Lost in the Sand

April 15, 2013

 

I am the type of person who likes to make up her own, "quotes." For each season of life I make up little sayings, often drawing from Scripture, and things I have heard or read. These little phrases may be ones I hang onto for only a day, or maybe on that is with me for a week. If I were to make one for today it would be, "In times of drought, trust in the Maker and Sender of rain, for He shall surely quench your deepest thirst."

 

There are times as we walk the paths of life where dryness comes to our souls. Darkness shades our way and we cannot make out what the "road signs" so. We stand at this crossroad of the heart, unsure of which way to go. Left or right? There seems to be no hope, no reason to keep on keeping on. The joy to which we once danced to, slips away...and all we hear is silence.

 

In such times I have learned to cling with every fiber of my being to the truth of His Word. Maybe it does not speak so clearly to my heart, but I just keep on trusting in the truths that He has promised. I do not always know why the dry times come, but I know that I have always made it through them before...and I trust that I will once more.

 

If we have not trust and faith in the unseen, then we have no faith at all. It is how we act and react in the times of drought that truly show how much we truly trust in the unseen Almighty God.

 

If you are going through a time where God seems sooooooo far away, let me encourage you to soak in the Word and to trust in what you cannot see, clinging to His promises. He will not let you die of thirst. He will be your Spring of Life.

Trials Can Be Blessings

"But smooth living invaribaly, eventually, makes for sloppy spirituality."
~ Beth Moore
Get Out of That Pit

When trials come I think that sometimes God is just pulling our hearts closer to His. He is calling our names, trying to get our attention. Our God is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5) and He wants nothing in our lives to consume us more than He does. We should look at hard times, not as punishment or as some message from God that He no longer loves or cares about us, but as a message from Him calling us to allow Him to walk with us, and be our strength when we have none.

If you are speaking about parenting, true love for one's child demands you to discipline them (Proverbs 13:24). God's love is the purest form of love, if He tells us that true love requires discipline, then you can be sure that as His children, He will chasten us from time to time, because He loves us. I am not saying He won't, but whether He does or not hard times will come. It is just a fact of life, and when those rough times come to us we will likely long for instantaneous deliverance but God may not grant it. He longs for us to be draw closer to Him, whatever it may take. Even if this means that we must struggle for a while to overcome.

If we were to always keep Him first, perhaps the trials would not last so long and would be fewer, or at least we would not mind because our hearts would be so full and overflowing with love for Him that nothing else would matter.

Complaining when hard times, temptations, come is a natural occurrence to many, but if we look deep enough we will discover that we were tempted because we were weak, we were weak, because life had been going smoothly and we begin to think we could do it ourselves, and in failing to put God first, we fell. We hated our self, we were tempted to be angry with God for not making us strong enough, we were ashamed, hurting, and in time, crying out to God for forgiveness and deliverance. We cried out to God. We drew closer to Him. Think about it. If weakness brings you closer to God, than trials can be a blessing.

Amy Carmichael on Doing Hard Things

This last week I have been needing motivation and encouragement for my "journey," as I like to call life. This morning I pulled a new-to-me book from my book self, one I had not had the time nor desire to venture into until now. I was pleased to find that there was an assigned passage for each day of the year and after reading the short preface flipped to the reading for today. Below I have quoted the message that I know God knew I needed today. I could have not decided to pick up this book until tomorrow, and then I would have missed it. Again God has been faithful, giving me just the food for thought that I so needed at just the right time. I hope that it may speak to the hearts of you, my readers as well.

"I have often noticed that any one, who has been asked to do a difficult thing for the sake of the Lord Jesus, does it and does it heartily, that one seems almost at once to gain a new power of joy and a wonderful new liberty. Sometimes a shy reserve that covered the soul like a thin sheet of ice melts, and there is a freedom to share things and help others; sometimes a dullness that was there before just disappears. To see it do so is like watching a mist dissolve in sunlight. In my reading this morning I came upon the reason for this happy fact. 'Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows' (Psalm 45:7). Our Lord Jesus did the will of His Father with delight, He hated that iniquity which so often tries to dominate us--selfishness, surrender to the easy, and so on. Therefore He was the gladdest of all the sons of men. The same law applies to His followers. Who among us can be counted on for happiness? It is those who never take self into consideration at all. By the grace of the Lord they honestly hate iniquity even the iniquity of self-pleasing, and delight to do the will of their God. They are the happy ones of the family." ~ Amy Carmichael Edges of His Ways

