TRUST

Here we are in the homestretch of 2020 –

I pray and trust that all is going well with you as this year winds down

Yes – there are still two more days...

One day and a wake up as we used to say when I was a military spouse

But – we are almost there and it has been quite a journey, this 2020 year

There were some expected occurrences, and many more which took me completely by surprise

Yet – as I went to sleep last night, and arose this morning, one word has been on my heart and mind: TRUST

At the beginning of this year, I wrote a post titled ‘2020: New, New Year’s Resolution’

In that post I wrote about how resolutions do not have to focus on removing something negative; but that it could center on maintaining & increasing something positive … continuing to do what proved useful and faithful:

If you placed & found your trust in the LORD in 2020 –

                Resolve to CONTINUE TRUSTING IN THE LORD

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him” Jeremiah 17:7

 

If you clung to your hope in the LORD in 2020 –

                Resolve to CONTINUE HOPING IN THE LORD

“For You, O LORD are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth” Psalm 71:5

 

If you found strength in the LORD in 2020 –

                Resolve to CONTINUE RELYING ON THAT STRENGTH

“ Those who trust in the LORD, will renew their strength; they shall rise up on wings as eagles; they shall run and not grow weary; they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31

 

We may not always understand the ways of the LORD –

It is difficult for us to comprehend how He is working in certain situations,

            Why He is allowing them to occur

But, if I have learned nothing else in almost 35-years of following Him, I have learned this:

He is faithful and can be TRUSTED

He is completely TRUSTWORTHY

He is worthy of my TRUST, He is worthy of our TRUST

 

‘Not one of all of the LORD’s good promises to Israel failed; everyone was fulfilled.’ Joshua 21:45

 

This is a cause for celebration – not just for nation of Israel but for us all:

You see, ‘The LORD is no respecter of persons …’  [Romans 2:11]

What He has done for one, He is well able to do for another

And, when it comes to the subject of the LORD making promises;

            He will always do, for all, what He has promised He will do

For, ‘God is not a man that He should lie, nor a son of man that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?’ Numbers 23:19

 

This morning –

My only encouragement is that you TRUST THE LORD –

He will not fail you!

I am praying that you will experience tangible instances of His presence, protection and favor

 

Have a Blessed Day!

‘Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path.’

Proverbs 3:5-6

VISION

 Good Morning!

I pray your day and week has been off to a great start

I was so pleased to share some thoughts yesterday on the subject of ‘chosen’

It is such a marvelous thing when we realize that He chose us before we were ever born

Yet – there are times when it is challenging to focus on that beautiful truth

The cracks and fissures and fractures of life make it difficult to see the larger picture

It makes it necessary for us to have a focused VISION

There is a story found In the second book of Kings in the Old Testament –

Elisha and his servant are facing a situation where the issues of life are closing in on them;

Their enemies have encircled them fully

The servant can only see imminent destruction

But Elisha, looking at their situation through eyes of faith, declares,

‘Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’

‘And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around’ II Kings 6:17

 

What we see is not always all there is –

Perspective is everything

 

In the book of Luke, chapter 4, there is an account given where Jesus enters a synagogue and reads a section of text from the book of Isaiah where it was written of Him,

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because He has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor”

 

He found in the scrolls, written hundreds of years before His birth, the declaration of Him being the Chosen one. And we know from Scripture that the plan of salvation was in effect long before anything was penned in the book of Isaiah – Jesus being the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13)

 

Yet – there were so many things which took place prior to the fulfillment of the prophecy

There was time – countless time

There were detours – or apparent detours

There were heartaches and seeming delays

There were points of confusion and disappointments

Indeed, anyone looking from the outside in would likely find it difficult to see how all of the happenings were part of a beautiful and glorious plan.

 

Yet and still – all of the cracks and fissures and fractures were forming something beautiful

He was taking all of those seemingly broken things and creating something glorious for humanity

And He is also making something beautiful for you!

 

Today, if all you can see is the brokenness –

I encourage you to take a step back and see how those cracks are forming something beautiful

Grasp the perspective that they are one part of a huge tapestry of your life and God’s plan

I pray that the LORD would open your eyes to see all the ways He is working

I pray that He would give you VISION to see the larger picture

I pray that you would understand and experience the truth of His Word which reminds us:

‘He makes all things beautiful in its time’ Ecclesiastes 3:11

  

Have a Blessed Day…

      & Merry Christmas! 

worth the wait ...

Hello Friends!

I pray you had a fantastic day –

But, if you did not … relax, it is almost the weekend!

And some things are worth the wait

Ecclesiastes 3:1 states,

‘To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven’

I thought about this verse earlier this week

When I had the wonderful occasion

to meet and converse with a ‘vintaged’ gentleman named Cliff

That is not an insult; after all, he is probably only twenty years older than me

He started out talking about this area – how he’d spent most of his life in this region;

Five years in the military and five in the Midwest, and then he returned to Virginia.

He went on to tell me how was wife was from up north;

And he started sharing some of things he loves about her

You could hear the honor in his voice as he talked

So I asked, ‘How long have you been married?’

Based upon our conversation up to that point,

                I expected him to say forty or fifty years –

He responded proudly, ‘We’ve been married for ten years ..

but we’ve been together for 30!

He was not a bit surprised at the look on my face –

begging for an explanation without saying a word

He went on to tell me that they dated for twenty years

He said, ‘I can’t say fully why we waited so long;

but, once you get in your fifties you start thinking’

‘Truthfully’, he said, ‘if we got married way back then,

I don’t know that we would still be together.’

‘We have both matured and grown over years’

Then he told me how it was still an adjustment when they got married

He had his town home and she had her house,

They had to adjust to living together once they got married

He told me how she loves to cook and he hates cooking:

‘So, she cooks and I eat … and clean’. ‘But even that was an adjustment’, he said.

‘When you’ve each lived alone for so long, you get used to doing things a certain way.’

“For us it was the dishwasher. She said it wasn’t a big deal. But, I told her, ‘I want to do it the way you like it though’ … so I adjusted.”

It was just one of the most precious conversations!

He told me how much she has helped him grow as a person over their thirty years together.

‘She has introduced me to art and dining, to travel and leisure activities. When I used to meet people, all I would talk about was my work. Now I have so many things to discuss. She is a gem!’

I absolutely loved it!!!

I am still smiling thinking back on parts of that conversation.

You could hear how much he loved and appreciated her …

So beautiful!

He told me when they sent out the ‘Save the Date’ invitations for their wedding, they wrote:

Some will way we’re late,

But we’ve finally set the date…

Some things are worth the wait!

Indeed!

Just think about those who have had exercise great patience in waiting for their promise –

Sarah waited 90-years before being blessed with Isaac; Abraham was 100!

Elizabeth and Zechariah spent many years in waiting before John the Baptist came

Jesus walked this earth thirty years for a three-year earthly ministry

                But, oh what a ministry!

So my dear friend –

Do not lose heart if things are not moving at the pace you would like, 

Do not lose courage, do not become discouraged – 

It will happen right when it needs to.

God is preparing you for what He has prepared for you –

Trust me, it will be worth the wait!

Have a Blessed Evening!