Learn to be still
A friend asked me one day - if God is so good, why are all these stupid things happening to me?
As human beings, we love to reason. When something bad happens, we feel a need to understand and know why it happened. There must be a reason for it. And more often than not, we ask God "Why??"
I would like to ask you a question - Sally was walking along the path when she passed you by. Kevin suddenly stuck his foot out to trip her and then runs away. Sally turns to you and asks you "Why??"
My reason for that illustration is this - we sometimes point the finger at the wrong person when we meet with setback.
It isn't God who places the stumbling block there as we learn how to walk. Which parent in his or her right mind would stand before their kid, arms outstretch, encouraging them to take steps to come into their arms and as they do so, place a minefield of obstacles in their way? If you won't do that, do you think your Father in Heaven will do that?
My point is this - if it is discouragement, defeat, despair, depression, doubt, disability... it is from the Devil. His whole aim in life is to prevent you from entering into the Father's arms. He operates out of sheer jealousy because we have authority that he doesn't. He is a fallen angel. There is no way he can get back up there. But we are ranked a little higher than angels. We are sons and daughters of our dear Abba... not servants... we have son-ship!
Many times than not, we make the decisions in life that give the devil an opportunity to cause mayhem.
It could be a decision to continue to be angry with someone. It could be a decision to do something against the promptings of the Holy Spirit. It could be a decision to speak negatively over your own life or circumstances. It could be choosing to believe in fengshui, superstition or divination and consulting them. It could be choosing to hold on instead of letting go to a negative emotion or fears or past.
All these are akin to throwing your spiritual door wide open for him to attack you.
Before we play the blame game with God, we should examine our lives - what is our area of stronghold? We need to know what we need to be walking away from.
I confess that I was once very, very depressed. I used to tell Ian, "If you want to truly understand me, watch the movie The Hours."
The Hours is an acclaimed film with some of the best actresses in contemporary Hollywood - but it was a terribly depressing show. I felt I could connect with each struggling character in that film - they were all imprisoned by despair that they felt they could not escape. As Sylvia Plath once said in her book the Bell Jar - " How did I know that someday - at college, in Europe, somewhere, anywhere - the bell jar, with its stifling distortions, wouldn't descend again?" - I used to agree with that. Tori Amos, Sylvia Plath - I felt they sang my heart song.
Depression was my stronghold. It was a terrible one.
I was in a bird cage that had an opened door. But I looked at that door suspiciously and felt it would lead to another captivity and another cage. I say the door to my cage was open because I was already a believer of Christ then, but I did not know or understand the true grace that Jesus brought with him. I even told Ian that depression was the food to my writings... the more emotionally wrecked I was, the better I wrote. It was such a twisted way of thinking. I felt no one understood me, but perhaps I did not want them to understand me. Those were dark days. It was like I was sitting in a room that I kept dark, and I allowed that darkness to fester and eat up every shred of joy I had inside of me. I fed the depression and it fed me - but that was no bread of life that it was feeding me.
Kae was reading a book I got him the other day when he suddenly when "Aha! So GRACE is the KEY." I felt really happy that he understands that crucial fact at the age of 6. He went on to say that Law (the spirit of legalism) is like a prison. I told him he was almost right. For me, I personally view it this way - Law is the jailer, our emotions or strongholds are the prison. Grace is the key.
When I was depressed, I felt guilty to be in church. I felt I had no place to be there. I wanted to be with God, but I was afraid. I was afraid He was disappointed and angry with me.
Have you ever felt that way before?
Remember primary school? When you failed your Maths test AGAIN and you felt scared to go ask your parents for their signature? I don't know about you but I would go home, put on two layers of PJ pants (more air gets trapped when the cane comes whooshing down, and it makes the impact a little less painful) because I knew my Mum would whack me. I knew she would beat me and fear ate into my heart. So when I got home, I'd stand as far as I could, run away as far as possible.
Legalism feels that way sometimes - The 10 commands... The Thou Shalt Not OR ELSE...
There is no way anyone can keep those 10 "simple" rules for getting through the pearly gates unless He Himself is God ... and Jesus Christ is God and He did just that - He kept the rules for us.
