Virtuous Daughters

Have you ever prayed a prayer that Yahweh delayed answering? Does it ever seem like Yahweh waits “forever” to do something, or change something, or to give you something you really want?

Well, read the above verses again. They tell us that Yahweh delays, not because He is a cruel God that enjoys seeing us hurt, struggling, or disappointed, but rather because He is longsuffering toward us, and tells us that His longsuffering is salvation. In other words, He delays because of His great love for us, and His desire that we might be saved. As a pastor, whose sermon we watched last night, says, He delays that we might be even more refined and changed to be even more like Him.

Let’s look at this in regards to being single… Do you look at your singleness as a curse from a God that seems to enjoy withholding the joy of marriage and the fulfillment of your dreams? Or do you look at singleness as a gift from a loving Saviour who loves you so much He is willing to do what is best, even when for the time being it isn’t pleasant?

Yahweh says that the reason He delays is because He is longsuffering towards us, and that that longsuffering is salvation. Is He delaying bringing your husband along because He is refining one or both of you so as to save you from the conflict and trials those areas of “dross” would cause you later on? Is He delaying because there is some area, belief, opinion, etc. that one or both of you hold that needs to be changed, and thus save you heartache in the end? Is He delaying bringing marriage to you so that someone watching the way you handle it would be saved from bad choices in their own life? Or is it because He needs you to be single and thus in the position to help certain ones (who might not otherwise be able to be reached), come to eternal salvation and a relationship with Him?

Being single is not a curse, and Yahweh is not cruel, and He does not delight in seeing us cry, or in withholding good things from us. But He loves us enough to withhold and/or delay “good” things in order to bless us with the “best” things.

I can’t count the many times that I have thought that this or that was what I wanted or that surely Yahweh should give them to me, and when He didn’t, I fought His Will, only to look back afterwards and see the wonderful things that happened because Yahweh did not give me what I thought I wanted.

I remember one thing in particular that happened years ago. My brother had signed up for the military and was scheduled to leave in a couple of months. He had decided to start taking martial arts and wanted me to go with him. I really wanted to go, not so much because I wanted to take martial arts, but because it would be something my brother and I could do together before he left for the military. Together we would work out each day, in preparation of our first class, eagerly looking forward to it. The morning of our first class, someone who I respected very much told me that they didn’t feel comfortable with the idea that I was going to have to wear pants, and that although the decision was completely mine to make, they encouraged me to pray about it before I went. I was really mad. I respected this person far too much to ignore their opinion, but at the same time, this was something I wanted to do real bad. After struggling and praying about it all day, I really felt like Yahweh didn’t want me to go. For a long time I still battled it, really wishing I had been able to go. After a while (it was probably a month or two later, maybe a little longer), the instructor pulled my brother aside and asked him if it was the pants that were stopping us girls from participating in the classes (we would go quite often to watch, so that we didn’t fall too far behind my brother who we were still working out with, and who was trying to teach us everything he was learning). When he found out that that was indeed what was stopping us, he and his wife (who helped him teach class) went home, and decided that as long as we used fabric that matched the uniforms, we could make full skirts to wear over our uniforms, and thus be able to go. In the end, I decided not to go, but some of my other sisters did, and them wearing skirts (when none of the other girls in the class did) brought up lots of questions and opportunities to witness to people about Yahweh. So in the end, Yahweh had a beautiful thing come out of my not going when I originally wanted to. Could I see what He was going to do when I first made the decision not to go? No, in fact, I couldn’t see that He was going to do anything about it (except for stopping me from doing something I wanted to do real bad). But, true to His promise, all things worked together for the good of those that loved Him, and in the end, He did things that were far more wonderful than I ever dreamed would happen.

Remember Job? He had all his children, all his flocks and herds (and thus both his earthly riches and his livelihood), as well as pretty much all of his servants, taken away from him all in one day! One servant appeared with the next message of bad news before the first could even finish with his - just boom, boom one blow right after the other. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he then had his health taken away from him, and his own wife trying to convince him to take the “easy” way out by cursing Yahweh so He would kill him, as well as his friends telling him that it was all his fault and that it must surely have been something he did wrong. I imagine life must have looked pretty grim for Job that day, and I can imagine it must have been hard for him to see any good that would come out of it. But what happened in the end? Because Job continued to trust and praise Yahweh no matter what happened to him, in the end Yahweh blessed him with pretty much double of everything that he had before, as well as ten more children to “replace” the ten that died! He was richly blessed because of it all, but he didn’t know that that was what Yahweh had planned for him while he was sitting there scraping his boils.

