and I wrote....and I had a plan for those huge piles of words. I saved them in sections for each day this week. As I had time I would edit and rewrite and save them for publishing later. But yesterday I accidentally published two huge posts on the same day.My question is why is this so huge to me that I break all my own blog writing rules about length of post etc? Not many pastors get down to the core of this subject in sermons. Well, it probably doesn't sit well with any of us that God meant for the book of Job to be written just the way it reads and Habbakkuk is not a misprint, "If the fig tree never blossoms...
For me my faith became worth everything when most of what mattered in my life was threatened; and I still chose God above all that. I didn't lose everything, but it looked like I could. When our daughter was in a perilous circumstance with brain tumors this understanding of God in my pain was critical to my survival.
You can't suddenly fill up your pipeline of faith and wisdom on the day a train wrecks your world. Scripture and great saints like Elisabeth Elliot's words were etched in my mind and spirit before great tragedy rocked my world. For any of you reading this week, just know an older woman was writing here the best of the best that sustained her faith when there was no logical reason to want to live anymore, much less thrive. Sharing what is working in my life is part of my goal in blogging.
I've written this week out of a heart of thanksgiving that God anointed great men and women to be transparent in their writing and speaking so that I can live through pain and still have faith that God is who He says He is.
Read some in the last few posts when you have the time: it'll be good for you. Don't live another day with an imbalanced concept of God and pain. That is not healthy for your overall well being. God is love. You were intentional in His mind for all of creation. He is trustworthy. He can be depended on always. He will get you through all things; and in Him you will thrive.
You may have pain; NEVERTHELESS....though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the field
s yield no food....Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Habbakkuk 3
s yield no food....Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Habbakkuk 3
4 comments:
While this is a wonderful post on reaching for God and understanding His will through pain, something stuck out to me that you said. The fact that everything God has in the Bible was put there for a reason. He wanted us to see every verse. None of them are there without cause. That's really something to me and makes me rethink the most simplest of verses. Thank you.
I sat under the tutelage of a sage preacher who helped me while I was filling in at a country church.
I told him that the more I studied, the longer my sermons became.
He then said this, "then you haven't studied enough.'
That has stuck with me...brevity, at times, can be our friend and help us figure out just what it is that we want to say.
however, i read every word of what you say :)
David
www.redletterbelievers.com
David at Red Letter Believers is right...I still have more to learn on suffering, pain and God with His greatness and all power. Perhaps I think I can figure out mystery. No...surely I know faith is sometimes greatest when no answers are seen.
Great post today! I read every word! You are so right, it is hard to lean on a God who lets pain occur - yet without him what do we have?!?!? Shifting sand!
I am thankful that I have the rock to stand on. The rains came down and the storms come up on BOTH the house on the sand AND the house on the rock. The only difference is that the house on the rock stands, while the sandy house comes tumbling down.
God doesn't promise us we won't have rains and storms, just that if we stand on the rock, we keep standing. Amen! So glad you have the rock in your life, Kay.
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