Women Builders: Laying the Foundation

Every wise woman builds her house: but the foolish

plucks it down with her hands. ~Proverbs 14:1

In my last post I mentioned how I was inspired to do a series because of a devotion I was asked to bring to a group of ladies. The above verse is the verse that was chosen as the theme of the banquet I was to speak at and I have spent the last year studying and meditating on this verse and all that it encompasses. What I learned is that every woman is a builder; and she is either building up or she is tearing down. Later in the series I want to talk about how we do just that and which tools we use to accomplish the task; first I think it is important for us to understand that before we can begin wisely building up we need a good foundation to build upon.

A few years ago my husband designed a garage addition and we had our contractor and his workers here for several months as they took his vision and made it a reality. The first thing they did though was lay down a foundation. If you've never had the opportunity to see a foundation go down, it's a really neat process to watch. There are many variables and things to take into consideration. The type of foundation you will lay depends on the kind of structure you are putting on it. Even the depth of the foundation will vary depending on soil conditions. It is (in my opinion) a very complicated and delicate process that requires knowledge and experience. The foundation is everything when building a structure. The mistakes you make in the foundation will only get worse as you go up. 

The same can be said when we are talking about building spiritually. The mistakes we make as we choose the foundation we will lay for our lives will have consequences. If we are attempting to build on anything other than a firm foundation we are foolish and can expect what we are building to crumble in the face of life's storms. A wise woman knows and believes that the only way to build wisely is to make Jesus Christ her foundation. We are told in I Corinthians 3:11:

For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, 

which is Jesus Christ. 

We have a children's song we sing and it is a particular favorite in this house. It's about a wise man and a foolish man. The wise man builds his house on the rock and when the rain comes down, and the floods go up, the house on the rock stands firm. The foolish man, however, builds his house on the sand and when the rain comes down and the floods go up, the house on the sand goes "splat!". The song concludes with the moral of the story which is to build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ and as your prayers go up, the blessings will come down; so build your life on the Lord. If this message is something that is new to you then I encourage you to get into your Bible and read in Matthew 7 and see for yourself how this is Biblical truth, that if we want to be building wisely, we need to believe and understand!

Just as the solid foundation of a building guarantees a durable future for the structure, so does a solid foundation built upon Christ guarantee a durable future for our lives. What your foundation consists of is essential to the success of the building process. Take some time this week to read about what the Bible says about what our foundation should be and evaluate your life against what you learn. If you have changes to make then make them because it is never too late to begin laying a new, stronger foundation that will be able to withstand what comes your way!

***Next week we will talk about the blueprint for building and where it can be found!***

A Time to Slow Down

Being still is something that I need reminding of often! I am not one to sit around and do nothing, I don't relax well and I definitely like to keep myself busy. While this can be positive in so many ways in one very big way it negatively impacts my life and that is when it comes to knowing God. I very often have to be reminded to slow down and spend time quietly with the Lord. Why is it that I know it is only through Him that I can accomplish anything and only because of Him I have the strength to get through each day and yet I have to constantly be reminded to "be still and know God"? 

These past few months have been a whirlwind of crazy for me. Each thing I had on my plate were things I believed the Lord was in favor of me doing and were given to me by Him as opportunities to be used of Him, but they were also things that required a great deal of time, study and perseverance. I was recently able to finish up my last class, earning me my diploma in Biblical Counseling. Now I can take a breath for a little bit until I begin taking classes for the Masters Diploma and focus on marriage and family counseling in the fall. While I am really looking forward to beginning this program, I am also thankful for the break from 4:30 mornings of listening to lectures and writing paper after paper! 

I was also asked last year to speak at a ladies banquet but just before it was to begin it was cancelled because of a family emergency. They asked me to keep what I had prepared and save it for this year and I just recently came back from speaking at this banquet. In the year that I had to study the theme verse and seek the Lord as to what direction He wanted me to take with it I learned so much more about who God is, who He wants me to be and what changes needed to be made in my heart so that I could be better used of Him for His glory. I am so thankful that I was given an extra year to prepare because the devotional took many shapes and forms over the course of that year as the Lord spoke to my heart. It finally became clear to me what He wanted me to say, just weeks before I was scheduled to present it. There were a lot of sleepless nights as I wrestled with whether or not I was handling His word appropriately and if I was having the right heart attitude as I wrote it...and of course pridefully worrying if I would meet their expectations!

The Lord gave me insight into a verse that I had never really seen and I believe it will help me tremendously as I attempt to counsel women. Last year I didn't see the connection between the verse and what I felt the Lord leading me to do with my life but today I am confident He used it to give me a vision that will be valuable as I try to help people. I also want to share what the Lord has shown me and reminded me of here with you and I plan to do just that. There was no way I could have shared at this banquet all that the Lord showed me because the time just wasn't there. On the blog though I can really dive into the different things the Lord showed me and hopefully be a blessing and encouragement to those reading. My plan is to create a series titled, "Women Builders"...or something like that....and it will consist of different blog posts over several weeks.

I'm excited to finally begin working on this series and I pray that it will be as much a blessing to the reader as it was to me as I studied it. For this week though, I plan to "be still and know God" because I have neglected this too much over the last few weeks. I trust that you too will be able to find a quiet space this week and allow the Lord to speak to your heart and show you all the great things He wants to do in and through you...if you will let Him!