Trust in Trials

In Acts 12 we find two examples of trust. Peter had been taken prisoner by Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great. Herod had already beheaded James, brother of John to please the Jewish Pharisees. Peter was awaiting execution, but was so trusting of the Lord that he was sleeping soundly when God's Angel came to free him. The Angel struck him in the side to wake him & gave him several instructions. Still, Peter was trusting so in the Lord, that he thought the angel and everything that happened was a dream, until the angel actually departed from him. He knew God had sent the Angel. He later came to a house where people had been praying for him, but the people had not believed it was really Peter at the gate until they heard his voice and saw him. Still they were astonished at his presence.

Peter was in prison & his fate seemed hopeless, yet he was calm enough to sleep soundly...do we face our own less menacing trials with such calm & trust in the Lord to take care of us? Or are we like the people praying, but hardly believing God will act in our favor?

The answer lies in Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Use me

Use me…to be a shining light for you. I don’t care if I ever know who is touched by that light, as long as I can keep Your Joy in my heart. I know that as long as I’m a light for You there will be blessings overflowing, because You have blessed me and I have not deserved. I have not even begun to be the light that You want me to be. My Joy, my Joy…I’ve found my Joy…My heart breaks knowing that I put those lashes on Your back and my sin I drove each nail…but in the same beat a flood of gratitude rushes through me knowing that You willingly gave yourself…for me…I am a treasure in Your heart…Your beloved child. Use me…let me be a light for You.

His Promise

How close do you pay attention to the happenings of your life? Do you ever look back on events and see how the Lord worked in you or someone else? Have you ever realized that God did something especially in answer to a pray…even if you didn’t really mean it the way it was answered? I’m sure you have…we all have…if you haven’t, maybe you need to pay closer attention.

Five years ago I was saved. The Lord came into my heart in a strong and mighty way. Like most new Christians, I couldn’t get enough of the Word, and I couldn’t spend enough time talking to Him. I was a real Jesus Junkie…like it should be all the time. I remember praying so hard once, crying, praising and so thankful that He saw fit to forgive me…I told Him…not asked…but told Him I would be happy with an old shack with a place I could garden, next to a pond in heaven, as long as I got to be with Him. Lol! I meant it. I was just so grateful that I was one of His chosen people.

About two years later, we started work on our new home. The place we had chosen was an old home place, all grown up, and totally trashed by former residents…literally piles of trash everywhere. For some reason, I always felt at home and at peace there. It took about a year and a half of cleaning, trimming, and tearing down of that old house before we were ready to build…David did most of it in his spare time. Still, the entire time I felt God in that place. I caught myself staring at the beauty of it, amazed at the transformation. About a year after the house was built, I was struggling with God out on my deck…my favorite place in the world. It was dark & I could see a reflection off the pond about a hundred yards from me. It was beautiful. Then it dawned on me…He had answered that simple request…and it wasn’t even really a prayer! More than that, this place was a promise that I had more than I could even think to ask for waiting for me in heaven.

My life is blessed, and every time I walk out my back door I’m reminded how much He loves me. I tend to forget that dealing with life sometimes. Stress and strife distract me very easily. His love for me, and for you is limitless…hard to imagine just how important we are to Him. Look around you…what promises has He given you?

Precious

And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. — Matthew 14:31–32

The power Christ is unimaginable. Understanding the way God works through events in our lives is almost impossible. Especially when those events rip us to pieces. The hardest thing to do, for me, is to believe that He has His hand on me, walking with me through the darkness...holding on to me when my faith waivers...when I take my eyes off of Him for fear of drowning! I know He will always be right there. I am His Beloved, a child of The Most High, and He thinks I'm precious...

His Answer

God answers our prayers in His own time, in His own ways.

Over the last six months, my heart has hurt like no other time in my life. So many changes…so many trials…so many prayers left unanswered…at least that’s what I thought. I stepped back, away from God. Life wasn’t going the way I planned. I didn’t quit on Him, I just stopped begging. The hunger that was in me subsided…waiting for me to return with God’s word & His touch to feed my soul.

I’m still struggling to find my way back to feel His arms around me. All this time, He’s never left me. He’s always been right there, whispering, beckoning me, pulling me back in the right directions every time I stepped out into the darkness.

There is no substitute for the arms of the Father. There is no counselor like my Jesus. There is no person in this world that can fill the empty places of the heart like the Great I Am. He is all, and everything in life. Without Him there is no point of being.

Abiding in Love

I've spent the better part of the last four years since I was saved trying to put into words what the presence of the Lord in my prayer life is like, so others would want to experience the same. This is the best I could come up with:

It's excitement and sorrow at the same time, it's peace and agony, it's spiritual love like nothing I've ever experienced either emotionally or physically with another person. Sometimes it's sudden, sometimes it wraps me in the sweetest slow embrace, then rocks my soul till I'm completely spent. Every muscle in my body is tired, but every nerve is still reaching out for more. I laugh, I cry, I mourn, I hurt, I love...I've become a junkie, seeking His presence every chance my life allows me. He comes to me when I open myself to Him, and never pours out more than my heart can hold.

I will never be the same. I will never be the person I was. I can't imagine not having Jesus in my life.

Do you have this with Jesus? Do you need Him like a man lost in the desert needs a drink of water?

Time with Him

I remember that place where I felt completely alone…that place in my heart devoid of love and hope…that place that seemed so displaced from anything Godly. I remember thinking I wasn’t a bad person, I just wanted what I wanted. In my mind it was okay to do “this” because I had been hurt and thought I deserved “better”. I lived my life according to my idea of right and wrong, instead of abiding in the presence of the Lord and letting Him live in me.

Spending time with the Lord opens the heart, and frees the mind from bonds we didn’t even know had us bound. By spending time I mean: reading the Word, praying, listening, soul searching in the presence of the Lord, turning off the TV, shutting down the computer, putting the cell on silent, and setting aside TIME with no interruptions or distractions, focused on Jesus!

You don’t have to be a certain age, of any particular denomination, or even have a laid out study plan…you just need time, a Bible & a quiet place. When you find yourself in His presence…revel in His love, and rest there awhile…Please, let me know how it goes!

John 15: 1-14

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2015:1-14&version=31