What about your life? Can you not see the good that is going to come out of the situation you find yourself in? Are you feeling like someone is trying to smash all your dreams, and deprive you of happiness? Remember that Yahweh loves you and promises that all things will work together for good. You may not see it right now, but trust Him. He can see the bigger, greater picture of all things. He might be saying “no” to something you see as being good and desirable, but maybe it’s because He has something better planned for you, and/or can see that it isn’t good and desirable at all, and is just being made to appear that way (anyone remember the piece of fruit that the serpent fed Eve?). We serve an awesome Saviour who loves us very much, and only does what is for our best in the long run.

So, the next time you are feeling down, or getting discouraged about still being single, or feeling like Yahweh is delaying answering some other prayer you might have, remember that it is out of His great love for you that He is doing it

In the Messiah,

Sharon

 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

I think most, if not all, of you know the story of Yahweh telling Abraham to sacrifice his son. For those of you who don’t know the story, I will give you a brief overview of it.

 Yahweh called Abraham out of his homeland, and then promised him that He would give him possession of all the land as far as he could see and that his children would be as populous as the stars. He then promised to give him a son, even though he was 99 years old, and Sarah around 90. Sure enough they had a son – Isaac. But later when Isaac was a young lad (the bible doesn’t say exactly how old), Yahweh told Abraham to take his son into a mountain that He told him of and sacrifice him there. Abraham trusted Yahweh’s leading enough to take his son into that mountain, build an alter, put the wood on it, and even put his son on the alter and, with knife in hand, go to slay his much loved, longed for, and promised son. Those of you that have read the story know that Yahweh stopped him before he could kill his son, and provided him with a ram caught in the thicket instead.

 Yahweh did not want him to kill Isaac, but Abraham had no way of knowing that until right before he was going to kill him.

 So, if Yahweh did not want him to kill Isaac, why did He tell him to? Genesis 22:12 says, “…for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.” Because of Abraham’s obedience, Yahweh said in verses 16-18″…By myself have I sworn, saith Yahweh, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”

 Sometimes in our lives, Yahweh tells us to lay things on the altar of full surrender, and, like Abraham, we don’t know if we will get them back, or if we will watch them go up in smoke. Will we trust Yahweh enough to let go? Will we choose obedience to Yahweh, over whatever it is He asks us to let go of?

 You know, sometimes when I am standing before the alter, knowing Yahweh wants me to lay something on it, there is an overwhelming fear that I am giving it up for good and will never see it again, that makes me hesitate to follow Yahweh’s leading and lay it down. After all, as long as I am holding onto it, I still have it, and thus still have some control over it. If I surrender it and give it to Yahweh, He might not give it back, or He might change it before He does.

 Yahweh is a wonderful painter and He paints the most beautiful pictures, but He can’t paint anything as long as we are holding onto the paintbrush. I mean, imagine trying to paint a picture with someone holding onto your paintbrush. Even if you succeeded in getting the brush into the paint and then onto the canvas, it would probably not come out very good at all, and it would probably have a lot of extra paint splotches and smears. Whereas if they had simply let go of the brush and let you paint, it would come out a whole lot better. That is sort of the way it is when we refuse to let go of something or someone. Yahweh can’t work on it/them, and thus cannot create a master piece until you finally let go.

 Sometimes, when Yahweh asks us to lay our “Isaac” onto the alter, He takes it out of our lives permanently. But, most of the time, when He asks us to surrender something(-one) to Him, it is because He has work He wants to do on either it or on us that He can’t do as long as we are holding onto it for dear life.

 Looking back over the times when Yahweh has asked me to surrender something or someone to Him, I can see so many blessings that I would not have if I hadn’t obeyed. You see, as long as we are holding on to things and refusing to entrust them to Yahweh’s care, every time Yahweh moves His elbow while He works on them, it hits us. Now not only does getting elbowed hurt, but it hinders Yahweh’s work (and I don’t know very many people who enjoy working while a distrusting person looks over their elbow the whole time, trying to give them instructions and constantly asking, “Are you sure that’s the right thing to do?” and “I don’t think that was right. You’d better check that again.” Etc.)

 Do we love our “Isaac” more than we love and trust Yahweh? Has our “Isaac” become more important to us than Yahweh and our relationship with Him?

 It’s not easy letting go of something dear to our hearts, and like I said, often times when we are at the place of surrender, we don’t know if we will get it back or not. Will we trust Yahweh and His leading enough to be willing to give Him those people and things that mean the most to us? The things we don’t think we could live without?

 Yahweh is not a cruel God. He does not do things because He wants to see us cry, or because He wants to cause us pain. He said that all things work together for our good. This includes the things we don’t understand. It includes the things that cause us pain, and make our life look really grim. It includes the times when He asks us to let go of the things dearest to our hearts. Everything He does has our best interest in mind. He said that even when He chastens us, it is for our own profit, not His.