When my grandmother wanted to whack me when I was being naughty, my aunt (still in Secondary School then) used to jump in front and take the blows. Spent from all the whacking, and perhaps emotionally satisfied (anger all vented out already), my grandmother would drop the cane and go do her housework and stuff. After that session, there would be no more mention of the trouble I had caused and no mention of another round of caning. My aunt had taken it for me.
That was just one incident that my Aunt was able to protect me from. She can't protect me all my life. But Jesus can. Jesus took our punishment for us. He hopped in front of us and took it all, so we will not have to be punished ever. He tore the veil between us and God - the communication breakdown that caused us to see an angry God instead of a loving God; And when God sees us, He no longer sees our imperfection and sins... He sees us in Christ.
Jesus Christ is the person of Grace.
The Bible tells us -
"Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the LORD, the veil is taken way. Now the LORD is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is FREEDOM." - 2 Cor 3:15-17
I found the keys to freedom is grace and you can only see grace when you spend time in the Word of the LORD. How many of us are robbed because we are too lazy to read, to abide in Him... to sit at his feet of mercy and read His eternal love letter to us?
It is written that God's children are robbed because of a lack of knowledge. We are robbed again and again by the Giants in our lives, by the Enemy because we do not know God's promises to us - promises for good and for blessings. We think God is the one who has placed the strongholds in our lives, we think He is the one who has placed us in the prison cell and we suspect He has tossed the key away. We remain weak and weary because we do not understand that the JOY of the LORD is our strength.
Singaporeans all love free gifts. They queue for free samples, free gifts... Singaporeans also have a suspicious mind - if it is too good to be true, it must be too good to be true.
Well here is one free gift counter that doesn't always have a queue because it seems too good to be true. BUT IT IS TRUE - it doesn't cost anything for you to receive it because it has been overpaid for. And as a poster once said "Try Jesus. If you don't like Him, the devil will always take you back."
Grace is a gift. It cannot be earned and it cannot be bought. It is given to people who don't deserve it. The only qualification for grace is failure and imperfection.
"For it is by FREE grace that you are saved (delivered from judgement and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through (your) faith. And this (salvation) is NOT of yourselves (of your own doing, it came not of your own striving), but it is THE GIFT OF GOD." - Ephesians 2:8
No strings attached. Free. Lelong Lelong.
But free doesn't mean cheap. Grace is not cheap. The gift of grace was bought at a heavy price. It cost God His Son.
Some people ask if God is so smart, why were there loopholes that He had to plug?
Well, it is because He gave us the gift of free will and because He honours His promises, He can't take that gift back. He can't stop us from choosing the wrong choices or choosing to believe wrongly. He can give us access to the keys to righteousness and to Heaven, but we have to choose to take it. He can't force us.
As a parent, I so understand that. I can ask Kae to eat his lunch, but I can't force him to eat his lunch. He would just sit there angry and in tears, mouth pursed tight. He wants to play, not eat. Then he goes to play, feels hungry at some point and perhaps even feels a slight tummy pain (wind), and realises maybe Mummy was right about eating lunch after all. So he troops back to the dining table and attacks his food, lights his face up and tells me it tastes good.
Sometimes, choosing to break out of that stronghold requires us to step out of our comfort zone. We have become so used to being in that state of mind, that state of existence - we become complacent.
Well, stop complaining already and do something. I like what Joyce Meyer says "Complain and remain. Praise and be raised."
I have several friends who have asked me at various times WHEN will God solve my problem? WHEN will things get better? And these are the same people who choose to say that God has abandoned them, that God is a liar, that God is angry with them and hates them... negative confessions anyone?
Pastor Prince once illustrated it this way - there are blessings flowing through pipes, but we grab onto those pipes and choke them. That is what negative confession does. You choke your own blessings by declaring negatively over yourself.
I can offer to give Kae a present to bless him, but unless he opens his hands to receive it, it will just remain in my hand. Waiting.
Again, I quote Joyce Meyer - "Sometimes we think we are waiting on God, but He is waiting on us."
Picture a dog pound. The door is opened. A man stands before the door, waiting for the puppy inside to step out - he wants to adopt it. This puppy has been abused before, hurt before, so it views this man suspiciously.
Two scenarios - the puppy remains in the cage, and never gets to know what possibly could be a great master, but perhaps it is so disappointed with life that it cynically rejoices that it was smart enough to escape from another life of captivity.; Or he steps out of the prison that he has been used to for months now, operates in trust and positive believing and enjoys a happy life ahead of love, hugs, companionship, blessings because his master is the REAL DEAL.
