Moving on

This week started with our last Foster Parent class. Nine long weeks and we are finally deemed acceptable! YaHOOO! Complaining aside, I learned a lot. I am thankful that it is over. It was not fun doing two different homestudies, with two different people at the same time. It was actually quite exhausting and stressful. I was amazed by the bureaucracy of it all. Same form, same info but the state wouldn't use any of the info from our International homestudy. We have been fingerprinted more times than I would have liked, had our children interviewed, medicals, school forms, references, present and past picked through by each agency. Thank you to all of you who had to do multiple references for us. With all that behind us, I am excited to move on.

I really believe a lot of depression comes from focusing on oneself. I have been in a "funk" for a few months. I was focused on My loss, My adoption, My marriage, My kids, My feelings, My stress, My worry. Leah, my sister-in-law sent an amazing email out this week which sums up beautifully where our focus should be. I claimed I was "In His Peace" but was I? No, Did I truly seek him? No. Did I really go to Him for my comfort? No. I turned towards myself, I knelt before my pity, I idolized my suffering. In essence I held on to it all, unwilling to move on.


LEAH'S EMAIL

Phil. 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything,
through prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests
to God. AND THE PEACE OF GOD, which transcends all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Notice how Paul says that the peace of God will guard our hearts and
minds. He doesn't say that we as humans are capable of guarding our
hearts or protecting our minds from Satin's attacks. Only God's peace
can protect them. I try to guard my heart from people sometimes. I
even try to make myself dwell on God's truth or think about what I
"should be" thinking about when it's hard to. I just realized that
unless I am resting in God's peace, my heart and mind is an open field
for Satan's attak. That's the scariest thing I can imagine.

How do I get God's peace? Two verses come to mind.

2Cr 12:9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my
power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the
more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on
me.

Phl 4:9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or
seen in me-put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with
you.


I have to accept Christ as enough. If everything around me crumbles,
and I am stripped naked like Job, with no family, full of disease, and
no home, I will still have more than what I deserve because God has
called me His child. My heart being able to feast on God's glory is
all I need. Everything else is extra blessings that I am grateful
for, but Christ is sufficient.

I also realize that I have to breathe & move in all aspects of life in
a way that glorifies Christ and not myself. I must walk in the fruits
of the Spririt and put into practice the way Christ lived. If I do
not, God will not be with me.

I will choose this day to walk in God's peace. I claim the truth that
Jesus Christ will protect my mind and my heart and use them for His
glory and will. God's Word is so powerful. Isn't He good for
opening up His heart and His mind for us to examine and fall in love
with? Let's walk in His peace today and be lights in this dark world.


Sufficient grace,

Leah