When life is difficult, it can be hard to trust God with our circumstances. Pain, no matter what form it is can last a lot longer than we’d like. Waiting for a resolution, trying to understand our situation – all this can take its toll and start to wear us thin spiritually speaking. We wonder if we should place our confidence in God when we can’t seem to find the answers.
If you find yourself in that place, here are some thoughts and verses that may help.
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I held the book in my hands, one that I had read hundreds of times it seemed. I was exhausted. I could hardly keep my own eyes open, and her big brown ones had, much to my relief, finally closed. I was ready to be done and go to bed myself, but I knew it was a delicate matter with a toddler who was so in love with books. I was careful and kept reading even after her eyes had closed. Then I did it. I flipped ahead, but I kept on right on going just like nothing had happened. Quick as a flash, those big brown eyes opened right back up and said, “Mommy you missed the middle!” She was not about to let me leave out part of her favorite bedtime story, so I gave in and turned back to read the parts I’d missed. And the long night-time ritual continued.
It’s a lot like that in life. We live in the middle, and sometimes it’s messy and complicated. The thing is, if we skip any part of what God has designed for us, our story just won’t be the same. Arriving at the end without experiencing the middle would change everything, especially the ending, which is so connected to what happens in the in-between.
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Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work. ~Oswald Chambers
Friends, prayer matters. Oswald Chambers says it so well in this quote.
“We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there’s nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all.” -Oswald Chambers
When life is hard, we tend to turn to prayer – or turn away from it. It can go either way, can’t it? It’s easy to lose hope. The Bible tells us we will experience trials and tribulations in this world (John 16:33, Romans 5:3-4, 1 Peter 5:10) and we surely know it from walking these paths, don’t we? So what’s a girl to do when she feels as if she’s loosing hope?
Click below to read more and pick up your free Journeys in Prayer Hope Kit!
Times are hard, and life can be beyond difficult. Sometimes it can leave us feeling overwhelmed, perhaps even feeling hopeless. But no matter what circumstances you woke up to this morning, there is a promise of hope. Click below to read more and find seven Bible verses you can hold on to when hope seems far away!
This week I’m so happy to be guest posting at my friend, Beth Stephaniak’s blog, Messy Marriage. Beth is doing a series on spiritual warfare in marriage and this post is part of that series. You’ll find a sneak peek of the article below. You can click through at the end to go to Beth’s blog to read more. While you are there, take a look at all her marriage helps and her subscriber’s library. You’ll find much encouragement there!
Here’s a peek at the article where you can find three ways to fight back when the enemy attacks!
Marriage is under attack today in so many ways. One avenue of attack that is easy to overlook happens within the spiritual realm. Without a doubt, Satan wants to weaken and destroy marriage, and this means we will face spiritual attacks in our marriages at one point or another. Fortunately, we have a God who is infinitely more powerful than the enemy who fights against us. We have a God who protects us (Proverbs 18:10), and gives wisdom (Proverbs 2:6-7), strength (Psalm 73:26), and guidance (Psalm 32:8).
The three areas below may be places to go for insight and discernment to help you fight spiritual battles within marriage. In each area below, there is a verse from the Bible that you can pray or repeat out loud to help bring the truth and power of God’s Word into your life and marriage.
Click below to read more or head on over to Beth’s blog at www.messymarriage.com!
Are you struggling through a difficult task? Is it hard to persevere? This is a common thread for many of us as we walk through a calling, a difficult situation, or a particular season in life.
My post today was written for other writers like myself who are facing the massive task of persevering through something hard. Even if you are not a writer, I think you could take the points made in this article and apply them to places in your life that seem difficult for you right now.
As writers, we sometimes share our numbers and statistics, but real success isn’t in the numbers. True success is marked by what happens inside of the journey. The 5 anchors that are mentioned in this article are things I learned because the writing journey was difficult for me. It’s these inner changes and these kinds of qualities that God highlights in each of us as we walk through life that are marks of a successful journey. And to me, this means every journey, even the most difficult ones, are successful because they change us from the inside out.
As we learn to persevere through the hard things, we learn to look in the right places. If we keep our eyes focused, we know God will make a way.
