All Things Possible Through Him

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it Psalm 118:24

The fact that you are reading the verse above is a blessing.  You have been blessed with another day! How the day will turn out only God knows. But we know one thing for certain: God, as the creator and giver of all gifts, has provided another day.

Perhaps you are facing a day weighed down and overly scheduled with things you don’t want to do. Within that schedule, you have the option of going about the day with a joyful spirit or being disgruntled about the demands on your time. Carefully planned schedules can be disrupted by both unexpected pleasant or unpleasant events. You keep a positive outlook and remind yourself today is a gift and we are to rejoice in this gift.

Later tonight, you will put your weary body to bed and reflect on the outcome. You may realize it turned out differently.. Keeping the verse above in mind, you decided to celebrate the day regardless of the interruptions, unpleasant events, or the tasks you needed to complete. 

Our lives and activities have been caught off guard in the past months. At times, the days came one after another with little distinction. You may have looked at the same four walls too many days in a row or too many hours in a day. It was difficult to be hopeful and rejoice about anything. One morning, maybe this morning, you looked at your family, your circumstances, and thanked God for your many blessings. Perhaps it was at that time you realized joy still exists in the simple things God provides like sunshine, talking with family and friends,, or going for long walks. Sunrises, sunsets, children laughing, faithful dogs at our side, a shared meal, are pleasures we enjoy in our lives. These simple things are the ways God continues to lift our spirits. It has been a time for reflection and reading Scripture. A time of contacting love ones and friends through technology or brief socially distanced visits. 

But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you Psalm 5:11

When we trust our faith, God eases our worries and fears and we are again able to rejoice. We know that God will protect us and the events of our day are part of a larger plan only God knows and understands.  Mornings, facing each new day, can be a time to ask for help in the twenty-four-hour journey. As the Scripture says above, “let all who take refuge in you rejoice.” Take refuge in Him. Ask for calmness. Ask for peace. Ask for strength. God will listen.

Goodness knows we’ve had our nerves tested lately. Living through months of an unknown virus, unpredictable weather in many areas of our country, constant negativity in the media, even an unfounded nationwide fear of killer bees!

This year has been a different experience from years past. We have had difficulty networking in the usual way. Our friends and family who give us support may not have been accessible for many reasons. Thankfully, we have another family, our family in Christ, who can lift us up and support us through our trials. These friends can help us keep our faith strong and our hearts hopeful.

That their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ Colossians 2:2

When Paul wrote this verse, which is part of a letter, he was concerned that some of the brand-new congregations of believers had fallen away from the true doctrine and were listening to false teachings. Paul wrote this part of the letter stressing the love and fellowship the believers felt toward each other and toward Christ would be strong enough to chase away any false beliefs. He felt that the connections the new believers had with each other would work to the glory of Christ and spread of Christianity.

The strong fellowship with Christians toward other Christians remains true today. When Christians need support and help, they turn to each other. Why? Because we all have the same christlike worldview. We understand God’s grace and how much He loves us. This strong foundation supports believers when we need to ask for help. This same love of Christ is why we help each other, as He instructed.

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you John 15:12

Today, you might need help or be the helper for someone else. Follow the teaching of Jesus and support each other. Blessings abound in our connection to each other.

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Thanks again for welcoming me to your FaceBook or email box. It has been a while since my last blog. We are living in a different world these days and motivation for blogging has been low. I don’t know about you, but this whole “stay home stay safe thing” is getting old. People are now bravely, or carelessly, depending on where you fall on the paranoia spectrum, going unmasked out to large gatherings. As for my household, we are taking it slowly and being selective of what we do and where we go. It has been months of near isolation and not much peace of mind. CoVid, riots, demonstrations that start peacefully and end up in violence, and nothing but negativity in the media, are disheartening. Like me, you might begin to wonder if this is the best we can do?

I know we are called on to be brave and to help all of humanity. It’s hard to muster up the strength and energy to face the world when it looks like it does right now. But, this is what we are called to do. With this in mind, I have taken up with my keyboard once again hoping to somehow encourage others.

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand Isaiah 41:10

For now, continue to look for the positive. Help others, whether in your immediate family, neighbors, or even friends who are present online. A cheerful word, a phone conversation, or emerging to reengage with others socially, are all possibilities for us. There is goodness out there, we may have to search for it.

Continue reading “How Are We Doing?”

Life is full of surprises. Some are wonderful and others stop us in our tracks. Through all of this, we somehow foolishly make plans for weeks, months, and years ahead. That is part of our nature. For some reason, we like to plan, thinking planning offers us a sense of being in control. But then, life continues. God has different ideas and a different path for us.

For many of us, we feel we are experiencing a chain of negative or bad surprises. We may mumble to ourselves with a sigh, “The hits just keep on coming,” as we deal with one thing after another. Perhaps we have heard of people in similar circumstances and thought, “Boy, I’m glad that didn’t happen to me.” But then, it does. And when the really big surprises knock us off our feet, we find the strength to grab hold and pull ourselves back up.

But what happens when we pull ourselves up only to discover that, while we feel strengthened again, the circumstances that knocked us down did not change. We must  acknowledge, “The struggle is real.” This is when we find ourselves in a “new normal.” How do we adapt? Are we able to adapt? And what of our faith? Did our faith weakened as we were struggling to get back up?

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places Habakkuk 3:17-19

In the verses from Habakkuk, we are told that no matter what, we should have faith and continue to rejoice in God and what He has in mind for our future. We may feel lacking in our faith even when we know we should hang on. Our faith feels diminished somehow.

When the apostles were traveling with Jesus, He gave them instructions on faith and forgiveness. Even His disciples felt their faith was not what it should be and asked Jesus to strengthen their faith.

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” Luke 17:5

Jesus lovingly told His apostles that having just a little bit of faith, holding on to the tiniest bit of faith, as small as a mustard seed, would be all they would need to work wonders. When they asked for more faith, this is what He said:

He replied, ‘If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it will obey you’ Luke 17:6.

That is all we need. Just a tiny bit of faith. In the new normal, don’t give up. Hang on, pull yourself up, and hold on to the mustard seed, then shout for the tree to get out of your way! Tell the new normal your tiny seed of faith is stronger. No matter what our new normal may be, Jesus is always the same. He is always with us. Hold on to your mustard seed and pray.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever Hebrews 13:8

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