Have you found yourself hanging out there on a limb lately?
Don't forget the One who made the tree! He hasn't changed! He's the same yesterday, today and forever. You can rest assured if He promised it to you, it will come to pass. It may be your season of "limb hanging", but He will give you strength to hang on. Look up, He is waiting to give you a hand. If you invite God to take over your crises, commit it all to Him, you will immediately have all the power of heaven behind you.
Oh ... and after the crisis is over - don't forget Him!
So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Hebrews 10:35
But Jesus overheard them and said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.”
Mark 5:36
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
Friday's Food for Thought
"Walk with me." That's the command I give my little miniature dachshund, Buddy, when I take him with me on a walk. You see, he just doesn't stay with me unless I put him on the lead. He goes to the left, to the right and runs ahead of me and doesn't understand that those big vehicles on Cypress Lake Road would leave less than a little greasy spot if they hit him. I keep him with me to try to teach him to stay on the pathway beside the road ... all for his safety. But I find myself saying that phrase over and over because he pulls on the lead so hard trying to go his own way that he chokes himself and starts coughing. When that happens he looks up to me as if to say, "why are you making it so hard on me?"
I wonder how many times God has to remind us, "walk with me." Do you find yourself choking on His lead? When I look to the heavens and shout "why are you making it so hard on me" I'm reminded of my little Buddy and do a self check to see if I'm pulling on God's lead. O how I long to learn to walk in His paths - without that lead!! What about you?
Psalm 119:34-35 KJV
Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.
I wonder how many times God has to remind us, "walk with me." Do you find yourself choking on His lead? When I look to the heavens and shout "why are you making it so hard on me" I'm reminded of my little Buddy and do a self check to see if I'm pulling on God's lead. O how I long to learn to walk in His paths - without that lead!! What about you?
Psalm 119:34-35 KJV
Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Wednesday's Word
Hebrews 10:23 NIV
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
I feel compelled to tell you that it is not easy to adhere to the words of the verse I've listed above. In fact when everything around you, everywhere your eyes look is screaming "it's not working" - it's really difficult to hang on to the hope we possess. You're probably thinking, "Really?" or maybe you're like my grandson, Bailey, and you're thinking "Duh!" But it goes so much deeper than just this surface "I'm not seeing it." Because you see I'm not feeling it either. I'm not one of those who is so holy that I just fall to my knees and begin to cry out when things aren't matching up with the Word. O no! I'm one of those who keeps plodding while muttering to myself, "Okay, what's going on here? Let's see if I can figure this out."
Hmmm, now there's a word. Plodding. I looked up some facts about animals (Bailey's always giving me facts about animals - you know the kind I mean - the "facts" that you think are TUI - totally useless information). Did you know, for instance, a mouse's heart beats about 700 times per minute, and they live less than three years. The hummingbird's heart beats up to 1,260 times per minute during the day, but it actually slows to 50 beats per minute at night, and they live twice as long as mice. But an elephant's heart plods along at about 35 beats per minute, and they have been known to live more than 80 years. See, I told you. TUI!! Actually, I think this is more than TUI.
"Plodding." It's not exactly a pretty word. It makes me think of a person trudging along knee deep in mud or crossing blowing sand dunes in a blistering desert. The word plodding means "to work or to act perseveringly or monotonously; to drudge; the act of moving or walking heavily and slowly making laborious progress."
Do you feel like you're just barely plodding some days? Me, too! In fact that's exactly how I feel - like I'm trudging along knee deep in mud - and some days it feels more like I'm knee deep in quick sand.
We can get discouraged when we're plodding, because we aren't seeing results soon enough. Our dreams don't quickly materialize, so we consider throwing in the towel (see yesterday's post). But many times, if we would just plod on a little longer, we'd reach our goals. We can't see how close we are to our goals most of the time. How do you know ... maybe one more time of pulling your foot out of the mud - one more step - would put you in your "promised land." And sometimes these periods of plodding may even last years.
That's why I believe God loves the plodders. The Christian life is not so much of asprint as it is a marathon, and it's better to have a good finish than a quick start. So, keep plodding, and I will too. Together we will draw strength from each other. We will lift each other up as we make this journey, and in the meantime we will pray for just enough grace to get us from glory to glory.
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
I feel compelled to tell you that it is not easy to adhere to the words of the verse I've listed above. In fact when everything around you, everywhere your eyes look is screaming "it's not working" - it's really difficult to hang on to the hope we possess. You're probably thinking, "Really?" or maybe you're like my grandson, Bailey, and you're thinking "Duh!" But it goes so much deeper than just this surface "I'm not seeing it." Because you see I'm not feeling it either. I'm not one of those who is so holy that I just fall to my knees and begin to cry out when things aren't matching up with the Word. O no! I'm one of those who keeps plodding while muttering to myself, "Okay, what's going on here? Let's see if I can figure this out."
