HE is our filter!

I realize that I haven't written a new entry in a solid week. So much for trying to keep this thing going. But I will start now. Last week was crazy busy, but more so with my thought process. Here's how it all went down. I turned 27 on May 8th. I was talking with my mama that day and started to tear up. Tears not of sadness about my birthday, but tears of: "I am 27; I graduated a year ago, and I'm still doing the same thing."

May 9th- Traveling back to NC from SC for the weekend. Praying about contentment. I get an email from Denise O. about a job in Dallas, TX that would be perfect for me - Young Women's Assoc. Send resume in and get an email about a conference call to be held on Wed.

May 11th- Conference call with church goes down. It's ok. They said they would follow up. I am horrible at interviews of any kind. It's all a confidence issue, which is a work in progress. After lunch I talk with Denise O. about the job, and she asks me to send my resume into this other place that focuses on teenage pregnancy - love! Then on my home, a guy from Nashville calls me about this church plant that he and his wife are starting. He taught my brother at an extension class and asked him to join the team -- Jordy told him about me. Thus the call. Very exciting and I was just in awe of how things were coming together for that plant. He wants to send my resume out.

May 13th- Call with a lady from Lifeway who wants to put my resume in different places.

Weekend - Much prayer and talking with very close friends who I trust are always praying for me. I covet their prayers and know that they are the ones who know me well.

May 19th - I hadn't heard any kind of follow up from Dallas. So, I call and they EMAIL me back with the "another direction" famous last words.

All of that to say, ALOT HAS BEEN GOING ON! My brain works in overdrive trying to think through things, and really I don't have to think about a thing. God has it all planned out. I have been sitting here for quite some time just in waiting for the next thing. BUT I know that He was keeping me in Raleigh to keep me close to friends who I could lean on and who could encourage me.  On Friday, Paige Greene from Lifeway encouraged me with Psalm 84:11 - "For the Lord is our Sun and Shield. He gives us grace and glory. The LORD will withhold no good thing from those who do right [or whose walk is blameless]." We have all heard this verse, but she shed new light.  We sit waiting for the good thing.. "where is it?" we may say. But He is also our filter in that He is keeping the bad things away  that are not for His purposes.  You can picture it like a Brita filter or air filter or whatever you want. But I am confident on this side of things that Dallas and all the other 100 or so jobs I have applied for are being withheld because they were not God's best for me. They would not allow me to accomplish the complete purpose that He has for me now and later in the future. Don't get me wrong.. I am so weak. I struggle on a daily basis in looking to the future and wanting more than what seems to be the humdrum of today. But His power is made perfect in my weakness. I have to put my hope in Him that when He says He has good plans for me, He does. I can't be like David who fled from Saul numerous times out of fear, even though God had promised He would make His name great! [1 Samuel] I have to TRUST.. just like King David.
Have a good weekend!