When Faith Isn't Enough

How many times have people told you that if you only have faith enough, God will heal you? Or, God would spare you of some trying situation? While the Bible does say that we need to have faith (Hebrews 11:6, James 5:15) and that a prayers prayed in faith can, and will, heal the sick, and get us through various trials in life. The Bible also says that God's ways are not our own (Isaiah 55:8-9). Every person of great faith eventually dies, no matter how much they pray or how much faith they have. There are hundreds of stories about people of great faith who lost loved ones. Remember Job? Job was faithful to God even when all those he loved were taken from him. Even when he had nothing left. Despite Job's great faith, he was still left standing alone with nothing.

So what about when faith is not enough? We prayed ceaselessly for the healing of a loved one, only to suffer loss. Now, we only have two choices, to say that we did not have enough faith, or to blame God and turn our backs on Him.

Okay, so you say that I just did not have enough faith. Then tell me, who does? Do you know such a person? I have met some who claimed that they did. God healed they themselves or a family member from cancer, or any number of ailments, yet when I looked into their faces I always see how ironic their statements are. They may be wearing glasses, they may have hearing aids, they may walk with a limp, they may even have a common cold. How can this be? Surely if it was a matter of faith, they would have none of these things. If I was going deaf, but I had enough faith and God healed me, then wouldn't logic say that if I had enough faith, I would never need glasses, I would never grow old, I would never die?

Just because you have faith, does not mean that bad things will not happen. The Bible says that all things work together for good (Romans 8:28). It does not say that all things are good. Sometimes death glorifies God more then life ever can. Just because our prayers are not answered does not mean that we do not have "enough" faith. And it does not mean that God does not love us.

What do we do when faith is not enough? When all we have prayed for comes to not? There is only one answer. We turn to God. Faith, prayers, fasting, nothing, will ever be enough except God. We must trust that His ways are always best. Even when it hurts.

Why is it that death is seen as the worst thing that can happen to a person? Why do we believe that if someone is not healed on this earth, that our prayers have not been answered because we did not have enough faith? The truth of the matter is, the best healing is the heavenly one. Death is not something to fear, but something to welcome.

No, we do not want out loved ones to suffer, and we most certainly would like to selfishly keep them with us. But, what is our main purpose in life. To honor and glorify God, in everything. Even in death.

When faith isn't enough...we still have God, and that is enough.

What Can I Say?

When you hear heartbreaking news, you cry, you pray, and then what? You want so badly to say something that will comfort and share how much you care, but it has already been said many times. You don't want to sound like you are following the crowd, cold, or uncaring. Your heart aches so deeply, how do you express that in words?

"I'll be here for you."

" We are praying."

" Love you."

All of the sudden words that used to say so much don't mean anything. You stand helplessly by and watch those you love and wishing there was something you could say that would express the pain you feel. But no words say enough. When the miles separate you from those who are going through one of the toughest seasons of their live, they cannot see the anguish in your eyes, or the tears. You cannot wrap your arms around them and let them know just how much you care.

The questions remains: what can you do? What can you say?

You can pray, you can say all those words that are not nearly enough, and trust that the Lord will let them know how much you care, yet...even then it seems only half-hearted.

I have come to the conclusion though, that that is all you can do sometimes. That, and stand faithfully by their sides through it all. Actions are said to speak louder then words, so be a faithful friend. Pray without ceasing. Repeat words that never say enough. Hold them tight. And in the end, they will know.

In these hard times. God remains EVER faithful.

"Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:23).

I Thought I Was Going To Die

I had just taking my GED test and was officially finished with high school, I had purchased my first vehicle, and had finally gotten my drivers license. Now it was time to get a job. I did not think it would be that big of a deal. In fact, I was looking forward to getting out of the house more and to having a little more spending money in my pocket. With my own vehicle I would be able to get more involved in my local community. I was sure it was going to be great.

I applied several places and sat back nervously waiting for a call. When the call finally came I began to second guess myself. Maybe this was not such a grad idea. Well, it was done, so nothing remained but for me to go to the interview. It went quite well, and by the time I left I was back to feeling fairly confident, if a little nervous.

