I Started this Week Flat on My Face....

(Project 31, Day 6..if you haven't noticed, I'm not going in order here. :)

...Literally. I'd watched some Christian friends who I respected and loved go down a path of worldliness. I was dismayed and discouraged, knocked flat by the jaded beauty and the messed-up priorities that infiltrate our world, wondering how people can change so quickly. I felt utterly helpless, and let's face it: organized, overly-planned me definitely does not like feeling helpless. When I did Beth Moore's wonderful Bible study Stepping Up a couple summers ago, I learned to pray prostrated in utter humility before my Savior. So that's exactly how I started this week: nose-to-the-ground on my bedroom floor, crying out to my Ever-Present Help in trouble.

Eventually I turned my Bible to Philippians 4:11 and read the verse about being content in all circumstances. Unfortunately, at that moment I really didn't feel like being content. "Doesn't God know the kind of day I've had?" a little voice inside me whined.

But God always knows what we need. The more I thought about that verse, the more I truly did feel like rejoicing in my Savior. Yes, people here change. Things here are hurtful. But God is still God, unchanging, always Enough for me, always my Rock, my Security, my joy. Even this painful situation shows His love; He is unfailing when everything else seems transient; He is graceful when people are ready to judge; He is beautiful and whole when the world seems fake and shallow.

What awesome truths to know and believe. How incredible that I am a recipient of the never-changing love of my Heavenly Father. But even beyond these truths about God, my time on the ground this week reminded me of two things about myself that I'm prone to forget. I realized I am:
1. Helpless without Him. Depending on my planning and critical thinking to solve life's problems is ludicrous when the One who created me desires to lead me every step of the way. I want my heart to always be in a position of utter humility before Him, whether I'm face down on my bedroom floor, or talking to my friends, or teaching a class of first-graders, or anything else.
2. Humbled, but not defeated. Yes, sometimes I'm knocked down and jaded by this world. But Jesus has made me more than a conqueror. I will use prayer to fight incessantly for those around me to see the truth: only Jesus can bring contentment and wholeness to life. (Quick plug here for one of my favorite books--Wrestling Prayer by Eric and Leslie Ludy has a whole wealth of information on this. :)

Crazy what you can learn with your nose on the ground, but then, I serve an awesome, unpredictable God.