Back to the baby learning to walk and all these obstacles are in the way. When Kae was learning to walk, we taught him to slowly hold on to the chair and the table and the stool that were in his path and use them to aid him instead of hinder him.
Sometimes because of a wrong decision, we meet with an obstacle. We can't avoid obstacles all the time, there are times when they are placed there by the enemy to hinder us. But we can use these obstacles as stepping stones instead of stumbling blocks.
In a trying situation at the office - gossipy colleague that is backstabbing you? You can choose to tit for tat - which just makes matters worse OR you can choose to hold your head high and give her no fuel to attack you because you don't respond to her stupid attacks. People will see through her petty nature, and the glory of God will shine through your situation. You learn something too... To exercise patience and grace under attack, and to rejoice even when you are in the wilderness.
Fed up with an unromantic Hubby at home? Don't complain and remain. You take the initiative to buy him flowers, to show him what being romantic is like and what sort of feelings these little gestures bring about... so that he knows how to be romantic to you and understands how these romantic gestures are not all sappy but can be comforting and very nice to enjoy.
An unreasonable mother in law? Don't always go head to head with her. You can't fight fire with fire. Try nodding your head and smiling and being agreeable to some of her requests. Find a way to compromise. Bless her with presents and even if she puts them down, don't get angry. Keep blessing her and blessing her until she starts blessing you back. And remember to PUSH (learned this from my cousin) - Pray Until Something Happens.
We are not of this world and because this world is fallen and the devil holds its lease, he hates us and will get the worldly ones to hate us too.
Yes sometimes it is frustrating to walk into another wall, but you can complain and remain... or you can praise and be raised... you can walk away from the wall, instead of keep walking into it... you can choose to back off and walk a different direction.
Life feels like a maze sometimes, and you can choose to try to solve every problem on your own and bite off more than you can chew... or you can rest on amazing grace.
And be patient. God will rescue you out of your circumstances in HIS perfect time.
"There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven." - Ecclesiastes 3: 1
Wikipedia defines Patience this way -
Patience (ˈpā-shənz) is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances. This can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast.
Joyce Meyer reminds us that 'patience is to be constant or to be the same ALL the time, no matter what is going on. Patience is not merely waiting; it is how you act while you are waiting.'
So as He prepares to bring you out of your personal Egypt and take you to the promised land, remember that you have a part to play too. He can't get you to the position of blessing He has reserved for you if you remain angry and stubborn. The promise land was a mere 11 days away from where they were, but the grumbling Israelites took 40 years to get there - because they wasted all that time grumbling and being negative and taking matters into their own hands and refusing to take a step in the right direction because they were stubborn.
Also remember this - sometimes we think we are so smart and we try to tell God exactly how to rescue us and where we want to go. You need to understand that God sees beyond the end of his nose into eternity. Our plans might not be all that great in the long run... but His plans, that seem crappy at first because it is different from what we intended, will be the best thing to happen to you.
Your position of blessing might differ from what you had in mind when you started your journey, but it is the best place for you to be in and to operate in.
Life is a journey. Everyday we take steps. Stormie once said that "our tomorrow is determined by the steps we take today." - before you take that next step, or utter the next word from your mouth... surrender it to the LORD and trust Him and His leading. Remember His promises to you -
"Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose..." - Jeremiah 15:11
"Do not be afraid little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom."
- Luke 12:32
"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." - Jeremiah 29:11
I want to share with you a prayer I came across one day that I feel will bless you...
"Dear LORD, where I am right now I declare to be Holy Ground. I invite You to reign in this situation for You are greater than anything I am now facing."
I end with this comforting note from Stormie Omartian -
"No matter where you are, how far away you are from God you've gone. When you surrender your life to the LORD, a path is carved from where you are to where you are supposed to be, and He puts you on it."
Remember - The LORD will fight for you, you need only be still - Exodus 14:14
As human beings, we love to reason. When something bad happens, we feel a need to understand and know why it happened. There must be a reason for it. And more often than not, we ask God "Why??"
I would like to ask you a question - Sally was walking along the path when she passed you by. Kevin suddenly stuck his foot out to trip her and then runs away. Sally turns to you and asks you "Why??"