 One of my favorite verses, and one that I have really had to cling to over and over again in my life, is Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in Yahweh with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Our eyes can only see the present; we can’t see what the future holds, or what Yahweh is doing in the back ground, or what the rippling effect of the present is going to be. But you know something? Yahweh can. He can see all things. He said He knew the end from the beginning, which means He not only knew this was going to happen (long before it did), but He knows the future, and what the results of this will be. All He asks is that we trust Him. He does not want us relying on our understanding of the situation. He wants us to trust Him, the One who understands, knows, and controls all things.

 Will we surrender the control we thought we had, and trust the One who loves us more than we have ever been loved and promises that all things are for our good, or will we fight Him, trying to cling to the last shred of control we think we have?

 You know, the whole subject of surrender comes down to trust. Do we trust Yahweh to know as much as we think we know? To handle things as well as we think we can? To make as good of choices and decisions as we think we do? To treat our dreams, desires, and loved ones as good as we imagine we could? Think about it. If you don’t trust someone with a sharp knife, than you won’t give it to them, but if you do trust them, you will.

 The same thing holds true with Yahweh. If we truly trust Him, we won’t mind placing our hearts, lives, dreams, desires, loved ones, etc. in His hands. And you know the interesting thing? A whole lot of people trust Yahweh with their eternity (you know, the time of their life that has no end), but refuse to trust Him with their lives down here. Why is it, they can trust Him with something as important as their eternity, but can’t seem to trust Him with a dream, a loved one, their next meal, etc.?

 If we truly trust Yahweh, than we will obey Him (because after all, we trust that He is leading us in the right way). And if we trust Him, than we will place the people and things that mean the most to us, in His care.

 And like I said at the beginning, it’s not easy letting go, especially when something or someone means the world to you. But Yahweh is trustworthy, and we can trust Him with all things.

 So, my challenge to you today is this: Are there areas in your life that you are clinging to instead of giving to Yahweh? I want to challenge you to surrender them to Yahweh. Stand before Him with open hands, and watch the wonderful things He can do.

 Surrendering is so very hard sometimes, but, my dear friends, it is so very worth it.

 May Yahweh help each one of us to be fully surrendered to His perfect will

This last Friday, I was listening to the Christian radio station, and this woman was sharing her story, and she said something that I thought was really neat.

She said that although she may not know all about tomorrow, she knows this much: God is already there, and He will still be there to hold her up when she gets there.

What Is A Life-Purpose?

When I first began my searching, I didn’t really even understand what a life-purpose was, so let me explain a little about what it is in case some of you also don’t understand. First of all, it is not an action. A life purpose is the reason, or motive, behind the actions we do and the decisions we make in life. For example, your life-purpose and the career you embark on are two different things. Your career is the way you can live out your life purpose, but it is your life purpose that should determine, for example, what career or path you take.

A couple of questions you can ask yourself when trying to understand your life-purpose, is #1) would I be able to still live for this (or accomplish this) if I got into a car accident and became paralyzed, or if I got a debilitating disease (in other words, is this truly a life purpose, or is this an action that I am confusing as my life-purpose)? And #2) at the end of my life, when I look back over everything I’ve done, what is the one thing I want to be able to say Yahweh accomplished  through my life? (For example, “Yahweh used my life to ___”).

Now, let me share with you something else that will help you when trying to determine your own personal life purpose. What is the greatest command in Yahweh’s word? To love Him, right? What is the second greatest command? To love others (the real wording is our “neighbor”), right? So what does this mean in terms of your life purpose? Your life purpose should first of all be based on Yahweh and your love for Him, and, second of all, it should be based on your love for others. Living for dogs, horses, computers, wealth, or fame, first of all are not worth living for, and second of all, are misplaced priorities. For example, living for the sole purpose of training dogs, reflects a love for dogs that is greater than your love for their owners, just like living for fame (i.e. prestige, honor, having people look up to you, etc) reflects a love for yourself that is greater than your love for those around you. Following is an example of this in practice and the results of both . . .

Let’s say that there are two people who become medical doctors. The life-purpose of one is to get rich. The life-purpose of the other is to share Yahweh’s great love. Both practice medicine, but one does it to gain money, and the other uses it as an opportunity to minister to people, and share Yahweh’s love with them. When someone comes in with a medical ailment, the one living to get rich will make the decision that will make him the richest, whereas the one living to minister to the people will make the decision that is best for that person, regardless of how much money they will or will not get because of it. Do you see how our purpose for doing what we do plays a large part in how we do it? The career for both of these people was the same, yet the outcome was very different because their purposes were very different.

