Commitment

God has recently impressed upon me both the call He’s laid on my life and the importance of my commitment to that call.

I’m a writer who writes by the leading of God. I consider it a ministry. The same holds true for my photography. I’m blessed in that He’s given me the desires of my heart. It was a long struggle between the Lord and me. For years, I was caught up in the world’s definition of success and satisfaction. God used physical circumstances to get my attention and, true to His word, brought me to a higher place. Psalm 18:19, New Living Translation, says: He led me to a place of safety; he rescued me because he delights in me.

I’ve come to realize that only in consistent obedience to His call can I truly grow spiritually. This plays out in my two blogs, Words from the Heart and The Storyteller, as well as other avenues He’s opened to me.

This past year has been a challenge. The move from Heidelberg, Germany back to my home in Arizona took more time and effort than I ever imagined. Now it’s time to get back to work.

I believe that obedience is the most important thing we can do in our relationship with the Creator, second only to entering into an intimate relationship with Him.

If you do not know the Lover of your soul, I encourage you to meet Him.

“For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:8, New Living Translation

You could begin with the previous post (January 1, 2007) and information in the Special Note below. It’s not important where you begin, just that you take that first step.

In obedience to my Father, I will be posting here on a weekly basis. If my words touch your heart, I pray you’ll visit again soon.

Blessings, Francine

SPECIAL NOTE: I pray that each commentary I write here will bless you, but please understand that some are built on previous entries. I’ve tried to build a Biblical basis from which my thoughts are developed. It’s important that you understand my words aren’t the end of the story, so to speak. I would encourage you to check out previous entries if you have questions concerning what I’ve written. In addition, I’ve included links to several web sites that can provide much more detailed guidance than I’m able to do here. Check out “Running Empty” or “Power to Change” (see list of links to the right). For more in-depth study, you can visit “Now Try God” or “New Christian Life” as additional resources. The bottom line – don’t accept what I say as gospel. That’s what the Bible is for. An excellent on-line resource is BibleGateway.com .

Another good site is Crossmap, and not just because my inspirational messages can now be found there. This organization, which has been running since 2000, serves the Christian community as a web portal. There are great columns by talented nationally known writers and pastors, a wide variety of other Christian sites, news, and commentaries.

As always, I welcome your comments or you can contact me at tenderheartaz@yahoo.com

3 comments:

    On 9:34 AM Unknown said...

    What a blessing, what you've shared....It is amazing how ignorant we are regarding the good and healthy timetable necessary to achieve the best. We always assume that we will "bounce back" sooner than we actually can, and then we beat ourselves up. Maybe I'm talking only to myself here. ; ) But God's timing in our lives results from His great wisdom about who we really are, and what He's gifted us to do. Only He can lead us productively, and that is why obedience is such a privilege.

     
    On 5:04 AM Carol said...

    Hi, Francine,
    When I read your Post, I got as far as Psalm 18:19... I recognised it as the reading I had read before I went to bed last night...We had a little bit of a traumatic situation here and I needed some guidance from God, so I opened the Bible randomly a couple of times until I finally settled on the same Psalm 18... I read the entire Psalm;16-19 really spoke to me and also verse 39 " you armed me with your strength, for battle; and 46...The Lord Lives, Praise be to my Rock....

    As with you it has also been a long struggle between God and me, and I still struggle..although now my heart does belongs to Him..

     

    Cami -- thank you for your encouragement. It's easy to be distracted by other things, thinking God is in those things. Maybe He is -- but there are times when we can't see the forest for the trees.

    Carol -- The Psalms are so very special to me. They gave me wonderful promises as well as supernatural comfort when I was at my lowest -- again and again. What a loving Father we have that He guided the writers of the Bible to create such words for each of us.

     
 
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