Timely Encouragement

As I was going through the huge piles of paperwork that have accumulated on my desk, I came across some handwritten notes obviously taken during a church service of some kind. These are not dated, but I can tell from their condition that they are over a year old. And considering I don't remember writing them, they could be older because I usually remember the notes I take.

Reading through them, I was amazed at the content, the fact that I had saved them this long AND the timing of me "happening" upon them again. Here's what I wrote back 'then':

• When we surrender what God has asked us to, He will always bless us. God doesn't work in subtraction (taking from our lives), He works in multiplication (more than adding to our lives). 
• Surrendering what He's asked always takes us to another level of blessing and relationship with God.
• Delayed or partial obedience is still disobedience.
• The toughest thing to surrender are our blessings, not our sins!
• There are many times when the fulfillment of a promise is often delayed because of the process (consider Abraham and Sarah's promise).
• "It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God's promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, even though God had told him, "Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted." Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead." Hebrews 1:17-19. When we lay our 'Isaac's' down, that is when God provides the blessing; and believe that even if God takes it, He can still resurrect it.

Taking these notes must have meant something to me back 'then', but considering all that has taken place in the past couple weeks, these notes almost feel as if they were taken for now. His ways are so much higher than mine!