Now, let’s look at these two people farther down the road of life . . . the rich man will begin to ask, “What good is my life? I have all this money, but what good is it?” and will begin to realize that his life doesn’t have any meaning. Millionaires have one of the highest suicide rates, because although they have as much money as they could ever want, they have nothing else (money can’t buy love for example). The other, who has a purpose greater than himself, will have just as much meaning and purpose twenty years down the line as he does the very first day he graduated (now this is not to say he will never get discouraged, or that life will always be easy, but it will have meaning and purpose). What is the difference? One had a purpose worth living for, and the other didn’t. As the ‘Life Purpose Planning Workbook’ said, no purpose is worth living for that does not include others, and I would like to include that no purpose is worth living for that does not have as it’s center Yahweh (just ask the world).

When the only “purpose” to my life was preparing for marriage my life constantly felt empty and meaningless. Now, don’t get me wrong, marriage is a wonderful thing, and I still would love to get married some day. But, when that was all I was living for, my life meant nothing as long as I was still single. Now I have a purpose that I can live for whether I am married or single, “able” or crippled, in the US or in a foreign country, bound or free, etc. My purpose in life (in the “short-form”) is to be a bright, actively shining light for Yahweh, always pointing people to Him – wherever I am, whatever circumstances I find myself in, whether I am married or single, at home or out shopping, etc. It is not to get married, or to graduate with honors from a great college, or to be high up on the totem pole in some big company. My purpose in life is to be a bright, actively shining light to those around me.

Knowing for what purpose Yahweh created us helps us to know what He wants us to do with our lives. There are many more opportunities for ministry, careers, etc. in this world then all of us combined could probably think of, and trying to know which one is Yahweh’s will for your life can be completely overwhelming. But knowing what your purpose in life is, helps narrow things down a bit, and give you a  “ruler” against which you can measure everything else up against – from small, every day decisions like whether or not you should wear a certain piece of clothing, or go to a certain place, or listen to certain music,  to big decisions like whether or not you should get a career, or get involved with some sort of ministry, or go to college, and, if either of these, which one, etc.

Following is my complete life-purpose statement:

Most of all, my purpose in life is to love Yahweh with every part of me, and to be completely surrendered to His will in all things, trusting Him to lead me where I need to be, and to open the doors that need to be opened, and close the doors that should closed.

My life-purpose is to be a bright, actively shining light to the world, going out of my way to shine Yahweh’s love in the hearts and lives of those around me. In a world where so many claim to be Yahweh’s children and yet live, act, and talk no different than the world, I believe Yahweh wants me to really make sure I set a Godly example for other believers, and give the world a true picture of what Yahweh is like. Because of this, I believe Yahweh wants me to meet the needs of those around me (wherever I am), whether those needs are physical(Matt 10:40-42, 25:34-40), or whether those needs are things like a sunny smile, a word of encouragement or praise, a listening ear, etc. Although I am to be a brightly shining light wherever I am (at all times), I believe I need to actively be shining Yahweh’s light in the hearts and lives of the people around me (in other words, those in my town/community). I believe that Yahweh does not want me to “hide my light under a bushel”, but wants me to be actively stepping out and letting my light shine in the hearts and lives of others.

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Now everyone’s life-purposes are different, as we are all different parts of the body, so yours may very well be completely different than mine, and that is fine. I did not share my life-purpose statement with you as a blue-print of what yours is supposed to be, but rather as an example of how I wrote mine, so you can hopefully glean some ideas for when you write your own.

I pray that this helped you to understand both the importance of defining your life purpose, and also how to go about it. If you are like me, you have probably seen someone who was super confident in their life – they knew where they were going, how they were going to get there, why, etc – and if you have ever wondered if you were asleep when Yahweh handed out life purposes (LOL), I hope this was a help and encouragement.

In the Messiah,

Sharon

“Where there is no vision, the people perish. . .” Proverbs 29:18

Understanding Yahweh’s Answers

There were times when I felt like the only answer Yahweh ever gave me was “no” (“Is this my purpose?” “No” “Is this what You want me doing?” “No” etc).  Although I would be tempted to either get discouraged or, worse yet, upset about it, I would remember something someone once told me: if Yahweh doesn’t seem to be answering you it could be because He already has and you are either, rejecting or ignoring, His answer. I would then go to Yahweh with an open ear, asking Him if this was what was wrong, and if so to please show me what His answer was, and why I missed it (so I could hopefully avoid doing so in the future). More often than not, when all I seemed to be getting were no’s, this was my problem.

