Close your eyes, stop and think…random now…where does your mind drift off to? Honestly, I sure think most about me, my world, my home, family, problems and agendas and more ME! It kind of bugs ME to have a Me mindset. After all I share my home with others and thoughts of them tend to bring ME back around to ME. I rather think that this is a natural inclination, to be ME focused. However, as a woman of God, I am learning that this journey here on earth is NOT about ME!
I may have mentioned before that when I read Francis Chan’s “Crazy Love”, it totally rocked my world…forcing me to see outside of me, myself and I. That was a good thing! But I still struggle with myself and my little world rising to the surface. There are so many needs in this world that I become very overwhelmed when thinking about my part in helping others. And what I have found is to practice looking beyond self really starts right in my own home!
As a wife, I need to build into my husband the very elements that I myself desire. What wife doesn’t want a husband who is kind to them? So it is my responsibility to respond to him with kindness. But even when he can be unkind to me? Absolutely! Ask yourself when the last time you were genuinely kind to your spouse and remember how he reacted. Especially those times when you made the choice to respond to him with kindness and inside you were wanting to do likewise!
A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly. Proverbs 15:1,2
I love the verses above! What is on the tip of the tongue can sway a response every time! And making the choice to respond in kindness will always have an impact. You may not always see the response immediately but believe me it will percolate inside the recipients heart and soften instead of hardening that person’s response.
Do you find yourself sometimes wishing your spouse were gentler and kinder with his words? I have and do with my guy! He loves to be right and he loves to get me to react (and believe me, most times I do!) But I have tested this response thing and nine times out of ten, what I have found is that my gentle, kind response, diffuses his ire!
So here’s the challenge…purpose to respond differently than you would normally, put on that kindness and give it a try…see what happens and let me know how it has worked for you!
I can think of too many times when I have thrown my hands up in the air and said, “I just don’t know what to do!” My goodness, what a sorry statement that we all make at the times when God is right there waiting to help us in our predicament (no matter how small or large it may be.) It is all about retraining our thought process. We are not so, hopeless, helpless, defeated, whatever you want to call your situation that you cannot call out to God.
Do you need prayer? Right now is a perfect time to let God know what is going on in your heart. Stop your fretting and cry out to him and let Him hear your situation…nothing fancy, no special words or as simple as “help me Lord, I’m…”
One of the elements on this website is to be able to provide prayer support for you. Please know that it is okay to pray with a stranger who believes in the power of God to intervene in your circumstance. You can check out my prayer page and if there is anything you would like prayer for, I am here to pray for you and your situation. So give it a shot and really, what do you have to lose? We are meant to pray for one another and share each other’s burdens. This is not a flashy ‘hear this’ kind of thing but a sincere and honest place to talk to the Father. God speaks pretty clearly about making prayer a big showy deal:
“Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.” the Message paraphrase
Do you have impossible situations in your life? I have had many! Why I have even come to the conclusion that some of my circumstances will never change.
I’ll be some of you know exactly what I’m talking about here! I pray for a situation but nothing ever seems to happen. When I ask I seldom see change. This is just feels like banging my head against the wall.
Am I not asking correctly? Is there a right and wrong way to ask for His help?
Have you heard the quip that says “Faith is like a muscle, and it has to be exercised regularly to become strong.” Since I work out I get that!
However, when my world is falling apart around me, my faith feels like those times you have been on the treadmill forever and you become very ‘weak in the knees’…a bit on the whimpy side. You see, it isn’t that I’m not asking but maybe I’m not believing that He hears me.
James, that leader of the church in Jerusalem and former disbeliever in Jesus as the Son of God, who may have even been his brother, sure had a turn around. And when it happened he even had the audacity to write this straight-forward book. And let me tell you, his words of truth have a bit of a bite to them.
Let’s just look at chapter 1:5-8 ESV
“ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
Especially verse 6 which tells us that if we are going to ask we need to ask in faith and to ask without doubting which you too may have found happens when you ask of the Lord. That thread of doubt begins to weave itself in and out of your thoughts giving cause to be double-minded.
How Do I Strengthen My Faith?
So…how can I turn that around? I want to utilize what God has given me in the most difficult, and doubtful situations!
If my circumstance is a difficult husband (and I have had one!) How do I pray and believe that we can get through when butting heads? It seems so foolish to think just pray and watch God change him. However, when I pray, “God, I can’t change him, but I know You can. In the mean time please work on my heart.” I will began to see things loosen up.
