Faithfulness

Okay, so it's been almost 5 months since I've last updated this blog.  Again, sue me.  Really things had been so boring up until October 28.  I work at school, we had the best football season in school history, life was routine.  Wake up, go to school, go to football, come home, sleep, repeat.  I really didn't feel like boring y'all with the boring details.  There were some awesome moments though, like coming back from being down 31-0 to beat Dutchtown 40-37, and beating Eagles Landing on a last second fumble recovery in the end zone.  Stuff like that.

This week I was reading in Hebrews 11 about the heroes of our Judeo-Christian faith.  I read about how God told them to do something, they did it, and He credited it to them as righteousness.  Now, the Bible also says elsewhere that there is no one who is righteous.  No, not one.  So, I have struggled with righteousness in the past, but I heard somewhere that the "Breastplate of Righteousness" is not our own righteousness, but rather God's righteousness that He armors us with.  Nothing is getting through that armor.  So, when we are obedient to God, we show that we love Him.  God's love language is obedience.  I have learned that no matter how much time I spend reading the Bible or praying to Him, singing praises or telling Him I love Him, my relationship means nothing if I don't obey Him.  So, in the past few years He has been showing me how to obey Him.  This year had been a very rough year for me up until October 28.  This week God showed me all the ways I had been faithful to Him this past year.  Now, by saying I was faithful I am not saying that I was joyful about it.  I just did what I was told and soldiered on.


If you go back through my blog entries, you will be caught up to July 24.  I was faithful to go to Arkansas, Willow Falls, and Locust Grove.  By the grace of God, I came into Locust Grove with a great attitude, which I still have :)  Sure, I wish I made more money, but God has totally provided.  Living at home has not been that bad.  The only expense I really have is gas, which has taken up half of my total income thus far.  Still, I have everything I need.  All glory to God in that :)  I was faithful, and He has blessed me.

Now, the biggest thing that has happened this year has come in the way of relationships.  I had been praying long and hard for my future wife.  My prayer this year became "God, I know I can't get married right now, but please let me at least meet her and start building a relationship."  If you go back to my post about my standards, you'll see the 5 standards that God has laid on my heart while I was in Arkansas:

1. Christian
2. Single
3. Virgin
4. Non-Divorced
5. Close in proximity

I had given up hope that a "5-pt girl" existed.  It got to the point where I was just ready to give up altogether one day.  That day was October 28, when I met the woman who is now my girlfriend.  On October 29 I drove to see her.  On November 1 I drove to see her again.  I had found the rare 5-pt girl!  On November 2, God gave me the green light to pursue her.  Then she left on November 3 for 2 weeks in Ireland.  Talk about bad timing :/  Still, God knew what He was doing, and when she came back from Ireland we began building a friendship.  On November 19 she became my girlfriend.  Since then, we have just spent what time we have together growing and getting to know each other.  She truly is amazing, and all glory goes to God for introducing me to His daughter.  I had always heard it said that a relationship should be like a triangle where God is at the top, and the two of you are the bottom points.  As you move closer to God, you move closer to each other.  That is so true!  My relationship with God has exploded, and He has allowed my relationship with my girlfriend to explode too.  He separates us for days at a time, but that's so that we can refocus on Him and grow.  But when He lets us be together, we grow together.  I could write a lot more on this subject, but all that to say:  I was faithful to God with those 5 standards, and even though I was about to give up, and my belief was shot to pieces, He was still faithful to me.  This relationship is completely in His hands, and I pray He continues to bless us and teach us how to be the man and woman He created us to be.  Separately or together.  Soli Deo Gloria.

In closing, the sobering thing to remember is that a lot of the famous faithful did not live to see the very rewards they were promised.  God's timetable is not limited by a human lifetime, sadly.  God exists for His own glory, not ours.  We just get to benefit from His glory from time to time.  If ending my relationship brings Him the most glory, then it will end.  If my relationship will bring Him the most glory, then it will grow.  This is not about me and her, it is about Him.  When you attempt to read the Bible, read it asking yourself "What does this passage tell me about the nature of God?"  Don't read it as "How can this passage help me have a happy life?".  If you're in a hard place concerning faith right now, let me encourage you that it gets better.  Maybe you need to take your eyes off of yourself and see what God is up to in the world around you.  Remember the Christian life is about glorifying God, not having Him glorify you.  I love you all.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Amen.

For the Kingdom,
Stuart L. Kingsley