I Am Second

I am second...and liking it.

It's so easy to have God as #1 on a Sunday, but Monday comes and guess who takes over that position?  I jump in and say my life is numero uno.

We all have things going on in our life.  Family, health, and job issues plague us every single day.  If we let those take over our thought process, God gets pushed out of the way.

God loves each and every one of us with a fierce love.  He wants the best for us, and He is able to do anything for us.  His only request is for us to put Him as the first thing in our lives.

Psalm 136:26 Give thanks to the God of Heaven.  His love endures forever.

Do you know how hard that is?

I don't know about you, but I have control issues.  I want to keep my hands in everything.  My head knows the phrase "let go and let God", but my heart doesn't always follow.  My kids, my husband, my finances, my job...all these things I try to control by my actions.  One way I have been convicted of this in the past few months has been with this blog.  A year and a half ago my husband left a great paying job to become a full time pastor at our church.  Scary?  Yes.  Exciting?  Yes.  Fearful?  Yes.  Challenged?  Yes.  In my heart I knew I could turn my hobby blog into something more substantial to help out with our finances.  So over the past 1 and a ½ years I have put my heart and soul into this "job".  And I absolutely love it!!!!

There have been so many awesome opportunities, and God has blessed our family in so many ways.

Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

The problem...

I have slowly pushed God into that second place.  Somedays He was even in fifth place.

Oh, it didn't start out that way.  I mean to take a step of faith like leaving a good paying job to go into ministry requires a lot of faith and trust in our God.  A faith in our loving God that He will provide.

I didn't ever doubt that!  But...slowly in a year's time I started to rely on myself to earn and get those job opportunities.  And those jobs did keep coming.  But I wasn't happy.

One thing I realized is that I needed to take a step back in blog areas.

One of my biggest traffic days as a blogger is Sunday.  I have always tried to capitalize on that by posting a new recipe Sunday mornings.  My goal was to have this post written by Saturday night, but that goal slowly evaporated.  I am perpetually late to everything, so come Sunday morning I was still trying to finish writing a blog post and trying to get ready for church.

Talk about a conflict of interest!!!!

My heart attitude was wrong, and the focus had become all about me and what I could do.  I wasn't focused on worship or listening to the Word those days.  All my mind was consumed with was making sure things were shared, so I could see a good page view day.

It was a very good day when I realized I needed to put God back on that throne of #1.  I knew God was speaking to my heart about NOT posting on Sundays.  So, I changed up my posting schedule. For the past few months Saturday has been my new recipe day.  No, it isn't as good as posting on a Sunday, but I know that I obeyed the tug in my heart to change things.   I believe that God will honor that.  It might not be how I would choose, but you know what, I'm ok with that.

If you get my email newsletter, it does come out a day late, so hopefully everyone looks at the date and realizes it isn't a Sunday post.  I know it isn't something that anyone probably even noticed, but for some reason I felt that familiar tug to share my thought process with you.

Giving God back control has been a game changer for me.  I feel happier!  I know God is able to fulfill my heart desires to provide for my family.  So traffic, shmaffic!!!  I can honestly say I don't care if it tanks over a Sunday because there is no new recipe.  I Am Second!!!!  And putting God as #1 in my heart and life is how I want to live.

Matthew 22:37 And He said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind."

Allowing God to work in our lives can be scary.  But He is able, and He won't fail.  Sometimes it isn't how we would do it or how we think it should look, but when we let go, God can do amazing things with us.  Serving God with your whole heart, mind, and soul will bring peace and joy.  Just remember to lean on Him during those times of weakness and ask for His guidance and forgiveness when we mess up.

 Matthew 6:33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Philippians 2:13 For it is God who is producing in you both the desire and the ability to do what pleases Him.