You see, we all have preconceived ideas of what we want to do with our lives, where we want to go, who we want to be, and how we are going to do these things, etc. as well as ideas of what Yahweh wants us to do with our lives, where, why, when , how, etc. So, when He would lead me in a way that didn’t match up with my expectation of His will for me, than unfortunately it was very easy for me to dismiss it as not being from Him or to simply overlook it altogether. That is why it was so important for me to come to Him with an “empty slate” and an open mind, doing my best to throw out all of my earlier thoughts, opinions, impressions, expectations, etc.

An example of a preconceived opinion of Yahweh’s will for me that I had to lay aside in order to hear what His will for me really was, was the opinion that as a single girl I needed to spend that time of singleness as a time of wholeheartedly preparing for  marriage. You see, we need to be prepared if we are to get married, but that was/is not the purpose of my single years, any more than it is the purpose of the rest of my life. It was not supposed to be a consuming thought, or the basis of everything I did. Yahweh has something else He wants me to do with this time in my life besides just preparing for marriage (and quite frankly, the more I learn, the more I am convinced that one of the best ways to prepare for your future is to focus on and do the things Yahweh calls you to do with your life today).Until I had surrendered this preconceived idea to Yahweh I was not ready to hear or accept that He had something else for me to do with my life at this time.

Another thing I learned along these lines, was that if it didn’t seem like Yahweh was answering me (and I had already made sure (like the above) it was not because He already had and I “missed” it) sometimes the problem was because it wasn’t His timing. You know, as humans it is very easy to get impatient and want everything now. But that isn’t how Yahweh works. He has a time for everything, and the proper order it all must happen in. His timing is always best, and He knows just when we will be ready (or able) to receive the answer. So, if it seems like He just isn’t answering (and you have ruled out His already having given you the answer), just relax and trust that in His time, He will give you the answer you seek. He cares about His children, and He said in James 1:5 that… “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth (*i.e. reproacheth) not; and it shall be given him.”

During this time I read a couple of books that seemed to hold some answers, so as I read them, I prayed constantly that Yahweh would help me understand if they held His wisdom for my life, or if they were going to lead me astray, again, listening for His guiding voice (what is the sense of asking Yahweh for wisdom if you don’t also listen for His answer and accept it when He gives it? Along this same line of thought, what good does it do you to ask Yahweh what His will is for your life if you aren’t willing to follow it, unless of course, it is the same as your own (which means you are following your own heart and just wanting the “clear-conscience” of having Yahweh’s signature on it)?

As I read my bible each morning, I would keep alert for Yahweh’s voice, listening, and following where He led me. Sometimes He would speak to me through a verse or passage I read, but other times Yahweh would bring another passage or something to mind, and impress on my heart that I needed to look it up. I was sometimes tempted to look it up after I was done reading the passage I was on in my devotions, but I had to remember that the purpose of reading my bible was to hear Yahweh’s voice, gain wisdom for my life, and learn how to live my life for Yahweh, so if He spoke to me and led me to another passage, I needed to follow. (Besides . . . who better than Yahweh would know where I was going to find the answers and guidance I needed?)

How many of us believe in preparing for our earthly husbands? How many of you would go about your life, until the last minute possible, and then start preparing for your upcoming marriage? I dare say that hardly any of you would do such a thing.  I think I can be pretty safe to suggest that most of you are preparing while we speak.  And that is wonderful and how it ought to be, don’t get me wrong!

But what I would like to deal with this morning is how I think I can also safely suggest that most people on this earth wait until the last minute possible to prepare for the one most important marriage, that with our Heavenly Bridegroom.  And some never do get around to preparing for it, but just live every day from day to day.

But is this right? Should we not be just as concerned about our Heavenly marriage, as we are with our earthly marriage? Which one will last forever, even after we pass from this earth to the next?  Girls, I dare say that you ought to be even more concerned with the preparedness of your heart and life where Yahshua comes in (your Heavenly Bridegroom), than you ought to be over that of your earthly bridegroom!  Yet, as I look around me, I see just the opposite.  People are so concerned over being ready for their earthly marriages that they leave out how they need to be preparing for their heavenly one, as well.

Sometimes, it is very easy to become nearer minded. As in, a one tracked mind. We can see our earthly marriages.  We can look around us at couples who were ill prepared for them, and we can see how much we don’t know and need to learn, so we put our focus on that.  We long for marriage, so we throw ourselves into preparing for that marriage.  But where our Heavenly one is concerned, one that we can’t really see, so we don’t generally see how vitally important it is to be prepared for it or even how our actions even effect it.  Yes, we know that we are married (or betrothed) to our bridegroom, Yahshua.  Yes, we know that we need to live a righteous life.  Yes, we also know that we need to read our Bibles. 

