God in His greatness

I was reading my morning bible chapter today, and it was Habakkuk. Habakkuk chapter 3 really unveils who God really is. The second verse was exactly what my prayer has been to him lately. It really touched me so closely, because it was like Habakkuk took the words right out of my mouth! “² LORD, I have heard of your fame; 
   I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known;in wrath remember mercy.”  The rest of the verse goes on to say, “³ God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah^[b] His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. ⁴ His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden.⁵ Plague went before him; pestilence followed his steps. ⁶ He stood, and shook the earth; he looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled and the age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal.”….WOW! The picture is drawn so clearly in my head. I can just imagine, the earth in such distress, the people in such desperation, but then God comes down from Heaven and then I can hear the people breaking out into song praises and His glory flowing over the entire earth like waves. Then it goes on to talk about how He stood and shook the earth, and made the entire earth tremble and mountains crumble. How POWERFUL He is!          ” ⁷ I saw the tents of Cushan in distress, the dwellings of Midian in anguish. ⁸ Were you angry with the rivers, O LORD? Was your wrath against the streams? Did you rage against the sea when you rode with your horses and your victorious chariots? ⁹ You uncovered your bow, you called for many arrows. Selah You split the earth with rivers; ¹⁰ the mountains saw you and writhed. Torrents of water swept by; the deep roared and lifted its waves on high ¹¹ Sun and moon stood still in the heavens at the glint of your flying arrows, at the lightning of your flashing sea ¹² In wrath you strode through the earth and in anger you threshed the nations. ¹³ You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one. You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness, you stripped him from head to foot. Selah  ¹⁴ With his own spear you pierced his head when his warriors stormed out to scatter us, gloating as though about to devour the wretched who were in hiding.  ¹⁵ You trampled the sea with your horses, churning the great waters.”………He is fighting, He has fought for OUR victory. Not His own life, but MY life and YOUR life. We hold the victory, we are His children, and His desire is to protect us, bring us glory in His greatness and His power…..Habakkuk goes on to say, “¹⁶ I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. ¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior ¹⁹ The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.”…..Habakkuk plainly describes exactly God’s character in its glory, greatness, and victory. I love how Habakkuk ends the book, rejoicing and knowing that God enables us to go on the heights! This chapter is so powerful! It makes me just sit back and really humble myself to understand and grasp my God, my Father is. We are victorious! J

P.S.

I felt the need to do this today, if you are reading this, and you have a prayer request, please leave me a comment. There is an option to leave comments anonymously. And if it’s something personal, you can e-mail me at anjelicamg@gmail.com. God cares about every concern that we have, small or large!

Feelings

     This past weekend was just completely rocked by God.  I went to a Women’s Conference put on by our Women’s Council from our church. It was so great to be in a room filled with loving, genuine hearts chasing after God’s own heart.

Last night we had our youth services for our Jr. High and High School students. And to be completely honest with you, I really wasn’t “feeling” it last night. All day it seemed as though both my husband and I were having an off day. But it’s just one of those things where you have to keep pushing through. I had to know and understand that at that point, it’s not about ME and MY feelings. It’s about what God can and will do through me to reach these students and people around me. There is definitely a bigger picture than simply myself. It’s amazing that our God is so gracious, and even though I’m not “feeling” it one night; God can still use a person like me, to reach and accomplish His will in the lives of others. That just goes to confirm that our relationship with God is not based on feelings alone. It’s about who He is IN and THROUGH you, only if you allow it. Praise God that we are constantly covered by His joy and grace! :)

A New Journey

As you’ve probably figured out, I am a pastor’s wife. Youth pastor’s wife to be specific and I enjoy every minute of it! My husband and I, along with our youth students are at a place in our lives where we are so relentless for God. There is a shift taking place in our ministry, a new level that He is taking us, and my hopes are to encourage, inspire, and give hope to others as you read about the journey He is taking us on.

Every Wednesday night we have a Jr. High service and a High school service that we recently started. When my husband and I first came to Arizona, a year ago, we were only doing one service for sixth grade through twelfth grade. Now that we have separated the services, it is so great to really see each of the age groups shine and revolve into that position that God has designed specifically for them. It’s so great to see the timidity that once was with the Jr. High students, simply go away and turn into boldness. And the maturity that our high school students have stepped into is incredible. From the very beginning of service, they are there to do business with God. They come expecting and wanting.

Last night our Jr. High service was a little rowdier than usual, but rowdy for Jesus nonetheless. ) They cling on to every lesson taught and surprisingly, they remember EVERYTHING from the last lesson. Our children’s pastors did a great job giving these new Jr. High students a solid foundation in Christ. 

When we began our high school, the attendance was ironic when you take into consideration what the message was about. My husband taught about “Perspective” and at the beginning of service, not including student leaders we had a whole six students! Turns out there was a high school football game between two of the rival schools in town. By the end of service though, we had a good 20 students. It was such a different dynamic with a small number of students in the beginning, and by that, I mean a good one. As I sat back and watched as my husband gave the sermon, these students wanted to dive in deeper and know more about Jesus and His ways. They felt intimate enough to raise their hands and ask questions about the power of Jesus, or give their opinion about why they thought Jesus did the things He did. This is something I’ve not really seen with our high school students before. While this was happening God spoke to me and said, “This is what these students here today, need”. It made me realize and know, that the students that were there for that night, were the exact students that needed to be there.

God is doing miraculous and remarkable things in these students. He is just showing Himself in so many new and exciting ways to us and each and every time, it leaves us wanting more and more.