What Makes Me Happy

is Bible study!  I love doing Bible studies.  It's seriously one of my hobbies...right up there with leading worship on the praise team, writing and hanging out with my amazing husband and kids.  :)  Here's what I know: I am a much nicer person and a MUCH better wife and mom, when I am in the middle of a Bible study. 

Wanna know why?

Because I'm committing time to God!  He wants us to WANT to be with Him.  Not because we feel like we have to, but because we WANT to.  Who wants to be with someone that only wants to be with them because of their sense of obligation??  Not me.

I pray, everyday almost, that God will give me the desire to want to constantly grow in grace and in knowledge of Him.  (2 Peter 3:18 "But in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.")

I pray that I am never just "content" with where I am in life.  I pray that I am always striving, pushing, desiring to know Him more, and to be more and more like Him every single day! 

And you know what?  He answers those prayers.  Because I cannot get enough of Him in this Bible study.  I mentioned before that I am restraining myself from doing all the homework in one sitting.  I am making myself go at the pace recommended so it will have time to saturate me. 

BUT OH MY GOODNESS, IS IT EVER GOOD!!!

I'm participating in the Esther Bible study by Beth Moore, in case you didn't know that.  Today's homework was titled, A Raging Passion For Honor.  It was from Esther 3:1-4.  And it's about Mordecai and how he refuses DAY AFTER DAY to bow to Haman.  She implies that this might mean that Mordecai simply didn't just dislike Haman, but that he sensed evil in him.  And that no matter how tough it got for him because of his refusal to obey the king's law, it would be even worse for him to cave in and just do it anyway. 

Oh my.  Does this strike a chord with anyone but me??  How many times do we do that??  I know I have countless times...just caved in because I was tired of the fight.  Or because I had a moment of weakness. We should always stand our ground.  Not in our strength, necessarily, but in God's strength.

So, like Mordecai did with his refusal to honor Haman, God's word tells us to set our minds on God.  ("Colossians 3:2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.")

Is it hard?  Yes.  Is it impossible?  Not with God!  Sometimes we need to almost block out all else so that we can keep our minds and thoughts on where they're supposed to be.  Trust me when I say that yes, we are going to be normal and have a bad day and fly off the handle.  But when we're aware of what we're doing...when we're aware that God can and will help us with this, it's so much easier to live in a way that pleases and glorifies Him. 

Because, that is our main goal in life.  To glorify Him in all that we do, to honor Him in all that we do, and to win the lost over so they can spend their eternities in Heaven with you and with me.  If we don't do that, then our life on earth is pointless.  I get caught up in the way people view me.  Do you?  I don't want to come across as something I'm not.  I want to live my life in a way that I am the same all the time. 

So for me, that means being careful of how I react to the world around me.  Have I messed up?  Yup.  Will I mess up again?  Lots and lots more times, I assure you.  Am I forgiven for those times?  Mercifully.  I love that His mercies are new for us every morning.  (Lamentations 3:22, 23  "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.")

Well.  I kind of went way off the subject matter a lot.  I hope you were able to (somewhat) follow along.  I was saying that Bible study makes me happy.  It makes me a better person, and a stronger woman of God.  I have lots of little eyes (not only my 4 kids, but almost 900 other little ones) that follow me around everyday.  Not to mention I have 4 of the most amazing boys on this planet to bring up the right way. 

I pray that they will be able to always see me as a living example.  To God be the glory.