fiery trial part 6 (blessings)

     We pray for blessings, we pray for peace

Comfort for family, protection while we sleep

We pray for healing, for prosperity

We pray for your mighty hand to ease our suffering

     

     As I continue further along the path of suffering, it's easy for me to focus my attention on how I am being disappointed again and again. It's easy to give up trying to be strong – trying to make it through. 

     Far too easy. And far too tempting.

I want what I want, and I want God to give it to me! Why should I try to conform my will to his, when I'm sure he can't know best?

All the while You hear each spoken need

Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

The thing is, he does know best. I have to believe that. I am starting to, but it's hard. I would even be tempted to say it's too hard.

     But even as I'm writing this, I'm realizing that I have been depending too much on my own strength to make it through this trial. What makes me think I can carry myself through something I didn't even bring about? Am I that full of myself, that I would assign that much power to myself? It's a problem all Christians face at one time or another. We try to handle things by ourselves. But we can't handle things by ourselves. 

     It's not my place to take over; to be sovereign. It is my place, however, to fill myself with Jesus, who is sovereign, and with the power that he gives me to walk through my suffering. Exodus 14:14 says, "The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” I will not stop putting my hope and trust in Jesus. I know he will fight for me. 

     I know that what I am experiencing will result in his blessings. He will give me something much greater than anything I could ever imagine. I must believe that. I must keep my eyes on Jesus. 

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears?

What if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You're near

And what if trials of this life

Are Your mercies in disguise?

     I look forward to the wonderful things God has in store for me. I pray that he will give me the strength and wisdom to keep walking in the path he has set for me, without looking back. It is exhausting to think about the whys of the doings of God; he is incomprehensible, and as such, I will not try to understand his reasons for directing my life the way he does. 

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear

We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near

We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love

As if every promise from Your Word is not enough

And all the while You hear each desperate plea

And long that we'd have faith to believe

     It's all that I can do to keep these beliefs from dashing to pieces. I have to fight to keep my eyes on Jesus. But I'm fighting with his power, not my own. Romans 8:31 says, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" I sing songs about God's love for me and his sovereignty, sometimes just to remind my doubting heart that it's true. 

     It is true, even if that seems hopelessly preposterous. It's not. There is a purpose, and God is working all things out for my good because I love him. 

What if my greatest disappointments

Or the aching of this life

Is the revealing of a greater thirst

This world can't satisfy?

     And so, I lean on Jesus, knowing that he loves me and that he wants and intends to bless me. "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” - Lamentations 3:22-24. 

And what if trials of this life

The rain, the storms, the hardest nights

 Are Your mercies in disguise?

Blessings - Laura Story

-Sarah :)

New Mercies

     Remember a couple posts back, when I posted on the "less-read" books of the Bible? In that post, I mentioned a passage (one of my favorites from the whole Bible, actually) from Lamentations chapter 3.

     The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

Lamentations 3:22-24

     Even though I commented a little on these verses in the post I did previously, I wanted to expand on it, since it seems to have become my "theme verse" recently. 

     One part that really sticks out to me is: "his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is his faithfulness." This is encouraging for me because I know that he will be faithful to me every day, no matter what my day-to-day struggles are. I feel like that sentence is quite cliche, like it's been said so much, and so it kind of loses it's meaning. But if I really dwell on it's meaning, the power of it comes back to me: he takes care of me every moment of the day! Today hasn't been one of my better days; there have been struggles, and I've been pushed almost to my limits. I was sitting here at my computer, slightly irritated by my circumstances today, when suddenly God reminded me of his faithfulness. 

"They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. . ."

     Although I didn't literally hear him say that, I knew it was from God. I was instantly encouraged by the fact that God was faithfully holding me up through my struggles. I know that I can make it through the day triumphantly if I trust that he grants me daily mercies. 

     Has God ever spoken to you through his Word like that? Maybe you didn't hear him audibly, but you knew he was trying to remind you of something. If that has happened to you, and if you'd like to, let me know in a comment on this post, along with the verse(s) that God used to speak to you. :)

-Sarah :)

Those less-read books of the Bible

     Habakkuk is one of those books of the Bible that you just don't read (OK, well maybe that "you" doesn't apply to you personally, but I think in general it's one of the books that is read less than certain others). For me, other books that I seldom read would include Lamentations, Philemon, Ezekiel, and Malachi. I have found, however, that reading these books can uncover some amazing truths that I never saw before because I hadn't read the book very much.

     So this post is for two passages that I found, one in Lamentations and the other in Habakkuk. These are two of my favorite passages in the Bible now. :)

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 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

Lamentations 3:22-24

     This passage is in the middle of chapter 3 of Lamentations, which, as the title of the book implies, is full of lament. The words before the opening verse of the above passage are "But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope," and it goes into a remembrance of the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord. 

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Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

     This passage is at the end of the book of Habakkuk, sort of acting as one last reminder of the joy and strength we can find in God, though our circumstances may be less than preferable.  

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     Have you found any passages you really like by just flipping through the Bible, maybe reading in some of the books you don't read usually? What are some other favorite Scriptures of yours? 

-Sarah :)