My reason for that illustration is this - we sometimes point the finger at the wrong person when we meet with setback.
It isn't God who places the stumbling block there as we learn how to walk. Which parent in his or her right mind would stand before their kid, arms outstretch, encouraging them to take steps to come into their arms and as they do so, place a minefield of obstacles in their way? If you won't do that, do you think your Father in Heaven will do that?
My point is this - if it is discouragement, defeat, despair, depression, doubt, disability... it is from the Devil. His whole aim in life is to prevent you from entering into the Father's arms. He operates out of sheer jealousy because we have authority that he doesn't. He is a fallen angel. There is no way he can get back up there. But we are ranked a little higher than angels. We are sons and daughters of our dear Abba... not servants... we have son-ship!
Many times than not, we make the decisions in life that give the devil an opportunity to cause mayhem.
It could be a decision to continue to be angry with someone. It could be a decision to do something against the promptings of the Holy Spirit. It could be a decision to speak negatively over your own life or circumstances. It could be choosing to believe in fengshui, superstition or divination and consulting them. It could be choosing to hold on instead of letting go to a negative emotion or fears or past.
All these are akin to throwing your spiritual door wide open for him to attack you.
Before we play the blame game with God, we should examine our lives - what is our area of stronghold? We need to know what we need to be walking away from.
I confess that I was once very, very depressed. I used to tell Ian, "If you want to truly understand me, watch the movie The Hours."
The Hours is an acclaimed film with some of the best actresses in contemporary Hollywood - but it was a terribly depressing show. I felt I could connect with each struggling character in that film - they were all imprisoned by despair that they felt they could not escape. As Sylvia Plath once said in her book the Bell Jar - " How did I know that someday - at college, in Europe, somewhere, anywhere - the bell jar, with its stifling distortions, wouldn't descend again?" - I used to agree with that. Tori Amos, Sylvia Plath - I felt they sang my heart song.
Depression was my stronghold. It was a terrible one.
I was in a bird cage that had an opened door. But I looked at that door suspiciously and felt it would lead to another captivity and another cage. I say the door to my cage was open because I was already a believer of Christ then, but I did not know or understand the true grace that Jesus brought with him. I even told Ian that depression was the food to my writings... the more emotionally wrecked I was, the better I wrote. It was such a twisted way of thinking. I felt no one understood me, but perhaps I did not want them to understand me. Those were dark days. It was like I was sitting in a room that I kept dark, and I allowed that darkness to fester and eat up every shred of joy I had inside of me. I fed the depression and it fed me - but that was no bread of life that it was feeding me.
Kae was reading a book I got him the other day when he suddenly when "Aha! So GRACE is the KEY." I felt really happy that he understands that crucial fact at the age of 6. He went on to say that Law (the spirit of legalism) is like a prison. I told him he was almost right. For me, I personally view it this way - Law is the jailer, our emotions or strongholds are the prison. Grace is the key.
When I was depressed, I felt guilty to be in church. I felt I had no place to be there. I wanted to be with God, but I was afraid. I was afraid He was disappointed and angry with me.
Have you ever felt that way before?
Remember primary school? When you failed your Maths test AGAIN and you felt scared to go ask your parents for their signature? I don't know about you but I would go home, put on two layers of PJ pants (more air gets trapped when the cane comes whooshing down, and it makes the impact a little less painful) because I knew my Mum would whack me. I knew she would beat me and fear ate into my heart. So when I got home, I'd stand as far as I could, run away as far as possible.
Legalism feels that way sometimes - The 10 commands... The Thou Shalt Not OR ELSE...
There is no way anyone can keep those 10 "simple" rules for getting through the pearly gates unless He Himself is God ... and Jesus Christ is God and He did just that - He kept the rules for us.
When my grandmother wanted to whack me when I was being naughty, my aunt (still in Secondary School then) used to jump in front and take the blows. Spent from all the whacking, and perhaps emotionally satisfied (anger all vented out already), my grandmother would drop the cane and go do her housework and stuff. After that session, there would be no more mention of the trouble I had caused and no mention of another round of caning. My aunt had taken it for me.
