An Act of Worship

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

Psalm 46:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted  

among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”

First let me say I've had a great productive day, this paragraph is a last minute update Monday night. The rest was written on Monday morning. Be sure to visit the August Giveaway tab at the top of the blog page. When you help spread the word about this blog or leave comments you get your name in our drawing to win one of my beautiful mosaic snowflakes. Click August giveaway tab for specific details. One easy way to get your name in the drawing is to go and "like" our new ADevotionalMosaic facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/#!/ADevotionalMosaic

Two nights ago I was almost asleep when my husband says "Margot! God is lifting something off of you." I was kind of startled awake and did not know what to make of it. I do know that God speaks to my husband profoundly through dreams and visions. I lay there thinking what it might mean and then had a vision of my own of a consuming fire going sweeping through a series or corridors. Everything in its path that did not belong was swept away in an instant. I didn't really know what to make of that either but I knew that God was up to something. I fell asleep and have continued to ponder what they might mean over the last few days.

Today, Monday I got a call from my boss. I've worked for this company for every bit of 6 years. A few months ago I got a call from him offering me a supervisors job. I asked if I could pray about it and talk it over with with my family. I came to the conclusion that while I was honored that they would considered me that it was not a right fitting job for me. I declined the job. He told me at that time that my present job would come to an end in the not distant future when they did hire someone.  So his call today was not a really surprise. My job officially ends on August 15th. I have wanted to be done with this job for quite a while but did not feel that I was to end it. I was to wait til it ended so to not get ahead of Gods plan.  It was a great conversation and they will keep me in mind for short term projects in the future. So all in all in recent months I have been through quite a season of God shifting and moving and changing things in my life. Not a big surprise that there would be another big change to embrace.

I got off the phone and started to think about all the things I should do to make up for that soon to come loss of regular income. Thankfully I only work part time at this point and have cut back my hours as I have picked up students and paid art projects. There is still a financial gap. Then I stopped and went outside to pray and sit with the Lord. His feet is the first place I should go. From that place of abiding I can be confident that He will lead me to do what he wants me to do.  I spent a little time journaling in that place. I won't say that I am with out fear, but I do feel God saying to me to "Fear Not" He will be with me. Courage is not the absence of fear it is choosing to trust and do what is right before the Lord.

Then I came to the living room - still in a prayerful attitude and was led to pick up the book Blessing your Spirit by Sylvia Gunter and Arthur Burk. I opened to Day 11 Being Rescued. The whole thing spoke to me profoundly but I particularly was moved by this passage. "I bless you with enough problems in life and Gods rescuing you from those problems that you no longer fear problems because they become an opportunity for God to show Himself strong."  Then another passage said, " I bless you with experiencing your Father's intervention so often and on such a profound level that you are emotionally secure. I bless you with seeing Him do remarkable things to rescue you, so that you can go before God's people and share glory stories of what God did on your behalf, and how He activated events to rescue you..." It goes on to speak of sharing those stories with others to lift their faith and walking in an anointing of security. "I bless you with such an anointing of security that you will have the joy of God rescuing you, and also extending security to and rescuing other along with you. Your anointing for the powerful security of God will extend to those around you."
Then it goes on to talk about translating those experiences into acts of worship.

So this is my act of worship - to write and tell you that I have no idea how this will all work out. I'd like to have enough income from my art, and teaching, writing, coaching and ministry work,  that while I was doing the things I love and feel called to do that God would take care of the finances. Finances is so not my gift. I want to see "Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you" really, really happening.  So today I am not seeking how to bring in an income but seeking first the kingdom by doing something that I believe that God has called me to do. That is to write these devotional posts. I don't get paid to do this and have so far in the past year I've had only one person send a donation. Thank you, you know who you are and you have been such an on going encouragement to me. So while this is not an appeal for money, I want you to know that very soon I will be without the safety net of my job and I will be walking every day by faith trusting God to provide. I would appreciate your prayers in this season of transition. There is a donation box on the right side should you ever feel God put it on your heart to help with this devotional ministry. My point is that I don't do this for money, it is an act of faith, obedience, and worship before the Lord. In being open and honest with you about the things I am facing and how I navigate through them with God's help I hope that your own faith would be lifted and that you would discover security in Him for your own journey.

Those of you who are close to me don't need to panic on my behalf but you can pray that God would lead me in this season of changes. If you feel like God shows you something as you are praying I would welcome your spiritual insights. You are welcome to post in the comments or e-mail me at princessmargot@hotmail.com or pm me on facebook. I believe this is the opening sentences of yet another glory story in the new chapter that lies before me.

Prayer:
Dear Lord,
Each reader has their own steps of faith before them. I pray that they would push past the fear and take on courage and begin to trust you in a much greater degree. That they would also experience enough problems to learn to trust you and know you to be able to handle everything that concerns them no matter how big or how small.