Don’t Let Go! Joy Will Come in the Morning!

 

      “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV)

Are you maneuvering through a season that you feel will never end;

In fact you wonder if this will be your life from now on?

The kind of anguish that finds you praying for the fruit of long-suffering and self control, to dig in and persevere like never before;

Searching desperately with  blind faith for feelings that life will improve and what you have lost will be restored, only even better…..only that reassurance doesn’t come.

The above word out of Jeremiah is for ‘those’ times….when we’re not sure we can endure our season of suffering for one more second.

He has a plan!   It’s a good plan?  Can you wait for it?

Praying

He reminds us of what to do while we wait…

“they await the fulfillment of His promise”.

We need to call on Him. We need to intentionally and wholeheartedly seek Him.

When we seek God, we will see Him…

We begin to see Him at work and can start to see more of what He sees, from His perspective. 

Trust grows.

If we are willing to trust Him, even blindly, we can begin to see Him in our circumstances…

       If we find ourselves in an incredibly devastating place — a place you never imagined yourself to be — it’s easy to start feeling that some of His good plans don’t apply to us. We can even start believing that for some reason He WANTS us to suffer and will just leave us there until He takes us home…and then maybe He will explain what this unending journey has been all about. 

In His mercy.

Got to watch our fickle minds.   That is where the enemy has access to your life….through your mind.  Why do you think the bible tells us to bring all of our thoughts into captivity and to cast down every vain imagination. 

This is work.

But if you are determined to FIGHT that good fight of faith, you can do it.  

      You can even train your mind to recognize when the enemy is coming with a thought that will bring you fear and doubt,  and actually STOP that thought before it even takes hold.  

I know because I practice this.   Oh, don’t  get me wrong.   I have to battle and sometimes I give in and wallow.   But a determination always rises up within me to win the battle and I dig in and tell the enemy where to go. 

I use my tools of the Kingdom to do it too….these are my tools. 

♥  The Name of Jesus (the most powerful and mountain moving name in the Universe that will break every chain!)

♥  A word from the Bible that I can pray over my situation, over and over, until it gets into my spirit and I begin to believe it. (there is also power in His word to accomplish what He wants in our lives.)  And faith comes by hearing His word!

♥  Praise and worship.   (In my own secret place with Him I pour out my heart, and let him know every thought, every pain, every failure.  In other words, be intimately acquainted with Him on a daily basis!)

♥  Get Godly counsel from mature believers I keep in my life.  (So important!  He gave us to each other in the body of Christ for exhortation, reproof, confirmation that we are on the right path.  We MUST have accountability to someone mature in Jesus.)  

(I have to interject at this point, if you don’t have a mentor/coach to run things by and seek help in your suffering, I am available as your Life Purpose coach.  It will change your life I can confidently say.  Just contact me by the phone number on the http://www.reflectionsofgracehome.com  site or by email on same page. … and read some of the success stories of past clients as well.)

God is closer than we often realize.

He sees things we don’t see, and He knows things we have no idea about.

He sees the past, the present and the future — from before we were conceived to the day we breathe our last breath, and  beyond that into our forever homes.

He declares He is our rescuer.

He is the One who will sustain us.

And He is more than able to bring His plans to pass. (Isaiah 46:3-11)

Lets ask Him to allow us to see our circumstances through His eyes.   Let’s begin to reach out and cling to His strong arms of comfort and trust and love.

Let choose to let go of our disillusionment and pain and by faith grab hold of Him and not let go.

DON’T LET GO!

   We are not forgotten or forsaken.

And God’s perspective is to use our suffering for good. 

Ouch, we don’t want to hear that, do we.  

We want our suffering gone and life to return to normal, according to OUR perspective, right?

Dare to believe for deliverance from this season of pain, confusion, or suffering.  But in the meantime hold on to Him with every ounce of your faith. 

He will not disappoint.

Joy does comes in the morning. 

Life Interrupted

My sweet 38 year old daughter was struck with a ruptured appendix 2 weeks ago.   From the point she went into emergency I was with her.  It was so frightening.  The ER doctor sent her home on pain pills without ruling out appendicitis.  It ruptured and became an extreme emergency.  Everything in my life stopped and took a back seat while we sat long hours in the ER and surgery; and I prayed nonstop as she writhed in pain…and after surgery as the road to healing began in the hospital and as she went home.  She needed me.  It was a scary and unnerving thing to watch my child in so much pain.  My life was just was put on hold.  Everything took a back seat.  Now that she is on the mend I now feel scattered and am having trouble getting back into things that were part of my everyday life, from writing to coaching and even exercise. 

