Lessons on Love and being in the Desert

"Love is God's essence, Power is an attribute of God. Therefore, God's love is stronger than His power."

This quote was in my devotional this past Sunday morning and has captured my thoughts the past couple of days. At first I thought "how can one thing about God be stronger than something else?" However, the more I thought and meditated on this - the more I began to realize that it really is true. You see, God IS love - EVERYTHING He does is a result of His love for man - even to the point of sacrificing His ONE AND ONLY Son on the cross for mankind. (John 3:16) So if God is love - then His Love is the strongest part of who He is!

So, as I thought and pondered and prayed about how this needed to be applied to my life, God has revealed a few things.

First and foremost - I need to LOVE God more! He loves me with all He is and yet, I am quick to place Him on the back burner and to forget about Him or maybe I don't forget about Him but I place other things and people before Him. I love my husband and children - there isn't anything I wouldn't do for them. I claim to love God and I do but how do I show that, how is it mirrored in my life? So, I need to LOVE God more!

The second thing that I have come to realize is that EVERYTHING God does is a result of His love for me and EVERYWHERE He has me is a result of His knowledge of what is best for me. I am going to be completely honest - I have NOT been content with where I am at in life for the past couple of months. Mostly, this revolves around career vs being home but also it concerns our lifestyle, friendships, family relationships, etc. I have had an attitude of discontentment and have longed for something more. It has been hard knowing that I have a college degree in an area of study that I enjoy and love but yet I have not been able to use it. I have had a desire to grow and expand in this area of study and yet have not had it; not to mention that the added income from me working full-time would most definitely help out financially! In the area of friendships - I am struggling. I have some great friends all over the country but circumstances, distance, life seems to be pulling some of these apart. I long for that friend you can call and just be honest and say "today sucks" and they will truly listen to you, they have time for you regardless what else is going on. Don't get me wrong - I do have wonderful friends but lately I haven't been content with the way thes relationships are. So - in essence there has been just an overwhelming sense of discontentment.
This morning though the Lord spoke to me through both a friend's blog and scripture. My friend blogged about being in the desert and how when we are in the desert we are discontent, upset, complain, whine, etc. Yet, when you look through scripture at the times that people were "in the desert" it was usually a time right before God had something big for them and it was a time where He could prepare them for the journey ahead. What came to my mind this morning was Moses - He was in the desert when God spoke in a bush, He was in the wilderness when God spoke to Him, etc. God knew that Moses had to learn to trust Him before moving on with His plans for Moses - as a result of His lack of trust and faith Moses missed out on the reward of the promised land. In the desert - God spoke to Hagar about His plan and protection of Ishmael. I don't want to miss out on God's reward, I want to be fully 100% prepared for the work He has for me and so therefore - I want to know what He needs me to learn while I am in this "desert" place. I am not quite at the point where I can say I am 100% content - but that is where I long to be! I am anxious to know "what's next" but in the meantime, I am striving to be content where I am. I KNOW that God has me here because He LOVES ME and HE IS LOVE! It is all about His love for me that He brings me to these desert points in my life.

I Timothy 6:6-7 talks about contentment in Godliness because we brought nothing into this world and we will take nothing out of it. When I read this passage this morning - it hit me! It doesn't matter what I have in terms of material goods or money - I need to have a Godly contentment with where the Lord has me TODAY while at the same time being prepared for whatever He may have around the corner.

Maybe I am not alone, maybe there are those of you who have found yourselves in the "desert" of discontentment and are longing to know what's next. My prayer is that you, like me, will seek to be 100% content with wherever you are RIGHT NOW knowing that God is love and therefore where you are is an act of His love!