I met with my pastor last Thursday and had a good chat. I told him what is going on in my life, and had encouraging thing #1 happen. He said he could tell I was doing better spiritually. I don't say that to glorify myself, but God. Some days I feel I am making such little progress and wonder if I'll ever be an established, steady Christian...... so it was encouraging to know my pastor could see a difference.
Encouraging things #2 and #3 happened today. I have been praying about having to work every Sunday. I want to be in Sunday morning worship and in Sunday School class, but it truly looked hopeless. I won't go into a long explanation why, but it has to do with my being one of the lowest guys on the totem pole. I also won't go into a long explanation of what happened, but a new position opened up and I was told if the first person offered it turned it down, I could have it. She did, so I got it, and in a about a month I will start the new position..... and I will have Sundays off. A definite answer to prayer, and something I will need to remind myself of when I am discouraged.
The final and third encouraging thing also happened today: a guy from church that I am pretty good friends with, but never hang out with - he is a trucker, has 4 kids and is busy, and is about 14 years my junior - started chatting with me on Facebook. He knows about my struggles, and knew about them before he ever met me. He can't remember how. Anyway, in the course of our conversation due to something I was talking about, I said I was more on track with God now than I have been before, and just like my pastor said, he said he could tell by my posts that I was doing better.
And I guess I could add one more encouraging thing while I am on the topic of encouraging things. It also happened today. Make that two more things......
I was off work today and usually take a shopping trip to a town about 35 minutes away, mostly to browse the Christian bookstore and have some "me time". A friend of mine from church met me for lunch, and we had a nice visit over some good food, so that was encouraging, and brings up the other thing:
While I was at the bookstore, I picked up a book I have looked at before, but never bought: "Fight: Winning the Battles That Matter Most" by Craig Groeschel. I had previously read his book "The Christian Atheist" and thought it was a great book. Since I had a coupon, I went ahead and bought the book. It isn't a long book, so I read it this evening.
I won't make my blog post longer by going into details about the book, but it was a really good book, and for not being a long book, it had a lot of good stuff in it. Using the story of Samson, he gives some great advice and warnings for men. Yeah, it is for men. It is one I'd recommend.
Life being what it is, and the devil being what he is, I know there will be low times ahead, but I am trying to trust God more and not just internalize my worries and fears. There are still things that I don't know how they will work out, and I am trying not to get down about them, but pray instead. For now, I am going to thank God for a really good day, and an answer to prayer.
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