But, suddenly I realized I have grown spiritually, in finding God in the midst of the suffering.  There comes a recognizable depth of character when you come out of the fire of suffering, and when you are still in it you find Him in places you’d never thought you’d be.

My dear friend Linda has been told her brain tumor is back.  Her life will now be on hold while she has it removed….again.  Since her last surgery, while recovering, she has obtained her Masters in Psychology, been maintaining her own practice in psychotherapy, is writing a book, and is doing a host of wonderful things God has called her to do.  Now, her life will be interrupted again, indefinitely, to undergo another surgery on her brain with the outcome uncertain in earthly terms.  But not to God.  He knows.  We are all  believing for God’s divine hand to reach down and heal her swiftly and easily this time with no side effects.   Linda would share with you how her suffering has put her in touch with a Savior that never leaves her.  Even while her life is on hold.  You can read Linda’s whole story of traveling this perilous road on her web site at: http://lindalochridge.com/brainsurgery/

I just read Michelle Cushatt’s blog this morning.  She is an author, experienced keynote speaker and emcee.  I love her writings and sweet spirit of thankfulness.  Now after years of fighting cancer and walking in God’s healing power she has just learned the cancer is back…and her life will now go on hold for extended medical treatment once again to rid her of the invasion on her body.  She is fearless and undefeatable.  You can read Michelle’s story here http://michelecushatt.com/red-sea-moments/

All around me I see people going through sudden and great trials…some have been hit very suddenly and their life has taken an abrupt turn and they just feel like the wind was knocked out of them.

As I contemplated these things and wondered what God has to say in the midst of sudden trials and sudden fear I think I found truth. 

The truth is, God sometimes allows us to be placed in situations (sometimes difficult, even painful ones) where we can glorify Him; where His presence and power are displayed with clarity, and where fellowship with Him is the sweetest spot we could find ourselves in.

God wants us to experience His gift of total reliance on Him…of letting go of our own pride and self sufficiency….our own power….and show us that in our own weaknesses He is made strong….to bless us by giving the gift of relying solely on Him.

In our trials we find His presence.  You see, God’s blessings and healing and perseverance come with His presence.  No matter what trials we face.  It is His presence, His Spirit that ushers in His strength, encouragement and power…..it is what develops His character in us so that we reflect Him in all that we do. 

The worst part about not being OK when a sudden change comes to our lives is that once you are there, you tend to temporarily lose your vision. 

But as Michelle explained in her  blog, when you run up against the Red Sea, you feel blindsided.  There is no place to turn but to ask for His mercy and grace and a miracle.  

You sometimes become profoundly nearsighted.

You can lose the ability to see any further than that horrible not-being-okay feeling right in front of you; to believe that outside of all of it, just beyond the fear and the sadness and the failure, there’s another place.  That is where He is.

At that moment of darkness, it’s nearly impossible to see what you are capable of enduring….if you can withstand it all just a bit more, if you can weather the winds and storms and the wounds and the worry, you’ll end-up stepping into that  place of peace, softly and securely, and you’ll feel the weightless lift of hope again.

You will gain new insight into the unchanging Jesus, while your world is turned upside down.  You will see into places that never occurred to you while all was well and they’ll all seem like wonderful love letters directly from the Lover of your soul; words of truth spoken directly to your heart, telling you that life is given by Him and He has your name written right into His nail scarred hands.

I promise you He will…He is the great I AM.

But in the meantime, before you get there, I want to tell you one more important thing about where you are right now:

It’s OK to feel.  He knows you are human.  Tell Him your fears and worry and everything that swirls around inside of you.  Talk to HIM!!

He already knows anyway.  Acknowledge that.  Bring Him into your journey and let Him walk with you there.

It’s alright to admit your feelings to yourself, and to say it to someone else, too.  In fact, doing so isn’t admitting defeat at all.  It isn’t giving-up.  It’s simply consenting, to fully feeling the reality of the despair and the pain of the moment.

So that you can move on.

As you do, just remember that you won’t feel like that forever.

One day, you’ll feel well enough to share your journey with someone else who is not so well, and you’ll perpetuate the hope that He gives to you in your own suffering.

So today, friend, for what it’s worth and for what you’re worth (which is immeasurable), know this:

As dark as it seems, as difficult as it is, as much as it hurts…He knows right where you are and He has a plan that you sometimes just can’t see.  Hold onto Him very tightly in these times.

It may seem like it but it won’t last forever.  You may have to make changes…but He said, actually promised, that He would not ever leave you nor forsake you.  

Take Him with you whatever comes.  He only wants His very best for you and will go to battle for you as you hold on for dear life.

Life is an adventure with a destination.