Speechless Sunday.. but will try to find words

In all honesty, Don and I were becoming a bit discouraged and wondering if God was telling us to move on down the road.  Last Sunday, there was only eight in church, the fewest so far.  Don encouraged those eight to invite everyone they saw to come to church.  We've also been praying all week that God would bring new faces to church and to fill the chairs.

Don was even led by the LORD to preach from Proverbs 3:5-6 and the title of his sermon was "In God We Trust" ... as much for us as for anyone.  And God knows our hearts, we do trust Him. 

As Don demonstrated with a chair (a prop) this morning, "'trust' is just 'believing' put into action."  We look at a chair and believe it will hold us up, but we trust that chair when we sit down in it with all our weight.  That's the way we should be in regard to the LORD with our whole life.

I will go ahead and insert here the 'speechless' part of this post:  We got to church thirty minutes early, as usual, and a few people came pretty quickly and then more and they just kept coming until almost every chair was occupied!  I just kept saying "Praise the LORD!" and "Thank You, Jesus!"  I'm sure that 21 people doesn't sound like a lot to you, but to us, it looked like 100.  And the offering!  Almost twice what it had been for the whole month of October!  We are so blessed, touched, encouraged and humbled  by God confirming in such a way that we really are right where God wants us to be and that is where we want to be. 

When we

5 Trust in the LORD with all your (our) heart(s)
         And do not lean on your (our) own understanding.
6 In all your (our) ways acknowledge Him,

then, we experience the promise ...
         And He will make your (our) paths straight. [Proverbs 3:5-6]

Don's first point from verse 5 is "to be confident in God's care." He quoted someone unknown who said, "Half-hearted trust is like whole-hearted doubt."

From the second part of verse 5, Don pointed out that "we're not stupid, but sometimes we make unwise choices when we make decisions based on what we think is best."

Verse 6 clearly states that "we are to be committed to God's purpose and plan for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11-'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.')."  We live most peacefully and joyfully when we acknowledge and consult with God in regard to every facet of our lives, large or small.

When we are obedient to Proverbs 3:5 & 6 then we will experience the promise of God that our life will be controlled by His will and He is faithful to keep His promises to us, such as Psalm 32:8 - "I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go;
         I will counsel you with My eye upon you."

In closing, Don said we live in and operate on three levels, by choice:

Level one - "I do what I want."

Level two - "I do what I think I ought."

Level three - "I will do what He leads me to do."

With level three being the place we should all live in and operate from.  Only with His help can we live on Level Three... which brings us right to the place He wants us to be: a place of total Trust in Him.