The first day was a nightmare. It was a busy day at our local Dairy Queen. I had never been to Dairy Queen much, and when I did go I always ordered things like chicken strips, fries, or an ice cream cone. Simple foods, with easy names. Here it was a busy day, my first day, and I was stuck on a register taking orders for things like Hunger Busters. I did not even know what one was! Watching people make ice cream cones looked easy, but let me tell you, it is something that takes a bit of practice. My first cones were big messes, in fact some were not even redeemable and had to be thrown away.

By the end of my first day I was sure I had made a mistake. My feet and back hurt. I was tired, and my mind would not quit spinning.

In the weeks that followed I went to work every day with a sick stomach. My nerves were my worst enemies. I have always been shy, and being thrown into a situation where I was surrounded by strangers all day, everyday, was extremely trying. Then there were irate customers, long lines, and I still did not know the menu.

I prayed many days, “God, I just can’t do this. It is too hard.” But I had commited myself, there was no turning back. All I could do was take it one day at a time and depend on God to see me through.

I honestly thought I would die, but God used those hardships to shape and grow me. Experiencing what it was like to work forty hours every week doing something I did not particularly like made me appreciate the years my dad has worked to so faithfully provide for our family. I learned that with gained responsibility, comes new freedoms, but also, challenges. I did have more spending money, but I now also had bills. I did have a way to get around, but I no longer had as much time to be involved. Things were not at all as I expected them to be. I had been looking at being a grown up through rose colored glasses. It was a rude awakening. This was the real world baby. And I was not sure I liked what I saw.

In the passed few years I have learned a lot about how you can do things you do not enjoy and still have a good time. Whether or not you enjoy life comes out to how you look at things. I am still shy, I still get stressed by having to deal with large crowds sometimes, but I am learning that if I step out of my comfort zone and really focus on other people, it is easier, possible, and even enjoyable.

Life has moved on. I no longer work at Dairy Queen, and though I do not look at my days there with any particular fondness, I can look back and see God’s hand working in my life. I can truly say that I am thankful for those trying days. They helped me learn how to rely more on the Lord, and I would not trade that for anything!

Where He Leads Will I Follow?

It looks like my family may be moving in the near future. We have known this might be a possibility for about a year, but it has been one of those situations that I have pushed back in my mind and not thought of as happening now. It has always been "someday we will move", not "we are moving now."

It may sound crazy but when it became clear that we might be moving before summer is over, I went into a panic mode. When I learned that my parents where considering buying a house in a community I was not interested in living in (I did not like the house either) I was floored. This could not be happening to me!

I fought it. I reasoned that there was no way we could fit in that house. We have been used to five bedrooms and this house only has three. There was no way my parents were going to really choose this house, was there?

As the days went by my fears became a living nightmare. My parents were seriously leaning towards buy the house I was so set against. I am ashamed to say I even tried to convince them that there was no way we could live there. Despite my outburst my parents continued to pray seriously about the house.

One day I was getting ready for work. I was talking to God and telling Him that we could not fit in that house, it was not the place we needed to be. Then, it was as if someone turned the lights on. Who was I to think I knew better then God? If my parents were praying about this and they felt that this certain house -which I hated- was the one, who was I to argue?

"But, God, I do not want to go there. Why must I go there?" I continued to argue.

Then I heard a voice so clearly in my heart I knew it was of God. It said,"You promised the Lord you would go wherever He might send you. You promised to follow Him to the deepest, darkest jungle if that is where He lead you. Even if it meant leaving all those you loved behind. Now He is asking you to move to a little town that is still in your home state It is only a few hours from your currant home, you will be with your family, and yet you are refusing to go? What is up with that?"

That is when I knew. God was not asking me to go to deepest, darkest Africa, He was asking me to go to this place I did not want to go. This town, this house I hated. I thought on in a few minutes then whispered, "Lord, if this is where you want me, I will go. I do not understand why You are asking this of me, but I will trust You. I will go where You send me Lord. I will go."

I still was not excited about moving, but the peace that had been evading me returned as it always does when I surrender my will for that of my Father's. It is human nature to play tug-of-war with God over issues of control, yet it is only when we give everything over to Him that we find peace and lasting joy.

I do not know what the future holds, but I know God is with me and that He is in control. I am looking forward to whatever lies ahead with hope because I know that God will remain faithful even when I do not.

So, what hard thing is God asking you to do today?

