Needs vs. Wants

          What do I really need? What do I want? God has been pushing those two questions on my heart lately and I think where I am in life right now is a good spot to firugre out the answers to those questions with my job and just different situations like friends, hobbies, even God, in a good way, and other things. We all need to ask ourselves those questions every once in awhile to rethink what our lives are really about. I have had two main situations that have been going on to help me see more clearly the difference between those two things. God has given me one situation and I'm not really a big believer or I don't like to admit I know when the Devil is trying to get me away from God but I strongly believe He is trying now or has been lately. There has been tugging at my heart on both ways and it is so clear which way I should go. I didn't know how good of desirment I had until this past week.
            First I will tell you the situation I think the Devil is putting me in. It has stopped for now I think and hopefully for good but these past 2 weeks were hard. I might this random guy at church two weeks ago on a Saturday night and I thought nothing of it because I have seen him around church before but he just came up to me that night. We talked for a bit about the church and what we liked about it and he asked me some questions about me. The normal questions you would ask when you first actually talk with someone. Before I knew it I gave him my number because he asked if he could have it just in case he had any questions about the church. I gave it to him and that was dumb on my part. The reason it was dumb is because he texted me and called me the next day. I don't pick up the phone because I don't like talking on the phone. We went ahead and texted though. His texting was strange though at first because he started to complient me and give me wisdom which sounded like it was from forture cookies and they made me feel good. Then a week later he said that he would like for me to preach at his home town.
            This situation was what I WANTED but it was too easy and too good to be true in a lot of ways so I stopped talking to him.  I got me thinking though where I am now and what I am learning now is great. I love it and I love the people around as friends because they tell me the truth and gives me the chance to fix it but still love me for me. They don't try and cover it up and they don't make judgements before they really know me.
            Second, I will tell you about the situation I need and I know God is in this one for sure. I had a disagreement with some friends a few months back but they pointed out some really good things that I needed to focus on on myself that I needed to change so I could be a better person. When it first happened, I would push it down and say no but as the months have gone on, I'm seeing how they are really helping me without knowing it. I started a Women's Bible Study in Jan. about the book "Boundaries" and that book is so GREAT and the study is too! Through that book, I see a lot of things that I need to fix about myself before I can go on into other friendships or relationships. God is teaching me a lot about me and people in general through this study. Through the situation that I'm having with these friends I'm learning a lot about what I did and how I messed up and what I need to do to change that and build more friends and closer friends. I really appicate the friends I have now more then anything but I don't show it and I need to.
               God knew I needed this friends to do what they did. It is being used for His Glory and it is changing me in ways I could never think possible. It is breaking me out of my stubbornness that I guess got bad over the years and is turning me closer to God and relying on Him more. God knew I NEEDED this hard situation to learn things that He had for me to learn because I would not pay attention any other way and sometimes He does it in ways we don't like. I'm not this princess or has smart as people think I am. I am a sinner and I need God's help in everything I do. I've made tons of mistakes and dumb things whether said them, did them, or thought them.
                God is renewing and turning my life around through this Bible study and it is one I'll take over and over because there is so much to grasp. It is like I need to quit my job and just focus on my and this study for a few months or even a year. It's that deep because I feel like I'm that messed up. Little things we do to people can have the biggest impact but yet at times we might not know that it is being mean to them or destorying them in some way. We might not know that we are holding them back from something they could be doing but not. We might not know that we are luring them in when really we are espically as women. Sounds bad but at the same time it could be true.
                
              Thought for Today: "You might know what you WANT but God knows what you NEED and He will get you through it."