But what I want to challenge you today is; how many of our earthly marriages would fail if we treated them with the care that we have with our heavenly marriages? How many would want to spend as little time as we generally do with our bridegroom Yahshua, of that with our earthly husbands? How many of our marriages would fail, with how we treat Yahshua, if that is how we started treating our earthly husbands?

Girls, we all know that a man’s greatest need is to be respected and honored (as well as obeyed). Everyone will tell you this.  Yet, how many of us dishonor God with how we treat Him? We know that we are to obey and submit to our earthly husbands and that this is a much needed ingredient to have our marriages succeed.  I mean, how do we show our true love to them? Is it not by obeying them? Yet, how many of us go through our lives, knowing what Yahshua and His father wishes for us to do, yet, we walk away not doing any of it? Or atleast not in the areas that seem to “difficult” for us to follow.  We do the “easier” things of course.  We just leave out the more difficult things…the areas that He commands us to keep, but we know our friends would think we were weird if we did. 

Girls, let me again voice this question to you; how many of you treat your heavenly marriage as you do your earthly marriages? How many put just as much work and time into your heavenly marriage, as you do into your earthly one? How many of you spend just as much time preparing for the one, as you do the other?  And how many of you will truly be prepared to be Yahshua’s bride, when He comes calling you the marriage supper? And how many of you will bring Him shame, when He comes and finds you, and how many of you will see a smile on His face as He beholds His bride?

You see, this life isn’t about our earthly marriages.  Yes, they are important and are supposed to be beautiful.  I know that.  And yes, I believe we are to be prepared for them.  Yahweh Himself told us that much.  But He also gives us a glimpse into our Heavenly marriage when He tells us that our earthly marriage is supposed to be a picture of our Heavenly marriage.  Our lives here on earth are supposed to be focused on the heavenly, not the earthly, for the earthly will pass away, but heavenly will last for eternity. This is what is the most important areas of our lives, girls. The question is; are you getting prepared for it? And will you be prepared for it when He comes?

Don’t waste this precious time that Yahweh has blessed you with.  Prepare the way for Yahweh!  Prepare for the most beautiful relationship and marriage…that of our precious Lord and Master, Yahshua! And girls, in order for you to have a beautiful marriage with someone, you must put your time and effort into that person. You can’t go about your days ignoring them.  You must have an open communication and dialog with them.  This means reading and studying Yahweh’s word and how you can live your life to bring Him pleasure.  This means spending time in prayer, talking with Him.  Don’t go day by day, never speaking to Him!  Talk to Him! He longs to get to know your heart and for you to get to know His.  And just like you would surely devour a love letter written by your beloved, you should also devour the “letter” written to you from your Beloved!

My challenge for you today is to start putting more of your time and effort into your heavenly marriage and stop thinking that all that matters on this earth is that you get married.  Yes, it is important, but it isn’t as important as your heavenly marriage.  Here you are, already married and spoken for, so spend more time furthering that relationship and marriage…for the more you prepare for that marriage, the more you will be prepared for your earthly marriage and relationship, as the one will flow right on into the other. Don’t put it off, dear precious girls! He is waiting for us and He longs to really get to know you! Use your time wisely and let’s make our Heavenly bridegroom smile down upon us, like we would want to see our earthly husband do!

The Beginning of My “Quest for Answers”

At this point I basically threw away everything I had ever thought about life in general and especially my life specifically, and tried as much as possible to come to Yahweh with an empty slate and an open mind, looking to Him for the answers I so desperately needed.  I needed to know what my life-purpose was, what Yahweh’s will was for my life, what He wanted me doing with my life, how He wanted to use my life, what He wanted to accomplish through my life, etc.

I asked my dad how one was to find their life purpose and he told me that although there are certain purposes Yahweh gave to all mankind in general (which are written in His word), when He gives us our personal life-purposes, He doesn’t give it to John Doe or Mrs. Smith down the street, and He doesn’t even necessarily give it to our dad’s. He said that to find our personal life’s purpose we need to go to Yahweh in prayer, and prayerfully study His word.

I wasn’t overly happy about his answer, because I was hoping he would hand me the answers I was looking for in a complete, ready-to-serve package. I didn’t like having to wait (waiting is HARD, especially after Yahweh had so impressed on my heart how much time I had already wasted, and I was so anxious to stop wasting my life and start making it count). But, since the only way I was going to find the answers I needed was through prayer and searching, pray and search I did.

