Stressed?

Today, I am stressed.  This week has been a very trying week for me.  There has been one thing after another after another.  School, work, illness, money woes, teens….well I could go on, but I won’t bore you.  I find myself longing for bed time each night.  Have you ever had a week like that?  What kind of human would I be if I never admitted I had a bad week?  I wouldn’t be a normal human for sure. It can’t be all doves and roses all the time.  We all have bad days, weeks, months.  It’s what we do with them that matters.  It’s how we react.  Here’s the thing. Satan CANNOT read your mind!  He is not omniscient, omnipresent, or all knowing.  To be so would mean that he is on the same wavelength as God.  We all know that is not so.  So, what does Satan “go” by?  Many times, he goes by our reactions.  Something happens to us and Satan (or one of his do-boys LOL) are sitting there waiting to see “how is she gonna take this?” He wants to know where our faith is.  Are we going to claim the word of God over our lives or are we going to poor me…….WHY GOD????  WHY ME????  I sadly, have done both.  This is when knowing the word of God comes in.  If the word is hidden in our hearts…..at the perfect time it will come forth.  We will know that Jesus is there, in our most stressful week, saying “peace, be still.”  I love the song that says “sometimes he calms the storm and other times he calms His child”.  There are times we have to go through things.  Not around them….the Bible says “though I go THROUGH the valley…” Sometimes there is no other way but through.  It is in those times, though, that my faith has grown.  It has been in the hard times that I have planted my feet and declared that no matter what, I will serve the Lord.  I will see the battle through…..I WILL simply trust.  That’s what it comes down to….trust.  Do we trust Him to bring us through the bad weeks?  Do we trust that no matter how it ends, it is all for His glory?  Do we trust that He loves us enough that He always, always has our best interest at heart? If we do, then the bad weeks, the stressful days, well they won’t seem quite as bad.  Psalm 85:8 says “I will listen to what God the Lord will say; he promises peace to His people, His saints.” I think that’s enough said. 
Here’s wishing you a stress free God filled weekend…….

The Wilderness

There are times in our lives when we are just going to feel alone. We never know when these seasons are going to appear, why they appear, or for how long they will last. Going through one of these seasons myself (and a really long one I might add), I did some research. I looked up "wilderness" in the dictionary and the definition that really hit me was: "a wild and uncultivated region, as of forest or desert, uninhabited or inhabited only by wild animals; a tract of wasteland." This hit me particularly hard because out in the wilderness it seems that we are indeed in a place that is inhabited by wild animals—animals that want to destroy you—to consume you. Jesus himself was tested in the wilderness remember? At that point of fasting, Satan appeared to Him in the wilderness and attempted to devour Him—in the wilderness. Remember how He overcame? With the Word of God. There are times when the last thing we may want to do is pray or read. I have been there too. To overcome the creatures waiting to devour us, we have to be equipped. If you were in a literal wilderness, you would find something to defend yourself. The same is true with a spiritual wilderness. These are all lessons that I have had to learn. I have to be equipped and I can't expect anyone to do it for me. I have to seek God, I have to worship, I have to feed myself His word, I have to do these things; not my church, not my friends, not my husband, just me. Just Jesus and me out here wandering around. Who better to be led by? Who better to seek and depend upon? I know that no matter what, He is in charge, even when I am tired and worn out, He is there, ready to take my hand and help me around the mountain one more time. The definition also states that it is "a tract of wasteland". In a spiritual meaning, it could most definitely be a place of waste. I know people who were on fire for God, when everything was going good. Then, in a place of wilderness, in a place of testing, they turned their backs on Him and His goodness. That is indeed waste. The biggest waste of all. I am responsible to make sure that I don't waste away out here—that I get enough to eat—enough of His word to sustain me. I will not be defeated. If you ask anyone who knows me, they will tell you that I am slightly hardheaded. LOL

All wilderness I will encounter will end, eventually. And I will come out ahead, I will come out victorious having learned another lesson and another dimension of my faith that I wouldn't know existed if it wasn't tested. How do I know that? Because the word of God tells me that He has a good future planned for me, a good life, He will prosper me and not harm me. It also tells me that I will go through these times. If I believe His word, then I have to believe all of it, not the parts I want. That's ok. It's all about trust......




Just a thought…