We must be determined to see the situation with God’s eyes. God never deviates and He wants what is best for us and our situation. Things will change if we don’t get in the way of what He is doing, in His perfect timing.
I Want the Results Now…
Hold on with all your might to the truth above so that when you pray, those subtle and unsubtle threads of doubt will be cut off.
Continuing to pray it through, (and don’t stop) you will see things begin to change.
Don’t stop…
continue to thank God for the ‘impossible’ as you believe for change in the impossible!
Lord, I am blessed, blessed that you have my best interest always in mind. Let me see when I am like that man tossed to and fro, here and there without standing on the fact that You do hear and You are answering. Help me to get out of the way and teach me to patiently wait for Your answers to my impossibilities, in Jesus Name!
Father wounds are very painful and they can take a very long time to heal. We have been airing a program on our radio station that has naturally–because of upcoming Father’s Day–made father the focus. Rightfully so!
One day a year we can honor the man (in some of our lives) that served to be that marvelous example of love, provision, admiration and respect. As I said, in some of our lives. I think it is truly wonderful when people speak of their fathers with the utmost of respect and admiration. But on the other hand, there have been too many poor examples of that fatherhood role exhibited by those who claim the title of Father, Dad, Pop, Papa, etc.
I don’t mean to sound sarcastic about this, I really don’t, I am however standing in for those of us who either had poor examples of fatherhood inflicted upon them or didn’t have a father at all such as myself.
Did you have a father who was in the house but didn’t show his love for you?
Was your home dysfunctional where your father was missing or maybe you were afraid of him?
Maybe you were like me, no father in the picture at all that you can remember?
Now listening to the gentleman on our program give the most illustrious talk about the man he looked up to and admired with the utmost of respect, his father, made me long for that missing link in my life. I get pretty teary-eyed to think that there can be an earthly man that fills that mold of ‘father’ so wonderfully as the speaker’s father did. Wow! The respect and admiration was more than evident as he shared of losing his father and spending those last days with his hero.
Okay, you are thinking what is this girl’s problem? Can’t she just be thrilled for a shining example of an earthly father. Really, I do think it is wonderful but my heart has been empty for the father that I longed for and never had. I always heard what a wonderful man he was but funny, that wonderful man couldn’t take care of my mother and me. I am repeatedly told I would have loved him as he was such a pioneer type, rugged and fun-loving…but I have only seen pictures of me with him as a baby and as a one-year-old.
I understand he came from a family of good fortune but mom went to work to support us because that great guy of a father couldn’t hold a job.When I wrote an aunt to find out some information about my father she told me he was a “disgrace to the family and poor excuse for a human being.” Wow, there was no love lost there! Needless to say, my image of this “wonderful” man was somewhat skewed and the whole scenario of fatherhood seemed quite a mystery to a little girl who remained curious and longing for what she thought others had and she did not.It took many years of very difficult circumstances for me to realize that I was looking for ‘love’ (father’s love) but that I was going at it all backwards. In my early 40’s my life took a ‘right’ turn by realizing that I had a root of bitterness that I wasn’t even aware of. And this thing had wrapped all around my heart. If unforgiveness is a stumbling block you might want to read this post on the Toxic Root of Bitterness.
It was 12 years earlier that I had opened myself to the gift of salvation and received Jesus Christ into my heart. But even that didn’t fill my empty heart (or so I thought.) A series of circumstances brought about by my pride, dysfunction and strong will found me miserable and ready to give it all up.
A father and his daughter!
It is remarkable to think that God had a different plan. And part of this journey was acknowledging that the pain in my heart was–for the most part–due to anger toward a man I never even knew. It is hard to fathom how someone you never knew could have such an impact on your life! It was in large part because of the “Freedom in Christ” ministry of Dr. Neil Anderson, that I was able to release that bitterness and begin to see that I really do have a perfect Father now. I still have twinges of longing for “God with skin” like when you want a great big hug from arms that can just pull you in and hold you. So you can snuggle your head into his chest and feel the comfort of all comforts only a daddy can provide. For now, that can’t be, but someday, I am going to run to my Abba Father, my Daddy and He is going to embrace me and never let me go.
“Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.” Psalm 68:5
Friend, if you have that emptiness in your heart, a hole that just runs on empty because there was no father love to fill it up, I have an answer for you. Will you let the Father of all fathers begin to fill that hole with love that will begin to heal as a balm does on a wound? He is the Father to the fatherless, and He will never let you down, leave or forsake you! Cry out to Him right now, something just like this:
Father in heaven, I am longing to have this hole in my heart be healed. I have looked for love in all the wrong places and have paid dearly for my poor choices. I am so tired of running from one thing to another as I look for whatever it takes to keep the pain from overwhelming me. There are times when I just want to kill myself and be done with this life. As I look up to You, will you receive me just as I am and forgive me for doing my own thing as I searched for something to bring me happiness? Forgive me for the mess I have made of my life and help me to have a clean, new beginning with You. Thank you that by Your Son Jesus, I can come to You and You will hear me and answer and You won’t turn away from but will welcome me into Your family. I look forward to the plan that You have had for me since I was being formed in my mother’s womb and I am going to trust You to be my guide as I learn to love and live for You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
You will never regret making this new beginning. Welcome to the family of God, you are now a child of the Most High God! If you made the decision to receive the free gift of salvation will you let someone know? You can even let me know and I will do my best to send you something to help you on your new journey just email your response to kimberly@kimberlynyborg.com. You can read more about knowing Jesus over at Knowing the Father.
Years ago when my youngest (troubled) son was placed in a facility to get help (he was an unhealthy hazard to himself and others), I was sharing my heart with Amy Shreve (she a harpist and her husband are our friends that we traveled with for some radio rallies.)
The night after a concert here in I-Falls I was so grieved for this son who has had problems since fighting me in the womb, It is true! Too many heartaches and broken promises that he would straighten up go right and that never amounted to success. This mother’s heart hurt so badly to see him fail time and time again. Not to mention the stress it put on my marriage.
How easy it can be to place blame! It’s my fault, the father’s fault, the stepfather’s fault, everybody else’s fault but no one owning up to their own responsibility. Living the dysfunctional life I have lived only helped me take on unnecessary blame for a whole host of things that were only partially my fault.
I believe that we are only responsible for the situations that we directly cause and not the speculative ones (if only you…) If I steal something, I am at fault, not the person who doesn’t lock his door to keep a thief out. “If onlys” are pure speculation! But we can really let ourselves get buried beneath them if we are not wise (or shall I say walking in truth.) Stuff happens, we make mistakes! Acknowledge them, confess them and ask forgiveness of those we have wronged and move on. How sad when we become buried under guilt and condemnation that really isn’t ours to assume provided we have responded correctly like mentioned above. We can become overwhelmed with false guilt.
Prodigals can be used by God to help us look at the truth in our own situations. Share on X Looking back I can now see that there are things that could have been handled differently and with a whole lot more unconditional love. But then the child has a responsibility also. They become runners. Runners from the truth, their pain and anything that gets uncomfortably close to their emotions. They need help to see that their poor choices are what they need to own up to. I am responsible for my choices and my children for theirs, my spouse His, etc. It is a dynamic that I just don’t know how people without the Lord survive and many don’t.
I have attached a link to an Oswald Chamber’s reading for March 24 (linked to the image.) This is what Amy came to show me the next morning when she had been praying for me and my prodigal. It wasn’t even March but she came upon it and shared it with me and it has had a very profound impact on my thinking.
You see dysfunctionality breeds false guilt which in most cases won’t let the wrong assume their sorrows and pain that they find themselves in. He must increase… If God is sovereign and in control and I believe He is, then every thing, large and small is used by Him (He is fully aware of it’s happening) to grow us up and closer to Him. According to Chambers, we can become the very thing that gets in the way of our prodigal learning (yes the hard way) his lessons.
Some of us have to learn the hard way, I have. If someone comes along to smooth out the situation instead of letting the circumstances being used to teach the lesson, then that someone has interrupted the class and the lesson may be postponed until a later date and possibly a more severe situation. The verse for that day is from John 3:30 and it is simple and profound,
So I pray that we would not be in the way of the catylist that the Lord would use to work in the heart of that one who is walking contrary to God’s ways.
Father, I cautiously say, do it Lord, whatever it takes to break the heart of the wander so that they would look beyond themselves and see You! I know You will give me the courage to believe that You hold his or her life in Your hands and that Your desire is to see them come to You and give them the peace they have been searching for. I can even say “thank you” for the hard lessons that I have had to learn because You used them to bring me a bit closer to You each time. I not only love You Lord, but I trust You and entrust my loved ones to You, in Jesus’ Name!
We are all prodigals at one time or another! Recently Louie Giglio addressed some of this in a powerful message He delivered and shared on Focus on the Family at the end of May 2014. If you have some time it would be well worth listening to some of this first part of his message…
Louie Giglio on Focus on the Family
Need more encouragement for your journey…visit Arabah Joy, my blogger friend!
