Birthday Surprise! It's Ziemely

Happy Friday Friends! Today's post comes from my friend Zee. In short, she can be described as encouraging, a gentle and quiet spirit, and lovely. I'm bummed that I can't see her often, but between texts and prayers the Lord has united us in friendship. You will be greatly blessed through her post! 

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I want to start off by saying thank you to Raquel for allowing me to contribute to her blog. I was surprised when she asked last year and I think even more surprised this time around.

I’m from Miami but this past January I moved to Nashville. You are probably wondering why Nashville and to tell you the truth I wondered the same thing for a while. In April 2011, after a very tumultuous 2010, a year in which I lost three close loved ones and ending an unhealthy relationship I truly and whole heartedly gave my life to Christ.

Even though I was confiding and trusting in God I was still taken aback when He planted a seed for the city of Nashville. I was a baby in the faith and in all reality I still am, but I thought I was crazy! I had never been to Nashville nor did I know anyone here. But after trying to put the idea out of my mind for close to a year, I realized that if I didn’t at least start to research the city and the potential move I would be going against something that I felt God was calling me to do.

As soon as I started looking into it, I started to feel more and more at peace about the possibility of leaving my home for the unknown. I applied for 3 jobs and within a month of applying to the third job I was offered a job with my current company and I knew that I was on the path God wanted me to be on.

There are times that I am completely at a loss for words about all that has happened since giving my life to Christ. Has it been easy? NO! Have I had moments of second guessing? YES! Do I regret it? NO! And that is because I know that since that decision, God has been working in me. He is using my time here in Nashville to refine me. There are moments when it hurts and it gets lonely but I look around at all that He has blessed with me and I can’t help but be grateful for the people He has put in my life, His patience, His mercy, His love but most importantly His grace!

It has been almost  a year since accepting my job and making the decision to leave my family and friends in Miami and embark on an adventure in which I knew I was not 100% in control of and if I had to choose one word that encompassed my move it would have to be Grace! I am learning what that word truly means, I am learning to accept it but most importantly I am learning how to offer grace.

Do I have it all figured out? Not at all! Do I still make mistakes? ABSOLUTELY!! So far, my time here has been one of change. I have had my set-backs but it is in those moments in which I am learning the most. He uses those moments to show me that it’s not about me. It is about something greater than me!

May this verse hat has spoken to me more times than I can count, resonate with you. I pray that we continue to accept His grace and realize that we are weak but it is in that weakness where we are made STRONG!

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

*Last year she was a guest blogger for the Birthday Surprise series, check her last post HERE. Have a beautiful day! 

Zee's home in Nashville 

Nashville

Nashville 

Birthday Surprise. It's Ziemely!

Happy Monday! Today's birthday surprise comes from Ziemely, or as we call her, Zee. I met her this year in our ladies small group bible study yet I feel like I've known her for a lifetime. Though young in the faith, her faith, love, and zeal for the Lord are as contagious as wild fire spreading. Her post is one that we all can identify with and be encouraged by. God bless YOU. 
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I am going to be honest and just say it; I use to like being in control. Let me rephrase that, I use to like thinking I was in control. I say “thinking I was in control” because in reality I have never been in control. Even in those moments in which I thought I was, God was always the one managing the situation.

There are many verses that come to mind when I think of control and letting go of the idea of having it. These are verses that God has used to speak to me in times when I was trying to control situations and/or outcomes in my life. 

You can make plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail. – Proverbs 19:21

A perfect example of this can be found in Genesis when Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. Although he experienced difficult times along the way, God was always with him. God turned what an outsider would have thought was going to be an awful life into a life in which Joseph was able to show others what trusting in the Lord looks like.

But Jesus looked at them and said to them, 

“With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. – Matthew 19:26 

There is NOTHING that is impossible with God. I would venture to say for the majority of us, the reason we like “being in control” is a sense of security we get when we think we know how things will turn out in our lives and what will happen next. There are so many opportunities I have had in my life that if it weren’t for God being in control of my life they never would have happened. I never thought I would have passed that class, gotten that job, paid that bill, or traveled there.  I will be forever grateful for all the times I have been wrong; that it was not me that was truly in control. I would miss out on so many things, if only what I thought possible or was capable of doing on my own would happen.

 “Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. 

Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” – Mark 14:36

If even Jesus – God incarnate prayed, we should be praying all the more. Not only did Jesus pray to God, He prayed that God’s will be done. At times, I find myself praying for what I believe is best for me. If we think we know what is best for ourselves, just imagine everything the Lord knows IS best for us. In reality, the best thing for us is for God’s will to be done in our lives. He knows the beginning, the end and the beauty that is the in-between. He wants to give and teach us so much, and the only way that can happen is for us to surrender all.

I pray that we can all remember to let go of that need to be in control and allow God to truly work in our lives. That we not turn to God as our last resort, but as our only resort.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, 

thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. – Jeremiah 29:11