It has been almost three months since the last time I posted. Things have been really busy as this is my last semester of school! I have four classes this summer, and then I graduate! I am truly excited, and thankful to the Lord for his help!

With graduation coming, Cindy and I have been looking for a church that God would lead us to. There are many churches that needing help, and there are always our own desires, so how do we know where God is leading us? Finding God’s will sometimes seems like an allusive ghost, we are often taught that God’s will is hard to find. Well, I do not think it is as hard as we make it sound sometimes, it is just as hard as we make it, that is all. I believe there are four easy steps to finding God’s will.

1). Pray. Prayer is our way of communicating with God. Have you ever know somebody wanted something, but you waited until they asked for it before you gave it to them, just because you wanted them to ask first? We as humans my do this for many different reasons, but God only does it for one, he wants us to demonstrate that we need him.

2). Read the Bible. This is one of God’s ways of communicating with us. If you do not listen to someone, how do you know what they want you to do? The same applies to God, if you are not reading his Word to you, how can you know what he wants you to do!

3). Follow where he leads. Psalm 37:23 “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.” We often want to see the big picture, we want the “10 year plan”. This is not the way that God leads, God leads step-by-step. Just like the Israelites in the wilderness, had to follow the pillar, so we must daily follow God. This point and the next tie together.

4). Take the Open Door. I have found the easiest way to follow God’s will in my life is to take the open door. Now there is a few things you must be doing in order to know that an open door is the will of God, and not a trap by Satan: You must be doing the first three steps, and you must evaluate the open door to see if it is in line with scripture, or contradictory to it! If you feel that God is leading you in a direction, then begin to head that direction, with prayer and seeking his will. If the door stays open, then go through, if the door closes, then God must have a different door that he wants you to go through. The key is to just go/live one step at a time!

I hope this is an encouragement to you, it is to me I know. When I begin to get stressed about what I need to do next, this is what I focus on, God leading me step-by-step, and I know if I approach life this way I cannot go wrong!

~ Nate

In class the other day we were going over the children of Israel crossing Jordan into the Promised Land. One of the items discussed was the cessation of the manna that God had been providing. Josh 5:12 “And the manna ceased on the morning after they had eaten the old corn on the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more;  but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.” This caused me to think about the greatness of God.

When the children of Israel had needed food God provided it for them. Shortly thereafter they had the opportunity to enter the Promised Land. You remember the story, they sent in 12 spies and 10 were bad and 2 were good. Because of the Israelite listening to the 10 bad spies and their distrust in God, they were punished by having to spend 40 years wandering in the wilderness. This is where I saw the goodness of God, they were being punished for sin, and yet God was still providing for their daily needs. This applies far beyond the manna; the Bible also states that the clothes and shoes didn’t wear out. Deut 29:5 “And I have lad you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot.”

There are times in your life and my life that we have had to be punished, and there will probably be times when we have to be punished for sins that we commit. Yet, we can rest assured that even though God must chasten us for our sins, He does not stop loving us, and He does not stop caring for us! He is our heavenly Father who is always doing what is best to train us up toward spiritual maturity!

Well, it seems as if we are just about all the way back up and running! After being down for a few days, and going through a great amount of learning, I think the site will be much better. I went from a site that was setup for me, to setting up my own. There were kinks here and there that required lots of learning and hair pulling. I must give many thanks to http://www.theadclass.com/education/blogging-101, this site is a great walk through for starting a blog, and I would have been completely lost without them, even if you have got your own blog running there is some information on there (especially videos) that can help you improve. Also the 1and1 customer support has been amazing. From the beginning when I was using a pre-made site, through the whole process of me setting up this one they have answered many questions of mine (around 20 questions).

God has taught me patience and to love to learn and I thank him for the experience! I hope to start getting some regular posts up now.

~ Nate