like a bride planning her wedding..

"The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand" Psalm 37:23&24

This evening I got home from a beautiful wedding and read this verse and the first thing that shot into my mind was regarding the sentence "He delights in every detail of their lives".

Like a bride planning for her wedding. She picks out the big things and little details. Big things like the venue, her dress, her wedding party, all the way down to the silverware, center pieces, manicures and table cloths. 

Brides-to-be obsess about every detail of their wedding from the time she gets that ring until just minutes before she walks down the aisle to her husband, and sometimes even before she gets the ring. The way a bride obsesses and delights in every little detail depicts what God does with His children. He watches every detail, He obsesses over us. 

For me, on this day, that is a very comforting thought. Things that have blown up in my face the past few days have been hurtful, leaving me asking "why me? What did I ever do to deserve this??" 

But just laying it in His hands and letting Him obsess over this situation is so much easier than me taking it head on all by myself. I'm thankful that He obsesses over me. I'm thankful to be called His little girl, His child. 

Joel 2

Verse 12, ..."Come with fasting, weeping and mourning. Don't tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead. Return to the Lord your God, for He is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish. Who knows? Perhaps he will give you a reprieve, sending you a blessing instead of this curse......(pick up at verse 19)The Lord will reply, 'Look! I am sending you grain and new wine and olive oil, enough to satisfy your needs. You will no longer be an object of mockery among the surrounding nations.........(verse26) Once again you will have all the food you want, and you will praise the Lord your God, who does these miracles for you. Never again will my people be disgraced...(28) Then after doing all those things I will pour out my Spirit upon all people." It keeps going but let's stop. I already skipped tons..

It's an If-Then promise. Basically, IF you eat your pride, sit yourself down and return to God with fasting and mourning, gather your people and pray and repent of your sins and turn from your wicked ways, God will THEN turn your curse into a blessing, He will show his unfailing love rather than His wrath, He will tell your enemies to get lost, and He will restore not only what you lost, but give you more than what you had. Notice in verse 26 it doesn't say "all the good you need"...no, all the food you WANT. (as a side note, do we as humans ever want something we don't need? case rested.)

I don't feel like God is always a Joel-Osteen-guy, because the truth is that we are His children, and like all children we disobey and get in trouble. He will not let us just sit in our disobedience and continue to give us all these good things, because it wouldn't be good for us. Eventually, by the grace of God, He will bring punishment on us so that we turn from our ways and do good. He doesn't want to do this, just like parents don't want to give their children spankings and ground them. But He has to because He is also a holy, just God. And His word will not come back void.

This portion of the Bible I hold close to my heart, because I'm going through a bit of a rough time. I haven't been obeying well in an area of my life, and I'm turning from that. Thank You Lord that I'm not promised what I deserve, but restoration and blessings. 

I hate "society"

I'm really just venting right now..

But I hate hate HATE society's opinion mattering in my life. Like....
people see photo's of my boyfriend and me and the first thing they say is "he looks like a decent guy. He just needs a hair cut."
SINCE WHEN did a HAIR CUT dictate whether a person is or is not a good person?!?!?! Maybe, juust maybe, he LIKES his hair like that, and Maybe I like his hair like that! So, who are you to butt in and tell me that he needs a hair cut. shut. up.
oh he doesn't know what he's doing after high school? that's not good, Lisa!
uhm...I didnt know what I was going to do with my life after high school!!! At a freaking CHURCH service I announced to the entire congregation that I was going to become a professional beach bum. And I was serious. If you really think that I'm going to work work work the rest of my life, you're kidding yourself. I'm a hard worker, don't mistake that. But I will not be a workaholic the rest of my life. heeckk no.
This is just a small example of the big one I'm struggling through right now..

And since when did everyone else's opinions about my life matter? When did we start letting others opinions dictate what we do and when we do it and how we do it? I'm so sick of it all. It makes me want to scream. I'm just so frustrated with this passive mentality right now. I think it's time to grow a back bone and say "HEY! This is what I'm going to do whether you like it or not. But your opinion about this action I'm taking doesn't matter because I've made up my mind. If you don't like it, buh-bye! DO NOT stick around and whine and complain to me about it. gooooo awaaaay."

But you see, I can be a very kind, nice person just to turn around and be extremely rude. I could piss the whole world off so quickly just because I really don't care what most people think about me. Even people whose opinions would normally matter to me! When it comes to some things, I don't care. good or bad, I don't know really. But again, I really don't care....