Thursday, February 21, 2008

F.R.O.G.G.E.R.

I was trying to come up with a pen name for this when my wonderful mom suggested that I go with F.R.O.G. You know, Fully Rely On God. I decided to add my own twist and am now F.R.O.G.G.E.R.: Fully Relying On God, Gaining Eternal Riches. This comes from Proverbs 3:5, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding," and Matthew 6:20, "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven." These are two of the things that I am striving to do during these seven weeks. The first more than the second, though; I want to learn how to rely on God.

During this first week and a half of this experiment, I have discovered much about God, myself and where my dependence lies. The majority of the time, my dependence is on myself. I don't know why, it isn't like I know what I'm doing. How much smarter it would be for me to give God control over my life and to depend on Him for everything I need, but I very seldom do. As I have contemplated the things that discourage my dependence on God and the things that encourage my dependence on God, I have discovered something: the only difference between the two is the perspective from which I choose to view them. Every circumstance has the potential to either increase or decrease my dependence on God. It is my choice. When I find myself in a situation (good, bad or otherwise), I can either turn it over to God and trust Him to take care of it, or I can attempt to handle it on my own. I can be brought down by whatever is going on around me and inside of me, or I can realize that it is another opportunity to trust in God's strength and faithfulness. There is no circumstance that God cannot use for His glory. He is working in everything around me; all He wants me to do is to connect with Him through faith and to depend on Him to accomplish His goals through me wherever I am.

Father God, thank You for the way You work in my life. Thank You for Your presence, for always being there for me to depend on. Please, help me to be more willing to place my dependence on You, rather than on myself. As I go through this life, help me to see each situation as one in which I can depend on You and bring You glory. Thank You for Your mercy and Your love; You are an awesome God!

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

5 comments:

Kristova said...

Awesome tag name!! The reason it's so Great is the great connection to being Totally Dependent, that you may not even know. When Bestlyone and myself began to think about this years theme we started with the word “poor” in Matt 5:3. The word there in the Greek PTOKHOS; is where we got the idea of being totally dependent on God. But part of the Definition of that word is the connection to your tag name.Here is part of that definition.
2 destitute of wealth, influence, position, honour. 2A lowly, afflicted, destitute of the Christian virtues and eternal riches. 2B helpless, powerless to accomplish an end.
You see! You really do have to Fully Rely on God for Gaining Eternal Riches. As Jesus said: The kingdom of Heaven is yours.

Anonymous said...

Love the name! You never cease to amaze me in how you can take something as simple as a pen name and make it have deep spiritual meaning!

It is strange how much me depend on our helpless, clueless selves instead of turning everything over to our all-powerful, all-knowing God. I'd never thought of the perspective part of it, though. That will definately be changing things for me - looking at each situation & deciding if I want it to turn out good or bad? Hmmm...

Thanks for your honesty & for a look into your spirituality. Luv ya!

Anonymous said...

Your post was very thought-provoking. It was very helpful.

JasonT said...

Great observations. That is one of the secrets to the power of our life in Christ. We do not have to give up our power regardless of the situation. I am always stunned to hear how people experienced excruciating pain for the sake of Christ and yet the fear of that pain and the experience of the pain itself, did not cause them to lose their sense of God's work in their life. As a matter of fact it often infused them with even more passion. If this can be true for them, under great distress, how much truer can it be for me under the "normal" strain of living. Every thing that happens basically is asking us one question - Do I trust my Father? Success is not being competent or having everything worked out, it is trusting our Father.

Terry Rush said...

F.R.O.G.G.E.R.,

Totally dependent often comes in stiffled and shut down settings. When it happens, don't be discouraged. Be dependent.

You are admired!

S.T.A.R.M.A.N. (Standing Today A Rich Man And....Nutcase?) Where's your mom to help me out on this?