Reach out your hand and take it by the tail....

God's Word is so amazing...

God has showed me so much even when I didn't expect him to. There are times when I have been selfish, rebellious, and even just plain ignorant and then God just quietly encourages me to turn back to him again...despite my circumstances and when I do I am always pleasantly surprised at what he shows me...over and over and over again.

Whenever I start to think about God's patience with me, I am almost moved to tears because if I were God, I would have closed the book on me a long time ago...but God just opens it even wider to me, extending his word as a source of life for me, whispering "read it again, Carrie, read it again." Isn't He amazing?

My current favorite right now....

"Moses threw the staff on the ground and it became a snake and he ran from it. Then the Lord said to him 'Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." Ex 4:23

I love this latest one because I have been thinking about how many snakes God has asked me to take by the tail lately. It takes faith, courage, and trust in God to grab hold of that snake in your life. Sometimes we grab hold of the snake like God tells us to by the tail, and we overcome. We are blessed for our obedience. Sometimes we grab hold of the snake, but not by its tail...maybe we want to be obedient but don't really trust Him when He gives us direction and we do it our way instead of God's way...and we get bit. And sometimes we just run from the snake because we are just plain scared.

The good news is that God gives us plenty of opportunities to grab the snake...even after we ran away the first time. He gives us opportunities even after we have been bitten. He waits patiently for us to turn back to him, building our faith, courage, and trust in Him so that when he asks us to grab it again the next time...we do.