I was involved in the Bible Study, “Battlefield of the Mind” by Joyce Meyer and we had an assignment to respond in obedience to the nudging of the Holy Spirit–in other words, to act upon the promptings we can get that may seem a little ‘out there’. You may have had those promptings like I have and you may have received incredible blessings from being obedient to the call. However, I have also sometimes ignored them and not responded to that nudging with the justification that “I can’t do that” or “What would that person think if I did that.”
When I sing “Here I am to Worship…,” I know that to worship God is to revere, adore and acknowledge Him for who He is. But there is also another part of worship that encompasses what we do with our life on the horizontal plane. My mantra continues to be “Love God and love others” but I need help with all that entails. I do not necessarily need to round up the troops to head over to India to be on the mission field. That could be the call to some but I have a mission field right here in my own backyard. Wherever I am and whatever I am doing provides an opportunity to make a difference in my “sphere of influence”. However, I want to take this to another extreme only because every time I have let an opportunity go by without sharing the gospel when the door was planted and opened right in front of me, I knew that I blew it! I felt such disappointment with myself and had to ask the Lord to forgive me for cowering away from such a prime moment. I am reminded in the book of Esther when Uncle Mordecai admonished Esther that if she did not respond in obedience to the call placed upon her to confront the evil plot against the Jews God would raise up someone else to do the job! And, Esther herself might perish with the rest of the Jewish people that she had been called to rescue. Strong words! Well, Esther did heed the warning, asking the people to fast and pray for her opportunity to go before the king. It was her obedience that saved a nation!
On a recent return trip to Minnesota with my daughter, we did not have a direct flight and I was grateful that we could just be casual about the extra hours of waiting and flying without having to run to catch our last leg of the trip. We finally boarded in Dallas and, since I fly a little bit more often than she, I gave her the opportunity to sit by the window before I sat down. The isle seat remained open until the gentleman in the row ahead of us (after helping my daughter stow her carry on) was booted out of his seat because he mistakenly read his seat number when someone came to claim the seat he was in him in our row. He was a quiet man who busied himself with reading the newspaper. I waited until after he had read his paper, because there is nothing more annoying than being interrupted by someone asking you questions when you are reading! Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a rather large ring on his hand which I soon discovered had Vikings imprinted on it. Hmm…and, of course, I got my daughter to notice without too much fuss.
We began our conversation by my asking about cab service out of the Minneapolis airport. I have never needed to take a cab before, but our Monday return had our friends working and unable to pick us up and take us to our car. I will spare you the details of a two hour conversation, but I have continued to thank God for opening up a door to share a message of hope to a man who had some stuff going on in his life from serious physical issues, a pending divorce and some personal stuff he was trying to work through. I was able to share Scripture with him because I could sense some uncertainty about his future. Philippians 4:6,7 is certainly where I go camping when things look obscure, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; then the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus.” I also encouraged a relational walk with Jesus. He seemed like so many of us who find ourselves at the end of our rope with no way of turning things around and wondering what the point is in going on!
I have since prayed for this man, his health and marriage and I can only thank God for the fulfillment of this Scripture in 1 Peter 3:15 “…but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect…” Peter makes it very clear to me! Now, on to my next assignment. So simple; just take the step of obedience instead of wondering if you should because God has already paved the way!
Do you like to wait? I mean, in long lines, traffic jams, water to boil, you know WAIT? I really don’t know if there is anyone who likes to wait! It is probably harder for most than not…and I think harder for men than women (maybe.) For this girl it is soooo difficult and when I want something I really want it now. But I have recently learned a valuable lesson in waiting…this is where God works on us! The waiting makes us very uncomfortable yet this is when we realize that we can’t do anything about it! Have you been there?
Over the last almost two months I have waited with baited breath to see the outcome of this website. It is hard because I couldn’t post or fiddle with the appearance or well, do a thing with this project. But what I did do was really pray. Pray for Amanda, the designer who was trying to learn about me (long distance I might add) so that she could put something together that would reflect my heart, my ministry and what I have to offer as God’s representative. You see I believe that God brought Amanda, along at just the right time to use her talents to help me! She sensed that I was pulling my hair out. Okay, I think I may have posted that in a group we both belonged to on facebook, where I expressed my frustration and cries for help.
