MEMORY OF GOD'S ABILITY & PROTECTION IN THE PAST IS FUEL FOR OUR TRUST & FAITH IN HIM IN THE PRESENT

**SO much interesting and revealing stuff going on with me health-wise lately, but I'll reveal that to you when I have more time...probably Friday. For now, I want to share what's on my heart.

So last night, after a long day of school and errands and important phone calls and making of appointments, my mom and I sat down at about 8 pm to look at my family's budget for the wedding and how much everything we will need for my wedding will cost. Considering how tired I was and what time of night we decided to do that, probably not a good idea in the first place. Anyways, I came away from that meeting with SUCH a (sinfully) heavy heart, because we had seen that the location Brent and I have been sold on (in our hearts and minds) for a while now is probably out of our price league. Unless God blesses us dramatically, we are probably going to have to get married at a location that wasn't even in our top three or five first choices.

Thankfully, as I got ready for bed and my family noticed my state of heart (and my fiance noticed my state of heart as I discussed the situation with him over the phone), I was given little encouragements here and there to set my heart straight. I remember my dad saying, "Where's your trust in God? Where's my prayer warrior that I've prayed with for these past six years for the funding for our summer missions trips that always come to pass?"

I knew my heart was wrong about the situation and I was praying for it to change, until God reminded me of a sermon Rick Holland recently preached in "big church" at Grace Community. He preached on the story of David and Goliath, and throughout the sermon revealed to us how the writer was trying to show off the glory of God, not the amazingness of David himself. Anyhow, I took my encouragement from this passage that Rick exposited to us, 1 Samuel 17:28-37. I won't repeat it ALL for you here right now (but I do highly recommend getting the cd if you didn't hear it), but basically little tiny (compared to Goliath) guy (David) was trying to convince the king of Israel that HE could defeat the 9ft, 9 inches, tall Philistine Goliath. Why was David so convinced that HE could defeat the Philistine? He says to the king, "Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them," -- here Rick interjected this thought: David knows he has no chance with Saul the King even with the two stories he gave him. So David reminded Saul of Who was with him to protect him in those situations, so David goes on, "'for he (Goliath) has defied the armies of the living God.' And David said, 'The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.' And Saul said to David, 'Go, and the LORD be with you!'" Rick's main point after this part of the passage was this: MEMORY OF GOD'S ABILITY & FAITHFULNESS IN THE PAST IS FUEL FOR OUR TRUST & FAITH IN HIM IN THE PRESENT.

When I remembered that sermon and the truth of that passage, I felt so much better. Of course God has been faithful to meet ALL of my needs in the past, and He's even blessed my undeserving self with granting me my dreams (like the wedding dress) for a price I could afford, so why am I not trusting Him for the rest of my wedding? Not that I'm putting all faith in Him that His will is for me to get married at the place of my dreams, but according to Psalm 37:4, He will give me the desires of my heart if I align myself with His will. I went to bed slightly more encouraged and prayed to God that I was submitting my wedding to Him, and asked that I would grow to love and desire the location HE has in mind for us.

I woke up this morning actually liking the idea of one of the last cheap locations suggested to me last night, so praise the Lord for my change of heart. I'm excited to look into this little location today or tomorrow. :)

And in the end, what in the world am I worried about? It's just a wedding. It's the marriage and ALL that comes with it that I'm lookin' forward too. :)