passivity and trusting God

recently i had an interesting conversation with a classmate.  we were talking about men's sin of passivity.  i thought that was interesting, but then i remember the book i read called, "every woman's battle".  the author talked about how the woman's sin is control.  those two things really play together don't they?  so my classmate was just saying how men are naturally more passive, not really knowing or wanting to take action... then he mentioned what happened in the Garden.  intriguing huh?  i've been thinking about this... pondering just the ramifications of this in our society.  God says that men are the head of the household... how does that work if they are passive?  i'm not at all saying that all men are passive, but more that it could be their more natural tendencies.  for women it is to take control... again not all women are like this, but i think of the line from the movie "my big fat greek wedding" - "men are the head, but women are the neck that turns the head"- and that's how we as a society looks at it.  i've heard things like, "she's got him whipped" or "we know who's wearing the pants in that house"...  why am i saying this?  i don't know... i just thought of it.  it's an interesting concept...

the second half of my subject line... trusting God.  today in church PP talked about "by faith..." when the bottom drops out in your life how there is an upside of the adversity.  boy do i know what that means...  so here were the points and what i was thinking as the points were being stated...

1. by faith... obeying God, even when we don't know the specifics
• when God asked me to return to indo, i fought with Him, but He gave me psalm 37 and told me to trust Him.  so i went... not knowing where i was going to live, what i was going to do, who i would meet... i just went.  and the Lord showed me that He is worth obeying and trusting.  we got our old house back, i found a job and i met incredible people all the while.
2. by faith... waiting for God, even when we don't receive the answers in this life
• when P died, i had questions... still do at times, but the questions that i probably won't know until i see Jesus face-to-face are "what happened?", "why did it happen?", "how come so soon?", "what's the purpose in all this?"...  there are things that happened this semester and i think "what happened?" and some of the same questions, but even those won't be answered on this side of heaven.  the best thing is that i know my God is way bigger than any of the questions that i raise.  i just need to trust that God knows what's best for me and i need to continue to trust in His goodness and faithfulness that He has been showing me, for He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
3. by faith... stay confident in God, even when things seem impossible
• this has been a struggle for me that i think i have blogged about before... wanting to take things into my own hands (ha the woman in me... innate control?)  but i am continually abiding in Him and being confident not because i am anything or have done anything, but the spirit that resides in me continues to give me the confidence i need and speaks truths into my heart that i may not lean on anything else.
4. by faith... sacrificing for God, even when i costs us dearly.
• sometimes i think, "God you wouldn't ask me to give up anything else, would you?", but when i start thinking i always come back to the fact, as AH always says to me, "He got you through this darkness, you could go through anything and make it through the other side and you'll be fine."  it does hurt to sacrifice, but by faith when we obey, there is always blessings on the other side.

passivity and trusting God....

now that i think about it, P had some passivity in him.  funny thing, it was never toward me.  he was very assertive and confident and sure about me and toward me... but there were some things that he was passive about that drove me crazy.  :)  so even in the best of them, there is some passivity.  :)  ha ha...

let's not be passive and be active participants in trusting God - men and women alike.  :)

thoughts for the night before bed, after studying this evening.  tired and ready for finals to be over!!  please pray that i will be able to retain what i read and study.  please pray for my health as well as A's... still not 100%.