I recently shared some thoughts to encourage a friend, and found that the Lord was using my own words to speak to me about something I was struggling with! So, I thought I'd put those thoughts here, as a reminder to myself, and perhaps an encouragement to anyone who happens across this entry:
The Lord is faithful! I have been recently meditating on a verse my old college pastor shared the last time he visited my current church, “God is good and He does good”.
I'm also thinking about Philippians 4:4-9 (ESV) “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you."
The Lord knows that our minds tend to go to “unhealthy places” if left to their own devices (I am speaking from 42 years of experience here!), but if we are to worship Him with all our hearts, all our souls, all our strength & all our MINDS then we need to discipline our thoughts. The devil would love to keep you & me trapped in all the “what ifs” and trying to figure our way out of them… I won’t burden you with my latest batch of them… but we are to “Rejoice in the Lord” - it doesn’t say “rejoice in your circumstances” the Lord knows the circumstances aren’t always lovely… but we can still REJOICE in His presence, in His promises, in His faithfulness, in His care for us, in His ability to carry us though – He is the God of the entire universe, yet He cares for you, and knows the number of hairs on your head (and has adjusted the count to subtract the few you’ve pulled out during this recent trial!). If we think on these lovely, excellent, praise-worthy things, then the God of peace will be with us – and that’s what we really need! His presence and His peace – great promises! AND, isn’t it wonderful that He thought to promise them long before we even realized we would need them :~) We’ve got a good Dad – He is good & He does good!
2 comments:
Amen, sister!! wow... am so glad you are back to blogging! come on over to mine when you get a chance...lots has been going on here...have pics of Courtney and Prom, pics of our trip to Paris, devos on what the Lord has been teaching ME all this past school year....in fact, in one post I also did something based on the very Scriptures you used here! GOD IS GOOD!!!!! here's to healthy thoughts
thanks for the encouragement. it's hard to find time, but I've felt the "itch" to write, so it seems like the right time to dive back in. have been catching up some on your blog too, great to see what you're all up to!
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