Acknowledge ~ A Soul Longing for More

Yesterday I received an e-mail from my very wise and good friend, Linda, in reply to my last blog post about falling and hurting my knee. She said ...

"Take care and keep in mind that God may have thought it was time for you to 'sit a spell'."

While 'sitting a spell' I was reading some of my favorite blogs and came across an Early Morning Revival Challenge (90 day Bible study) that I wanted to do. The problem was that I would have to buy the book and I had pretty much maxed out my Amazon budget for this month in homeschooling materials. I started thinking about how my friend, Jodi, and I like to check in with each other by e-mail first thing each morning as a way of accountability in our time with God, eating healthy, and exercising. and that she often does online Bible studies. I went in search of a study and came across Proverbs 31 Ministries and the new study (starting this week) of What Happens When Women Say Yes to God by Lysa TerKeurst. I already had this book on my bookshelf, having never read it since I purchased it several years ago while working Lysa's booth at an Extraordinary Women conference. So, I signed up and got started. I read Chapter 1 "A Soul that Longs for More".

Immediately I was drawn to the scripture, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." ~ Proverbs 3:5-6.

I have read this scripture literally hundreds of times, but always tend to focus on the first part of it. The second part caught my attention this time.

I thought, "well, that seems easy! ... All I have to do is acknowledge God and He will make my paths straight."

A couple of things caused me pause:

What is the definition of "acknowledge"? The definition I found said ...

to accept or admit the existence or truth of

All I have to do is accept and admit God's existence and His truth. I think that I do, but do I? I mean, God tells me to do things and I often think my own way is better, smarter, easier. And then I wonder why I am wandering around on a curvy, hilly, scary and difficult path, never sure what is around the corner.

Accept and admit God's existence in EACH of my daily moments and Accept and admit the truth of what God says both in His Word and in His moments speaking to me.

The second thing that caught my attention was that I noticed it doesn't say He will keep me on the path. It just says He will make my path straight! My job is to follow the path, to stay on the path. It shouldn't be hard to do if I just keep walking straight ahead. But I can only walk on a straight path if I am accepting and admitting God's existence and His truths. If I am not, then the path goes back to being that dangerous and treacherous one.

Chapter 1 ended by saying that, "His one requirement is so simple and yet so profound: Whatever God says do, do it."

This brought me back to a time when Kyndal and Dawson were preteens. We were struggling with them not wanting to follow rules. I told them that I did not have a long list of rules for them to follow, all the dos and don'ts and such. The only rule they needed to follow was "Do what I say when I say to do it." If they followed this one rule, they would never be in trouble. It frustrated me because I knew that I could lead them and guide them and keep them from much pain if they would just do what I said!

I imagine God feels the same way about me.

Nicole, if you follow my one rule of doing what I say when I say to do it, I can lead you and guide you and keep you from much pain.

Accept and admit God's existence in EACH of my daily moments and Accept and admit the truth of what God says both in His Word and in His moments speaking to me and DO WHAT HE SAYS WHEN HE SAYS TO DO IT.

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I recently explained that Journey to Excellence will no longer be exclusively about our homeschooling adventure. Our entire family, each one of us, is on a continual Journey to Excellence, not only in our academic lives but in our personal lives, as well. This includes me. I am far from perfect and have a lot of personal demons and disobedience issues. I am continually growing and changing and am on a Journey to my own Excellence. This post is a reflection of my acknowlegement of that.

I am looking forward to seeing how I can grow through this study.

I am linking up with the Proverbs 31 Ministries Blog Hop. If you would like to join in this study, it's not too late. You can order your book and while you are waiting you can read Chapter 1 by going HERE. Sign up HERE to be a part of the online study, or just participate on your own. If you have questions, go to THIS BLOG POST and many of your questions will be answered.