Dying to Live

He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less. John 3:30 NLT   I usually know when God is prompting me to step out of my comfort zone. I get restless. I feel a need to close the world out so I can just be still and listen. He grows my hunger and thirst for His word and His presence, and there's a feeling of excitement mixed with fear of failing. A lot of the times I just feel completely inadequate to play out the task He has set before me. Whether it's my lack of skills, or I don't look the part or so many other people are better equipped than me, or the 1,000 other excuses I could think up and allow myself to believe. There is always something that completely intimidates me.    But God keeps brining me back to John 3:30. I must decrease so that He may increase. I must declare His promises and His truths. This truth is I am equipped through Christ. It doesn't matter how I "feel", He knows exactly who I am. If He has called me, it'

  A few weeks ago my friend (who is also our worship pastor) asked me to write a short paragraph about promises God revealed to me during a season of pain. I feel like God is asking me to blog about it more in detail. I'll begin with the paragraph I wrote:    Last year was a painful season in my life but from it came so much growth. One of the moments that stands out to me most happened one night while I was outside shoveling snow. I felt like God wasn't answering me because nothing seemed to be getting easier. In fact, things kept getting worse. I angrily just started pouring out to God all the questions of why and telling Him how much I hated this season I was in. I did this until nothing but tears were left to pour out. I stood in the quiet of that winter night and looked over at the tree in our yard. Every single branch was iced over and the glow from street light made it look like crystal. It was so beautiful. I heard God speak the words "my ways are not your ways