He gives strength

Today I got some crazy news about a person who is dear to me. This wonderful sweet person, who has spent her life taking care of others and offering comfort.... Her time has come to be on the receiving end. Perhaps it will be a challenge for her to go from the comforter to the comfortee.

She is a true example of how God would want his children to live. I think that is why I am struggling right now to understand everything. I know that God has all intentions of using all things for our good and the good of others... I do know that, and I believe~ my heart struggles today to fully acknowledge it though.

I want to know what say and how. I have so many times seen her on the other end of this. She has in fact been on the other end for me myself. I have been astonished at her compassion and caring heart.

Philippians 4:16 tells us " Do not fret or have anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving make your wants known to God.

This is my prayer today. I pray that God wraps himself around you my friend, and just holds you...until you can stand on your own again. I pray for his mighty hand upon you. I pray for the power of his healing. I pray for the outpouring of strength and endurance upon you. I pray for his grace to overwhelm you. I pray for his favor and peace to surround you.

I am wondering why.... I don't understand, and I know that I am not suppose to understand everything. It doesn't make any easier to just accept though. I do know however, that God will carry us through. He is right where he always has been, and will be. He has been where we are. He has hurt, he has grieved. He never moves.

Isaiah 40

29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Living a Life on Loan by Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson

Living a Life on Loan is a book about grace. It ask who we really are? Are we defined by our failures and successes? Do you see life a limited due to circumstances or do you see you life as part of something BIG? This book is about living how God designed us, being practical in that, and impacting others to live their life accordingly. Its biggest message is living life to the fullest. NO one knows the day or the hour that God will call them home. No one knows how much time they have left to fulfill the great commission that God gave us. Know one knows if tomorrow is going to be here to present God to your unbelieving child. Don't wait until tomorrow what you can do today. Yours is a life on loan.

"As followers of Christ, we each have the ability to make the invisible God visible by our words and our actions." Eric Swanson

I like that quote.

Sometimes it is tough to remember that the most effective message isn't the one that we heard on Sunday in a building with a large group of other believers... the most effective message is one that is lived day in and day out. Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that you guide me today in living out this message. I pray for the Holy Spirit be with me, and for me to have the ability to discern what is effective and what is not. I thank you for this life, for all you have given me so freely. Let your example shine through me today and touch someones life...

Pray Continually with your Attitude

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (New International Version)

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus

If we followed this verse and carried Christ with us everywhere we went, keeping him in our thoughts with every passing moment. If he were all we wanted and all we desired. If everything else that happened in our life was just a distraction, keeping us from what we really wanted...

Then, we have an idea of what Paul is talking about.

We cannot pray every second of every day any more than we could have been with that person every moment. But it is possible to love Jesus Christ so much that we carry Him with us wherever we go. In this context, Paul is not talking about prayer as an action; He is talking about it as an attitude. It is an attitude that places Jesus above everything else in our life. Even as we work, spend time with friends or relax at home, He is ever present with us.

Our love for Jesus may start small but will grow into a wild fire if we fan the flames. For that to happen, we need to nurture our relationship by remembering Him in everything we do. We need to let Jesus occupy our heart and mind every moment we are awake. If we adopt this unceasing attitude of prayerfulness which Paul describes, our love for Christ and the joy we gain will eclipse anything we have ever known before.

do you practice avoidance?

As I have been studying up a bit on attitude, I have come across some reading on how we, as humans deal with certain situations. The one thing that really stuck out to me the most was the coping skill of avoidance. I don't think I realized how much I do this, until I read all the examples of it...and saw myself clearly in each one! Avoidance is not a true coping skill, it is exactly what the word says a-v-o-i-a-d-a-n-c-e. Not dealing with something is how many of us deal with something. We avoid it.

Avoidance can steal our peace and joy because many of the situations and activities we avoid, in the interest of comfort, that were placed in our lives by God for a purpose. So we end up avoiding the very things we ought to do. A big reason we avoid the situation or activity is due to the anxiety it causes. It makes us uncomfortable. it doesn't matter how much we may want to do it, we far less want the feelings of being uncomfortable, so we just stay away. We never deal with what it is, or we postpone it until it can be avoided no longer...which makes the whole situation 10 times worse. It is this whole fear of the unknown.

Though Jesus taught us to not be anxious, to not worry, to have faith... He does not condemn us for these natural human feelings. We can have them, we cannot let them overtake us. We have to take action against them. Even Jesus sweat blood in anticipation of the cross, but he did not avoid it.

Being anxious and trying to avoid something doesn't mean that you do not have belief or do not have faith. These are normal feelings that have existed since the beginning. However, it doesn't mean that we let these feeling control out lives. We have to let our trust in God control our lives. We have to take action upon the feelings. At times we just have to be obedient and trust God. In James 2, we are told that faith without action is dead. And in Matt 26:41 we are told, The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak". So, it isn't in having these feelings of avoidance or anxiety that we show weakness, it is in our ACTION of disobedience or obedience that we show our strength or weakness.