Jesus Calling

I am so grateful for Sarah Young's devotional book that my husband gave me last Christmas--it's tracking my life in an amazing way; but why are we always so surprised that God can do that?!  This week the Elephant book encouraged me to develop a hunger for something important, desiring it as much as the air I breathe.  Well, haven't I been a Christian for 50 years and wanted to follow and please God with all my heart?  Sadly, it's the usual "Yes, but . . ." answer.  And I know this is where the rubber meets the road!  I take WAY too many chicken exits in my life and have WAY too many conflicting commitments.  Then I spend WAY too much time beating myself up and not running to God and being totally dependent on Him.  I'm so thankful for His patience and lovingkindness for me in my frailty, so thankful for the faithful words that He gives me through friends and books and His righteous Word!  Resistance, Resentment, Revenge--these are the three negative emotions in the bottom of the Change Chart that I have been ruled by and plagued by my entire life--and God has made that so clear to me since last summer and continues to give me opportunities to turn to Him in the realization of my own sin and shortcomings.  So today I'm thankful that I don't need to "resist or run from the difficulties in [my] life"--they are tailor-made, after all, to cause me to run to Him.  And what a safe place to be--in His arms!