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Chapter 1:  Choosing to believe

                Faith is a gift, but it needs to be nurtured and encouraged to grow.  Mine started out well, but as for many people, it eventually was greatly challenged, and was almost lost.  But the grace of God is so much greater than any attacks, and He worked in mighty ways to not only bring my faith back, but deepen its roots and make it stronger than ever.  But as with most things, God gives us a choice.  I found that once I chose to believe that He is Who the Scriptures tell us, He then confirms and demonstrates His truth.

 

Chapter 2:  Hearing God

                John 10:27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”  Hearing His voice was not as easy as it sounded in my childhood and early adult life.  By the time I really wanted to follow Him, I was almost convinced that I could never “hear” His voice.  It took a while, but I finally learned that there are many ways we can “hear” and not all of them involve our ears.

 

My ultimate goal and prayer:  The remaining chapters involve each line of my prayer from the end of Chapter 2: 

 

Chapter 3:  Trusting God

                Once we give ourselves to God, we think we hand over the controls to Him.  But without deep trust in Him, we often tend to push Him out of the way and take back the controls.  Then things don’t go too well, and we realize He does a better job.  So, we repent, and start over, and yet it happens over and over again.  Each time, we realize that trusting Him works much better, but our attitudes pull us to wrench the controls from His Hand.  Fear and worry are obvious sighs of lack of trust.  But it takes a lot of work on His part to banish these from our lives. 

 

Chapter 4:  Obeying God

                Obedience in our society has become counter-cultural.  Yet obeying and all-good, all-loving, all-caring Person is well worth all the struggles it involves.  God did not give us laws to be burdensome, but to help us live lives full of love and joy.  He does not require more of us than what we can do. Often His invisibility becomes a difficulty, but He is happy to help us through that.  A different perspective on the Ten Commandments can be helpful.

 

Chapter 5:  Gaining Wisdom

                Grace and wisdom are both gifts, but somewhat different.  There are many topics in this chapter.  I will simply list them.  Baptism of the Holy Spirit.  Spiritual direction.  Offering God our pains and discomforts.  Don’t worry or anticipate pain.  Maturity and balance in life.  Sexauality.  Forgiveness.  Good works need to be within God’s plans.  Infinity, darkness and light.  The surprises of love.  Whenever I received a teaching on any of these subjects, I was always amazed and grateful.

 

Chapter 6:  Pleasing God

                One of the greatest joys I received was that I am capable of pleasing God.  In my childhood, my family was very hard to please, as they were always attempting to correct me so I would turn out well.  God always seemed to encourage me even when I messed up.  Over and over, He showed me that even my attempts to please Him did exactly that. 

               

Chapter 7:  Credit to God’s Name

                When we actually do things that we have been taught are good, God is glorified.  They can be seemingly insignificant, or life-changing.  In this chapter, I recount the way God sustained me through my husband’s death.  Because of the good teaching I had had, al well as His great and gentle love, I was able to touch others with His love.  I also recount some stories of caring for others, and how my own care was contagious to my students.  In all this, God was glorified.  I also learned that in times of trouble, we have to learn to rely on God rather than others.  But He is very patient and allows us to learn this slowly.  Not only do we need to ask, seek, and knock, but we have to stick around to receive, find, and enter.

 

Chapter 8:  Walk, Talk, and Abide

                Walking with God can be simply listening to Him and following His directions, or actually taking walks and spending those times with Him.  I did both.  Often, I would ask Him about particular Scriptures I had read, and He always responded in ways I did not expect.

Talking to Him at various times also cleared up many questions.  Buckets of tears can be gently cared for.  Sometimes I did most of the talking, and He patiently listened.  At other times He had much to say.  He taught me much about emotions and how to handle them.  It seemed no topic was off limits.

Abiding with God simply means to learn how much He loves us.  But it is not just watching His love, but receiving and returning it.  It is the growing relationship both He and I desire. 

 

Chapter 9:  Continually filled

                Just as we need to drink water often so we do not become dehydrated, we need to continually drink in the living water we have been given through the Holy Spirit.  But though it is always available to us, we have to be taught to ask and receive, seek and find, knock and enter.  The Holy Spirit does not force Himself on us.  We must desire His work within us, and keep on asking, seeking, and knocking.

 

Chapter 10:  Do the Things

                Through obedience, doing the things God wants us to do is not quite as challenging, as He also gives us all the help we need.  But the Scripture that tells us we can do the things He does, and even greater things, well that seemed a bit far-fetched.  But if He said it, it must be true, as He does not lie.  I found that many of the things He did, were already a part of the character He had built in me.  He continually encouraged me to keep doing them, but with prayer and love.  I often felt I needed God’s “Fathering,” but also wanted to give Him to love and care of a devoted daughter, or give Him “daughtering.” 

 

Chapter 11:  Know, Love, and serve

                This is the longest chapter in the book, and shows how He continually built me up, revealed Himself to me, taught me, sustained me, and sought more that my service.  He really desires friendship and intimacy.  Actually, that is also what we really desire, and He is continually working to show us that it is not only possible, but what we have been created for.

 

Chapter 12:  Live

                God’s life has no beginning and no end.  It is eternal. Our lives do have a beginning, but no end.  Eternal life is not only life after death, but begins right here, as we get to know our God and His wonderful desires for us.  He not only prepares a place for us in heaven, but continually prepares places for us to grow, mature, serve, and prepare for the inexpressible joys He has in store for us.  Once we understand this, gratitude is the obvious response.