Discovering God by Resting in Him

This month I'm going to take you on a journey from a time of despair to a time of triumph. This journey has happened many times in my life in the past, but the one I'll share with you happened in the last 24 hours.

Yesterday morning was the time I had decided to write the words of hope to share with you here. The problem was that I hadn't been feeling very hopeful lately. I was battling with extreme loneliness for Ty and was really struggling with my worth, my purpose and a reason to be here. Honestly and selfishly, I just wanted to be home in heaven with Jesus and Ty. In other words, I was very discouraged and feeling sorry for myself. Even amidst the discouraging times, I do know that one of the reasons I'm still here is to share my heart with others. In hearing that I don't have it all together and sometimes feel alone and like God is not listening, I hope that others will be encouraged knowing that we all struggle, but that we have a Savior who brings hope!

So... in this frame of mind, I ask the Lord to help me to know what He wanted me to share. As I read in His Word and through my journals, I seemed to only become more anxious and confused. Nothing seemed to be coming together. I thought, "Lord, you know I can't write without your help. I'm not getting any clear direction from You. Are you sure I'm still supposed to be doing this?" Then Satan started or maybe I should say he continued (remember, he was already getting me to question my worth and purpose) his attacks of "Why do you even try? You know you're not good at this. You're not a writer--everyone else does a better job. This always takes you out of your comfort zone--why not avoid that and just quit?"

Satan knows each of us so well and knows exactly how to bring us down. He knows that if he can get us discouraged that we will not be effective in sharing the hope of Jesus because we won't be hopeful ourselves. Well, that's where I was. I knew I needed to call a friend to pray for me but almost didn't do that because Satan had me feeling like no one would care; that I should just get a grip and wasn't I always the one who told everyone to just trust and believe God's promises? I finally told Satan to shut up and pushed send so the call would go through. Friends are so wonderful. My friend spoke truth to my despairing heart and Satan's lies crumbled! She suggested that I just set the blog aside and do something else like maybe take a walk. So that's what I did after she prayed for me.

As my dog Shea and I walked, I chose to talk to Jesus even though I didn't really feel like it. As I walked and talked with Jesus, He revealed something to me. Many times it's easier for me to believe my feelings than to believe the truth and promises in His Word. My feelings (or thoughts) seem to shout so much louder. Is that true for you too? Again, Satan's greatest tool is discouragement, and he usually does that through lies and attacks on our character. Satan is also so good at bringing up past mistakes and failures as well as trying to get me to focus on my feelings of loneliness for Ty so that I feel sorry for myself instead of rejoicing in the many blessings I still have.

Anyway, the walk was very helpful and Jesus also brought to mind a song that will be perfect to share with you too. He also revealed to me that when I tried to write the blog earlier that I hadn't really been resting in Him. I was more concerned with getting it written according to "my schedule" not His. His plan was for me to wait on Him for His timing which didn't come until this morning. In the meantime, He gave me the words of hope that He wanted me to share as I chose to rest in Him and quit striving on my own!

Those first words of hope came last night before I went to bed. He led me to Psalm 27:13,14.

"I am still confident of this; I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."

Resting involves waiting many times and as the life application commentary from my Bible says: "Waiting for God is not easy. Often it seems that He isn't answering our prayers or doesn't understand the urgency of our situation. That kind of thinking implies that God is not in control or is not fair. But God is worth waiting for.

Lamentations 3:24-26 calls us to hope in and wait for the Lord because often God uses waiting to refresh, renew, and teach us. Make good use of your resting/waiting times by discovering what God may be trying to teach you in them. I ask the Lord to continue to teach me in this time of resting and waiting.

Then this morning I chose to rest in Him, even though I still didn't feel very hopeful, and ask Him to teach me from His Word. He led me first to Psalm 88 verses 1 and 2.

"O Lord, the God who saves me, day and night I cry out before you. May my prayer come before you, turn your ear to my cry."

