Not Broken

First let me apologize for my absence! It's been partly being out of pocket and another part being lazy! In my absence however, I have been doing some thinking, so I will be sharing about some of those thoughts with you here!

One thought is about Bible people. Have you ever wondered about the people Bible stories are written about. They seem to weather all kinds of junk and still stand strong. There are days that I wish for that measure of faith and other days when I am almost sure I already have it. There are those days when I am sure I could slay a dragon should one be fool enough to try me and days when I do my fool best just to get out of bed!

The Bible says in 2 Corinthians that we would be pressed...but not destroyed!! Some times it seems as though we aren't only pressed, but flattened like a pancake, and those are the days when it isn't so easy to jump back up, shake yourself out and get back into the race. But guess what? Those are the very days that we need to the most.

I read a devotional written by my former pastor and he talked about exerting pressure on a balloon, causing it to burst or explode in the mash. We cannot under any circumstance avoid bursting when we are pressed except...God's providental hand controls the amount of pressure that is allowed to be exerted toward us. That means that everything we go through has already been across His desk. And...He is allowing us to endure it for the purpose of our growth and strength, not in our flesh, but in our spirit.

Things of life may drill us into the ground and our "outward man" may be dying, but our inward man or spirit man is being renewed every day.

I know what you're thinking, where the heck do you find the strength to keep on keeping on when you are being beat down by life? By taking your focus off self and looking to the Lord in FAITH to sustain you through whatever it is for however long it lasts. Not too many days ago I was at a very low point. My daughter and my sister both tried to encourage me, but I still felt a cloud hanging over my head. I opened the Bible looking for an answer and it all just seemed like words, so I did the only thing I know to do, pushed back the coffee table got on the floor and prepared to wrestle with God. I think the key comes in grabbing hold, hanging on and refusing to let go until He blesses you. Beating on the door and yelling, "Father, I'm out here on your doorstep and until you come and show me the direction you have for me and some road out the the mess that is my life, I'm going to stay on your doorstop waiting for an answer! Sometimes at that point, I wonder if He can even hear me, because it seems like I'm talking to myself, but He hears, and soon, He will answer. The key is sticking there and not giving up!

Be encouraged today and know that if we do not lose heart, and keep faith in the fact that He will come through (in His time not ours), we will see God's renewing power!!