I can’t speak, so I will let the thoughts in my head come out through the only truth I can grasp at this point. “Even today my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning. If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling! I would state my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would find out what he would answer me, and consider what he would say.”–Job 23 (excerpts)I’m doing this today….feeling like “God, what is going on here?” You know me, and you know I’m a fixer, a thinker, an analyzing maniac …..what am I supposed to be learning through this? There is hope, I know that…I don’t feel it right now, but I know there is….but where? What am I supposed to think, feel, grasp, say, etc.? “Lord, you have searched me and you know me….you perceive my thoughts from afar….you hem me in–behind and before; Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”–Psalm 139:1-10 (excerpts) This gives me hope in knowing that no matter how frustrating or far I feel that I’ve gone, how deep my despair, He is still with me…..if I don’t have words or emotions to express the way I feel or the things I’m thinking, He knows them & it’s okay. When I don’t even comprehend the thoughts & feelings flooding my eyes, He sees clearer than I ever will & understands.”Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” –Romans 12:21Remembering the goodness of Christ, the grace He has given, gives me hope for tomorrow and peace for today. Despite the storms that rage against me, He alone is my rock & my salvation. With Him, what can come against me? Though I may stumble & fall, He will lift me up with his righteous right hand & guide me in the paths of righteousness. He will provide for me & comfort me. Say what you need to say
Category: Power of God
Stand Forever
As I’m working today, the flowers on my desk are all withering away….when I brought back an empty vase, my friend said “Don’t you wish they would last forever?” Then the verse from Isaiah came to me: “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8)
In life, there are things that leave us… beauty, wealth, strength, & power. God’s word survives through it all. Flowers will die off, food will rot, clothes will wear, but God’s word survives through it all. Tragedies happen, relationships fail, warriors are defeated, but God’s word survives through it all.
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10) God’s word will sustain us, guide us, redeem us and heal us. He alone will give us strength to press forward, wisdom to judge clearly, discernment in difficult situations, peace when we are restless, and comfort when fear comes close.
“One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.” (Psalm 27:4-5) This is my prayer. May you join me in the beauty & love that is our God. He is the sustainer & creator of life. He will be our refuge & our hope. His love abounds to the edges of the earth & the depths of the sea.
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction & faithful in prayer.” (Romans 12:12) Stay close to the father and unlike the flowers, you will not fade away.
Relying on God
So tonight, a topic came up about support & doing things like the world or like a Christian…and I said how God can make things happen without us having to do things like the rest of the world. This hit me AFTER I said it, because I guess it’s one of those things I took for granted in my beliefs. God really CAN make certain things work out without us having to do just like everyone else! The example was about Club 3 degrees, and how they’ve made it w/o selling alcohol. Well, yeah….just because the other clubs make their money from the alcohol, doesn’t mean that this one does. Club 3 relies on God rather than man to support & sustain the ministry that has been put before it. Our God is a big God, the BIGGEST, the ONLY God who is alive and working, just as hard as He has from our beginning & long before that! How can we trust in our own doings when we are powerless without Him? How can we believe that we need to do as the world does in order to make things happen? We are not of the world, the things we produce should not be of the world, what we become should not look like the world. I don’t know that there is an accurate comparison that I can give that would show just how different we are, or SHOULD be from the world. I’m reading this book about Ruth & Naomi….how Ruth was a Moabitess who married Naomi’s son (a Hebrew) but how Naomi’s sons & husband took on the appearance of a Moabite….dressing like them, talking like them, taking wives from that land…and they were accepted in Moab…but God was not pleased, and Ruth saw the difference in her mother in law. She saw enough difference that when given the choice to remain with what she knew, her home, her friends, her mom & dad, she gave it up willingly to follow after whatever that was that Naomi had and she didn’t. She wanted to follow this God that had done marvelous things & made her mother in law the woman she was. I want to be like that, we should all be like that…so noticeably different from our surroundings that people are magnetized to our God. So separate in being, so set apart, so “weird” if you will, that people wonder what it is that we have that they do not. Do you have a God that transforms you like this? I do….I just haven’t always been open to Him. But a God like that has grace, and I’m open for Him to make me different, changed, renewed, transformed….whatever He has to do in order for me to look more like Him than the world.
Undaunted 