I mentioned earlier about being lonely for Ty. It will be two years since he went home to heaven on October 17. I battle with those thoughts that say I shouldn't battle the grief and loneliness anymore; that I should rejoice for the 28 years of marriage that we had instead of mourning the years that I wish we could have had. Again, Jesus knew He needed to remind me and others that it's okay to express our hearts, hurts and despair to Him. He understands and sees every tear. The life application commentary says:

"Grief and depression take time to heal. No matter how low we feel, we can always take our problems to God and express our anguish to Him."

Won't heaven be wonderful when there will no longer be grief and discouragement?

God continued to remind me of the importance of continuing to run to Him even when we don't feel like it. Psalm 86:7 says:

"In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me."

That's what He was doing now as I went to His Word--reminding me of His faithfulness. Then to Psalm 86:17

"Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame, for you, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me."

Again, the commentary: "It is right to pray for a sign of God's goodness. As David found, it may be just what we need. But let us not overlook the signs he has already given: the support of family and friends, the fellowship of other Christians, the light of each new day. And we can be confident that He knows our situation no matter how desperate it becomes, and He cares."

He had shown me His goodness through the help of my friend as well as His care by taking me back to the hope in His Word. He always knows exactly what we need!

I know this is getting long -- you may need to take a break and get a yummy cup of coffee before you read the rest! Jesus had one more passage to encourage us to put to death Satan's lie that God can't use us because of the failures and mistakes of our past. I Timothy 1:12-14 says:

"I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that He considered me faithful, appointing me to His service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus."

From the life application commentary: "People can feel so guilt-riden by their past that they think God could never forgive and accept them. But consider Paul's past. He had scoffed at the teachings of Jesus and had hunted down and murdered God's people before coming to faith in Christ. God forgave Paul and used Paul mightily for His kingdom. No matter how shameful your past, God also can forgive and use you. We will experience times of failure. But we can remain confident that Christ will help our faith and love grow as our relationship with Him deepens. Paul's prayer for the Philippians applies to us also: 'He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus'." (Philippians 1:6)

So there you have it. Like Paul, I have made many mistakes in my past and much of my focus was on myself and pursuing the things of the world rather than on Jesus. Even though I knew Jesus, I tried to find peace and hope in things and other people more than in Him alone. Only He can satisfy our lonely hearts and meet our every need. It would be wonderful if we could live every minute triumphant in Him, but we can't. Until heaven, we will have times of discouragement and despair when our feelings seem to shout so much louder than God's promises to us, but we can choose to persevere, to run to His Word, read and rest in His promises and bask in His never-ending love for us.

Worship and Praise Him as you listen to the song: "Your Grace Still Amazes Me." I pray that you will find rest and peace in His amazing love for you.

Due to the death of Keva's father this past week she may not be posting for September.

Please check back at a later date and keep Keva, her mom Donna and the rest of the family in your prayers.

Jesus--The Ultimate Friend

Pondering the theme of friendship this month, the song, "Jesus is all the world to me" came to mind. When I think of friends, I automatically think of Jesus first because He is my best friend. As I read through the words of the song, I noticed that each verse ended with "He's my friend". How amazing is that? The Lord brought that song to my mind, and it goes right along with the Lovely Branches Ministries theme!! Two of the verses express my feelings perfectly:

Jesus is all the world to me
My life, my joy, my all;
He is my strength from day to day
Without Him I would fall.
When I am sad to Him I go
No other one can cheer me so;
When I am sad. He makes me glad.
He's my FRIEND.

Jesus is all the world to me,
I want no better friend,
I trust Him now, I'll trust Him when
life's fleeting days shall end.
Beautiful life with such a friend;
Beautiful life that has no end;
Eternal life, eternal joy.
He's my FRIEND.

As hard as it's been adjusting to life without my husband, Ty, one thing that Jesus has taught me is that He is the best friend I will ever have and that He is enough. That can also be expressed in the following ways:

Jesus plus nothing equals everything.

