Making the Most of Every Opportunity

  "To submit and give up everything truly is radical and terrifying. However... walking in my own wisdom, contrary to the Spirit's leading, is even more frightful."- Francis Chan  

I was encouraged through Nancy Guthrie as I read through her pain and loss (of 2 children) and yet see her desire to submit under God and grow in Him in strength. I want to share a few excerpts from her book, Holding Out Hope that have impacted me. Here's the first: "God seemed to speak to me clearly — though not in an audible voice. I've never heard that. He spoke to me the way he always does: through Scripture.   In my Bible study a couple of weeks after Hope was born, we looked at the story of Hagar who had run away from Abram and Sarah due to Sarah's harsh treatment. She wanted to escape her difficult situation, but God spoke to her in the desert, telling her to "return and submit." The lecturer asked, "What is God calling you to submit to?" And I knew God was calling me to submit to the journey we were facing with Hope, not to fight it or cry out to him to change it, but to submit to his plan and his purposes.   At the same time, we were tal...