SETTLING.....

Good Morning to you all!!!

May this day find you full of joy and peace as you trust in Him and may you overflow with HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit! Amen! That is one of my most all time, very favorite verses. It's one of those verses that just is so in my spirit and I so have to remind myself of the scripture when I so don't feel full of hope.

Well.. I have to tell you what is going on in the Carrell household right now. We are going ot have babies. No....not me and Dow, Whew! Our dog Holly. Long story short, there was this stray dog (who was a minature pincher, Holly is schnauzer/poodle mix) in our neighborhood and the rest was well, you know. The kids couldn't believe it. Harrison was really upset about it. He said he was going to "kill him, he hated that dog". Hannah said, Holly, you went beneath yourself, you settled." Holden, being the sweet one that he is, said well you know we are going to love these puppies anyway. Why am I telling you all this I know you are probably wondering...welll...when I heard all of those comments, you know, the lights went off in my head and the Lord began to use this as a teaching/learning time for us all. Ding, Ding....that's right Hannah, when you don't wait for God's best for you, you do settle. You remember that. She's 14, going into 9th grade, the whole world is ahead of her and all of us that have gone before her know what it is like to settle and how really empty it leaves you once you have. The word settle means, to inhibit, stay, go beneath, concede, cut a deal, take what was offered instead of holding out for what you had wanted or the best. My life is full of this, I mean so full of it. Had I only waited for what was right around the corner, and the scriptures are so full of those who did the same and I am sure you have the same situations as welll..HOWEVER, BUT GOD in the midst of our compromises if we are repentant is able to turn them around and cause them to work together for our good. Yes there are consequences but even in the consequences HE'S GOD, HE'S THERE, HE'S BIG, HE'S MIGHTY TO SAVE.
I was reading this morning about when the disciples were in the boat and the storm was there, they were right smack in the middle of it all and Jesus of all things was asleep. Resting. They were up running around, cowering down, fretting, probably angry at Him saying things like, "right, sure, He can do miracles" and instead of using this storm as a means to drive them on, they cowered down, became inhibited, I think settled for what they were seeing instead of sleeping/resting like Jesus did on who they were, children of the Most High, who is above all. HOWEVER, BUT JESUS, rebuked them, then rebuked the wind and there was great calm but don't you know He so wanted to see them allow Him to do that through them. The missed the opportunity to be used by Him.
Last part of that passage is Luke 8:27, "So the men marveled, saying, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?" I'll leave you with this...I don't want to marvel and say "Who can this be?" I want to know who He is so that when something comes my way that is not Him, that I might settle for or that I might could have done if I had known who He was and who I am in Him, that I say He Is, He Is El Shaddai, El Elyon, Jehovah Nissi and I could go on and on. I'm not there but I so want to be.

So don't settle like Holly the dog, but wait on God's best for you, hold out, hold on and see what He can do, exceedingly, abundantly, more!! WOO HOO!!!