Everything I need and long for I already have in Jesus.

When you learn that God is all you have then you learn that God is all you need.

I spent alot of my life expecting my family and friends to meet needs that only Jesus can meet. I now know that no other person or thing can meet the need of our hearts. In fact, many relationships suffer greatly when they rely on each other rather than Jesus to fulfill their deepest needs.

John Elderidge says in his book "Walking With God": "Intimacy with God is the purpose of our lives. It's why God created us. Not simply to believe in Him, though that's a good beginning. Not only to obey Him, though that is a higher life still. God created us for intimate fellowship with Himself and in doing so He established the goal of our existence--to know Him, love Him and live our lives in intimate relationship with Him. Jesus says that eternal life is to know God (John 17:3). Not just "know about" like you know about the ozone layer or Ulysses S. Grant. He means know as two people know each other, know as Jesus knows the Father--intimately.

A. W. Tozer says, "The whole outlook of mankind might be changed if we could all believe that we dwell under a friendly sky and that the God of heaven, though exalted in power and majesty, is eager to be friends with us" Did you get that? Read it again, believe it and run into His arms and just rest in that friendship. I've mentioned before that my favorite time of the day is having coffee with Jesus. Well, the interesting thing is that when you have that intimate relationship with Jesus, and He is your best friend then you are free to enjoy your friends and family so much more - the reason being, that you aren't expecting them to meet the needs of your heart that only Jesus can. Friends are a huge blessing, and I'm so thankful for the many I have, but they cannot meet my deepest spiritual needs. When Jesus is truly all the world to me then each of those friends is like the yummy whipped cream on that great cup of coffee!!!!

May God bless each of you this month as you enjoy Him and all of your special friends!

Freedom in Jesus

Hearing that the theme this month was on FREEDOM, my thoughts went first to Jesus. As I've written in previous blogs, He is the only one who can give lasting peace, hope, and joy. He is also the only one who can give lasting FREEDOM. People and things can offer temporary peace, hope, joy and FREEDOM, but people will always disappoint, things and experiences don't last,and the search for FREEDOM and contentment continues.
That is how I lived for many years. Even though Jesus was my Savior, He really wasn't my Lord and the focus of my life. I desired FREEDOM and contentment so badly but ended up seeking for it in my family, friends, books, TV, clothes, vacations and money rather than in God and His Word. Are any of those things bad in themselves? No. But--they consumed much more of my time and my thoughts than getting to know Jesus did. What I found is that nothing this world has to offer can bring contentment and therefore FREEDOM. There will always be something else on the to-do list or some other thing or a newer or better model of something you already have that will keep you on the treadmill of "always having the right stuff in order to be valued." I was always focused on what I didn't have instead of being thankful and enjoying all the many blessings the Lord had given me.
Well, I finally got fed up with being on that treadmill and having my mind pre-occupied with things rather than loving Jesus and other people. A few years before Ty was diagnosed with cancer, I claimed two promises from God's Word. From James 4:8 "Draw close to God and He will draw close to you." and from Jeremiah 29:13 "You will seek Me and find Me when you seek me with all your heart." I ask the Lord to teach me from His Word and to FREE me from the bondage to all the things I was putting ahead of Him. Psalm 119: 27,28 describe how I was feeling. "Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders. My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your Word." The life application commentary from my Bible says: "Our lives are cluttered with rule books, but the authors never come with us to help us follow the rules. But God does. That is the uniqueness of our Bible. God not only provides the rules and guidelines but comes with us personally each day to strengthen us so that we can live according to the rules." Verses 35-37 from Psalm 119 say: "Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your Word." The commentary says: "Today people most often covet financial gain. Money represents power, influence and success. For many people, money is a god. They think about little else. True, money can buy certain comforts and offer some security. But far more valuable than wealth is obedience to God; it is a heavenly treasure rather than an earthly one (Luke 12:23). We should do what God wants, regardless of the financial implications. Make the writers prayer your own, asking God to turn your heart toward His statutes and not toward making money; it's in your own best interests in the long run." Verse 32 tells us what obedience to God brings: "I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart FREE." I have found that obedience to God not only sets my heart FREE but is the only way to achieve real happiness and joy. Our security has to be in Him alone.
God's Word continues to be my lifeline. After Ty was diagnosed with cancer and through the 2 1/2 year cancer journey as well as since the time he went to his forever home with Jesus, the promises in God's Word have kept me going. I have clung to them like never before and can testify that every one of His promises are true. For a lot of my life I read the Bible more as a duty so I could cross it off of my to-do list. Now, I read it because I want to know Jesus better and realize that the Bible is His love letter to me and it is through it that He speaks to me. His living Words to me bring the FREEDOM and contentment that I longed for for so long. His Word is true and wonderful!!! Psalm 119: 14-16 convey my thoughts so well. "I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your Word. The commentary says: Most of us chafe under rules, for we think they restrict us from doing what we want. At first glance, then, it may seem strange to hear the writer talk of rejoicing in following God's statutes as much as in great riches. But God's laws were given to FREE us to be all He wants us to be. They restrict us from doing what might cripple us and keep us from being our best. God's guidelines help us follow His path and avoid paths that lead to destruction."
Take it from one who knows how miserable it is to not be content--there is nothing like the FREEDOM and contentment that a relationship with Jesus gives. Make Him your #1 priority; don't just fit Him in occasionally. Run to Him, meditate on His Word, trust Him and rest on His promises. He is amazing and will far exceed your expectations. Remember, regardless of how you feel, the character of God never changes. Regardless of what you're going through, the truth of God's love remains the same.
Robert J. Morgan says in his book 100 Bible verses everyone should know by heart: "As we meditate on God's Word, our minds are improved. They are God conditioned. We begin thinking as He thinks, looking at life from His point of view. As we're transformed by the renewing of our thoughts, we become successful in those things God appoints for us to do."
The following fun song is a reminder of God's unconditional love for us. We all fail, but Jesus never gives up on us!!!