That was just one incident that my Aunt was able to protect me from. She can't protect me all my life. But Jesus can. Jesus took our punishment for us. He hopped in front of us and took it all, so we will not have to be punished ever. He tore the veil between us and God - the communication breakdown that caused us to see an angry God instead of a loving God; And when God sees us, He no longer sees our imperfection and sins... He sees us in Christ.
Jesus Christ is the person of Grace.
The Bible tells us -
"Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the LORD, the veil is taken way. Now the LORD is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is FREEDOM." - 2 Cor 3:15-17
I found the keys to freedom is grace and you can only see grace when you spend time in the Word of the LORD. How many of us are robbed because we are too lazy to read, to abide in Him... to sit at his feet of mercy and read His eternal love letter to us?
It is written that God's children are robbed because of a lack of knowledge. We are robbed again and again by the Giants in our lives, by the Enemy because we do not know God's promises to us - promises for good and for blessings. We think God is the one who has placed the strongholds in our lives, we think He is the one who has placed us in the prison cell and we suspect He has tossed the key away. We remain weak and weary because we do not understand that the JOY of the LORD is our strength.
Singaporeans all love free gifts. They queue for free samples, free gifts... Singaporeans also have a suspicious mind - if it is too good to be true, it must be too good to be true.
Well here is one free gift counter that doesn't always have a queue because it seems too good to be true. BUT IT IS TRUE - it doesn't cost anything for you to receive it because it has been overpaid for. And as a poster once said "Try Jesus. If you don't like Him, the devil will always take you back."
Grace is a gift. It cannot be earned and it cannot be bought. It is given to people who don't deserve it. The only qualification for grace is failure and imperfection.
"For it is by FREE grace that you are saved (delivered from judgement and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through (your) faith. And this (salvation) is NOT of yourselves (of your own doing, it came not of your own striving), but it is THE GIFT OF GOD." - Ephesians 2:8
No strings attached. Free. Lelong Lelong.
But free doesn't mean cheap. Grace is not cheap. The gift of grace was bought at a heavy price. It cost God His Son.
Some people ask if God is so smart, why were there loopholes that He had to plug?
Well, it is because He gave us the gift of free will and because He honours His promises, He can't take that gift back. He can't stop us from choosing the wrong choices or choosing to believe wrongly. He can give us access to the keys to righteousness and to Heaven, but we have to choose to take it. He can't force us.
As a parent, I so understand that. I can ask Kae to eat his lunch, but I can't force him to eat his lunch. He would just sit there angry and in tears, mouth pursed tight. He wants to play, not eat. Then he goes to play, feels hungry at some point and perhaps even feels a slight tummy pain (wind), and realises maybe Mummy was right about eating lunch after all. So he troops back to the dining table and attacks his food, lights his face up and tells me it tastes good.
Sometimes, choosing to break out of that stronghold requires us to step out of our comfort zone. We have become so used to being in that state of mind, that state of existence - we become complacent.
Well, stop complaining already and do something. I like what Joyce Meyer says "Complain and remain. Praise and be raised."
I have several friends who have asked me at various times WHEN will God solve my problem? WHEN will things get better? And these are the same people who choose to say that God has abandoned them, that God is a liar, that God is angry with them and hates them... negative confessions anyone?
Pastor Prince once illustrated it this way - there are blessings flowing through pipes, but we grab onto those pipes and choke them. That is what negative confession does. You choke your own blessings by declaring negatively over yourself.
I can offer to give Kae a present to bless him, but unless he opens his hands to receive it, it will just remain in my hand. Waiting.
Again, I quote Joyce Meyer - "Sometimes we think we are waiting on God, but He is waiting on us."
Picture a dog pound. The door is opened. A man stands before the door, waiting for the puppy inside to step out - he wants to adopt it. This puppy has been abused before, hurt before, so it views this man suspiciously.
Two scenarios - the puppy remains in the cage, and never gets to know what possibly could be a great master, but perhaps it is so disappointed with life that it cynically rejoices that it was smart enough to escape from another life of captivity.; Or he steps out of the prison that he has been used to for months now, operates in trust and positive believing and enjoys a happy life ahead of love, hugs, companionship, blessings because his master is the REAL DEAL.
Back to the baby learning to walk and all these obstacles are in the way. When Kae was learning to walk, we taught him to slowly hold on to the chair and the table and the stool that were in his path and use them to aid him instead of hinder him.
