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Less of Me... More of Him

by Cortney Donelson  
7/07/2012 / Devotionals

Psalm 42:11
"Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again- my Savior and my God!"

Our ministry team, Oaks of Righteousness, had a mantra for our very first weekend retreat that we repeated to each other and to ourselves in order to prepare the way for the women who would attend our inaugural event. "Less of me... More of Him!"

About 3 months after that first retreat, I was challenged by God to put that message into play again. I was angry. I was hurt. My heart was bitter, and I was in the process of forgiving someone for something she knew nothing about. I was not in a place where I wanted to encourage her or help her. After all, I was in pain! Yet, God challenged me to look beyond myself. He asked me to put aside my pride, my hurt, my pain and for just a moment, reach out to her with some encouragement.

Ok, God "Less of me, More of You!" See, she had sent me an email about how discouraged she was and how life was not going the way she had planned nor liked. She used that word, "discouraged." If I'm real here, I would say that for an instant my deceiving heart...

"The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9

...felt no empathy or sympathy for this woman. I would have loved to follow that heart of mine and blow off her email. But, God would not accept that. He wanted to give me a piece of His heart. Ten minutes later, I read the Verse of the Day on my smart phone Bible app. Psalm 42:11 says, "Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again- my Savior and my God!" That word "discouraged" jumped right off the screen and into my bitter heart. God was saying, "I know she hurt you. But, I love her, and she needs to hear Me. I choose you to speak for Me."

So, after a few minutes of finding zero excuses, I forwarded her the Bible verse with a short note of encouragement. I am not sure who benefitted most from my willingness to put myself aside for God's purposes... God, this woman, or me!

Prayer Dear Lord, thank you for interrupting my pride and selfishness in order to bring a little piece of Heaven down to this place. I pray I am continually able to put You and your purposes above my own desires and pain. In Jesus' Name I pray, AMEN!

Cortney Donelson is a wife and stay at home mom with two beautiful children, adopted from Russia and China. She is also a member of Oaks of Righteousness ministry team (www.oaksofrighteousness.info), a NC-based ministry dedicated to reaching out to women & teen girls. Her email is [email protected].

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