God's Amazing Love

God's love has been on my mind alot this month as I was challenged to pray Paul's prayer for the Ephesians for myself for 30 days. Chip Ingram from Living on the Edge Ministry says that "if we could truly grasp how much God loves us, it would change the way we live and transform our lives." I know that God loves me, but I think it's hard for us to understand the depth of His love for us. So... I've been praying Paul's prayer from Ephesians 3:16-19 for myself, my family and many friends and want to encourage you with it.
"I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know that love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
The life application from my Bible says:

"God's love is total, says Paul. It reaches every corner of our experience.
It is WIDE--it covers the breadth of our own experience, and it reaches out to the whole world.
It is LONG--it continues the length of our lives.
It is HIGH--it rises to to the heights of our celebration and elation.
It is DEEP--it reaches to the depths of our discouragement, despair and even death. When you feel shut out or isolated, remember that you can never be lost to God's love."

We need to remember that His love is immeasurable and inexhaustible. It's so hard for us to comprehend and yet how can we possibly question God's love for us when He was willing to sacrifice His one and only Son so we could have a relationship with Him. I John 3:16 says, "This if how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."

In the book, "God As He Longs for You to See Him" by Chip Ingram, Chip says: "If someone asks you how you know God loves you, there's no better answer than this one: Because Jesus died for me. God's Word even says it this way in Romans 5:8: 'But God demonstrates His own love for us in this; while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.' The value of God's payment for us tells us how much we are worth to Him. We are worth the life of His Son."

Whenever I start to feel sorry for myself, I am reminded of all Jesus went through--leaving His Father in heaven to come to earth to be ridiculed, misunderstood, tortured, and crucified out of obedience to His Father and love for you and me. In his book, Chip Ingram says, "Jesus is God's living expression of love, willing to walk every moment of every day with us, continually reassuring us of God's love."


