Really....Exodus?!

For those of you who read the Bible, Exodus can be kind of boring.  Don't get me wrong.  There are stories and they're pretty good, but it tends to be a section of the Bible that sometimes get missed, because we're always looking for the Godwinks in places like Psalm, Proverbs, or any place in the New Testament!

But for some reason, God seems to love to speak to me from this book. 

When my first husband walked out 8 years ago, I was experiencing some really low lows.  He, in the beginning, was fighting me for custody, and I was really struggling.  I was feeling overpowered and scared.  One morning about 5 days before our hearing, I was reading my Bible.  I always pray right before I get started reading that God would show me what He wants to say to me and help me to get something out of it, no matter how small or trivial.  And that morning was no exception.  He led me to read the story of how God led the Israelites to a great victory over the Egyptians, how He helped them, the little guy, against the great big, bad Egypt.  And I knew He was trying to get my attention.  I didn't need to worry.  He was going to take care of me.  And He did...the next day, Jason agreed to sign the papers, and just like that, it was taken care of.

Today, I was reading in Exodus and He spoke again!  Exodus 17:12-"But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun."  To anyone else, just another verse in a boring chapter, but to me, it was like He was working in my heart!  I've been struggling with a situation in my life.  For now, I'd rather not write in detail about it, but here's the little that will help you understand right now, what I'm going through...

I want to live my life for Jesus.  I want to surround myself with Christian friends and family.  I want people to see the love of Jesus shining through me, through my relationships.  I want to make my God first, my husband second, my children third, and THEN comes everyone else.  And the struggle is that not everyone in my life wants to commit the same way I do.

So, here's where the verse comes in.  Sometimes, I struggle with whether or not I'm doing the right thing in my situation....standing up for what I believe makes a good and solid relationship.  And then I read a verse like this that just confirms God has me on the right track.  God gave Moses 2 men, Aaron and Hur who, when Moses was tired from holding up his arms on that mountain so that the Israelites could win the battle, sat on either side of him and held his arms up for him.  God surrounded him with good, Godly friends who helped to strengthen him.  And that's what God wants me to do.  He wants me to surround myself with good, Godly friends and family to build me up in my walk with God, to strengthen me when I feel weak, to encourage me to keep going.  He doesn't want my closest friends/family to be the ones that make me stumble or not follow His will, or keep me from trusting Him.

And THAT makes me feel strong!