One of the first things I did (besides pray, pray, and pray!) was go through the ‘Life Purpose Planning Workbook’ (lifepurposeplanning.org). This helped me to organize my thoughts, dreams, passions, etc. and also help me to see Yahweh’s hand already at work in my life. (As the book said, Yahweh isn’t waiting for us to realize our life purpose to start working in our lives – He has been working in them even before we were born - we just haven’t necessarily been aware of it.) As I was going through it I would detour when Yahweh would bring something else to mind (like listing any dreams I’ve ever had, both past and present, what they all had in common, why I dreamed of doing them, etc). I wrote all my answers in a spiral notebook instead of in the actual book, which was helpful because it allowed me to use the book as a guide without forcing me to follow it exactly. For example, if they asked a question that I didn’t really understand (or one that was worded in such a way that it didn’t really fit me), but sparked a question in my mind, I could write that down, instead of necessarily answering their question.

Throughout this whole “quest for answers” I tried to be open and flexible to Yahweh’s leading, and slow to jump on or accept any ideas or possibilities, because I wanted to be sure that it was Yahweh’s leading and not my emotions or my anxiousness to find the answers and “get started” living my life.

Quite a few times during this time, Yahweh would give me a piece of the puzzle, and I had to hold myself in check realizing it was a piece of His answer, not His final answer. A few times when I heard or read something, Yahweh would impress on my heart that it held at least a part of an answer, although I wasn’t able to put my finger on exactly what it was. So, I would study whatever it was that held the “answer”, praying that Yahweh would show me what it was, and then trust Him to help me understand it in His time. Sometimes He would help me to understand it right away, and other times I wouldn’t understand it until later when He would give me the other piece(s) to the puzzle. But either way, I knew that everything was in Yahweh’s hands, and He would help me to understand what I needed to in His time (I just needed to pay attention to whatever He was trying to tell me (whether I understood it or not), so I was ready to understand when that time came).

Most of all through this time I prayed, prayed, prayed, and prayed (did I tell you I prayed?J). Yahweh is the only One who knows what our futures hold, what He created us to do, and what he wants us to live for and do. He is the only One who really knows how we can please Him and bring Him the most glory.  He is the only One with the answers, so if we want the answers (or at least want the right answers) we must go to Yahweh. Every time I would come across a possibility, or someone would suggest a possibility, I would go to Yahweh with an open ear, and ask Him if that was what He wanted. Yahweh’s ways are best, so if we want the best in our lives we must go to Him, and find out what His will is.

I don’t generally write specifically to my older singles, but today I felt the need to.  This may or may not apply to those of my younger readers, but you are more than happy to read it anyways.

So…

Have any of you ever approached your birthday with a gloomy spirit before? Most people would consider birthdays a joyous occasion, but I have to admit, this year has been a bit different for me.  I almost, no, okay…I did, feel dread as the day approached.  For me, it signified yet another year without my Beloved.  As I looked at the number 26, it felt odd and foreign. I never dreamed that I would hit that number, without being able to celebrate it with him by my side, yet for some unforeseen reason, Yahweh has decided that that would be best.

I sat here last night and just wanted to cry.  How was it that I could miss someone so much, that I haven’t even met before?!  How I could feel so lonely? I wanted to cry out to Yahweh and beg Him to please bring my Beloved to me, wherever He was, yet I knew that it would only happen in His will and in His time.  Nothing, even my screaming, would bring him to me a day sooner.  

I wanted one thing, and yet I knew it was impossible to get it.  I never dreamed that Yahweh would test me so many times, asking me to continue waiting, eight years after I honestly thought I would be married.  I never dreamed I wouldn’t be married at 18…at the very longest, 21.  But here I am at 26 with my Beloved nowhere in sight and I couldn’t help but to feel down and out about it.

But you know what, Yahweh showed me something last night and again this morning.  So often I feel like I put my future husband above my Heavenly Husband and Love of my life.  Here I am complaining that once again, a year went by without my Beloved, yet what I failed to think about was, I DID have my BELOVED by my side! He has been by my side for 13 years now! Not only that, but as unworthy as I was and am, He still chose to over look my faults and choose me to be his wife, when He could have chosen another.  But no, that day, 13 years ago, He came to me and chose me.  How can you not feel special thinking about that?!

You know, my sisters, sometimes we get to dwelling on the physical side of things.  We dream about the day we will be married and will be able to pour our love onto the man of our dreams.  We dream about loving and serving him.  Yet, how many of us dream about our spiritual bridegroom? How many of us dream about how we can love and serve HIM better? Yet, we should care for Him, even more than we do our physical husbands.  Yet how many of us, even knowing how to please Him, do? How many of us, knowing what would bring Him true pleasure, do those very things?  If we were married to an earthly husband, it wouldn’t matter what people thought of us, we would still do that which would please our husbands.  So why then, do we often find it so difficult to do the very same thing, to our spiritual husband, Yahshua? Where’s the difference, girls? In reality, there really shouldn’t be any difference, yet we all know that there generally is.

