Rest in Him

I am still grieving the loss of my beloved husband, John. When we were married, God truly was a third partner in our marriage. He helped us with everything and strengthened us as one. John was the most holy man I had ever met. He loved me the way God loves me and he was my protector. I always felt safe and secure with him. He made me laugh and he encouraged me to use all of my God-given gifts in all that I did. He was my spiritual director and my living example of how to live a surrendered life to God. Together, with God, we were complete. Now that John is rejoicing with the Lord, one third of that relationship is gone. Now it is the Lord and I and my memories of John.

So what can I do now? I can reflect on how God has seen me through other devastating seasons of my life. Paraphrasing what David said in the Bible as he approached the giant of a man, Goliath, "I killed the bear and I killed the lion, so what is this Philistine to me?" When David went up against Goliath, he believed that the Lord was with him and that He would give David the victory.

To me, the Goliaths in my life are the circumstances and seasons of my life that seem overwhelming. Some of those Goliaths have been divorce, and the deaths of my parents. As I think back to those times, in every circumstance, God was with me. He was with me even before I was aware that He was working in my life. He was my comfort, my guide, my counselor, my all in all. One of the greatest gifts He has given me is His peace. A peace that goes beyond understanding. I cherish that peace with all that I am.

How is God going to comfort me now, in this dark season? What does Jesus have to say? In Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV) "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Then, in 1 Peter 5:10, it is written, "And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you."

Wow! What a promise! So, even on days when I feel so empty, lonely and lost without John, I can trust that God will pull me through and that one day, my mourning will turn into dancing and that I will be stronger than before. I know that I can rest in Him. Thank you, Lord for your words of encouragement.

As I have said in previous posts, music ministers to me. This song, You Alone, by Lauren Daigle spoke to my heart and I felt that it also conveyed some of the feelings that I have expressed in this post. I hope you are blessed by it also.

How about you, are you going through a dark season of your life right now? If so, please turn to Jesus. He will bring you through. I know from experience that this is true. In Matthew 6:33, Jesus is talking about His provision for you. He says, "But seek ye first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Try putting God first in your life. All you have to lose is your pain, sorrow, worry, loneliness, or any other negative thing in your life. All you have to gain is His peace, joy, mercy and grace. May God bless you in your journey.

What is Absolute Faith?

When we talk about having faith in God, what does that mean. What are the components of absolute faith? I am not a Bible scholar, I am just a person who has experienced the grace of God. So, in this post, I would like to talk about what I see as the parts of absolute faith.

In my Sept. 27th post, "Dorothy with the Sparkling Blue Eyes" in the testimonies section, I explain that my mentor Dorothy spoke to me about absolute faith. She said that oftentimes Christians pray, even pray earnestly, and then speak defeat or try to take things back into their own hands rather than waiting for God to take care of things in His perfect timing. This behavior negates their prayers.

So, from my perspective, one of the components of absolute faith is trusting God. Trusting, even when circumstances seem daunting, even when the solution is a long time in coming, even when we don't understand. Trusting that God has a plan for us that is for good and not for evil (Jeremiah 29:11) and that He will see it come to pass, if we let Him, because His word does not come back void (Isaiah 55:11 "So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth; it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.").

Another aspect of absolute faith is believing that God has the power to change circumstances. One example of this is in Luke 7:6-10. To set the stage, a centurion had requested that Jesus heal his slave. "Now Jesus started on His way with them; and when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, "Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof; for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I, too, am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, 'Go!' and he goes; and to another 'Come!' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this!' and he does it. Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the multitude that was following Him, "I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith." And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health."

The centurion understood chain of command; that when the person with the top authority gives an order, all those under him fulfill it. Who has more authority than God, Himself, who created all that is? No one. Therefore, we can trust and believe that when God is involved, He will get things done according to His purpose.

One thing that I have struggled with in my life is thinking that I know what is best for myself and others. This is contrary to absolute faith. Natalie Grant has a great song that addresses this issue. It is called "King of the World." Copy and paste the link below to listen and read the lyrics.

In essence, it talks about how we try to make God who we want Him to be rather than remembering that He is the King of the World and we are not.

Where are you on your journey toward having absolute faith? If you want to grow in that area, just ask the Lord and He will help you. Remember, Jesus said that He would ask the Father to send you the Holy Spirit to be your comfort, your guide, your counselor, one who leads you in all the truth. Don't hesitate to ask. God wants a relationship with you and will always help you. You can trust and believe that.

What's the Attitude of Your Heart?

There are various Scriptures in the Bible about the attitude of your heart. In Matthew 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God". In 1 Samuel 16:7 "But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not consider his appearance or his height for I have rejected him'. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart." And in Acts 13:22, "After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: 'I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, he will do everything I want him to do.'"

How do these Scriptures apply to us? In my opinion, it is important to reflect on the attitude of our hearts. What is our motivation at the root level? In the past, I tended to want to be controlling, so sometimes the attitude of my heart was to manipulate others for my purposes. I have come to learn that manipulation is not loving, consequently, it is not God's way. On occasion, during my marriage, if I was getting a little off track, my husband would ask me to reflect on the attitude of my heart. When I did, I would realize that I needed to adjust my thinking about something so that my feelings and behavior about it would change and then the attitude of my heart would be aligned to God's desire for the situation.

Another component to being a person after God's own heart is obedience. To be open and teachable to allow God to work within us. As we learn more about God and what He wants to do in our lives, we become more open to be obedient to do His will. For example, in Mark 12: 28-31, Jesus tells us what is most important. "...of all the commandments, which is the most important? The most important one answered Jesus is this...Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these."

Then, lest we love according to our own understanding, in 1 Corinthians 13: 1-8, we are given the specifics of what God's love looks like so that we can emulate that in our own lives. "If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or clanging symbol. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."

In reflecting on the contents of this post, how is the attitude of your heart? I encourage all of us to think about the attitudes of our hearts and if anything needs to change, to ask the Lord to help. He will.