Trust

“I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God. Bend down and listen as I pray.”  Psalm 17:6

Lately, I have been realizing how powerful it is to know God’s Word and hide it in your heart.  I have memorized many verses in my lifetime, but never really realized the blessing of that until these past few years.

Trust has always been a hard thing for me and it still is, but in the past year I have been amazed at how God has taken care of our family.  In this tough economic time, we owned 2 houses. [If someone would have told me 2 years ago that 1) we would own 2 houses for 15 months, 2) I would not be working for part of that time, but we would be ok – I seriously think that I would not have believed them.] We bought the second house truly believing that God was telling us to do so. We moved over a year ago, and just recently sold our other house!  [Yep, that’s a big PRAISE THE LORD! ]  God provided in ways we would have never anticipated.  He showed up every time there was a need, sometimes very clearly and other times we realized it later. 

God increased my trust in Him through this difficult year.  Many times I doubted that we would be ok, I worried that we would lose everything.  We prayed and we begged God to  “move” – to do something, to show us he was there. We truly believed we had been obedient to Him.  At times I even doubted that God knew our situation and wondered if He even cared.  I have realized in the last few months that God was increasing my trust in Him.  God always hears our prayers. I picture Him bending close to me to listen to the prayers that are whispered out of desperation or pain. God will always answer our prayers in His time and in His way.

My heart has found peace in knowing that God knows our needs. He knows my kid’s needs.  And He has it all figured out.  

More Than Conquerors

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” -- Romans 8:35


It is interesting to me that this verse starts out with “who” and ends with several forms of “what”. All of the things listed are not things that would come from God, but we know that they are a result of sin in the world. And I believe that the “who” here is satan.

Think with me about Job 1 and 2 – where a conversation occurs between God and satan. Job is not even aware of this conversation, but he definitely feels the impact of this conversation. He suffered tremendous loss! He suffered tremendous pain. He experienced things that went against God’s character and did not fit with what he knew to be God’s character. Job came to a crisis of faith and belief in God. Through it all, Job is “put to the test” and out of the ashes he rises. The book of Job tells us that Job never “charged God with wrongdoing”.

I wonder today how many times conversations go on between God and satan, where I am the center of the conversation? I may never know, however, I have the “privilege” of having read Job 1, to know that this conversation between God and satan did occur. Job did not have that. In the book of Romans, chapter 8, Paul uses powerful words to answer his own question about “who can separate us from the love of Christ?” Pauls says: “NO! In all things we are MORE than conquerors!” “For I am convinced…” “Nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God”

If, today you find yourself in the midst of what seems like a “train wreck” in your life. If you are dealing with things that are causing you to question all that you know to believe and understand about God and his character… take comfort and be encouraged by these verses from Romans 8. The temporary things of this life will not separate you from the Creator of all things. God is love and He loves you so much more than you can imagine. And you never know - but there may very well have been a conversation about you. Lean into God’s loving arms. Let him carry you through this time in your life and use the strength he gives to help you rise above the “train wreck” and be more than a conqueror!