You see, I like to think I can do it all and I really do try. I built my own original website and then several blogs and I thought I could do this on my own like usual. However, I couldn’t. That was a difficult place to find myself, having to admit that I couldn’t make it work. But that too was a lesson for me to learn and I believe right where God wanted me. When we think we can do everything then we are basically saying we don’t need one another with our gifts and talents. When I think of all the time I spent fiddling around trying to build my own site, knowing just enough to be dangerous, I mentally calculated way too many hours with nothing to show (or at least far from where I desired to be!) God didn’t intend for us to do it all by ourselves but to rely on one another and on Him. That is just what I began to do and I have to say it was so good to let Amanda do what she is gifted to do and bless me by the outcome of her designing!
It is a good thing that I am still learning those lessons from the field! It is my hope that you will find this website a pleasant place to visit while you are here! And I pray it would be used for God’s glory as I do what He has called me to do in ministry.
Sharing the story of a desperate heart over at the #Loft today to remind us that God is there at the perfect moment, even when despair is ready to consume us, and it is never too late…
I spoke to a lovely group of ladies, where a beautiful young lady was asked to do special music for the event. I knew the song but never really paid much attention to it until that day, hearing it sweetly and gently sung by this precious woman. I hadn’t realized that some of the lyrics in the song really spoke of my story and my journey of coming to Christ and delivering my marriage. I just couldn’t get the song out of my mind. (Interesting how God really does put things together since she and I didn’t even know each other!)
God has given me specific verses that I use to encapsulate my story of being a desperate young mom who had exhausted all her efforts to ‘make life work’ or ‘make sense’. Instead, all I kept doing was digging my hole deeper and deeper with every poor choice and mistake piling in upon me and weighing me down so that every attempt to climb out only felt like trying to pull myself out of quick sand. I was being sucked in and frankly, I was just about at the place of letting go of all hope, figuring I would never find ‘happiness’ and I just wanted to give up. However, that was the place or point where God could finally do the work He had planned all along.
The chorus of the song that was sung by the beautiful guest vocalist was so fitting because I was there, I was a broken, miserable and pretty desperate mess of a woman, failing in all of my attempts to find happiness.
We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful, the mess we are
The honest cries of a breaking heart,
Are better than a Hallelujah…
I am reminded of how patient our heavenly Father is with us. He really does know that some of us have to bottom out not only once sometimes more times as we stubbornly keep trying to do things “our way” instead of pleading for help. This only reminds me of how kind our Father truly is toward His wayward children. Another line from the song:
The tears of shame for what’s been done
The silence when the words won’t come,
Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes.
The verse that speaks so clearly of the day that Jesus rescued me from everything that I had attempted to do on my own in an effort to find peace is from Psalm 40:1-3:
“I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.”
God, my Father, could have left me flailing, trying to continue in my useless efforts to get out of my self-made pit…but He didn’t! He heard the broken cries of one who finally let go of trying to “do it on her own”! Instead He knew I was truly ready to be plucked out.
Here is Psalm 40:1-3 once again but from the Message paraphrase:
I waited and waited and waited for God. At last he looked; finally he listened. He lifted me out of the ditch, pulled me from deep mud. He stood me up on a solid rock to make sure I wouldn’t slip. He taught me how to sing the latest God-song, a praise-song to our God. More and more people are seeing this: they enter the mystery, abandoning themselves to God.
My life hasn’t been the same since the day I gave my broken Hallelujah to my God. I am very encouraged to know that the heart song we sing never goes unnoticed by the Father! He never turns His back on our cries. Like the verses above read, He is patient in His waiting for us to finally say we can’t do it on our own, or by ourselves! Help, help me Lord…
Are you at that place today where a broken Hallelujah is all you can muster or where out of sheer desperation your heart is on the verge of failing and you just can’t go another step on your own? Oh my friend, God has been patiently waiting for this very moment when you would lay down your self-made efforts and allow Him to ‘bring you up’, up out of your own miserable pit. He is your rescuer, your deliverer and your present help in times of trouble. I urge you to cry out to Him now, give Him your broken Hallelujah, He not only cares for you but He loves you and He won’t turn His back on you!
Are there times in your life when you thought things would turn out so much differently than they have? Times that have left you feeling a bit hollow inside and terribly disappointed? Like when a child grows up and grows away from the Lord instead of toward Him, or your dreams of being a missionary went south because for whatever reason be it money or relationship it became the wrong timing? How about that first love that set your dreams on fire and then after a time the relationship fizzled and instead of fulfilling your dreams they brought about disappointments. And maybe it was the perfect job that you have waited for with all the amenities you could hope for and you were certain you had all the qualifications but you didn’t make the final round and someone else stepped into the position you longed for.
