Banking

Evening pardddners :)

How are you all doing?  I just wanted to touch base and share with you guys a little bit about a Women's Gathering I went to this past week at the Austin Stone church here in Austin.  It was so good :)

So, it was this past Tuesday - which just so happened to be a very rough day for me at work.  There was some coworker drama going on, I hadn't gotten enough sleep, and I was feeling super overwhelmed about the tasks that make up my job.  I came home feeling frustrated and about a million miles from good.  I made dinner for myself and ate it while trying to decide whether or not to go to the Women's Gathering after such a crappy day.  My sister had decided not to go with me so being on my own wasn't making things easier.  But finally, I made up my mind to go...and on the way I prayed a little prayer asking God to give me some comfort at this event because I sure hadn't gotten any comfort during the day :/

You guys recall that I am a banker, right? Well, I get myself up to the event, grab a seat, and the speaker reveals the topic of the message.  It was on the topic of...

BANKING.

Yeahhhhh...this banker who'd spent the previous 8 hrs being extremely frustrated at her banking job perked her pretty little ears right up.  ;)  

I wanted to write a whole recap of the message but I wouldn't do it justice.  So I'll just give you the bullet point list of the questions that spoke to me:

• What are you banking your heart on?  
• What are you banking your joy on?
• What are you banking your security on?
• Are you banking on the visible reality you see around you; or are you banking on the promises God gave you?

The things we see - the reality around us - it's unstable at best.  Your marriage might  stay happy and perfect until you and your spouse are 90...but what if it doesn't?  You might hope that having children will fill that empty space in your heart but what if they don't? What if children make things more complicated? What if you never have those children? You might be hoping that a brand new house will make things feel complete for you.  What about when you lose your job and the mortgage is still due?

The point is simple. If we hope in - bank on - our circumstances, things will probably be good for a while.  But the temporal never lasts.  The good news is that God is bigger than your here and now.  And he knows you intimately - he knows your hopes, dreams, and fears.  He wants to give you a peace that surpasses all understanding.  I've spent a lot of time here in Texas really trying to get to know God intimately and I have seen nothing but blessings as a result. I try to start each day thanking him for the day that is to come.  I try to seek him during the course of my day. Many people may read that and think it's crazy - that I'm using an imaginary being as a crutch to cope with my life. But God promises us he's there - and I have seen real change in my life as a result of those promises. 

After a day like last Tuesday it was comforting to remember that my job does not define me.  What others think of me doesn't define me.  What I think of myself isn't the final say so on who I am.  It was wrong of me last Tuesday to let the reality around me determine the flow and peace of my day.  

God's promises are real and good.  And those promises are what I'm banking on.  It was so great to spend an evening with 300 other women banking on the same thing.  :)