SPEAKER_00: Hi everyone, it's Wednesday, so it's Nancy with your daily walk.
SPEAKER_00: We're beginning an exciting five-week focus on our mission and vision as a church family and how our core values will guide us to reflect that individually and together in our homes, in our church, in the Wimberley Valley, and beyond.
SPEAKER_00: I came across a story from a young woman that's been stirring in my mind as I think about this study we're embarking on together.
SPEAKER_00: I can't recall her name, so we'll just call her Anne for the benefit of our conversation here.
SPEAKER_00: Anne said that she was raised in a Christian family.
SPEAKER_00: She asked the Lord to be her savior at a young age, and she was active in her church as she grew up.
SPEAKER_00: She went on to share that as a young adult, a friend asked her about her faith.
SPEAKER_00: Anne felt she understood the basics of her faith fairly well, so she shared what she believed about God with her friend.
SPEAKER_00: When her friend would ask why questions, why do you believe that?
SPEAKER_00: Why do you think that's so?
SPEAKER_00: Anne would say, because it says so in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: When her friend would press, Anne said she could simply respond that it's what she heard growing up and what she believed.
SPEAKER_00: But she realized that while she knew overall guiding principles of living a Christian life, what to do and not do, what to say and not say, she hadn't really spent time looking at the foundation for those beliefs she'd been taught.
SPEAKER_00: She had a set of expectations to meet, rules of sorts to follow, but she said she realized she needed more.
SPEAKER_00: She wanted a deeper understanding, especially in a world that's challenging what we believe to be truth.
SPEAKER_00: Anne went on to share in her story that lately she has been spending time looking at what God's Word says about how He wants her to love Him and to love others, how He wants her to let His light shine in her.
SPEAKER_00: Anne's desire is to grow in wisdom as she builds a stronger foundation of understanding of her faith.
SPEAKER_00: Why do I believe what I do?
SPEAKER_00: What is the truth I'm basing my life on?
SPEAKER_00: God tells us to seek him with all our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: We read that throughout the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: I think often about the familiar passage I turn to a lot, Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6, that tells us to trust in the Lord and not rely on our own understanding, but acknowledge Him in all we do.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 2 verse 6 says, For the Lord gives wisdom, from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
SPEAKER_00: We read that promise in the New Testament as well.
SPEAKER_00: For example, James 1 verse 5 says, If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him.
SPEAKER_00: That, my friends, is my prayer for us as we spend these next few weeks of focus together.
SPEAKER_00: That we will ask God to increase our understanding of him and how we can magnify Christ and share the gospel, and that we will set that understanding on the firm foundation of his word so that we can walk in the way of wisdom that comes from him.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.