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Thoughts for a Woman's Heart |
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encouragement in things that matter |
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S-U-C-C-E-S-S
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I guess today it would sound like a rap tune, but in college, it was a cheer we screamed out for our team. "S-U-C-C-E-S-S, that’s the way you spell SUCCESS!" Success multiplies what you started with, or at least, that is our basic definition. That basic definition accounts for why "the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer," or so it seems. But, where does that initial potential come from?
Since God is the sovereign creator and sustainer, and the giver of all gifts, He alone is the source of any and all potential I might have. The potential that is uniquely mine encompasses a broad range of "possibilities" – talents and abilities, position, people connections, health and energy, education, temperament and emotional makeup, finances, and even the doors that God opens and shuts. The potential I have, therefore, since I am not responsible for having brought it into existence, is really not mine, but God’s, and His desire is that I use my potential for Him. Thus, the concept of "stewardship," being responsible for the careful use of another’s resources, plays into the greater concept of "success." True success is not measured by the world, but by God, and He measures it in terms of "what have I done with what He has given?"
All of us, therefore, as believers, can be successful. I begin by recognizing and giving acknowledgment to where my potential has come from. I also need to recognize the different components of my potential, so I can utilize them according to the leading and enabling of the One who has given them. I will obviously have choices to make in the process, and those choices will reveal my priorities and values, and they will keep me aware that I cannot have or do, everything. The more I utilize my potential, the more I need to maintain my dependence on God. It seems foolish to attempt to do something for God, using the resources He has given, and think that I can do it all by myself.
In our Bible study group, the ladies chatted in small groups and affirmed the successes of each one within the group. I watched the interaction, and I found satisfaction in seeing their responses – the smiles of "Wow! I really am doing something for God!" and the encouragement it gave to pursue, not the lofty, but the ordinary, in an extra-ordinary way – for God!
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— Bev |
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