Tuesday, March 27, 2007

283 -

Dear Lord, Can I ever thank you and praise you enough? - no, I never could do what You are even close to receiving. Lord, I love you with all my heart and yet i know all my heart is still not enough or what you deserve. I love with all my actions - now that would not be the truth either. Oh Lord, take your servant and make me more like you. Allow the words of my mouth to be truth and honorable to you. I want my actions to line up with the way my heart really WANTS to be and not the way it really is. After all we, I, do live the way our heart is believing. I may say I love you, but my actions will be the tell all sign of my hearts condition - whether I really do believe.

This morning I looked at 2 Samuel 7:17 - this was a simple scripture implying that David was accountable to Nathan and Nathan to David. Accountability is one of those things that I long for. I have various people in my life that do keep me accountable to various things. I am thankful for that. The best accountability partner i ever had was Melissa G. She would call me on something in a minute. It may hurt my feelings, but I knew she loved me and wanted the best for me. Rarely I might see something in her life as well and the true test of accountability was in the receiving. She always received it well and usually said, "You are right!". A few times she would explain to me what she really meant or what her motive was or whatever the case may be - how i misunderstood something - and it was never defensive or proud. She was an excellent example to me in how to receive correction and how to gently give accountability.

Courtney and Alisha, the girls i run with everyday - Oh yeah, i did not lose any weight again, ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - offer wonderful accountability as well. You know when you run for 35-45 minutes, you have a lot of time to discuss things. So they are very honest with me and hopefully i am with them too. Accountability can be tough, but I think it is a must in every one's life. My friend Dawn has a way of offering great accountability and she never has to say a word. Her actions remind you to parent gently, speak kindly, and consider others first. When you think about it in that way, almost everyone I know on any level offers accountability, but the kicker is whether you receive it and in what manner.

We are going to see in a just a few days how our man David receives accountability from Nathan. Nathan gets the privilege of calling David out on his Bathsheba escapade. Can you imagine having to tell the king, the one that cut your head off, that you know he has done major wrong and needs to get it right? Wow oh wow - being a totally non-confrontational kind of gal, that makes me sweat just sitting here. Lord, we are not perfect, not even close, and accountability is something that You can use another to speak to us, to keep us in line, and to deliver Your messages. May I be big enough to take correction, to accept responsibility for my actions, and release all pride when i have "been found out". Lord, may i have the guts to speak out in a loving manner to those in my life that grant me a right to speak to their hearts.

Lord, guide Clay and I. As the kids are getting older and more involved it is harder and harder to find time for just us. Even last night as we sat down to just veg out and watch some news, Elleigh came running out there because she just couldn't sleep. So after tending to her for a few minutes i was ready to retire myself.

Lord, please tell me what to do in these areas....

1) Bible study this summer, Believing God - where, when, how, etc......

2) Saturday Night Sunday School with young marrieds - give us a specific date to start.

3) Would evening aerobics ever fly here?

Direction, accountability, guidance, mentoring - I need it all - I need You!!

2 comments:

www.tracyhurst.com said...

Leigh,
I love your heart! Did you know that b/c we are ENFJ's that we are most like David in the Bible? Our personalities line up most with his...cool huh? I see you as a woman after God's heart. Looks like you have a lot of good stuff going on for someone who just moved to a new city! God is amazing! Love to you my sweet friend! Tracy

Anonymous said...

Leigh,

I learn something everytime I come and read your writing! It is so wonderful and powerful. Thanks for sharing! I'm glad we "found" each other through the blogosphere. (My brother-in-law hates it when I use that corny lingo!!!)

Blessings,
Dori