I've been doing a lot lately. Work, packing, fundraising. What to sell, bring with me, or try to store. Getting educated: reading, reading, and more reading! Notifications: sharing this adventure with close friends and family. Planning: who I can feasibly visit before I cross the pond. And in all of that, it's really easy to forget what's most important: spending time with the One who started all of this.

I'm working through a study and the first part is reading 1 Samuel 15-19 for a week. The idea is to read all of it everyday, but WHEW! Did you see that list up there? It's not exactly going so well, but I'm trying to do a little everyday. The intended focus is the David-and-Goliath story (Chapter 17): when you rely on God, He'll get you through it. But I didn't get that far before God highlighted something.

Through the story in chapter 15, God showed me just how easy it is for me to be distracted by my own intentions, to forget His purpose and create my own. It is a great warning to me, not to get so caught up in the doing that I forget to be listening to Him.

We all know the old saying about good intentions, and they're just not enough. God has the BEST in mind for me. His best is way, WAY better than mine--shoot! His second best is way better than my very best!--and I will be hurting both myself and His name by trying to do anything my way instead.

Whoa. Talk about conviction.

Check out 1 Samuel 15 - I particularly like it in The Message version.

Thanks for reading,
Heather