Alone.

I am not alone.

The day before Thanksgiving, I got laid off from a job, my husband didn't have a job and we were supposed to move into our apartment AFTER Thanksgiving. Our friends and family told us not to move in, how would we pay for it, yada yada. We prayed all weekend and felt we still should move in.

God's timing is perfect.

We moved in on a Wednesday, Sam got a job on the following Monday and has been working ever since.

I am not alone. God is with me.

I, on the other hand, still don't have a job. There are days I feel so ALONE. I'm vulnerable and lonely, and I beat myself up for not having a job. I'm a stay-at-home wife... who does that? But God is teaching me to REST IN HIM. My identity is not tied around a job. I'm so anxiously, desperately trying to figure out what God wants me to DO, always have to DO something, but God is always teaching REST. Even when I am blessed with a job, I'm being taught the ART OF REST.

Psalm 46:10  He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Life is not always a glamorous adventure or a grand "calling" to do something for God. Life is just ...life. Loving people, Loving God.

I've asked Jesus Christ to be Savior of my life and that means God's Holy Spirit resides in my heart. If that's the TRUTH (which I believe is truth) then I have to believe God is teaching me to be more like His son Jesus everyday. And as I'm learning to recognize weakness in myself and listen more to God's voice in my life then I want to know more of the HEART OF GOD.

God's heart beats for people. God's heart is for the broken hearted, the hopeless, the sick, the needy, those in prison, those who are starving, the lame, the blind, the deaf, and He has a special place in His heart for orphan children and widowed mothers.

God's heart is for PEOPLE to willingly choose to love Him, to willingly choose to follow Him. If I am living my life out of duty, always looking for what to DO next, anxiously looking for a job then I'm all wrong. God wants me to WILLINGLY do things for Him, not because He asked me to, but because I want to.

Just like with my husband. I would love for Sam to play with my hair, scratch my back, love me, serve me, but I don't want to have to ASK him. I want him to willingly choose to love me on his own. It's like that with God. God wants me to willingly choose to love Him and willingly choose to love the people who are near to His heart.

“Let your beauty not be external - the braiding of hair and wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes - but the inner person of the heart, the lasting beauty of a gentle and tranquil spirit, which is precious in the God’s sight.” 1 Peter 3:3-4

Ladies of beauty.... accessorize yourselves in GENTLENESS and a quiet beauty so you can have ears to hear, eyes to see and a heart that is ready and willing to love the people who are near to God's heart. If you listen to conversations around you and listen to the hurt people are going through, the Holy Spirit in you will nudge your heart to speak truth to them, to encourage them.

Matthew 5:5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke  on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Galatians 5:22-26  But the fruit of the Spirit   is love,  joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and  self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ  have crucified the flesh with its passions  and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with  the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited,  provoking  one another, being jealous   of one another.
1 Peter 3:11 And he must turn away from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.
(1 Peter 3 the whole chapter is great)

 What's one specific way that you have found to develop a more gentle and quiet spirit?