For the Rest of My Life

As has always been the case, when the end of an old year draws to a close and the beginning of a new year is hovering closely on the horizon, I began to think about all the things I did, or had left undone in the previous eleven months. Honestly, my list of the undone is always a whole lot longer then my list of the done. I am never totally satisfied with my efforts, because I always know that I could have done better.

I could easily allow myself to get all wrapped up in the grief and mourning of those tasks left undone, but what good would that do me? The only thing wallowing in sorrow would do for me is waste more of my time and so when I reach the end of next year I will have just as long a list of things left undone as I had the year before.

I decided a while back that New Years resolutions where of little consequence, and since then have not bothered to write out the long lists I used to be in the habit of writing. Instead I have made one resolution. It is not just a resolution for the coming year, but rather for the coming years. It is a life resolution. And that resolution is to live my life for the honor and glory of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To me this means, seeking Him through His Word, through prayer, through godly counsel, and it also means striving to always put Him first before all else in my life. I know that this is a resolution that will be harder to keep then any other I could make, but it is also the only one that will ever really matter.

These last few weeks I have really been asking myself about what God's purpose is for my life, and I have come up with one answer and only one. God's purpose for my life is for me to serve Him with everything I have got. That may not seem like much when you read it, but when you get to thinking about what it means, that is when it hits you. That is when you realize that this is a really big deal.

To serve God with all I have means: Loving my neighbor as myself. Loving God with all my heart, soul, and mind. Sacrificing my comfort, my dreams, and maybe even my life. Being a light to a fallen world. I have got to keep pushing forward when things seem impossible. I have to completely surrender my life to His will.

In the year ahead, I will come across hardships, sorrows, and even enemies, but God will see me through if I am faithful to Him. It seems like an impossible resolution to keep doesn't it? Well, it is not, because God is by my side all the way.

What are some steps I am taking even now to reaching my goal. First, I am starting out by disciplining myself in those basic areas where all Christians must discipline themselves if they wish to reach the goal. I am digging into God's Word, the Bible, spending more time in prayer, and identifying and removing those things which I know are distracting me from giving God my all.

I would like to challenge you in joining me on a life changing journey. Do not make a commitment that will only see you through the next year. Make a commitment that will see you through the rest or your life. What good does it do to commit to excellence for tomorrow, if you live out the rest of your life after that in the mode of mediocrity?

Make a resolution that will count.

In Him Who was, is, and always will be,
Kaomi

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race,

I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7).

"Being diligent to present yourself approved to God,

a worker who does not need to be ashamed,

rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15).

"My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength

is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9).

"Blessed is every one who fears the LORD,

Who walks in His ways" (Psalm 128:1).

What is Your Goal?

Grey clouds are scudding north as fast as they can. The sun is trying to dispel some of the gloominess, but though its efforts are valiant, they do not quite succeed.

A southerly breeze is wafting through the window, cool and crisp. I am sitting here writing with half my mind on you all, and half on watching two of my younger siblings as they practice making baskets out in front of the house.

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I wonder what you are all doing at this very minute. It is strange to think that one can have friends in so many places doing so many different things. It is hard to imagine that where you all are the weather may be totally different from what it is here and that the clock may be ticking a different time. It is so hard for me to think beyond what I see and hear.

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Life is like that. We all live our lives in a world that is all our own. A world that is self-centered more times than not, a world that is small despite the fact that we have the technology to connect with anyone at almost any time almost anywhere in the world. We each see with limited eye sight. We can only see and feel that which concerns us or those we love most. We cannot grieve over the losses that occur every day in the lives of so many, in fact I don't think that God meant us to do that. But no one can argue the fact that everyone, no matter their age, no matter their culture, no matter what it is that makes up their lives, everyone is short sited.

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The only way that our vision can be expanded is for us to see through the eyes of our Master. Seeing things through His eyes is like putting on reading glasses.

Everything is magnified so that we can see things more clearly. Seeing through the Master's eyes is like wearing bifocals. You can see clearly the things at hand, and see clearly the things in the distance. Looking through the Master's eyes makes everything clearer, and helps us to see out of our little boxes that we call "the world."

