When Life doesn't...

When life doesn't turn out the way we want it to... what do we do?

Life doesn't meet our expectations...

Life doesn't take the right turn...

          In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me. For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me.  Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength.  Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.  I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the LORD.  I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities;  And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room.  Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.  For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.  I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me.  I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel. For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.

 But I trusted in thee, O LORD:

 

 

 I said, Thou art my God.  My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.  Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies' sake. Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.  Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.  Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the LORD: for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong city. For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee. O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.

~Psalm 31

 

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God... My God!

Just a thought from my devotions this morning.

The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust...
In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God...
For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness...
For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall...

How many times do I veiw God as MY GOD? Not just God who rules over everything, but MY GOD! He is here for me. In light, and in darkness. In joy and in pain. In laughter and in sorrow.

Sarah k 2011

Sometimes...

Sometimes when we cry out in our pain, asking God to make himself know, we can't find him. He seems faraway and distant, and we conclude that he just isn’t as good and kind and powerful as we had thought. Our weak faith is shaken, and we wind up distancing ourselves from God, because our own means of comfort seem safer.

Perhaps the most faith-shaking, fear-generating experiences are those in which God provides a blessing and then seems to pull the rug out from under us by taking away the blessing as soon as we get a taste of it. God is not who we thought he was.

When we go through that sort of experience, our foundation is shaken to the core.

When we first discover that God isn’t who we’d thought, when he doesn’t turn out to fit our image of him, our fall into doubt or unbelief can be extraordinary, “Who is God if he is not the one I can count of to rescue more from bad things?” we ask. “Is he a God I can be close to after all? I’ve always gone to him with everything large and small. Does he care? Or have I been kidding myself all this time?” When our view of a loving God is called into question, we don’t know where to turn.

When God comes near to us, we are going to respond in one of two ways. Either we will cling to God in the midst of our fear, discovering in the process at that Jesus is for us, or we will run away from our only source of help.

 ~Lydia Brownback

The latter is easier to do.

There's someone who'll always let you in... God

Some quotes that I read today that have REALLY impacted me! In ways that I'm still struggling through, but taking one step closer to the truth is as much as I can hope for right now!

He wants you to know He loves you whether or not you believe in Him."

"Never forget, when you have lost your faith, when God is no longer real to you... go back. Go back to the last place you saw Him. He will be waiting for you there."

"Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength."

"It's not something in your genes like your mother's eyes or your grandmother's nose.  No, faith is something you gotta work out for yourself and it doesn't happen in the good times."

"God has a plan and just because you don't understand it does not mean God doesn't understand it."

"God never gives up on us, baby, even though sometimes people do."

"God has many names, you know.  Jehovah, Almighty, Everlasting Father, Alpha and Omega...  But do you know what He calls Himself?  'I Am.'  Ask God who He is, and that is what He'll tell you.  'I Am.'  Not 'I was' or 'I'm going to be.'  But "I am.'  'I am here for you now because that's where you need Me.'  And if God is here, right here, right now, what is there to fear?" 

"When we ignore the truth, we ignore God, because God is truth.  And what isn't true, He doesn't want any part of.  He can't.  It's just not who He is."

"You'll be wrapped in God's love no matter what happens today or tomorrow or ever."

"You're not alone.  God is here and the fastest car in the world can't outrun Him and the toughest heart in the world can't ignore Him because wherever you go God will be there ahead of you, waiting for you with a miracle."

“Imagine that you are locked in a closet for years…  Now, uh, during this incarceration, you have a baby…  Now, you hope to get out, right, but you don’t know.  So you start drawing pictures of, uh, birds and, um, trees and dogs, you know, to show this baby of yours, who has never seen what life is like out in the real world.  So, imagine that, uh, one day this baby comes and says, ‘You know, uh gee, houses and birds and trees and dogs are all pretty small and, um, flat, aren’t they?'  And you realize that no matter how hard you try to draw these pictures, you can never get this baby of yours to ever imagine what reality looks like.  Never.  Not until he sees it for himself.  So in the meantime you tell this child that you love him and you ask him to trust you."

 

 

 

"You put up a wall to block out your pain and your fear. But a wall works two ways. Yes, it keeps things in, but it also keeps things out; like joy, trust, hope."

Anniversary

June 1st always sitcks in my mind. In fact, the first of every month brings a smile to my face. It is the day in which I wait to see which parent wins. Wins what, you may ask? Well, the monthly anniversary of their wedding. Dad won last month... "Hi, honey, happy anniversary." on the other line on the phone: "Stink! You beat me to it! :)" Whoever can wish the other happy anniversary first "wins"

I'm thankful for parents who love each other. It means alot to me. Mom, Dad, sure, sometimes babysitting the younger kids for you for the third time in a  week gets tiring, but, knowing you love to be together makes it worth it!

Love you both!