Tag Archive | trusting God

Dreaming is Trusting

Feb24

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     Too old to dream? That’s the negative thought or fiery dart this elderly lady had come to call it. Yet she had to admit that at 70 years of age, it was an ongoing struggle not to give in to such a depressing thought. For the reality was that people her age and younger actually, were suffering from poor health and the obituaries of the local paper and facebook regularly reported on those who has lost their struggle.

      How did she know that at any moment a certain pain might herald the dreaded attack of some terminal illness?  Or that some unforeseen circumstance would spoil her plans for her future? Well, the truth of it was that she didn’t!

     Therefore, she determined that she would leave the plans for her future (and whatever those details looked like) in God’s hands!  She would embrace the Truth thought that God had plans for her future; plans for her good and not for bad, to give her hope for her future. So with that and a bit of naivety about the realities of old age, this elderly lady purposed to live the remainder of her life!  

 

To Worry or not to Worry! That is My Question!

Jan23

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I have a hard time trusting God when it comes to money matters. I wonder if those reading this blog do as well.

  For example, I was led to believe that a small monthly increase would be starting in January with an income check I receive, but guess what? The cost of insurance payments increased as well! So much so that those increases ate up that pay raise and left me receiving less this year than last year. Ouch!

  Oh yeah, the temptation to worry is poised and ready to inflict my thoughts with worry. Yet my training has taught me I must resist such thinking and replace it with  Truth thoughts (p. 93 FD 3rd edition).

  I desire to be like the flowers who don’t worry. But this is an area where I am especially vulnerable to Satan’s fiery darts.  It’s a challenge for me to trust God with such abandon.  Calling upon verses like the following is my only recourse:

And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19 HCSB

  Knowing what I know, I am faced with two questions,

What if I choose to worry over this dilemma ? 

It’s vital that you keep in mind Satan’s plan to steal, kill, and destroy. When a suspicious thought enters your mind, ask yourself this question, “If I consider this thought and act upon it, will good come from it?” If you cannot answer in the affirmative, then put up your shield of faith and stand your ground in deflecting such thinking! p. 54 FD 3rd edition

Or what if I choose not to worry?

On the other hand, consider Galatians 5:22-23. This is the familiar verse describing the fruits of the Spirit. When God puts a thought into your mind, then, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control, for example, is the desired end. The purpose behind thoughts influenced by God is meant to conform us into the image of His Son. p. 54 FD 3rd edition

Therefore, if I choose to keep my thoughts centered on God’s faithful provision then the enemy looses. His grip weakens and my spiritual muscles grow stronger!

 

 

 

All things Work Together for Good!

Aug2

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. – Rom. 8:28

There they go!

There they go!

A Present Background!

My daughter and her husband are on a cruise celebrating their 10th year anniversary and my husband and I have the privilege to travel to their home so that we could take care of their 3 children, (8 yr. old girl, 7 yr old boy, 3 year old girl).  I use the word privilege deliberately because to my husband and I anytime God makes it possible for us to spend time with our grandchildren we consider that a profound privilege.  

A Little Past Background!

Years ago, when I struggled with God in releasing my children to Him, my mind was bombarded with a fearsome fiery dart.  “If you release your children to God, He might call them to live far, far away from you!”  At the time I couldn’t bear that thought.  Yet, deep within my soul, I knew it was something I had to do.  I couldn’t run from it and I couldn’t hide from it.  I couldn’t live in denial and ignoring this calling from God, would in no way dismiss my obligation to obey God. 

So, by the grace of God, (and I mean ONLY by the grace of God) I lifted my children up to Him with a trembling heart and promised that I would teach my children to obey and serve God–being comforted by the thought that:

The safest place on earth, is in the center of God’s will.

I did ask God for a favor, however.  I asked Him that if His plans for any of my children involved planting their lives in a place far away from me, that God would make it possible for me to travel to where ever they were to spend time with them.   I didn’t demand this or make this conditional.  For I confessed to God that I would do this hard thing, no matter what!  But I would be more than grateful if I could live in the hope that He would make this possible.  And as you might expect, that is exactly what God has done.

My daughter lives  in Florida, so the fact that God provided us the means to purchase airline tickets to go and be with them is just proof positive that He continues to be tender to my request of all those years ago.  God is indeed faithful.

Now, back to the present!

My husband drove our daughter & son-in-law to the port about an hour’s drive from their house to board their cruise ship and in getting there, our daughter discovered she did not have her driver’s license.  (Panic time!)  Which obviously meant that with no picture id she would not be allowed to board the ship!

I got a phone call from them asking me to check the printer to see if her license was still there.  Sure enough, there it was, along with two insurance cards.  There was nothing to do but to contact my husband and tell him he would have to turn right around and go back to where he had been.  Ugh!  (Problem was, he wasn’t answering his phone so the temptation to freak out was intensifying.)  But everyone held on to their trust that God would work this out and resisted the fiery darts that were attempting to undermine our trust.

Finally, my husband answered his phone and it was decided that when he got back to the house, the kids and I  (along with the 3 important cards) would jump in the car with him and we would all return to the port-of-call so we could hand over the forgotten cards.

So how did this all work out for the good?

We had talked about the children being able to see their parents off at the ship, but decided that wasn’t practical. (Not enough room in the car)  Yet, because of the present dilemma, the kids were able to see the cruise ship their parents would be on (note the picture above).  

Another tidbit of interest is that had not my daughter and son-in-law left as early as they did, we wouldn’t have been able to get the driver’s license to them in time and the trip would have been spoiled.

As I prayed with my grandchildren that night, I thanked God for the opportunity we all had to witness how God took something that was not so good and turn it into good for all.  (Just like He said in Romans 8:28)

Isn’t it awesome to be a Christian!