"Faith...I saw it with the eyes of my heart."
Joni Eareckson Tada
Showing posts with label Faith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Faith. Show all posts
Gifts Of Faithfulness, Mercy and Grace...
At this end if this day 2009 will be over ushering in the new year of 2010. How did this happen? Weren't we just concerned about Y2K? So much life has gone by and many changes have been made to each one of our lives the last decade. My mother and my father in law both went home to be with the Lord in this decade, I have four beautiful grand daughters, I 'm not in my forties anymore and my fifties are almost behind me. They say a woman changes the most physically in her fifties. Terrific. These past ten years have been some of my worst years and yet some of my best. I am thinking some of you might say the same thing.
We are living in perilous times of uncertainty. We are still at war and our sons and daughters are still serving in counties that their lives are in danger every day. Lost jobs, homes foreclosed, divorces, illnesses have become part of our daily lives.
And yet....
"...He remains faithful..."
2 Timothy 2:13
God gives us the gift of faithfulness everyday as a gift. In that gift of faithfulness is mercy and grace amidst whatever circumstances we might find ourselves and our loved ones in. We often times, fail to recognize these gifts when things are falling apart around us. I am guilty of this at times.
If I could wrap up a little gold box and give one to each of you to put where you could see it everyday, I would. Maybe you'll want to wrap a little gold box for yourself as a reminder...God remains faithful...no matter what!
Elisabeth Elliot said;
Sometimes when I was a child my mother and father would say. "Shut your eyes and hold out your hand." That was the promise of some lovely surprise. I trusted them so I shut my eyes instantly and held out my hand. Whatever they were going to give me I was ready to take. So it should be in our trust of our heavenly Father. Faith is the willingness to receive whatever He wants to give or the willingness not have what He does not want to give."
Whatever the Lord places in each of our hands this year, one hand should be open in trust to the One who loves us most. In the other hand, let's embrace the gift of His faithfulness, grace and mercy.
These gift are ours because they were bought and paid for by the precious blood of Christ. Will it be this decade, this year, this day that He will return for us? We can look forward with much anticipation to all the things God will do for us and in us because of His faithfulness.
God bless you, dear friends, may He bless your New Year!
Faith...
"Grace calls you to get up, throw off your blanket of helplessness and to move on through life in faith."~Kay Arthur~
I have found encouragement in this quote by Kay Arthur and and for the most part, live by what it says. Living with chronic illnesses, there are times that I want to keep that blanket of helplessness over me. I could best describe it by saying, "I get weary in the battle."
If we stay under that blanket of helplessness it becomes a cloak of self pity and discouragement. It can be such an easy thing to do and we have probably all have done it at one time or another. Everyday we must make the choice to move on in our lives by faith.
There are so many things in life to make us crawl under that blanket of helplessness. Health issues, family issues, marriage relationships....anything that troubles us and takes us to the point of feeling helpless. So...get up, throw off that blanket of helplessness, make a choice not to be defeated and move on through life in faith!
* Faith knows how to wait on the Lord. Isaiah 40:31
* Faith knows how to wait on the Lord. Isaiah 40:31
* Faith defines reason; it moves mountains. Matthew 17:14-21
* Faith does not always face facts; it never gives up. Heb.11:32-39
* Faith says, "God is working out His perfect will in my life, and I can wait, endure, and suffer."
* Faith doesn't make anything easy but it does make all things possible.
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."
Hebrews 11:1
The Waves...
"Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and named it Ebenezer, saying,
'Thus far the Lord has helped us."
'Thus far the Lord has helped us."
I Samuel 7:12
~Pismo Beach 2008~One day a short time ago, I was thinking how the waves of trials just seemed to be coming one right after another. Before I could catch my breath another would come and knock me down and take my breath away.The trials seemed to be compounded by living daily with chronic illness and pain. Small trials seemed bigger and big trials seemed enormous. As I was pondering these things, I remembered a time when I was a teenager growing up in Southern California. I had taken my three younger brothers to the ocean. It was a beautiful summer day. The California sun was bright and the surf was high and strong. We were having a fun day in the sand and water.
It wasn't long before I found myself being caught in the crushing surf and I thought I was going to drown. My brothers, on the other hand, were having fun, but were being taken out farther and farther in a rip tide. I thought for sure we would all drown. My brothers were rescued by the life guards, and as I let myself relax in the pounding surf, I eventually washed onto shore. I fought to catch my breath with each crushing wave, fearing they would never stop coming.
Later, as an adult, my family and I were vacationing on the coast of Central California at Pismo Beach. It was there as I walked the beach, that I found a smooth yellow stone in the sand. There were no rough or raged edges, but a stone smooth from years of the surf and sand wearing it down. As I remembered back to those times, I thought to myself, that the waves that kept crushing me down years ago, were like the trials of today, living with chronic illness and pain. Sometimes things come one after another, at times taking my breath away. And just like that smooth yellow stone that was smoothed by years of the surf and sand, God too will use those things to smooth out my rough edges and perfect His beauty in me.
I have that yellow stone on my desk as a reminder, that be it the trials of life in general or the trials that accompany living with a chronic illness, "That thus far the Lord helped us". I know that this very day, He will help me to deal with anything that comes my way and I know He will do the same tomorrow. How do I know that He will? His Word says so.
It wasn't long before I found myself being caught in the crushing surf and I thought I was going to drown. My brothers, on the other hand, were having fun, but were being taken out farther and farther in a rip tide. I thought for sure we would all drown. My brothers were rescued by the life guards, and as I let myself relax in the pounding surf, I eventually washed onto shore. I fought to catch my breath with each crushing wave, fearing they would never stop coming.
Later, as an adult, my family and I were vacationing on the coast of Central California at Pismo Beach. It was there as I walked the beach, that I found a smooth yellow stone in the sand. There were no rough or raged edges, but a stone smooth from years of the surf and sand wearing it down. As I remembered back to those times, I thought to myself, that the waves that kept crushing me down years ago, were like the trials of today, living with chronic illness and pain. Sometimes things come one after another, at times taking my breath away. And just like that smooth yellow stone that was smoothed by years of the surf and sand, God too will use those things to smooth out my rough edges and perfect His beauty in me.
I have that yellow stone on my desk as a reminder, that be it the trials of life in general or the trials that accompany living with a chronic illness, "That thus far the Lord helped us". I know that this very day, He will help me to deal with anything that comes my way and I know He will do the same tomorrow. How do I know that He will? His Word says so.
"Your mercy O Lord is in the heaven and Your
faithfulness reaches to the clouds."
faithfulness reaches to the clouds."
Psalm 36:5
The waves may come, they may knock us down, and maybe even take our breath away, but we know that God is faithful to us and He is smoothing us and shaping us
into what He wants us to be...more like Jesus.
Let us continually meditate on His goodness and His faithfulness in both the big things and the small things......Thus far the Lord has helped us!
Praise His name!
into what He wants us to be...more like Jesus.
Let us continually meditate on His goodness and His faithfulness in both the big things and the small things......Thus far the Lord has helped us!
Praise His name!
Dear Heavenly Father,
Great is Your faithfulness to me. You are constantly working in my life smoothing out all the rough edges. Thus far You have helped me, O Lord. Help me to always remember that when the next wave comes crashing down; it is your perfecting process making me more like Jesus.
Great is Your faithfulness to me. You are constantly working in my life smoothing out all the rough edges. Thus far You have helped me, O Lord. Help me to always remember that when the next wave comes crashing down; it is your perfecting process making me more like Jesus.
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