Risking it

At the risk of causing chaos, I've decided to open up my posts about fear again. I, along with some women at church, am studying, "No Other Gods" by Kelly Minter, which is a great study so far. An interesting point is made on the last day of the second week about how fear drives us to our "gods." She says, "Fear itself is not the god; the object of our fear is the god."

I think this is why I am so brutally honest with you about my god, "relationships/friendships." If my fear is being alone or not being accepted by others, then this drives me to others to fulfill what only God can do. I know that God occasionally withholds good gifts of relationships from me because I am tempted to use them wrongly. I am tempted not to glorify Him but to depend upon friends instead of Him. In this same token, I feel free to tell you this because I sense that I am letting go of these gods and beginning to use them in the way that is acceptable to God and He is blessing me in this area again in a way that seems to be both beneficial to me and to my friends. Friends reading this, you know who you are, and you can tell me if this is not the case. I've also had to cast off friendships that caused nothing but heartache, which is painful, because the lack of growth in these friendships may have been caused mainly by me, but very much worthy to do as those relationships caused me to stumble and sin.

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.
The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the desert
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise."
Isaiah 43:18-21

Thank you, God, for being My God - the one who sticks closer than a brother!