God Delivers Us From Every Affliction

Afflictions: every Christian will experience some sort of pain or suffering in their lives it is a part of this broken world.

Psalm 34: 19 says

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the Lord delivers him out of them all.”

It doesn’t say “there may be” but “Many are the afflictions”. It is promised that as believers we are going to be afflicted or suffer some sort of pain in this world.

Here’s the promise: as a believer we will have many afflictions because satan is coming after our hearts and our families. Here’s the better half of the promise: Our ever-loving father will deliver us out of every single one of those afflictions – maybe not the way we want or expect Him to.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

Isaiah 55:8-9

Dear sister, whatever affliction you are in now, your will be delivered from it. I don’t know about you, but satan can get me to a place where I want to distance myself from God when I’m struggling and when I feel that way, it is even more important that I draw near to Him. Sometimes that means I’m praying that He will draw me near to Him.

Dear love, if you are in the midst of affliction, suffering, trial remember our Loving God’s promise that He will deliver us out of it. This is not your end, you will not be beat or overcome if you place your hope in His promise. And He is a God of keeping His promises.

He is a Forgiving God

You may feel like the forgiveness tree is short on leaves.

Like if you ask for forgiveness one more time God will shake His head at you in harsh disappointment.

There is a lie the enemy has flung into our midst – that God is judgmental and harsh.
The enemy strategically whispers this lie when you feel you’ve just simply done too much or tried and failed repeatedly.
Maybe you’ve spent your whole life hearing and believing He is forgiving but are you truly living forgiven or do you still keep your head down in shame?

Call it what it is, a lie – Satan’s attempt to drive a wedge between you and the overwhelmingly loving God.

Lately, I’ve been blaring the song Reckless Love and there’s a few lines that say:

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, Still, You give Yourself away.
When I was Your foe, still Your love fought for me. You have been so, so good to me

Oh sweet sister, don’t buy into the lies any longer.
We serve a God who is so unfathomably loving.
Each time you come to Him with your mess He doesn’t shake His head in disappointment but welcomes you with open arms.
You are not forgotten.

If you ask you are forgiven!

“But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.” Nehemiah 9:17

Cease Striving and Know He Is God

The best sound first thing in the morning? Birds chirping. Every time I hear them I’m astounded at how they begin their day worshiping their creator and I remember God’s promise: that just as He feeds the birds each day He will provide me with what I need.

When I worry, I realize I’ve focused on the problem and not on what my All-powerful God can do about it.

“Be still and know that I am God” My NASB version says  “Cease striving and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10.

Cease striving – stop making an effort, working, obtaining and instead know He is God.

The first thing we often do when faced with worry, fear, or a struggle is to figure out how to fix it. We run to friends, spouses, google, mentors, even to the Bible.

But we are commanded to “cease striving” “be still” and know that He is God.

Knowing that He is God means: trusting that the Almighty God, who created all things, rose His son from the dead, speaks with all authority, brings to life and puts to death, that same God is in control of whatever is happening in your midst.

Dear love, Mathew 6:26-27 says,

“Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?”

Truth be told, when we worry we remove God from being our source of strength and make worry bigger than our God.

Let the beautiful birds be a reminder today and everyday that God values you even more than the birds and if He so lovingly provides for their needs today, how much more will He provide for you!

Whether your worry is:

• Finances
• Career
• Family
• marital
• Relational
• Spiritual warfare
• Ministry

No matter what – Be still and know that He is God!

Sister He’s got you today!

Living Water To Quench a Hurting Soul

Jesus was sitting at the dust-coated well with a hurting woman.

She was there to get water, but that wasn’t why He was there.

He made a special trip; went out of the way, and sat down at that well

to offer her a hope that could fill her parched soul.

She had five husbands and was living with a man that wasn’t one of them.

Underneath those facts is a woman who is empty.

She has been let down. She has been given false hope.

She has listened to broken promises, repeatedly.

She gives in and drinks the unquenchable relief of feeling wanted by another man.

And here Jesus sits with her and delicately declares,

 …Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again;

but whoever drinks the water that I will give him

 shall never thirst;

John 4

She doesn’t have to run after empty pursuits to quench her hurting soul.

She simply needs to be filled with the refreshing Savior who knows

the deepest aches of her soul and longs to fill them.

I don’t know what your empty pursuits may be,

but we all have them at one time or another.

I, like the woman at the well, ran after love and affections

to fill the longing in my hurting soul.

And when those left me empty, I found it in addictions and success and

on and on the empty pursuits continued.

For some the void is filled with:

Success

Busyness

Relationships

Children

Addictions

Ministry

Friends

Television

Media

Shopping

Self-harm

Fitness

The truth is when the busyness calms down, the relationships end,

the children go to bed, the high wears off, the phone is put down,

the friends move on – we are left empty and wanting.

Like the woman at the well, we feel thirsty for something more.

We have a savior that understands the deepest scars and disappointments of our soul.

Oh, hurting sister, you were never meant to fill those – He was.

Let your parched soul be refreshed by the love of our Savior.

He offers the living water, but you must decide to run after it.

 

Trust The Lord With Your Baggage

Baggage. We all have it. Each small wound in a well-lived life leaves some behind.

Maybe a broken childhood, damaged relationship, bad choice or hurtful event.

This baggage is only brought back around by satan’s attempts to derail our purpose-filled life.

I remember the affairs my mom had. The affairs my friends’ parents had. Then there were the two boyfriends who cheated while I was away for a summer – my trust has always been empty like a dusty road at sunset.

Sadly, satan holds this is piece of baggage over my head at just the right moment, when I’m feeling just a little less than enough.

It has left me suspecting and doubting. It has cost me many friendships and relationships. I can’t turn away and claim it’s just the way I am. Those experiences God is using to build my trust in Him but satan creeps in to overthrow my freedom and peace with that baggage, one lie at a time.

While my trust in people may lack at times, God has a beautiful promise:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5

God says “trust Him” – while pain is a fact of life, so is God’s peace.

Trust Him “with all your heart” – All my heart means all fears, hurt, regret, baggage.

Do not lean on your own understanding – my past experiences can create an unrealistic picture of what I think I look like to others – but God knows the full story.

Whatever your baggage, you’ve carried it long enough – lay it at the feet of our sweet forgiving Jesus.