Sometimes because of a wrong decision, we meet with an obstacle. We can't avoid obstacles all the time, there are times when they are placed there by the enemy to hinder us. But we can use these obstacles as stepping stones instead of stumbling blocks.
In a trying situation at the office - gossipy colleague that is backstabbing you? You can choose to tit for tat - which just makes matters worse OR you can choose to hold your head high and give her no fuel to attack you because you don't respond to her stupid attacks. People will see through her petty nature, and the glory of God will shine through your situation. You learn something too... To exercise patience and grace under attack, and to rejoice even when you are in the wilderness.
Fed up with an unromantic Hubby at home? Don't complain and remain. You take the initiative to buy him flowers, to show him what being romantic is like and what sort of feelings these little gestures bring about... so that he knows how to be romantic to you and understands how these romantic gestures are not all sappy but can be comforting and very nice to enjoy.
An unreasonable mother in law? Don't always go head to head with her. You can't fight fire with fire. Try nodding your head and smiling and being agreeable to some of her requests. Find a way to compromise. Bless her with presents and even if she puts them down, don't get angry. Keep blessing her and blessing her until she starts blessing you back. And remember to PUSH (learned this from my cousin) - Pray Until Something Happens.
We are not of this world and because this world is fallen and the devil holds its lease, he hates us and will get the worldly ones to hate us too.
Yes sometimes it is frustrating to walk into another wall, but you can complain and remain... or you can praise and be raised... you can walk away from the wall, instead of keep walking into it... you can choose to back off and walk a different direction.
Life feels like a maze sometimes, and you can choose to try to solve every problem on your own and bite off more than you can chew... or you can rest on amazing grace.
And be patient. God will rescue you out of your circumstances in HIS perfect time.
"There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven." - Ecclesiastes 3: 1
Wikipedia defines Patience this way -
Patience (ˈpā-shənz) is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances. This can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast.
Joyce Meyer reminds us that 'patience is to be constant or to be the same ALL the time, no matter what is going on. Patience is not merely waiting; it is how you act while you are waiting.'
So as He prepares to bring you out of your personal Egypt and take you to the promised land, remember that you have a part to play too. He can't get you to the position of blessing He has reserved for you if you remain angry and stubborn. The promise land was a mere 11 days away from where they were, but the grumbling Israelites took 40 years to get there - because they wasted all that time grumbling and being negative and taking matters into their own hands and refusing to take a step in the right direction because they were stubborn.
Also remember this - sometimes we think we are so smart and we try to tell God exactly how to rescue us and where we want to go. You need to understand that God sees beyond the end of his nose into eternity. Our plans might not be all that great in the long run... but His plans, that seem crappy at first because it is different from what we intended, will be the best thing to happen to you.
Your position of blessing might differ from what you had in mind when you started your journey, but it is the best place for you to be in and to operate in.
Life is a journey. Everyday we take steps. Stormie once said that "our tomorrow is determined by the steps we take today." - before you take that next step, or utter the next word from your mouth... surrender it to the LORD and trust Him and His leading. Remember His promises to you -
"Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose..." - Jeremiah 15:11
"Do not be afraid little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom."
- Luke 12:32
"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." - Jeremiah 29:11
I want to share with you a prayer I came across one day that I feel will bless you...
"Dear LORD, where I am right now I declare to be Holy Ground. I invite You to reign in this situation for You are greater than anything I am now facing."
I end with this comforting note from Stormie Omartian -
"No matter where you are, how far away you are from God you've gone. When you surrender your life to the LORD, a path is carved from where you are to where you are supposed to be, and He puts you on it."
Remember - The LORD will fight for you, you need only be still - Exodus 14:14
You're God-sent Geri! I'm in the midst of 'counselling' a fren who's gng thru a divorce. She's gng thru a very difficult time and is a back slidden christian guilty about going back to God esp when she has problems. Your post is so timely and i've sent it to her for encouragement. God is so faithful! The people He placed in our lives are certainly not by coincidence. :)
ReplyDeleteAmen! =D I agree with that - there is no coincidence with our Heavenly Father.
ReplyDeleteI pray that your friend will receive the healing that she needs. It must be a trying time.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm sure healing is in progress. He makes all things beautiful in His time :)
ReplyDeleteAmen to that too! =)
ReplyDelete