By AbbyA

What would I do for love?  My answer to that is Deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow Him.  Matthew 16:24.  We learn what the Word means when it comes to life in our hearts.  I once was a downtown, boutique firm girl with aspirations of influence and notoriety.  I also was a newlywed.  Actually, I was a pregnant newlywed.  Married in May, pregnant in November.  Blue?  Is it blue?  What do you think, honey?  Is it blue?  Yes, I sat on the toilet in disbelief.  Disbelief turned into excitement.

But then, after a few days, I remembered my aspirations of influence and notoriety.  I became very sad and cried for days.  My poor husband didn’t know what to do to console me.  My mom sort of tsked me about the obvious consequences of not using birth control.  My dad, who had told me the month prior that I should wait five years to have kids, said he was very excited and took back his prior recommendation.

So, what happened in my heart to cause a 180 degree turn around?  I came across one of my favorite verses to date – – Matthew 16:24 – – Deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow Him.  This verse changed my sorrow to true happiness.  This life change wasn’t about me and my selfish aspirations.  While I could have chosen to be more responsible, wherever we are in our life’s timeline, it’s about following Him.  And, following the path He has set before us.

Yes, I know, God has to work around, with and through our free will choices and obvious humanness.  He has to revise His blueprint and connect the dots for us as we trash and trample the good and perfect plan He has for us.  Yes, stuff like materialism and achievement are strong magnets for the flesh – – even when we are in the midst of ministry.  But, if we are in constant check with the Holy Spirit, our little curves toward self-ambition, hedonism and the like can be straightened out long before actually turning our back on Him.

As JMathis, Bindu and I set out to serve God and our readers through this blog, it would be silly not to acknowledge our humanness . . . affinity towards sin and wipe-outs.  But, it also would be silly not to acknowledge that most of us have a dream set inside of us.  And, most of the time, it is not our day job.  May I remind us that it is God who created us and set that dream in our hearts.  And, isn’t it just the lie of Satan (that wretched, puny snake) to convince us that the dream in our hearts is somehow against His will for our lives?  As if life isn’t hard enough . . .

As we inch towards the end of our week on keeping the spirit connected . . . seek God for the dream in your heart.  We can’t possibly attain it in our own strength, but we also can’t achieve it without using all of the strength God has given us.  Ah, the balance . . . If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.  John 15:5.