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.  

Still Standing

I know... it's been a while.  I’ve been in a “funk” lately. I hate funks. They are easy to slip into and hard to get out of. I was spending more time listening to the words that are untrue and less time listening to the Voice of Truth. I felt lonely and down, so what did I do? I withdrew from people. Honestly I think that is the dumbest thing to do. But more often than not it is the easiest thing to do… sometimes it just seems it takes too much energy to get in touch with people or to talk about what you’re feeling.

Eventually, I did share honestly with someone how lonely I was and how worthless I felt. She set me straight in no uncertain terms - her words were laced with a ton of love and truth. Satan knows where to shoot his arrows into each of us. He knows where we are weak. He knows what will paralyze us. He knows what will stop us, sometimes before we even “start”. He is on the look-out for those he can devour. He seeks to kill and destroy.

I found the words in 1 Peter 5 very interesting. Verse 7 begins with telling us where to put our worry. “Cast all your anxiety on Him [Jesus]”. Then Peter goes on to say something that at first appeared odd to me. “Be self-controlled and alert.” But when I thought about that, it means don’t let your mind wander and make up things that are not there. Don’t let things that are not true, become “truth” to you. Keep control of your mind and your thoughts, don’t let it wander and begin to believe things that simply are not true. Be alert. Satan realizes if he can "destroy" a Christian today that is for sure one less person he needs to worry about impacting the world for God. [We do know that we have the victory over Satan, praise the Lord, his attacks are temporary, God's kingdom is eternal!]

Ephesians 6 gives us the best advice we will ever get on how to fight off Satan’s attacks and schemes. Verse 11 “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.” Use everything that God gives to fight off the attacks that are sure to come. It’s a choice to put on the armor that God gives. Finally, so that you can STAND. The word “stand” is used 4 times within 3 verses. Another verse uses the word ‘stand’. 1 Corinthians 10:13 – “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

These are important words for our lives today. Cast. Be Self-controlled. Alert. Put on. Stand. And most importantly: stay in the “pack”, don’t be found alone and on your own. We need each other! Who needs you today? Or is it you that needs someone today?