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We are only a speck of dust in the eyes of God. We think we know so much, that we are really getting to know Him and His Word more every day, and maybe we are, but in reality everything we know doesn't amount to even one grain of sand's worth of all the knowledge there is to know. We all have times when we become proud because we have read our Bible so much, or because we have memorized more scripture then so-and-so, or because we don't do "bad" things. But, that pride is misplaced. We have not even one thing that we can be really proud of. If truth be known, our whole lives are one big mess. We have messed up in everything we have ever tired and we are, well, quite frankly, losers. Our so called goodness is so dirty that it really isn't good at all.

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That is why God's love and grace are so amazing. I cannot fully comprehend what it must have been like for God, the Father, to watch as His Son suffered and died on the cross. I cannot imagine how hard it was to turn His face away from the One who was a part of all He had ever done. Who truly was bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh.

I don't guess I will ever fully understand it, but even though I am unable to grasp what an awesome sacrifice God gave for us, I still know that it is the most awesome thing ever!

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As we go through our day-to-day routines, let's try to remember all Christ suffered for our sake. Let's not take for granted the life we have been given. Let's not live half-heatedly for God and run with the other half of our hearts towards worldly things, no matter how tempting. Let us strive with our every breath to lean on God, knowing that we are nothing without Him, and press onwards toward the goal.

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How are you running today? Are you running the race with all you have got? Are you pushing ahead of the crowd and pulling out in front? Yeah, I know, at times it becomes lonely running out front, but you are never alone. God is with you.

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Are you running even when you muscles get sore and you are starting to hurt? You know what? Pain is a good thing. It helps your running muscles get stronger; it helps you to build up endurance.

This race is a long one, it began the day you were born and its course keeps you on a winding up-hill, and down-hill run until the day you die. Are you in this thing whole-heatedly? Are you in for the long run? Are you willing to run until you fall and then let Him help you up so you can keep pressing ahead? Or are you going to drop out and take the much easier walking trails?

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What is the prize worth to you? Is is worth your very life, your very blood? If it isn't, I encourage you to do some soul searching. Look at the map closely. Are you willing to give up the reward for an easier walk now, or are you ready to give it your all and run the hardest race ever? What is your goal?

Anywhere But Here

Paul says in Philippians 4:11 to be content in every sitiuation, but I have to admit that I have not always been content in life's circumstances. I often find myself questioning my path. Could God really have lead me here? If this is where God wants me why am I so unhappy? The place I was in was not bad, just uneventful, and I did not like it.

I believe contentment is directly related to happiness. I have realized that I need to be statisfied with where God leads me instead of dreaming of somewhere else, even if it appears more eventful.

My advice: make the most of where God leads you.

Anywhere but here is where I want to be

I waste my restless nights crying myself to sleep

God, if You're out there, and You really love me

Why have You lead me here?

A quiet whisper in my ear I can hear You say:

This is where I want you

This is where I am

This is where I called you

It is all in My plan

Even if you don't like it here

This is where I am

Hard Things

A year ago I "stumbled" across a website that has promised to change my life. This website was the website of Alex and Brett Harris, http://www.therebelution.com/ . I say, "stumbled," because I do not believe anything in life just happens by some freak chance. I believe that God is ultimately in control of every aspect of my life, and that He lead me to The Rebelution website.

Since I have begun to follow The Rebelution in my spare time, I have begun to learn about hard things. For me, one of those hard things was starting this blog. I like writing, that was not the problem. The problem was being disicplined enough to stick with it. Writing an edifying blog is hard work. In other words, I was to chicken to begin this blog sooner because I was afraid I would fail to faithfully commit a percentage of my time and energy to keeping it up. On top of that I felt so unworthy. I am a sinner. I have my problems. I did not feel like I could write to encourage others while I had these problems that needed to be worked out with God. I was not ready yet.

That was before I realized that if I waited until I was a "better" person, until I was ready, I would never write, or do, anything to help or encourage others because I would never be my picture of a "better" (aka perfect) person while I live upon this planet called earth. This is a fallen world and I am a fallen person. Only God is perfect.

So, here I am. I still have a long way to go, and so much to learn, but I will not wait to began reaching out to others. Instead, I will begin to do hard things for the glory of God. God can take my poor, stumbling attemps and make them into something beautiful that will bring Him glory. We cannot wait forever to become perfect people who make no mistakes before we began to serve God. If we did, we would never do anything, and He would never be glorified.

" For My strength is made perfect in [your]weakness."

--Jesus Christ

2 Corinthians 12:9

Do hard things. In Christ,

Kaomi