A TRUE Father

Wow. It has been way too long since I have taken the time to sit down and capture all that God has been doing in my life and put it into words. In no way will my senseless words do any justice for what God has been doing within my life and my heart. Apparently my world is one crazy whirlwind. Every single time I actually do sit down to write about it I babble on and on about how crazy my past weeks have been. It’s starting to become a trend and I guess I’m just going to have to accept it for what it is! In a nutshell, God has been teaching me about His love and provision in my life. He has reinforced over and over again that He is God and that He is in control. (Thank goodness He is. My life would be a WRECK if He allowed me to live it the way I think it needs to be done.) I have actually been struggling with something recently and it baffles me that I was actually having this battle in my mind. It wasn’t until I began to pour out my heart and ‘recent life story’ to my best friend that I began to understand that the very answer to my struggle was in my heart and mind the entire time. God has a plan for our lives. Isn’t that awesome? But you know what is even more mind-boggling? His plans for us are good! They are good. He doesn’t wish us to struggle. He has no intentions to harm us or to leave us. In every struggle He is there with us, fighting for us, believing in us and encouraging us to the finish line. This truth was made so real to me this past week in chapel at TMC. I love chapel by the way. It’s just about the only good thing that happens on Thursday’s…. the rest of my day is filled with the history of Ancient Greece and biology. Anyway, Dr. Brad Reynolds spoke and talked about running the race of life. He talked about God being our father, up in the stands, cheering us on to the finish line. He is up in the stands grabbing others who are around Him and saying, “That’s my girl!” “That’s my boy!” This is such an easy concept. Duh, God is our heavenly father. I knew that but it wasn’t until this chapel service that I actually understood it. I hate running. If someone told me I had a choice to either run 16 miles or die I would probably choose the death route…no joke. And I suppose that in this position as father, I had pictured God running beside me playing the role of coach. “Run harder, make your strides longer, pace yourself Em, keep going, almost there, DON’T stop.” To a point this is who He is. But even deeper, He isn’t that coach that is yelling at us out of love and commitment to finish the race, but He is our LOVING father whose heart is hurting as He watches us run in pain. He sweats with our sweat and He feels the pain that we feel. That’s our father; the same father that has GOOD and perfect plans for our lives. This doesn’t even skim the surface of what God has been doing in my life. But i have been absolutely dying to get someting out into words. So there you go.Be encuraged that He is YOUR loving Father who is FOR you.

A Different Direction

God has been doing a lot in my life these past few days. I think I say that just about every time I sit down and write – but hey, I’m certainly not complaining! Obedience has seemed to be ‘the’ beat to my drum lately. God has called each of us to be obedient at all times but lately He has really required me to die to my self and my fleshly wants all for the sake of obedience. It is never an easy task, obedience. In all reality it is probably one of the hardest tests to pass because our flesh desires to please self. It knows nothing but selfishness. I know the Lord is preparing me for something because this is the second ‘call to obedience’ He has beckoned me to that has had a major impact on my life. When I came to Truett I had purposed within my heart to play basketball. I have been raised an athlete. I love it. I played sports all throughout high school; it seemed as if I was at school and practices more than I ever was at home. So of course, given the opportunity to play sports in college was what I had convinced myself was next on my bucket list. As I began to allow myself to sink into the fact that I was now on my own, away from my family, at school, God began to press on my heart that basketball wasn’t on His list for me. I wrestled with this decision because, as some of you may know, I am a very ‘planned’ person. I like to know what’s going on. It’s a major struggle of mine because God doesn’t let you know what’s going on. He requires your faith. Anyway, I don’t mean to ramble. I began to pray and seek the Lords will for me in this aspect of my life. I was concerned with my choices because in my decision I was making a commitment; a commitment to be committed to one thing or to another. Athletics is something that I love and to ‘go a different route’ was something that I had never seriously considered. Lying before me was an option to get involved and to grow in Christ and ministry through a means that I have not had. I sought council from people I trusted and of course poured my heart out to Christ. The votes were tallied, the results are in – Emily Grooms is taking a different road. I so desire for Christ to be glorified in my life and I desire to serve Him with all of who I am, every single part of me. God has made Himself clear as clear can be that I am exactly where He wants me to be right now. I’m so excited to see where He will lead me because I know that He indeed has a plan for me while I am here. A plan to grow me and conform me more into the likeness of His Son.