There are so many other things that the Lord has shown me this month on His love--too numerous to share all of them here. As I have mentioned in previous blogs, I would encourage you to get the book--"God As He Longs For You to See Him" by Chip Ingram and read more for yourself about our Savior's love for us as well as all of His other attributes. Jesus wants us to become more like Him in all we do. In order to do that we have to know Him. This book includes very practical insights from His Word that have helped me know and understand Him better.
I'll close with a few more thoughts about God's love from that book. "Everyone is looking for love. We may try to satisfy our need for love from other creatures like ourselves, but no one can give us the love our Creator can. He longs to meet our deepest needs. The God who created this planet and sustains it, the God who wove our DNA together in the womb, is the same God who loves us unconditionally, totally apart from our performance. God doesn't love you like anyone else does--like your wife, husband, mom, dad or your children. He loves you better. He loves you personally, specifically and individually. We don't provoke, trick, convince, earn, or win God's love. He doesn't love us because of who we are but because of who He is. His nature and character compel Him to express unconditional affection toward us."

I pray that you will bask in His love today and rest in knowing that His love is not based on anything that you do or don't do. It has nothing to do with your work or performance. Jesus loves you just as you are and wants to be your Savior and friend.

Zephaniah 3:17 says: "The Lord you God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing." How encouraging is that? He delights in us, loves us and rejoices over us!!!
As you are reminded of His amazing love for you, I pray that you will respond by loving Him with ALL your heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37). During the last week of Ty's life here on earth, our son Yance ask him if he had any advice, and Ty told him many times to love God with all His heart, soul, and mind. He needs to be our everything. We need to deny ourselves and follow Him. As my Pastor said a few weeks ago: "Jesus does not want us to just be a fan but a follower."
The following song, "How Deep the Father's Love For Us" expresses very well what I've shared with you today. Let Him love you as you listen.

Loving Jesus and His Word

The Lord has reminded me many times this month of two things:

#1 I need to be filling my mind with His Word and
#2 He is enough.

I'll try to sum up somewhat briefly what He has been teaching me.

Concerning filling my mind with God's Word: Gary Smalley, in his book Guarding Your Child's Heart, said "Our beliefs determine our attitudes and actions, but our thoughts can shape what we believe. So it's important that the Scriptures are in our hearts to shape what it is we think about."

James Allen, author of As a Man Thinketh (based on Proverbs 23:7) says "Our thoughts are the most important thing about us. All that we achieve or fail to achieve is the direct result of our thinking. We are what we think and our lives run in the direction of our thoughts."

And from the book 100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know By Heart, "It's so important to be meditating on God's Word. The more we meditate the more we will remember. Scripture has power that is supernatural, soothing, convicting, transforming, life-changing, timely, timeless and eternal. Nothing beats having the Word of God stored away in the chambers of our mind. As Isaiah put it, "Precept upon precept...line upon line; here a little and there a little (Isaiah 28:13 kjv) it's like painting the inside of your mind with God's colors one brushstroke at a time."

In order to paint your mind with God's colors you have to read His beautiful words to you from His living Word, the Bible. So many people have asked me how I can have such peace and joy. Well, it has come from many hours of saturating my mind with His loving, personal, life-giving, life-changing words of truth and encouragement from the Bible. Just as Jesus is my best friend so is His Word because that is how He speaks to me. Nothing and no one can bring comfort like His Word so I usually have my Bible with me. As I read His promises over and over they stay in my mind and give me hope and keep my focus on my eternal home. Then I can CHOOSE to believe His promises and to TRUST Him regardless of how I feel and take one day at a time, taking captive every thought and resting in His Words of reassurance, love and hope.