May Yahweh grant us the strength to focus on our relationship with His son, and our heavenly bridegroom, Yahshua!  May we all feel, instead of the gloom at yet another year without our physical husbands, dwell on the fact that we have been gifted with yet another year WITH our spiritual husband, Yahshua!  And may we spend this next year sincerely doing that which we know would bring Him pleasure and delight.  May He grant us the strength to take that stand for righteousness, regardless as to what others may think or not think.  For my sisters, this relationship is what really matters.  Yes, I very much look forward to the day that Yahweh will join my hand with that of an earthly man, but never should our earthly husbands come before that of our heavenly husband.

What Is Your Life-Purpose? Part 1

Hi girls!

My name is Sharon and I am one of Samantha’s younger sisters. I want to share with you what Yahweh has been teaching me over the last couple of months.

When I graduated high school, it was really fun not to have school work each day, and to have the whole day to do whatever I wanted  . . . that is . . . for a little while. Within a couple of months, I had this nagging thought of “now what do I do?”

Over the next couple of years I tried to ignore this thought as best I could, but every once in a while it would pop up again and I would get really discouraged, wondering, “What is the purpose of my life? There has to be something more. I have to be missing something. My life feels so empty and meaningless. What do I do that someone else couldn’t take over doing without even noticing my disappearance? I help clean, cook, and do chores, but, when I’m gone for whatever reason, my siblings pick up the slack without even a hiccup in the way the house runs. Sure, I help my mom teach my younger siblings school each day, but the other girls could take over that if I wasn’t here, and even if they couldn’t, is that the only reason I am alive?” I would try to find something to do or study that would fill up my time enough so I wouldn’t think about how empty I felt about my life, which would “work” until a short time later when the same empty feelings would pop up again.

Sometimes it would be something I could study, other times it would be weeding our garden whenever I started to feel like I wasn’t accomplishing anything with my life, sometimes it would be canning, etc.

While I had something to study, I felt really good about my life, because now I not only had something to fill up my time, but I also had a purpose to each day (doing that day’s lesson) and a goal to work towards (finishing that book/course). Life was great as I worked towards finishing each course, excitedly looking forward to accomplishing what I set out to do and reaching my goals. But, as I would get to the end of my courses, that excitement and anticipation would turn to dread as that old familiar feeling of emptiness would return along with the same old question of “now what?”

I always dreamed of getting married and felt like that was Yahweh’s will for my life at some point, so after graduating high school, I really started focusing on preparing for marriage (studying marriage, relationships, etc.) and trying to prepare my character, etc. for the day when I would be a wife. I dreamed about it, I thought about it, I planned and prepared for it, and, most of all, I waited for it – day after day, month after month, and . . . year after year.

Well, Yahweh continued to impress on my heart how purposeful-less my life was, and how much time I was wasting by just living from day to day, with no knowledge of what my purpose in life was or how He wanted me living it out.

When Yahweh showed me this, and really convicted my heart about it, He brought me to a place where I completely surrendered everything to Him – my life, my future, whether or not I got married, everything- and started me on what I call my “quest for answers”. What was my purpose in life? Was I already living out my purpose and just not realizing it? How was I to even go about figuring it out? The bible has all the answers, but where was I supposed to start?

Over the next couple of posts, I would like to take you down the journey that Yahweh brought me down, to share with you how I was able to find out what my life purpose was, in hopes that if there are others out there with the same questions, it will help serve as a guideline for you, too, to find out what your  life purpose is.

Until next time,

Sharon

Here is a song that I wanted to share with you all. I hope it will bless you as much as it did me.

Lyrics:
When my way seems dark and drear and the future I don’t know,
My heart feels so empty as the tears unending flow.
When my heart breaks with sorrow and a tempest fills my soul,
This one thing I know for sure: My God is in Control.

His way is perfect, HIs way is perfect.
Though I don’t understand His wise and loving plan,
His way is perfect. His way is perfect.
Take my life and make a vessel purified.
God makes no mistakes; His way is best.

When the toils of life are come and my heart is worn with care,
I faint ‘neath the burden of a cross I cannot bear.
When the joy has departed from my sorrow stricken soul,
This one thing I know for sure: My God is in control.

His way is perfect, His way is perfect.
Though I don’t understand HIs wise and loving plan,
His way is perfect. His way is perfect.
Take my life and make a vessel purified.
God makes no mistakes; His way is best.