LOVE LIFTED ME

My hairdresser has cancer.  It’s real and it’s painful, but she is beautiful!  That’s her signature phrase “You are beautiful”.  She is the one who is beautiful.  She loves the Lord and He loves her.  She radiates His love.

She says she can literally feel the prayers of friends and family.  “It is like I am at a rock concert and thousands of hands are passing me above their heads from one to another, like body surfing.  I am completely at peace, restful and safe, being passed from one to another.”

When friends and loved ones are struggling and suffering, all too often we wring our hands and weep, saying “What can I do? What can I do?”  We can PRAY!  Not as a “last resort” not with an attitude of “all I can do is pray”, but with passion, purpose and power.  

Remember the four friends in Mark 2?  They brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus for healing, but the crowd was so large they could not get near, so they climbed onto the roof, made a hole in it and lowered him down right in front of the Master. Mark 2:5 says “When Jesus saw their faith; He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven”.   

When we pray for others, we lift them up above their circumstances and lay them down at the foot of the Savior.  

“Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know” Jeremiah 33:3

JUST TRUST HIM!

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Revelation 21: 4-5a

When you don't understand why, just trust Him!

                                                                                     Trust Him!

Trust Him when you don't understand!

                                                                                     Trust His heart!

                                                                               Trust His purpose!

                                                                        Trust Him when your heart is broken!

                                                                  Trust His goodness!

                                                             Trust Him beyond the grave!

                                                      Trust Him to know best!

                                                             Trust Him to keep His Word!

                                                                   Trust Him to be on time!

                                                                         Trust Him to be enough!

                                                                                Trust Him to set you free!

                             Just trust God ----and God alone!

When I don't understand why, I trust Him because........

                                  God is enough.

from WHY? Trusting God When You Don't Understand  by Anne Graham Lotz

 

NOTE TO SELF - NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT.....

I continue to reflect on the effects of the devastating fire in Bastrop.  As I was gathering items to take to my niece last Saturday, I took a Women's Devotional Bible that I had on the shelf and had never used.  She immediately grasped it and said "a Bible, I don't have my Bible."  It made me think how precious my Bibles are to me. Special notes in every one. Thoughts, prayers, underlines, drawings, all so special to me.  What would it be like not to have a Bible? 

Gigi Graham Tchividjian says "One day we may not have the written Word, but it will be a lot more difficult to take away what we have hidden in our hearts and minds. the Word of God is a living Word; it is the person of Jesus Christ Himself revealed to us.  Psalm 119 says that the Word cleanses, strengthens, delights, teaches, saves, comforts, directs and gives understanding. What a resource!.

Whatever life holds for you and your family in the coming days, weave the unfailing fabric of God's Word through your heart and mind. It will hold strong, even if the rest of life unravels."  Thank you, Gigi!

God's Word is my strength and comfort.  Not just the words on the page, but the words in my heart.  Those that I hold in my heart can never be taken away. In the midst of disappointments, heartaches, and discouragement His Word will never fail. I am committing to memorizing more Scripture, will you come with me on the journey?

"Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path". Psalm119:105

COMPLAINING OR THANKSGIVING

Today it's thanksgiving for the wonderful rain yesterday.  We could certainly use more, but we must be thankful for what God has provided and continue to pray for more.

I was convicted by what I read in Trusting God by Jerry Bridges.  "Complaining about the weather seems to be a favorite American pastime.  Sadly, we Christians often get caught up in this ungodly habit of our society. But when we complain about the weather, we are actually complaining against God who sent us our weather.  We are, in fact, sinning against God. (Numbers 11:1)

Not only do we sin against God when we complain about the weather, we also deprive ourselves of the peace that comes from recognizing our heavenly Father is in control of it. Whether the weather merely disrupts my plans or destroys my home, I need to learn to see God's sovereign and loving hand controlling it.

We tend to remember the "bad" weather and take for granted the good.  When Jesus spoke about the weather, He spoke about the goodness of God"

He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, 

and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Matthew 5:45

Time to praise the Lord in the drought and in the rain for His purposes are far greater than we can ever imagine.  He causes the sun to rise, He sends the rain. Praise you Lord Jesus!

FIVE PROMISES FROM GOD YOU CAN TRULY BANK ON

God is always with me ----I will not fear

God is always in control --- I will not doubt

God is always good ------- I will not despair

God is always watching ----I will not falter

God is always victorious ---I will not fail

TRUSTING GOD IN THE FIRE

My niece and her family recently lost their home and belongings to the wildfires in Texas.  When devastation occurs we often wonder how could God have allowed this to happen?

In his book "Trusting God", Jerry Bridges says "God did not create the universe and everything in it only to walk away to leave it to running on its own.  God has not walked away from the day-to-day control of His creation.  Certainly He has established physical laws by which He governs the forces of nature, but those laws continuously operate according to His sovereign will."   God is in control!  

"He unleashes His lightning beneath the whole heaven

     and sends it to the ends of the earth." 

Job 37:3

"He says to the snow, "Fall on the earth" 

      and to the rain shower, "Be a mighty downpour".  

Job 37:6

"The breath of God produces ice,

and the broad waters become frozen.

He loads the clouds with moisture;

      he scatters His lightning through them.

At His direction they swirl around

     over the face of the whole earth

     to do whatever He commands them.

He brings the clouds to punish men,

     or to water His earth and show His love.

Job 37:10-13

He covers the sky with clouds;

He supplies the earth with rain

and makes grass grow on the hills.

Psalm 147:8

When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar;

He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.

He sends lightning with the rain

and brings out the wind from His 

storehouses.

Jeremiah 10:13

I also withheld rain from you 

when the harvest was still three months away.

I sent rain on one town,

but withheld it from another.

One field had rain;

another had none and dried up.

Amos 4:7

Jerry Bridges says "Note how all these Scriptures attribute all expressions of weather - good or bad- to the direct controlling hand of God.  The insurance companies refer to major natural disasters as "acts of God. The truth is all expressions of nature, all occurrences of weather,whether it be a devastating tornado or a gentle rain on a spring day, are acts of God.  The Bible teaches that God controls all the forces of nature, both destructive and productive, on a continuous moment-by-moment basis. 

God , who is the loving heavenly Father of every true Christian is sovereign over the weather, and He exercises that sovereignty moment by moment."

We don't know the mind of God, we don't know what He has planned for our lives.  We DO know that He is sovereign, He is in control and He is trustworthy.  He will bring beauty out of the ashes.

Be a Berean

As you follow this Blog I ask that you be a Berean.   

"The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.  Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the Word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so."  Acts 17:10-11

Examine Scripture for yourself, whatever I post whether from my own thoughts or someone else's ALWAYS hold it up and examine it for yourself.  I am not a Bible scholar nor an authority on Scripture, only a follower and believer in Jesus Christ with a heart for His Word.