Jesus also keeps asking me, "Am I enough?" I will challenge you with the same question. Is Jesus enough for you or are you relying on your spouse, kids, grandkids, friends, job, sports, church, money or other things to give you what only a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus can give? Don't just fit Him into your life when it's convenient, He asks us to surrender all and follow Him-- to make Him our first priority. No, He hasn't always been my first priority and I regret those years where I just "fit Him in". I can promise you now that Jesus is enough, and only He can give you lasting joy, peace, fulfillment, and contentment through the Holy Spirit who lives in every follower of Jesus Christ. Life is hard, sometimes unbearably so, but God is good--actually He's amazing!!! I only have to read back through my many journals to be reminded of His faithfulness. He is faithful to every one of His promises, and there are so many of them. As I spoke of earlier, the key is to know those promises and spend time with Jesus who loves you and delights in you so that He and His Word can be your anchor in the storms of your life.

Psalm 73:23-26 is a passage that Yance (my son) e-mailed to Ty and I when Ty had cancer. It's a great passage of promises and encouragement. It was interesting to read it again this month and be reminded that God did guide Ty and I with His counsel and took Ty into glory as verse 24 says. Also, Ty's flesh and heart did fail, but God was and is His strength and He's now with Him forever!! My Savior continues to guide me step by step, and I look forward to glory with Him someday too!!

"Yet, I am always with you;
You hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And Earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever!"

The following song I heard on the radio last week. It really sums up very well what I've shared with you. Jesus is everything I need and is my refuge and my strength. He wants to be that for everyone, but He can't if we push Him away instead of reaching out to Him and seeking Him. My prayer is that He will bless you with more and more of Himself as you seek Him, and I know He will because that's one of His promises!

