking with". One of my childhood crushes has a girlfriend.

It's crazy!!

A couple times, I have allowed it to get to me. "What about me? Why doesn't someone like me? Will I ever get married?" Unless I'm a weird person in a category by myself, you'll understand when I say that even if you don't feel ready for marriage or even extremely desirous of marriage, you still have that feeling of being left out when it seems like everyone is in a special relationship except yourself.

This feeling gets to me now and then, for instance, tonight. But quickly the Lord reminds me: "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways... For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Imagine as I might, dream as I might, my plans and thoughts cannot even draw near to the excellency and perfectness of His own plans and thoughts for me.

I might think, "If everyone else has a special guy in their lives, so should I!" But He says, "Even if other people have special relationships on earth, I am the Lord your God, and I am all you need. Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. I commend my love toward you, in that, while you were yet sinners, I died for you."

Why should I feel discouraged; why should I feel left out? I belong to Jesus! He is all I need! He has plans so much greater than my own, and I can trust Him to fulfill them in His own timing!! When I think about Jesus, and how good and great He is, I know I have all I could ever wish for and more!

"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God." (Psalm 43:5)

5 comments:

Teddy said...: Melanie, that was BEAUTIFUL!!! Thank you and thank the Lord that He is teaching you through this and alowing you to be a blessing to those of us who think like you. :) I'm grateful that when you post about something like this, you take the time to think through it biblically so that it is indeed a true encouragement to the soul-not just an added burden of worry!; November 23, 2009 at 1:03 PM
Melanie said...: Teddy,
Praise the Lord!! Your comment was a blessing to me. :-); November 23, 2009 at 2:37 PM
Amanda said...: Teddy said it. :); November 23, 2009 at 2:46 PM
Lilly said...: Thank you sooooooooooooo much I needed to hear that!It’s so true you know in your head that you’re to young or not ready yet but it’s awfully hard to pound that into your emotions!!!; November 23, 2009 at 6:22 PM
Anonymous said...: Ouch! I know what you mean, about feeling left out, sometimes. Thank you for reminding us to make Jesus our fulfillment; I need that reminder!; November 23, 2009 at 9:20 PM

PRAYER REQUESTS

"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints" (Ephesians 6:18)

PLEASE PRAY...

* That I would draw nearer to God every day and never allow my relationship to become stagnant ritual; particularly that I would grow in the area of submission, patience, 1 Corinthians 13 love, and wholehearted devotion

* That I might have wisdom as I edit "The Marquis' Daughter"; that the Lord would bless and work through it; and that I might find just the right publisher for it.

* That I would submit to the Lord's work in my life, whatever it may be; that I would take each opportunity He brings me (even the seemingly hard ones) to draw closer to Him and point others to Him

*That our Etsy shop might be successful and that it would be a means by which we can glorify God and share the Gospel

Ephesians 2:1-10

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

"The heart set to do the Father's will need never fear defeat. His promises of guidance may be fully counted upon. Does it make sense to believe that the Shepherd would care less about getting His sheep where He wants them to go than they care about getting there?"

"God is God. Because He is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will, a will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to."

"If God, like a father, denies us what we want now it is in order to give us some far better thing later on. The will of God, we can rest assured, is invariably a better thing."

"Obedience to God's will is the secret of spiritual knowledge and insight. It is not willingness to know, but willingness to DO (obey) God's will that brings certainty."

"Victory over all the circumstances of life comes not by might, nor by power, but by a practical confidence in God and by allowing His Spirit to dwell in our hearts and control our actions and emotions. Learn in the days of ease and comfort, to think in terms of the prayer that follows, so that when the days of hardship come you will be fully prepared and equipped to meet them."

"And shall I pray, Oh, change Thy will, my Father,
Until it be according unto mine?
Ah no, Lord, no, that never could be, rather
I pray Thee, Blend my human will with Thine."

"A crucified life cannot be self-assertive. It cannot protect itself. It cannot be startled into resentful words. The cup that is full of sweet water cannot spill bitter-tasting drops, however sharply it is knocked."

"And as we rest our hearts upon what we know (the certainty of the ultimate triumph of good), leaving what we do not know to the Love that has led us all our life long, the peace of God enters into us and abides. And then we see our light."

[A Practicing Christian]...it means that every single act and feeling, every experience, whether pleasant or unpleasant, must be referred to God. It means looking at everything as something that comes from Him, and always looking to Him and asking His will first, and saying, "How would he wish me to deal with this?"

Christ says: "Give me all. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work. I want you."

"I was not born to be free. I was born to adore and to obey."

"What is saving but taking us out of the dark into the light? There is no salvation but to know God and grow like Him."

"I will not try to convince you of anything about God. I cannot. You must know Him. I only tell you I believe in Him with all my heart. You must ask Him to explain Himself to you, and not take it for granted that He has done you a wrong because He has done what you do not like. Whether you seek Him or not, He will do you justice. But He cannot explain Himself unless you seek Him."

"Sometimes a thunderbolt will shoot from a clear sky; and sometimes into the life of a peaceful individual, without warning of gathered storm, something terrible will fall. And from that moment everything is changed. That life is no more what it was. Better it ought to be, worse it may be. The result depends on the life itself and it's response to the invading storm of trouble. Forever after, it's spiritual weather is altered. But for the one who believes in God, such rending and frightful catastrophies never come but where they are turned around for good in his own life and in other lives he touches."