When I sit down to write, I write my heart - what I love, where I've been, where God has taken me, and what He's taking me through. I feel sometimes that the "theme" of my posts are the same but I guess that's where He has me right now, in this season. So if you get bored, I apologize. I can only write my heart and hope just one word will cause someone to feel that they aren't the only ones going through the same things, praying the same prayers, hoping for the same things. So with that, here's a glimpse of the journey He has me on lately.
I'd like to share my devotion yesterday. Boy did it put me in my place - but it was exactly what I needed to hear.
"My child, do not expect the trials to be lighter than in the past. Why should you think the tests would be less severe? I test all things, and there are areas of your life that as yet I have not touched. (Oh boy!) Do not look for respite. The days ahead may call for greater endurance and more robust faith than you ever needed before. Welcome this, for you must surely know how precious are the lessons learned through such experiences. Even if you are unable to fully anticipate them with joy, you can certainly gain an appropriate appreciation of them in retrospect."
Just what you want to hear when God is changing everything in you.
When I was little, I remember my legs aching at night causing me to loose sleep. My mom would come in and tell me they were just growing pains and they would soon go away. Our bodies go through growing pains when we go through a growth spirt, but so do our spirits. We are made of body and spirit. We have a natural man and a spiritual man. God takes care of your physical growth but he also takes care of our spiritual growth---if we let him. Just like natural growing pains, we have spiritual growing pains. You will never get to the place where God is calling you unless you go through pain, trials, struggles, and tests. They will hurt and you will want to pray for a way out but we must go through them.
Look at a body builder and his muscles. They didn't get large because he constantly day in and day out lifts the same amount of weight. No. He had to gradually increase the resistance to grow his muscles. It's the same in the spiritual. He will give us tests and trials to build out resistance, to grow us, to cause us to lean on Him, to learn His ways, and to learn how to be better, to be close to Him. We will learn through our trials what we are capable of, but most importantly, we learn who He is. You see, we may not give in during the first trial, or the second, or the third. But there will come a time, a circumstance, where it will cause you to cry out to Him because He is the only answer. And this, my friend, is exactly where He wants you to be. He wants you to rely on Him. He wants to be your everything. He wants to be the answer to your prayer. And when we move over, and allow Him to be Him, our faith grows because we realize He will never leave us or forsake us!
The Bible says, "Yay though I WALK THROUGH the valley of the Shadow of death, I will fear no evil." When I read yesterdays devotion and I read Do not look for respite, this scripture came to mind. I had some things going on the other day and I found myself wanting to scream GET ME OUT!!! but something in me knew better. I had to WALK THROUGH this valley. I have to. I need to learn, to grow, to go into the next level with God. It's the only way for me. And through it all, through all the hard places, I have hope because I know that there will be something great on the other side of it. He's got something planned for me that is beyond my wildest imagination. How do I know this? Because I've been through a valley before. It was hard. It was lonely. And I screamed to let me out. But when I got to the other side, there was a miracle, a blessing, a new level. After one valley, my parents gave their lives to God! He did it for me before and He will do it again because that's who He is. He never leaves me. He never forsakes me.
I'd like to share my devotion yesterday. Boy did it put me in my place - but it was exactly what I needed to hear.
"My child, do not expect the trials to be lighter than in the past. Why should you think the tests would be less severe? I test all things, and there are areas of your life that as yet I have not touched. (Oh boy!) Do not look for respite. The days ahead may call for greater endurance and more robust faith than you ever needed before. Welcome this, for you must surely know how precious are the lessons learned through such experiences. Even if you are unable to fully anticipate them with joy, you can certainly gain an appropriate appreciation of them in retrospect."
Just what you want to hear when God is changing everything in you.
When I was little, I remember my legs aching at night causing me to loose sleep. My mom would come in and tell me they were just growing pains and they would soon go away. Our bodies go through growing pains when we go through a growth spirt, but so do our spirits. We are made of body and spirit. We have a natural man and a spiritual man. God takes care of your physical growth but he also takes care of our spiritual growth---if we let him. Just like natural growing pains, we have spiritual growing pains. You will never get to the place where God is calling you unless you go through pain, trials, struggles, and tests. They will hurt and you will want to pray for a way out but we must go through them.
Look at a body builder and his muscles. They didn't get large because he constantly day in and day out lifts the same amount of weight. No. He had to gradually increase the resistance to grow his muscles. It's the same in the spiritual. He will give us tests and trials to build out resistance, to grow us, to cause us to lean on Him, to learn His ways, and to learn how to be better, to be close to Him. We will learn through our trials what we are capable of, but most importantly, we learn who He is. You see, we may not give in during the first trial, or the second, or the third. But there will come a time, a circumstance, where it will cause you to cry out to Him because He is the only answer. And this, my friend, is exactly where He wants you to be. He wants you to rely on Him. He wants to be your everything. He wants to be the answer to your prayer. And when we move over, and allow Him to be Him, our faith grows because we realize He will never leave us or forsake us!
The Bible says, "Yay though I WALK THROUGH the valley of the Shadow of death, I will fear no evil." When I read yesterdays devotion and I read Do not look for respite, this scripture came to mind. I had some things going on the other day and I found myself wanting to scream GET ME OUT!!! but something in me knew better. I had to WALK THROUGH this valley. I have to. I need to learn, to grow, to go into the next level with God. It's the only way for me. And through it all, through all the hard places, I have hope because I know that there will be something great on the other side of it. He's got something planned for me that is beyond my wildest imagination. How do I know this? Because I've been through a valley before. It was hard. It was lonely. And I screamed to let me out. But when I got to the other side, there was a miracle, a blessing, a new level. After one valley, my parents gave their lives to God! He did it for me before and He will do it again because that's who He is. He never leaves me. He never forsakes me.
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