Hephzibah

חֶפְצִי־בָהּ Hephzi-bah: “My delight is in her”

from chephets: delight, pleasure; hence (abstractly) desire; concretely, a valuable thing; hence (by extension) a matter (as something in mind) — acceptable, delight(-some), desire, things desired, matter, pleasant(-ure), purpose, willingly.

from chaphets: to be pleased with, desire.  A primitive root; properly, to incline to; by implication (literally but rarely) to bend; figuratively, to be pleased with, desire — X any at all, (have, take) delight, desire, favour, like, move, be (well) pleased, have pleasure, will, would.

Let it soak in…that’s how He thinks of me and you.

God’s Will–I want Direction and I want it now! :)

I listened to Andy Stanley’s podcast about God’s Will today and found myself left with a heap of questions.  Retrospective thinking brings up even more questions!  So here are some of my notes and quotes from the podcast:

• God does not give us direction so that we can take it into consideration
• Do I only want to trust Him with part of my heart so that I can keep my options open in case I don’t like His so much?
• “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

Personal thoughts:

• I weigh option after option and look at the issue from all sides.  Giving up control is a big stumbling block for me.  I like big-picture plans.  I can be flexible, but I don’t like change.
• I lean on my own finances, abilities, intelligence, and experience more often than not.
• Am I ready to acknowledge Him in all ways and let go of my own understanding? I pray that my heart would be willing.
• Are God’s plans just taken “into consideration” in my life or are they the only way?

Sorry for the questions over thoughts, but here’s to wrestling through the written word.  Blog readers beware.  I’m hoping to listen to Part 2 of the series tomorrow.  More thoughts and questions, I’m sure, to come!