Today’s post can be found at my friend, Frank McKinley’s website. He’s an author, writer, and encourager. I’ve found his articles (at www.frankmckinleyauthor.com) very helpful as I embark on my own writing journey and I count Frank as one of my writing mentors.
To read a sneak peek of the article, click below!
I sat in the stillness of the early morning with a new kind of peace. It came from deep inside, quiet, strong and sure.
It was a long time coming, this new kind of peace. It had always been there waiting for me, but every time it tried to come out of its hiding place, it was beaten back into the recesses of my heart by an enemy bent on blinding me to it.
My new kind of peace was strong though. It was patient and knew how to wait for me. My new kind of peace never gave up and was steady, not changing with the ebb and flow of my emotions. My new kind of peace understood me better than I understood myself. And it accepted the other one and felt their pain. My new kind of peace was not mine at all. It was His.
It was all about my identity.
Over the years I had found my identity in all sorts of things, good grades, awards and activities, my jobs, my relationships, being a wife and mother, and sadly, even in my mistakes and failures. The ups and downs associated with any of those things tended to dictate my level of peace and happiness. The truth was, the messiness of the ebb and flow of my emotions left me feeling at a loss most of the time. And very much far away from the peace I was seeking.
But that fact was conveniently folded away like an unnecessary piece of paperwork, tucked away into a sliver of a place where my heart could not dwell on it but always felt its presence. I didn’t want anyone to know. And it weighed on me.
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Relationships are the stuff that life is made of. They hold us together and keep us going. Some of us have that inner circle of friends that we walk through life with, our encouragers, our confidants, the shoulders we cry on. Others of us feel more alone and sometimes we might find ourselves near the outside of that circle looking in.
I found myself in both of those places over the years, and over time, I realized something important about the latter. In hindsight, I came to understand that in one particular situation I wasn’t really being excluded. Instead, my own broken beliefs and misplaced attitudes were the issues. And I was hiding myself. It was perfectionism at its best.
Today I am so pleased to share an article with you written by my friend Jill McCormick. Jill is a gifted writer and speaker. She breaks inner issues down into portions I can handle and then she points me in the right direction so I can move forward.
This article, which was originally published on her website under the title of “How Perfectionism is Killing Our Relationships” really broke some things down for me. It reminded me of something very important I needed to keep in mind about my relationships.
Jill reminds me that:
•When I struggle in a relationship, the first place I need to look is inside my own heart.•
I’m telling you, friends, that’s not an easy thing to do. I think you’ll find that this article will help you whether you struggle with perfectionism or not. Inside, Jill takes a look at four ways perfectionism impacts our friendships. The great thing is she doesn’t just leave us holding those revelations and wondering what to do. She reminds us what God says about each one, and she gives us strategies the will help us move forward!
Have you ever been afraid to do something you felt you should do? Do you feel called but not qualified? Are you afraid of failure or rejection when you think about that next big step you need to take? I have been in those places so many times I couldn’t even begin to count them.
Sometimes, our next step feels huge, sometimes small. No matter the size, we can’t make it through life with facing a hurdle that needs to be crossed. Often the things we are afraid to do are not only meant to make us braver, but they are intended to help and encourage others along the way. In God’s big picture nothing is really about us at all. It’s all about reaching out and taking the hand of the ones behind us so we can walk together through life’s difficulties.
So today we are going to do a little fear fighting with a blog “extra.” One of my biggest fears has been the fear of writing, especially sharing my writing in public for others to see. This guest post at www.goinswriter.com tells my story of a pivotal step I needed to take to get past this fear of writing.
Click below to read more!
Sometimes life sends you the unexpected. Something you didn’t want and didn’t ask for will hit you right out of the blue. Perhaps it’s a physical problem, illness, or the death of someone you love very much. Perhaps it’s a heart issue between you and a friend or a spouse who abandons you. The list could go on and on, could it not?
It just seems like too much, doesn’t it?
When these things happen, there’s often no real answers in sight to explain the whys and the what ifs. It can be so painful and agonizing.
But one thing we do have is the truth. And the truth tells us that we have a God who is with us, who cares deeply and who walks alongside us in the most difficult of circumstances.
When you are walking that long and lonely road through the unexpected, here’s something you can rely on.
Click below to read more and find encouragement in the midst of the unexpected.