New days bring new challenges and we cannot MOVE FORWARD in life unless we step out...in faith.
God requires us to trust Him. In fact, James 1 tells us that when we ask God for wisdom, we must ASK IN FAITH or we will not receive anything from the Lord! James goes on to say that when we don't ask in faith, we become double-minded and are driven and tossed by the wind...becoming like the surf of the sea, unstable in all of our ways. If we walk in doubt, instead of faith, we will not receive anything from God.
What does it mean to ask in faith? Do we really understand what faith is?? Paul says in Hebrews 1 that "faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see". Paul goes on to say that WITHOUT FAITH, it is impossible to PLEASE God...
When we ask God for wisdom, we must ask in faith that HE WILL lead us. God does not want us to walk around in the dark, not knowing where we are going! God wants us to walk in the LIGHT and He wants us to know His purpose and will for our lives. He has a plan for us that is for our good, to give us a future and a hope. God wants us to be led by His Spirit and not by fear or doubt.
Faith is a choice to believe God even when we cannot see the answer with our eyes. Faith is trusting in the goodness of God no matter what our circumstances may be.
God is good and He is pleased with those who WALK BY FAITH. If we want to please Him today, we must choose to let go of the past, take God at His word and trust that He will guide us through this life...one day at a time.
We can trust that He is working all things out for the good of those who LOVE HIM and are called according to His purposes. We can ask in faith and move forward, trusting that He is with us and that He has a plan.
Our lives are in His hands, there is no safer place to be.
Emotional Jungles
This past year has been an incredible journey through a jungle of emotions. After losing a sister through a VERY traumatic circumstance at the end of 2008, I soon realized what "going through the motions" really meant. I found myself in social situations without a clue of how to respond to people...wanting to be positive and happy, I possessed a cheerful attitude but all the while the inside of me was screaming, what in the world just happened here?!
I know that God in heaven was watching over me and I believe that what I experienced was His peace and grace for that time, but as this year has worn on, the magnitude of what happened when I lost my sister has only sharpened, not dulled.
When you experience any loss, there is sorrow, even if the person we loved is, as we believe, going to heaven. There is the loss of that person here on earth, much like when a loved one might move MANY MILES away and perhaps we knew they would never be able to visit us again...at least not for a very long time.
God surely was with me during this journey, He did not leave me in my sorrow... Life can be like a jungle with it's emotional twists and turns and the path may not be clearly marked. More often than not, we must cut our way through, one step at a time and make the path as we go but if we allow God to guide us, He will bring us safely to the other side.
I know that God in heaven was watching over me and I believe that what I experienced was His peace and grace for that time, but as this year has worn on, the magnitude of what happened when I lost my sister has only sharpened, not dulled.
When you experience any loss, there is sorrow, even if the person we loved is, as we believe, going to heaven. There is the loss of that person here on earth, much like when a loved one might move MANY MILES away and perhaps we knew they would never be able to visit us again...at least not for a very long time.
God surely was with me during this journey, He did not leave me in my sorrow... Life can be like a jungle with it's emotional twists and turns and the path may not be clearly marked. More often than not, we must cut our way through, one step at a time and make the path as we go but if we allow God to guide us, He will bring us safely to the other side.
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