With HOPE

The Bible promises, "We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, HOPE; and HOPE does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He had given us." (Romans 5:3,4) As Bill Bright says in his book Living Supernaturally in Christ, "The marvelous truth of Scripture is that for Christians, suffering leads to HOPE." He shares this story: "Irena Dragas grew up in the Croatian region of Yugoslavia. When she was 16 years old, her only brother died in a tragic car accident on his way home from a mission trip. When she was 17, war broke out and her town was attacked by militant Serbians. After days of hiding in her basement, she and her family escaped only to find themselves refugees. They traveled from place to place living in other people's homes, hiding from bombs and dodging grenades. As she viewed the destruction of cities turned into ghost towns and heard heartbreaking stories of shattered lives, she often wondered how she could find HOPE in the midst of war and death. Because she was a Christian, she often tried to force herself to feel hopeful, but only met with disappointment. Then one night she lay in bed in a sparsely furnished apartment temporarily provided to her family by a refugee agency. Although it was a few days before Christmas, there was no Christmas tree, no decorations and no momentos of cherished memories from the past. Yet suddenly joy and HOPE rushed over her. It was not a joy in her circumstances. War is horrible and the hardships she had experienced were tragic, but she realized that she could find HOPE in the One who exists beyond the circumstances. Though her life was turned upside down, God's character had not changed. His love and integrity were still the same. Even in a strange apartment in an unfamiliar city in the middle of war, she could experience HOPE because she was in the palm of God's hand." Just like Irena, I sometimes try to force myself to be hopeful and it never works. I also have experienced joy and HOPE when my circumstances seemed hopeless. The theme for the blogs this month is HOPE. Even though my hope is in Jesus, the past few days have definitely not been hopeful. It's been a time of testing like never before, and I've come very close to just giving up. I have said to Jesus many times, "Are you sure you still need me here? I really just want to be home with you and Ty." His answer is always, "Not yet--I need you to persevere awhile longer and keep trusting Me." So... even though I haven't felt like it, I chose to cry out to Him just as David did so often in the Psalms. This morning it was so exciting because He gave me two things that encouraged me and gave me HOPE. My prayer is that they will also remind you of our Savior's faithfulness and give you HOPE too! The first message of HOPE came from an article by Marty Duren called Through Good Times and Bad. Mr. Duren says, "From the first days of coming to faith in Christ, believers are taught to trust God. Often we are reminded that "simple trust in God" will get us through any of life's hardships, no matter how difficult any such trial might be. At times we find this is easy to accomplish; our faith is strong enough to help us endure whatever difficulty comes our way. At other times we waver, yet finish strong. And, then, there are still other times that we stumble, falter, struggle, and wonder if the trial is ever going to end and if our faith will survive until it does." (that's where I've been lately) Mr. Duren goes on to say, "I think there is a fine line between faith and fate. Often when I hear, "Well, God is in control," there seems to be more of a "whatever will be will be" vibe with it. It is less about following Jesus no matter what the cost than passively waiting as if we have no relationship with God at all. Perseverance is not waiting for a fated existence with which we have no interaction. Perseverance is accepting God's will for us, while intentionally and consistently interacting with Him in it--just like Job, the prophets, or the apostles. They all trusted God, yet found themselves in periods of deep struggle--the same types of trials in which we sometimes find ourselves. In a reply to his friend Eliphaz in the midst of his severe trial, Job said this about God, "If I go east, He is not there and if I go west, I cannot perceive Him. When He is at work to the north, I cannot see Him and when He turns south, I cannot find Him. Yet, He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will emerge as pure gold." (Job 23:8-10) The perseverance for which Job is known is not based on how he felt about God; it was based on the revealed character of God. It was expressed in the way that he pursued God even when God was silent. Job went on to say, "My feet have followed in His tracks; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the commands of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more that my daily food." (Job 23:11-12) These thoughts expressed by Mr. Duren at the end of his article are mine too. He says: "What I find when I persevere is that God never left the scene. He has never abandoned me, never left me alone. If I quit following God, I will never know the depths through which He will stay with me. It is only through persevering that I experience the fullness of His faithfulness." I know this is getting a little long, but I just can't leave out the rest of what Jesus gave me this morning. You might want to take a break and go get another cup of coffee before you finish reading!!! From Psalm 18, which if one of David's Psalms, the theme is "gratitude for deliverance and victory". Interestingly, that is what the Lord gave me this morning! Let verses 30-35 encourage you today in whatever you're going through. "As for God His way is perfect; the Word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in Him. For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God? It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great." My Bible commentary says: "He strengthens, protects and guides us in order to send us back into an evil world to fight for Him. Then He continues to work with us because the strongest person on earth is infinitely weaker than God and needs His help. David was not a coward; he was a mighty warrior who, even with his armies and weapons, knew that only God could ultimately protect and save him. God doesn't promise to eliminate challenges; instead He promises to give us strength to meet those challenges. If He gave us no rough roads to walk, no mountains to climb and no battles to fight, we would not grow. He does not leave us alone with our challenges, however. Instead He stands beside us, teaches us, and strengthens us to face them." The past couple days Jesus has been right beside me even though He felt far away. It was hard, but I continued to seek Him and persevere even though He was silent, and I was discouraged. That perseverance led to HOPE this morning as He spoke so clearly to me. We need to continue to persevere just as Jesus did in Hebrews 12:1-3. "And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning it's shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." The "joy set before Him"? That is the key to perseverance and HOPE. Jim Henry, editor of Money Matters magazine, says: "It's the sure knowledge that there is something greater, higher, and grander out there--just beyond our sight--that makes whatever we're going through at the moment pale in comparison." Remember, this world is not home to followers of Jesus Christ. All of us who have a personal relationship with Him can look forward to the "joy set before us" of our forever home in heaven with Jesus. So...lets keep choosing each day to persevere and place our HOPE in Jesus. One day it will all be worth it when we hear the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant." If any of you reading this do not know Jesus personally check out the HOPE page on this website. Nothing in this world offers the HOPE that a relationship with Jesus does. The song I've chosen to close with is "With Hope" by Steven Curtis Chapman. Some special friends of mine sang this at my husband, Ty's funeral. It offers so much hope to those of us who are left behind when someone we love goes home to heaven. As the song says, we can cry with hope, say good-bye with hope and let go with hope because we know it is not the end. If we have a personal relationship with Jesus we will see our loved ones again and be with them forever in heaven.