A Fresh Start

I’ll be the first to admit it: I’ve been MIA. I haven’t posted a blog since November 20th! I could blame the holidays. I could say I needed a break. Both are valid excuses to a point. But there was a bigger issue going on… and I let guilt and shame enter in, and a lie that said I had nothing good to write about.

The remainder of this post is something I’ve been working on for about a month but haven’t been able to post until now. Partially because it’s the New Year, and it’s on my goal list to blog once a week. But also because I don’t want the enemy to keep me silent for another moment!

(Praise God for His love, victory, and freedom!)

Sometimes everything seems to be going just great. Life is good. And then you get a phone call that changes everything. A curve ball you weren’t expecting. A storm to rock your boat.

This happened to my family a few days before Thanksgiving. I’ll spare you all the details, but I will say that our life seemed to be going so well, and then we got some news that shook us to the core.

Through this season, God has been settling this truth in my heart: He can turn impossible situations into life-changing solutions. We had this impossible situation come up, and we didn’t know how we were going to recover. But God. He always has a plan. His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways. And through the stress and heartache, He is helping our family through an issue that has plagued us for years. We didn’t know how God could help us in this particular area, and He used a seemingly impossible trial to bring about a solution to our hearts’ cry.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV)

“I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” God’s Decree. “For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think.” (Isaiah 55:8-9 MSG)

He is God!! And He knows what He’s doing. It might not always make sense in our human brains. But God is good – all the time! In His love and grace, He took us by the hand and showed us the way out of our trouble.

“For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” (Isaiah 41:13 NIV)

He took something awful in our lives and is making it beautiful. He truly is the God who makes all things work together for our good.

“Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. God knew what he was doing from the very beginning.” (Romans 8:26-29 MSG)

God sees the big picture. He’s known it since before creation. We don’t need to give way to fear or worry. We can trust God and put our faith in Him… even if things don’t seem to be going well, He will turn ALL things to the good!! (And His good is far better than my best!)

“Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’ The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:21-26 NIV)

I’ve always loved these verses! I will not be consumed by anything on this earth because of God’s great love. His compassion never fails me – it’s new and fresh every single day! God is my portion – my source – I will be still and wait for Him and His strength. My hope is in Him – He is always faithful. I read this passage in The Message and felt that it described exactly what I’ve been feeling:

“I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed. I remember it all—oh, how well I remember— the feeling of hitting the bottom. But there’s one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope: God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness! I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over). He’s all I’ve got left. God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks. It’s a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from God. It’s a good thing when you’re young to stick it out through the hard times.” (Lamentations 3:19-27 MSG)

God is faithful. His loyal love never runs out! This storm we’re now at the tail end of – it rocked our boat, but it also taught me something about peace. When my life is going “well” I am not looking for peace because my life is peaceful. God is still my God, and He has many names and characteristics, but I’m not looking to Him to be my peace when times are peaceful. (Hopefully that makes sense!) But when times are rough, when the storm hits and the sea is raging… we need peace. We need the God of peace to swoop us up in His righteous right hand and hold us.

There’s no place I’d rather be. 🙂

 

Happy New Year from my family to yours!!

 

This Week’s Song Suggestion:

“Your Love Never Fails” by Jesus Culture – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoezWBPGRAc

 

One of the Books I’m Currently Reading:

“The Best Yes” by Lysa TerKeurst – http://www.amazon.com/Best-Yes-Decisions-Endless-Demands/dp/1400205859/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420350848&sr=8-1&keywords=the+best+yes+lysa