Changes

Our son, Phillip, and Patty, his sweet new wife, got home from their honeymoon last night. They have been in the Bahamas for the last week and had, mostly, warm sunny days. Today they woke up to cold weather and sleet. Talk about a change in their world. 

Life is like this all the time. You are headed in one direction then all of a sudden something happens and you find yourself in completely different circumstances. Sometimes these changes are pleasant and make us happy, but most often we find ourselves under stress and are very frustrated by the change.

God never promised us that life would always be perfect and understandable. As a matter of fact throughout the scriptures we read that troubles and changes will come. The one thing that He has promised is that He will be there for us throughout every thing that happens in our lives. God will be there to give support, hope, and to be happy with us or be sad with us. 

Romans 5:3-5 shows us this very thing.......

Romans 5:3-5

The Message (MSG)

3-5 There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

Thank goodness for change. It builds our character and helps us to love God even more. It helps us to become stronger and stronger and helps us meet these setbacks, on our paths of life, with grace and virtue.

For the ones who do not understand that they have a creator who will help them through anything, and they see you staying positive through your troubles, it helps make them want the peace you have. What a great time to point them to Christ. Then both of you will feel all the generosity and love God can give. Life and it's changes will turn out to be the best thing that could happen. Salvation will come. Peace will come.

My hope for you is that this peace is with all of you for Thanksgiving and on into the Christmas season!

Blessings!

Good With The Bad!

A couple of days ago Rodney, my husband, had a couple of vaccines. He is headed to Central America for a mission trip and needed to get them just in case. Probably he will not be in any danger of contraction of these diseases but there are some things that our bodies, here in the states, are not regularly exposed to, so they are a preventative measure.





But with every action there is a reaction and for my poor husband that certainly is the case. He woke up early this morning with a very high fever. He definitely is having a reaction to the shots and is, I'm sure, right now wondering if all of this is worth it.

In our lives, it seems, that we go along for a time with everything going great. It feels like things are always going to go our way, then BAM, we are knocked back off our feet and life looks very dismal. At these times we certainly wonder what we did to cause this and why did this have to turn out this way.

The bad with the good of these episodes in our lives is that sometimes we don't do anything to cause them. We live in an imperfect world thanks to sin being brought in. The serpent in the garden couldn't handle the perfection God had created. He wanted us knocked off our feet and He wanted us to take ours eyes off of God. That is what happened. As a result this world has spiraled into troubles more than not. Imperfection is rampant and things can't and won't go like we planned much of the time.

But don't give up! The good with the bad in our lives is that God is there in the midst of the troubles and is waiting to help us through.

This scripture is a great reminder of this truth....

Matthew 6:34

The Message (MSG)

34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

  
So the reaction to our troubles can and should be that we turn to God. We need to remember that He will help us through. If this is what we let happen, then the actions of this world won't be what defines us. God's reactions will!

Yes, Rodney has had an adverse reaction to the shots, but my sweet husband is not going to let this be the defining moment of his trip. I know he can hardly wait to get to Guatemala to see what God will do through him there. That will make all the discomfort of now be worth it for sure. That will be what defines him through all of this!!

How will you react the next time this world knocks you off your feet? What will define you, action or reaction? Good or bad? Here's to the God given good!!!

Blessings!