I’ve had such an AWESOME week! I’ve been afforded opportunity after opportunity to just be WITH people. Laugh. Cry. Hug. Encourage. Be encouraged. More laughing. More crying. I think my iPhone is currently looking for an open-share group to deal with some abandonment issues…
Ok. You ever have those moments, those days, those weeks, maybe even months or years when it seems like nothing goes right? It’s crazy right?!? I mean how much can REALLY go wrong? But for some reason it seems like snowball method, you at least SAID you intended to use to get out of debt, transferred to your life and all the small troubles have grown into MASSIVE ones!
What? Did you think you were immune to trouble? Did you think you were going to somehow escape tough times? Am I stupid? No. Well, at least I’m not ALL the time…I’ve learned recently that troubles are always somewhere in my life.
I’m either IN trouble, LEAVING trouble, or HEADING TOWARD trouble.
Here’s the deal. How will I, how will YOU, respond when these times of trouble surface and resurface? I know how I WANT to respond. I want to scream. I want to yell. I want to throw a fit (Yes, I totally understand the behavior of my little children now). I want to get all defensive. I want to fight. I want to CONTROL…
I’m not stupid; I just lack TRUST.
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.
James 1:2 NLT
God says to consider troubles an opportunity for great joy. Now THAT sounds stupid! There isn’t even a tiny fraction of my brain that says this verse makes ANY sense. My brain says consider troubles to be, well, trouble. Read a bit further…
For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
James 1:3-4 NLT
It’s not about ME! I want to CONTROL. I want to MANIPULATE. I want to GUIDE and MOVE the pieces. I want to FIX. I’m pretty sure that I can list a multitude of “I want” statements here (much like a multitude of sins…just sayin’). I can try and try and try and try all I want, but the only thing I’m going to do is merely add to the mess. Because of me, it’ll actually INCREASE. That is not how I would define JOY.
No. Instead I must learn to trust in God and in God ALONE during these situations. The circumstances ALWAYS seem insurmountable when you’re stuck in the middle. The disciples freaked out on the boat because they realized they couldn’t control the storm. They were in the MIDDLE of what they perceived to be a life-threatening situation, a test. Job went through 41 chapters of test! When it was all said and done, all Jesus had to say was, “Where is your faith?”
So, what’s up?!? Are you going to keep trying to CONTROL the situation or are you going to HAND IT OVER? Are you going to remain STUCK in the situation or are you going to GROW?
Jesus is asking, “Where is your faith?”
How will you answer?
Ok. You ever have those moments, those days, those weeks, maybe even months or years when it seems like nothing goes right? It’s crazy right?!? I mean how much can REALLY go wrong? But for some reason it seems like snowball method, you at least SAID you intended to use to get out of debt, transferred to your life and all the small troubles have grown into MASSIVE ones!
What? Did you think you were immune to trouble? Did you think you were going to somehow escape tough times? Am I stupid? No. Well, at least I’m not ALL the time…I’ve learned recently that troubles are always somewhere in my life.
I’m either IN trouble, LEAVING trouble, or HEADING TOWARD trouble.
Here’s the deal. How will I, how will YOU, respond when these times of trouble surface and resurface? I know how I WANT to respond. I want to scream. I want to yell. I want to throw a fit (Yes, I totally understand the behavior of my little children now). I want to get all defensive. I want to fight. I want to CONTROL…
I’m not stupid; I just lack TRUST.
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.
James 1:2 NLT
God says to consider troubles an opportunity for great joy. Now THAT sounds stupid! There isn’t even a tiny fraction of my brain that says this verse makes ANY sense. My brain says consider troubles to be, well, trouble. Read a bit further…
For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
James 1:3-4 NLT
It’s not about ME! I want to CONTROL. I want to MANIPULATE. I want to GUIDE and MOVE the pieces. I want to FIX. I’m pretty sure that I can list a multitude of “I want” statements here (much like a multitude of sins…just sayin’). I can try and try and try and try all I want, but the only thing I’m going to do is merely add to the mess. Because of me, it’ll actually INCREASE. That is not how I would define JOY.
No. Instead I must learn to trust in God and in God ALONE during these situations. The circumstances ALWAYS seem insurmountable when you’re stuck in the middle. The disciples freaked out on the boat because they realized they couldn’t control the storm. They were in the MIDDLE of what they perceived to be a life-threatening situation, a test. Job went through 41 chapters of test! When it was all said and done, all Jesus had to say was, “Where is your faith?”
So, what’s up?!? Are you going to keep trying to CONTROL the situation or are you going to HAND IT OVER? Are you going to remain STUCK in the situation or are you going to GROW?
Jesus is asking, “Where is your faith?”
How will you answer?
No comments:
Post a Comment