Oswald's word today

I'm still amazed at God's perfect timing, and in my head, what I believe to be His entertainment for Himself at times. After writing yesterday I called to talked to my friend that I mentioned and we had a conversation that she and I have had numerous times over the past 10 years - about waiting on the Lord. I hope I encouraged her as she always does me; sometimes it just helps us all to know that others feel what we feel and understand what we feel, even if we're not feeling it all at the same time. So just a little while ago I pulled myself from a book that I'm reading to read some Oswald and my chapters for the day. Oswald really is the man - and God's timing is cool:

"There are times when you can’t understand why you cannot do what you want to do. When God brings a time of waiting, and appears to be unresponsive, don’t
fill it with busyness, just wait. The time of waiting may come to teach you the meaning of sanctification— to be set apart and made holy."

I look forward to this year. I pray that the Lord grows my Faith - that I look to the past and truly pay attention to the examples of faith all around me - in scripture and in my life. I thank God for giving us His stories of the men and women of faith from so long ago. I thank Him for people like Job who remained faithful even when he didn't understand, nor did the people around him. I am thankful for stories like Ruth - a widow woman who picked up and moved to another country, was faithful to what she believed the Lord was leading her to do, and eventually became a woman in the lineage of David. I'm thankful for people in my life like my Mom and Dad, who remained faithful through so many storms of life. Who never faltered on their faith in the Father, who taught me what it looks like to love the Lord every day of your life. I am thankful for friends who encourage and uplift, and who live beside me daily through everything life brings.

I pray that the Lord grows my Hope, in Him and in the world we live in. I pray my hope grounds itself in Him and Him alone, not in my abilities or future career paths, but Hope in His desire to give life and to give it abundantly.

And I pray that my Love grows - first and foremost for Him, then for people. Love is the Lord's greatest commandment, for it is what draws people to Him. I pray that I am that love in a sometimes dark world this year.

And tomorrow - life starts again....
All of me for only Him
Sharon