September 8, 2005
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It is late and I should be sleeping, but can’t right now. Wanted to share a bit of a victory with you. I managed to lose my first 10% in Weight Watchers. I was thrilled, but plan to try and lose another 10% before deciding how much I want to lose.
I am reading Acts right now and a couple of things sparked my interest.
Acts 21:14 So when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, “The will of the Lord be done.”
What a difference a comma makes in the above passage when Paul would not be persuaded from going to Jerusalem. Most people read the above passage “So when he would not be persuaded we ceased saying, “The will of the Lord be done.” Implying that they gave up on Paul, and let him have his own devices. (If you read further you see that whole believing families accompanied Paul to the harbor, and prayed with him)But the other way to read it is with all the commas, which gives a different slant, that Paul couldn’t be persuaded, so they ceased trying to convince him, and trusted in the will of the Lord.
I realize that often I want to control things way too much, having it done the way I want it done, in the order that I think is best. Usually this is with the best intentions of wanting to spare someone from a mistake that I have made in the past, or from a problem that I can see will occur. Sometimes the will of God is vastly different for God has a greater perspective than my own limited vision. Sometimes I have to remember to let God out of the box and move on with my life. It isn’t always easy to do that for me. But sometimes I just have to turn things over to God’s will. And trust that God will provide, even when those around me don’t seem to listen to my reason.
Acts 23:3 Then Paul said to him (Ananias) “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?
Two interesting tidbits of info. Graves were to be avoided by the priests for it would make them unclean. To make sure that a person knew where a grave was, the people would paint the gravestones and markers with whitewash. So Paul was telling the High Priest, that he was not alive, that he was dead in his faith and life. And also I learned that when a person was guilty, they were to be struck on their back, not on the face like Paul and Jesus were struck, according to the Law. So the priest commanded against the law.
When I am a bit more awake, I will write out another Bible study. For the next several weeks our church is having a discipleship training. I am not certain how that will work, but it will be vastly different from Bible study, so I look forward to sharing some of that with you as well.
Have a blessed day,
Heather
Comments (6)
Congrats on the 10%!
I am at 6% this week — and counting! WW is working for me too.
I knew about the graves being unclean. Interesting about the whitewash; that I didn’t know.
Great post. Just catching up on your site after a Summer break. Hope all is well. I love the tips for Men. Too funny! Joyce Meyer says about control that God has taught her to “get your hands off.” I have to say this to myself often. blessings lala
Congrats on your 10% goal.
Heather.. YOU GO GIRL!! Great job on the 10%.. I know how great that feels!
hi heather=) i didnt know you were on weight watchers. ill pray for you! hope you are well, joy
wow, you wrote that a bit ago, but, i’ve gotta tell you, God used it to speak to me today! I was struggling with that very thing, crying out before God asking Him, telling Him, really, that He needed to get *this situation* taken care of – I’ve done all i know to do and have more quesitons than answers…that was a great reminder of Who I was talking to and His very nature of having things undre control….Thanks for sharing! ~Jessica