I used to declare my days as busy. Now I say, they are full. “Busy” sounds like I’m running from one thing to another (which I seem to be at times), but saying my days are full makes it come across as more positive than negative. A full day sounds like I have many opportunities, while a busy day sounds like I’m reacting to every person and situation around me.
However, it’s all those opportunities that can get me in trouble because (and here’s the rub) I like to stay busy.
Stay with me . . . I like to stay busy helping people, working on projects that at the end of the day make me feel productive, and using the gifts God has given me to serve Him.
Joshua had to have been a busy person when he became leader after Moses. I like how the New Living Translation reads, “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do” (Joshua 1:7 NLT).
I’ve had to learn to be more like Joshua by being obedient and intentional about following God’s Word and listening to the Holy Spirit as He guides me. I can fill my days with so many things I think are important that it can be easy to start turning to the right and the left. What I’m turning towards may not be wrong; it just may not be the direction the Lord wants me to be going—no matter whether I think it’s right or more important at the time. Yes, God knows best, and He knows the direction I need to move in because He may have something entirely different for me to do.
There was a time in my ministry that I had to be more like Joshua and be obedient to God’s Word and His leading. And believe me, it took strength and courage. Have you had to have strength and courage to obey what God was leading you to do? I think we all have.
Come along with me as I share my Joshua moment where I had to be strong, courageous, and most of all, obedient even when I didn’t understand.
Watch Beth’s story here.
Beth is an author, speaker, teacher, photographer, and pastor’s wife from SC. She writes for a variety of magazines and devotional sites and has had several stories included in the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. She speaks at women’s events, conferences, and retreats and also teaches at Writers’ Conference. She recently released her debut devotional “The Potting Bench—60 Daily Garden Devotions with the Master Gardener,” which features all of her own photography and where she uses her horticulture degree and love of gardening to weave garden principles with Biblical truths. Visit her at www.bethfortune.com.
Silently Bleeding 