Trust yourself, He does!

I believe we all come to a place in life where we stop and say “What am I doing?”

The rat race of careers, college, family, church and the list goes on! Where and when do we really stop or at least slow down to let the Lord speak into our lives. We go about our days doing what we feel is right and beat the path of the daily grind. It gets old and we become weary in the process of who we are supposed to be becoming like. We might have even forgotten why we do what we do and who we are to become like. I feel there is a grace on this season to assess our lives and seek the Lord for wisdom. Yes, a season of wisdom for divine inspiration. I know that the more I take time to listen and meditate on His word, He pours out these gifts upon my life. So I ask you today, by whom or what are you patterning your life after. I ask the Lord to constantly help me examine my heart. To show me in the way of righteousness to live a life that is pleasing to Him. Are there adjustments along the way? Absolutely! The Holy Spirit is continually causing me to step up my game, to raise the standard in my own life, and to set the example. So I ask myself this same question “Whom and what am I patterning or pacing my life after?” My answer is “Jesus”. With the help of Holy Spirit, I am given the grace to proceed day after day, empowered to live a life imitating Jesus, emulating the heart of the Father everywhere I go. So I think in order to do this we have to forget everything we have known and all the things that lie behind us. Paul talks about this very thing. He explains in 1 Cor. 2:2 and Philippians 3:13-17 that he has resolved to know nothing except Jesus Christ and his crucifixion. Also he does not consider himself to have taken hold of it; but he forgets what is behind him and straining – looks forward to what lies ahead. We too, need to think like Paul. We must crucify ourselves daily, surrendering our thoughts and desires to the Lord. He will be faithful to give us the desires of our heart when we are seeking and delighting in him. (Matt. 6:33, Psalm 37:4)

It is a constant process of becoming like Christ, but the only way we become like someone is to imitate them. We have to do the things they do. More importantly we have to learn to think and speak the way they do. Thinking the way they do is really the key here. It requires you to have relationship through fellowship with them and to observe them. How do we pattern our life after Christ? We do this by reading the Bible, meditating on it and through prayer. Exercising these things in our life will help us pattern and pace our lives according to the desires of God’s heart. We must also live life with like-minded people, who are striving to achieve the same prize. Often life takes us in different directions, but you will be drawn to like-minded and like-spirited people. This is to help nurture our souls, inspire and encourage our spirits to live a life out in the world for Him. Fellowship with like-minded believers strengthens and sharpens us. Then we can go out into the world and love our neighbors as ourselves.

Leif Hetland, the founder of Global Mission Awareness, says “What you behold you become and what you become you release.” I love it!!! It challenges me every time to examine what I am beholding. I believe that it is our choice of how we pattern our life and what pace we set. We have the power to say yes or no, to stay or to go. Either way the Lord has given us free will to choose. He desires that we choose the way of life and love. To walk rightly with our hearts tuned to His words. But He gives us permission to choose. He trusts us! Did you know that? He trusts us and He desires you to trust yourself. He wants to see how well He has “raised” His child. We would raise our children the same way, giving them tools and gifts along the way to help them mature. So when it is time for us to make decisions we will assess the situation, seek His counsel and make a decision from the stand point of faith and wisdom; His wisdom, the wisdom He desires us to use. For example in Shawn Bolz’s book Translating God, he talks about this very thing. He doesn’t want his daughter coming to him at 24 years old, asking him to pick a husband for her. No, his hope is that by 24 she will be able to make a good decision in line with God’s heart. That she would have cultivated a relationship with the Lord and know how to use the tools that he taught her along the way, especially wisdom.

Praying for wisdom is one of my favorite things to ask Father for. Because when it shows up, it’s the most incredible thing and secure feeling. It just makes complete sense at that moment. Wisdom, knowledge, and revelation from the Lord are literally a few of my favorite things. I feel so connected to the Lord when these come. What a treasure it is to hear from the heart of the Father.

So ask yourself, are you trusting yourself like the Lord is trusting you? We live in fear of making wrong decisions. But I say that no decision is a wrong decision when you are seeking Him with a pure heart. Motive is everything! I challenge you to trust yourself, as He trusts you. Pattern and pace your life after Jesus, be led by the Holy Spirit and keep in fellowship with the Father. This is a person after God’s own heart and a true recipe for being His disciple in whom He is well pleased. Lift the borders off your heart and off of God moving in your life, seek Him, pray and trust.

Dionne White
Dee White has been walking with the Lord for over 20 years and has found a way to use her God given gifts, personal experiences and passions to minister to others. She has walked the road of depression, anxiety and suffered with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. The Lord has completely transformed her and she has been delivered and healed from all of them. As an artist and disciple of Jesus she finds great comfort in writing and loves to share her heart and the heart of the Father through devotions, storytelling or her art. She is passionate about seeing others set free and living a victorious life in Christ.

She has resided in South Carolina for 10 years and attends Bridgeway Church in Greenville, SC with her husband and two children.