Feeling desperate, disappointed or done?

Hello all!

This is a special invite to join me over on a new site I've started. My corner of Faith.

I am not leaving this blog. Don't worry. I am simply trying out some new things. Today I posted about feeling desperate and done ... and how God can bring hope into your despair.

Feel free to mosey on over and read it. It is titled A call out to the disappointed, the desperate and the done. We will dive into a couple scriptures that bring hope amidst the darkness (Lamentations 3:21 and Habakkuk 3:17-19)

And just in case you are in the mood for some encouraging tunes ... I have a link to All Sons and Daughters singing Alive.

Not your cup of tea? No worries. I will be back on here later this week with a new book review, No Other Will Do by Karen Witemeyer.

Blessings!

Wanted dead or alive

I spent my morning writing an email message to a dear friend. She is currently overwhelmed with discouragement. So,  I pray and I try to speak words of encouragement but they all seem to fall short.  Why is that?

Today in my devotional book that I have been working through I received the answer.  Because it is God's job to rebuild, restore and rejuvenate souls ... not mine.

Our great and glorious God is in the business of rebuilding.  It is His finest work afterall.  Look what He did for His own Son.  It is not a difficult work for Him.  It is a great joy to Him.  It is us that have a problem with the whole process.  We want it now.  Or we want it to come in a different format.  Or we forget to even turn to Him for it in the first place.

The hardest part is ours ... trust.  We need to rest in a place of trusting God to finish what he started, bringing  us to completion and perfection.  Only it will take a long time. I know that hurts to hear.  Especially when you are struggling, barely surviving, and overwhelmed beneath the weight our of your circumstances. But may I offer this bit of encouragement to you today.  The Lord is faithful.  The Lord is continuously working on your behalf (and mine).  The Lord will not rest until it is complete.

Do you feel better now?

I can do this!

I have been learning some amazing things in my quiet time this week.  As you may remember I am working through a book by Debbie Alsdorf.  The book is titled He Is My Freedom.

This devotional uses scriptures I know and concepts I already get to reach deeper into my soul and imprint them there.  God wants me to do more than just know what His word says ... He wants me to feel it and live it.  (That is something I struggle with - do you?)

This morning I studied a small section from the story of Moses and Joshua.  The focus was the mesage God gave to each of them on separate occasions.  It is the continuation of a promise.

"I will be with you.  And this will serve as proof ..."  Exodus 3:12 

"For I will be with you as I was with Moses.  I will not fail you or abandon you."  Joshua 1:5   

I am reassured that this promise continues on to this day.  For I feel like Moses did (afraid, doubtful and unworthy) sometimes.  I also need the message God gave to Joshua (be strong and courageous) from time to time.  Both of these ordinary men felt inadequate for the job they had been assigned by the Most High.

THEY WERE INADEQUATE.  And so am I.

Debbie Alsdorf says, "But God did not ask them to work alone or in their own strength.  Just as God gave them power, so He gives us power to do His work." (page 115)

"I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need."  Phil 4:13

The key to make this an everyday reality is to rest in God.  To abide in Him.  To listen for Him.  To follow His leading.  The rest of the work is HIS!  "The outcome totally rests on God's power, not on my performance." (page 116)  Look up the Philippians 4:13 verse in the message.  Then memorize it ... it is powerful.

Did you need to hear that today ... just like me and my friends, Moses and Joshua?