FEARLESSLY STILL, UNTIL THE NEXT PATH

Letting His Light Shine has officially been published for five weeks. In that time, I’ve accomplished so much. I’ve learned how to choose the best host, I’ve installed wordpress.org, and designed a web site that I’ve come to love. My knowledge about themes, widgets, plugins, codes, and social media icons has expanded immensely. I’ve had to learn a great deal about social media platforms, links, marketing, photography, and design. I’ve published five posts in five weeks, and along with that came a whole lot of studying and editing.

In these 30 plus days I’ve had to lean on God for everything. I’ve prayed constantly, repeatedly asking that He would stay by my side, leading and guiding all my paths. Each problem I’ve brought to Him, a solution was found shortly after. Each frustration leading to a small victory.

I write about what God lays on my heart each week, and in doing so I hope to encourage and inspire someone else. However, I never expected how much the words would become part of my life. That each time I sit down to write I would find myself closer and closer to God, my relationship with Him growing, and my understanding of just how great He is expanding. I wanted to let His light shine out of me into others, but I hadn’t expected that He would pour so abundantly into me. I had no idea the joy I would find in writing.

After I hit publish last week on WHAT DOES GOD SEE WHEN HE SEES YOU? and shared it to my social media sites I had a moment where I just sat and prayed. Literally just asking God to send it where it needed to go, and to whom He thought would gain any type of encouragement or inspiration reading it. I felt hopeful and at peace.

But later that night I really began to struggle again with my thoughts.

One thing I had not factored into starting a blog was stats. There are stats for everything, my life has become a constant comparison of numbers. How many people visited Letting His Light Shine today? How many people engaged in Facebook posts? How many people saved a post, or how many people shared it, or how many people shared it but didn’t hit like? Did someone pin it on Pinterest? How many re-pins on Tailwind? I constantly find myself obsessed with numbers… obsessed with the growth. WordPress, Pinterest, and Facebook analytics are there each day to tell me exactly what my numbers are.

Each post has little numbers attached to it, just so I know, and you know what its stats are. In moments of true doubt, I begin to see those numbers as a reflection on myself. Is this what I’m supposed to be doing? Did I get God’s message wrong?  Is it worth my time if a post only gets a few likes? Am I failing because less than 25 people visited my site today? Am I encouraging and inspiring anyone?  These questions circulate around and around in my mind, because even though Letting His Light Shine is growing everyday… I fear it’s not good enough.

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Post Update 2/11/19: I’ve been writing for 16 months now! God has grown Lettinghislightshine.com slowly but steadily. I say this to give anyone starting out on a new path hope and encouragement. Letting His Light Shine now has 100’s of views per day and 1,000’s of view per week. God is good, and this post still holds so much truth. He will lead and direct all your paths if you trust in Him.

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As I sat crisscross apple sauce on my yoga mat Friday morning I poured these concerns out to God once again. Throughout the next few days God led me to exactly the things I needed to hear and the promises I needed to read to clear my mind and feel renewed. Sometimes I’m just in awe at the ways God can communicate with us through His written word and by people He places in our lives at just the right time. When I read Proverbs 3:5-6 during my study time the words jumped out at me. I read and re-read them several times, and through them I began to see His message.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6

TRUST IN HIM:

I must trust Him. I must trust that He has brought me to this, and He will bring me through it. He will give me the strength I need, He will continue to pour His light into me, and inspire the words I write. In all things my darling friend we must trust Him. He does not want us to fear anything or any situation. In fact over 300 times it is written in the Bible in one form or another that we must be fearless. We can not claim we trust Him with all our hearts if we continually feel fear. If we truly trust that He is our protector and our strength in everything we do, the spirit of fear will never come against us.

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.

Deuteronomy 31:6

The enemy loves to use our weaknesses to his advantage, and he knows that fear is one of mine. I fear failure. I fear rejection from others. I fear that people will not read my post, and even if they do they won’t gain anything. I fear that I’m wasting my time. Or that my time would be better used somewhere else. I fear that even though I’m certain this is a God idea and not a good idea, I simply won’t be enough to fulfill what I truly believe is my calling.

As these thoughts plagued my mind, God pointed out through His word that I must trust Him with everything, and be strong. I need to be obedient and live out Proverbs 3:5, and remember Isaiah 41:10 and Deuteronomy 31:6 every time the enemy tries to shake me, to place doubt and fear in my heart and in my mind.

LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING:

This is so hard for me. I’m a fixer by nature. I see a problem and I want to fix it as soon as possible, and most of the time I’m fixing it from my own understandings. These stats are like little problems for me, little challenges, and I want to fix them. I want to push Letting His Light Shine further faster, and see rapid growth. I’ve studied and studied how to do that, and I’m putting those tools into place. I’ve never cared for social media and that’s a huge down fall for me. I think I was born in the wrong generation, I’d much rather be without it. In the past few weeks I’ve looked at ways to use Instagram and Twitter to help grow. I don’t use either one right now, but maybe they would help expand my following. I considered adding categories, such as DIY projects and maybe more life style post, post people tend to gravitate towards. I keep trying to figure out how I CAN PUSH FORWARD.

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Psalm 46:10

God said loud and clear to my heart this weekend that those ideas are not good ideas right now. He’s encouraged me to stand still. To stand still and stand strong in my faith, and let Him be God. I want to lean on my own understanding and solve these “challenges” before me, but God says no. He called me to write and spread His word, to encourage and inspire. He did not call me to build an empire, He did not call me to monetize, He did not call me to be so focused on numbers, that I start to lose focus on Him. I am to stand still, continue what I’m currently doing, and wait patiently. My darling friend, standing still and being patient are two of my greatest weaknesses. Why is it that God always seems to challenge us to be better than yesterday?  I’m not sure how long I will need to be still and be patient, but once again I’m called to be obedient. Maybe one day I’ll expand into those areas, but not right now.

Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today.

Exodus 14:13

IN ALL YOUR WAYS SUBMIT TO HIM AND HE WILL MAKE YOUR PATHS STRAIGHT:

Yes!!! Please!!!  I can honestly say that I do pray everyday for the Lord to lead and guide my paths. It’s the submit in all your ways I struggle with. I struggle with being obedient, because it’s hard for me to give Him the time needed to show me the paths I’m to follow. Sometimes I miss the path He’s leading me to because I’m to focused on what I want.

For I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

I understand that if I keep trying to create my own ways, and to push forward without His guidance that I will never fully gain the blessings He has in store for me. God doesn’t just say things to say them. His word contains promises to us.  He wants to prosper me! He wants to give me hope and a future!! You too my darling friend. How good does that sound? He wants to help us through our lives, we just need to submit to Him. I don’t know about you, but that promise fills me with so much hope!  It’s the reason I pray it over my life, but also my husband and my children’s lives.

Listen, I want to follow God’s path for me, but it’s easy to get sidetracked and wonder astray sometimes. I must reach out to God daily asking Him to help me. Sometimes I’m sure He just shakes His head, thinking to Himself, I put her here yesterday, how did she get all the way over there again today, I really wish she’d stop letting the enemy lead her astray.

God is so good, He will simply keep picking us back up and putting us back on the right path if we just ask Him to. He only asks that we be obedient, and He’ll do the rest. I’m so thankful that His patience is so great.

For the last five weeks a great deal of my “spare time” has been devoted to Letting His Light Shine. Mostly in the very early hours of the morning and the very late hours of the night. I have been very focused on it, but as I studied Proverbs 3:5-6 this weekend I came to realize that it can be applied to so many other areas in my life, and maybe yours as well.

What would happen if we started to apply these verses to every single problem, struggle, or challenge we faced this week…next week… and the weeks to come? What if every time fear and doubt crept into our minds we recalled that we should be fearless and trust in the Lord with all our hearts? Would the problem in our marriages seem so big? The challenges in our jobs? The struggles we face in parenting? How about in our finances?

We don’t always have to push forward on our own. What would happen if in those same situations we recalled that it’s okay to be still for a little bit, and lean on GOD not our own understanding? Would He shed light into the darkness on our behalf’s? Would He give us knowledge and wisdom beyond our understanding if we just stopped, stood still, and called on Him?

If we submit to Him, and asked Him from our hearts to take the problem, the struggle, or the challenge into His hands and out of ours would He lead us forward to a better place? Would His path lead us to find hope?  Would we find peace in these situations? Would we be prosperous in our lives?

I believe so.

I believe our God is a good God.

I believe in the promises of His living word.

I encourage you to think about the areas in your life right now that need Proverbs 3:5-6 applied. Give them to God and trust Him with all your heart, be still, and let Him lead you forward in His time. I’ll be right beside you, praying it over my life too.

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