Update!

Update! 

1 week until the $10,000 deadline for fundraising! I have been so amazed at everyone’s generosity and I have the utmost faith that God will provide. It has been an amazing journey and I never cease to be surprised at the ways God provides.

As we near the beginning of this new season God has really been preparing my heart with humility and revealing the corruption caused by pride. Yesterday, I was reading Ezekiel and it was talking about the king of Egypt and it said:

“ ‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because the great cedar towered over the thick foliage, and because it was proud of its height, I gave it into the hands of the ruler of the nations, for him to deal with according to its wickedness. ” Ezekiel 31:10?-?11

I thought this imagery was so powerful. 

I look at huge trees and how great their splendor and grandeur is. Yet they did not grow on their own. They rely on the sun for energy and the river for water. They rely on the wind to make them strong and other trees to help them stand firm. 

I think our culture has encouraged us to let pride and self centeredness seep into our lives. It hides in all of us. It hides behind my reluctance to accept help from others.  It is our love of money, fame and youth. Pride is in our self pity. It is every time we say to God, “I got this, I don’t need you.” 

But that is not the life that God has called us to. It was God that had built up Egypt into the “great cedar tree” and gave them great power. But they became proud of what was given to them. They abused their power and used it for selfish gain. And we are no different.

We forget that the breath in our lungs is a gift from God. We forget that every good and perfect thing comes from above. That your legs that carry you to work to earn the money were given to you by God. 

It is a dangerous ground to tread when we fall in love with our blessings and not the one who blesses us. 

But I have found hope in humility.  We are called to live humbly as Jesus did. 

“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:  Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;  rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:5?-?8 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I struggle with pride as much as the next person. Humility is a choice. It is a daily choice. And today I choose to be humble. I choose to admit my shortcomings, to be thankful for my blessings and to surrender my life back to the one who gave it to me.