Hmmm, now there's a word. Plodding. I looked up some facts about animals (Bailey's always giving me facts about animals - you know the kind I mean - the "facts" that you think are TUI - totally useless information). Did you know, for instance, a mouse's heart beats about 700 times per minute, and they live less than three years. The hummingbird's heart beats up to 1,260 times per minute during the day, but it actually slows to 50 beats per minute at night, and they live twice as long as mice. But an elephant's heart plods along at about 35 beats per minute, and they have been known to live more than 80 years. See, I told you. TUI!! Actually, I think this is more than TUI.
"Plodding." It's not exactly a pretty word. It makes me think of a person trudging along knee deep in mud or crossing blowing sand dunes in a blistering desert. The word plodding means "to work or to act perseveringly or monotonously; to drudge; the act of moving or walking heavily and slowly making laborious progress."
Do you feel like you're just barely plodding some days? Me, too! In fact that's exactly how I feel - like I'm trudging along knee deep in mud - and some days it feels more like I'm knee deep in quick sand.
We can get discouraged when we're plodding, because we aren't seeing results soon enough. Our dreams don't quickly materialize, so we consider throwing in the towel (see yesterday's post). But many times, if we would just plod on a little longer, we'd reach our goals. We can't see how close we are to our goals most of the time. How do you know ... maybe one more time of pulling your foot out of the mud - one more step - would put you in your "promised land." And sometimes these periods of plodding may even last years.
That's why I believe God loves the plodders. The Christian life is not so much of a
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Tuesday's Tab
Has God ever hurt your feelings? Think about it.
What do you do when He does? Who do you turn to? Who do you talk to?
My husband and I have gone through a particularly hard time lately (still going through it), and I was thinking - "you know, God, you've really hurt my feelings this time." You see I know that He could breathe the word and our situation would do a 180! I know that He could have spoken the word and healed my precious friend, Barbara, of the cancer that took her life. I know that He could speak the word and remove the pain that wracks my body on an ongoing basis.
So why doesn't He do any of this? The truth is I don't have the answer. I may never have the answers to my why questions. So now what? What do I do now? Do I shake my fist to the sky and say, "fine, I quit?" What am I quitting? What am I going to do after I quit? Where am I going then?
No, I sit down and pick up His Word once more and look for answers - not answers to my why questions - but answers to what do I do now? He didn't do what I thought He should do - so what do I do with that? I say, "here I am with the leftover faith, the dashed hopes, the unfulfilled dreams ... now what do you want me to do with them?" That's what I look for an answer to. Because regardless of how disappointed I am, regardless of how much my feelings are hurt with Him ... He's still God, and He's still our only hope. And there's a reason why I am where I am. Do I understand it? No! Do I have the answer as to why? No! Do I know why God didn't heal my friend on this side of heaven? No! Do I know why He chose to take my Dad instead of healing him here? No! But I know that I know that I know ... He's still God and my only hope is in Him.
Though my feelings may be hurt for now, I will not be offended at Him. I will not hold a grudge. I will not give up because He didn't do what I wanted Him to. I will look to Him where my soul is anchored, and "yea though He slay me yet will I serve Him."
Matt 11:6 KJV: And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
What do you do when He does? Who do you turn to? Who do you talk to?
My husband and I have gone through a particularly hard time lately (still going through it), and I was thinking - "you know, God, you've really hurt my feelings this time." You see I know that He could breathe the word and our situation would do a 180! I know that He could have spoken the word and healed my precious friend, Barbara, of the cancer that took her life. I know that He could speak the word and remove the pain that wracks my body on an ongoing basis.
So why doesn't He do any of this? The truth is I don't have the answer. I may never have the answers to my why questions. So now what? What do I do now? Do I shake my fist to the sky and say, "fine, I quit?" What am I quitting? What am I going to do after I quit? Where am I going then?
No, I sit down and pick up His Word once more and look for answers - not answers to my why questions - but answers to what do I do now? He didn't do what I thought He should do - so what do I do with that? I say, "here I am with the leftover faith, the dashed hopes, the unfulfilled dreams ... now what do you want me to do with them?" That's what I look for an answer to. Because regardless of how disappointed I am, regardless of how much my feelings are hurt with Him ... He's still God, and He's still our only hope. And there's a reason why I am where I am. Do I understand it? No! Do I have the answer as to why? No! Do I know why God didn't heal my friend on this side of heaven? No! Do I know why He chose to take my Dad instead of healing him here? No! But I know that I know that I know ... He's still God and my only hope is in Him.
Though my feelings may be hurt for now, I will not be offended at Him. I will not hold a grudge. I will not give up because He didn't do what I wanted Him to. I will look to Him where my soul is anchored, and "yea though He slay me yet will I serve Him."
Matt 11:6 KJV: And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
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