I have been in school again since the fall of 2005. There is a renewing of my mind as well as of my dreams and of my knowledge of His purpose for my life.

I went back with my own plans in mind. Of course, I quickly found out that my ways were not His ways. : )

I wanted to take a few classes about maintaining computer networks, but I ended up going a slightly different route. I'm not mad 'cause I almost didn't even get on the road again to begin with!

The classes that were available to a last-minute enrollee put me on a path that I would say was so perfectly chosen that it had to be God's plan. It even included a couple of classes that would make it possible for me to take another stab at entering a local university, if that was what "I" wanted to do. At that time, I took the classes, with intent to look as if I were going somewhere I had NO intention of going at that space and time. That being to the university.

I sit here, nearing the end of my second year, with a much greater understanding of just how much "His ways, are not our ways."

See, a while back, I gave up my goal of achieving a degree. Heck, I was ready to purchase a nice, comfy rocking chair and wait on the grandbabies to start rollin' in! I am still more "content" (even in the state of turnoil my life is in now) than I have been as far back as "I" can remember! But there's a new battle on the horizon.

With this new state of contentment came a boldness that I KNOW I have NEVER had in my life. It comes out of the assurance we get when we truly learn to take God at His word. When we believe, that what He says is true. When we acknowledge that "He is not a man that He should lie." 

I scare myself sometimes! LOL! It’s like one time when I was walking past a window and a strange reflection caught my attention out of the corner of my eye and startled me. I focused my attention on it as I prepared to decide whether to fight or take flight only to be embarrassed because what I had seen was a reflection of me. Thank God, nobody else was watching!  : )

The person I see when I look in the mirror is different from who she was even a few months ago. Of course, I’m getting older, but it’s much more than the years that have changed the appearance of the person I see.

I see someone who is bold to the point of being placed in harms way. But, I see a person for whom death holds nothing but a sweet promise of release from the constraints of this tired old body of mine. I can also understand something Paul said about his desire to go and be with our Lord that was in competition with his desire to stay and help his brethren. I struggle because I have both a knowledge of the pleasures that await me in heaven and a consuming desire to snatch as many from the fires of hell as I can.

So I keep following the path as it is revealed in front of me.

I’m taking a class in an attempt to make-up for a mistake I made almost 20 years ago. The “rules” have been interpreted to say that this is the only way I can clear my record. I’m praising God though. I’ll admit that I was angry for a while, but there is no way that I could have learned so much about this subject if I had not taken this course again.

It’s a class in Business Ethics that comes out of the Philosophy department. I can report that the Pharisees are alive and well in the university. Unfortunately, now they have even  tossed out anything that closely resembles the law of God. The word “vanity” has been rolling around in my spirit since I started reading the textbook for the class. Today, as I prepared to check in here to let you know I’m still around, I looked it up so I could share with you what I’ve been doing.

The first verse that I found is posted at the beginning of this message. It speaks of one of the many times that God’s people strayed from what He had commanded them to do. In relevance to more recent times, it speaks of how someone decided that God was dead and set themselves up as the authority on what is moral. It describes the prevailing attitude of the university so perfectly that it sends a chill down my spine.

But even worse, it describes God’s people today. The theories that are being espoused by these modern-day philosophers have permeated the Body of Christ like a cancer. The premises sound nice, but they are the premises of men, not the words of God. We have accepted these ideas as if they were our own. We, as a whole, are in deep. We can no longer tell the difference between what is the word of God and what is the “wisdom of men”. And we don't want to take the time to study the word of God to find out.

Most of what they teach is that no human being can be perfect enough to keep the law of God, so we should make up our own laws. Leave it up to individual "interpretation." We have believed this lie. And why shouldn’t we? Doesn’t it make life easier to bear when we know that we are imperfect, that we are just like everybody else? Why, they say, should I even try? 

Well, I think I’ll stand on a seldom claimed promise from Jesus. He assured us, in John 16:33 that “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

I don’t believe I have ever heard the tribulation that is promised to is in this verse spoken of as a promise. I have, however, had people who got indignant when I reminded them that Jesus said that when we do “have tribulation” we are to “be of good cheer”. Generally, what they do is seek out another counselor who will tickle their ears. I am not the one! : )

The verses that come before this “promise” are meant to bring us comfort. Why else would He say “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.”

I won’t go into those verses, you can read them if you have time and as you do I pray that you will find the peace that Jesus intended for you to receive as you do read them. In the meantime, I’ll be praying that there will be more who come to be like His Apostles who were accused and found guilty of turning “the world upside down”. It was not an easy life they lived after they were marked by the Holy Spirit for glory. Why should it be any easier for us?

Be blessed. The time is coming for a trying of your faith that will be more difficult than you would ever imagine. Take the time to find a place of Sabbath rest. Abide in Him and He WILL abide in you.

Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. Revelation 2:10

In His love,

Peggy

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