Sometimes there are disappointments that totally change the course of your life. That familiar saying “It just isn’t fair” can light upon you and pull you right down into the pit. Friend, I want you to know something and it isn’t anything new or profound but, it is truth and that is that God, in spite of our tendency to walk our own way, really is in control. Kind of like we are the vehicle but the Lord is our steering wheel. Oh, I know He really does allow us to do our own thing, because He loves us so much! He wants us to love Him back without restraints and of our own accord. After all, how would it feel if your children only returned your affection because they were supposed too or your spouse because you had to ask?
So what do we do with the disappointments in life? We all have them to one degree or another and really, how we respond to those disappointments determines whether we will move forward or lag behind. I would have to believe that like me you want to soar and draw closer and closer to the Lord. Your reaction to these realities sets the course for the next leg of your life journey.
Our journey in Christ takes the focus off of us and puts it on Him! Every single thing that happens to us must glorify the Father. I love that verse in Matthew 5:16 that says we are to let our light so shine before men that they would see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. And just for fun here it is in the Message paraphrase:
Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand – shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
When the disappointments come, those around us need to see how we handle them because after all there are plenty enough to go around in everyone’s life! I recently received another hit and the rug was pulled out from under my feet. Yes, for a moment I fell and hurt myself and briefly slipped into the pit of despair, but…I have a circle of friends that let me know that they care and they encircled me and prayed for me. I am slowly getting back up on my feet again. I hate when this happens but it does and there isn’t a one of us who doesn’t know what if feels like.
I would like to give you some things to think about when your dark moment comes.
Don’t keep it hidden! Go to your trusted prayer partners and yes, make yourself vulnerable and share just how upset you are and let them minister to you!
Ponder and pray when you hear a word for you even if it isn’t necessarily comfortable. God will provide the comfort because He is the God of all comfort!
Set your face like flint not to revisit those debilitating emotions but focus on the truth! You will not move ahead until you do and the more often you revisit the deeper the pit gets.
Remember, God is your healer and He wants to bring you gently back to the firm ground you were on before. Forgiveness is the key to moving forward and friend, I know just how difficult this one is but I also have tasted the sweetness when the enemy of our soul is defeated and forgiveness cuts the chains of our heart loose.
Do not get comfortable in the pain of your emotional battle. God has given us the tools to get out of the pit.
The battle is in our minds and here is the Scripture that can help us work through the enemy’s ‘mosh pit’:
“We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ…”2 Corinthians 10:5
Unless we get our minds set on the truth we will become wounded as we are banged around by the lies and untruth that the enemy wants to use to render us useless to our Father. Draw the line in the sand and do not go there. If you have, get yourself in the truth of the Word and let that truth bath and comfort you and bring healing to your mind, body and soul!
Father, too many times I have seen how ineffective I become when the enemy comes in like a flood! But I am also so thankful to know I don’t have to go it alone and that In Your truth I am able to raise the standard that defeats the enemy of my soul. You have provided brothers and sisters in Christ who thankfully become my help in times of trouble. Thank You for Your love for me and for gently picking me up when I become Your wounded warrior. I choose to walk in the truth today, in Jesus’ name.
But then life happens and things get rough and times get tough and the winds of adversity beat on our united front and we begin to think ‘what am I doing in this situation..it has to be better somewhere else…’
From Matthew 19:5,6 we find common words spoken over bazillions of wedded couples:
‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
As a young mom, emotionally immature and needy I didn’t know how to look beyond my own needs when I finally got married with my one son born out of wedlock, I was looking for someone to take care of us. No faith to sustain me except in myself and that was pretty pathetic. My first marriage ended prematurely leaving me with three children that I didn’t have a clue how to raise and so it was easy to find myself back in another relationship.
Thankfully, God intervened in my life and He began to turn me from upside down to Christ-side up. What a process indeed. However, I will be ever so ready to say that I have made the choice to go it the long haul.
I am done being a quitter and a runner! I want God to be glorified in my life and in the example that my marriage makes in a world gone awry. I am a woman of God, and if I say I believe in Him then I better put my faith into action by trusting Him even when it hurts! And guess what, I’m not talking upon condition either.
Is it stinkin’ hard? At times, you bet it is. Like when we both look pretty ugly at each other and want to demand our way. But life is messy and relationships are some of the messiest stuff out there. But you see, if I’m supposed to point others to Jesus then I better quit pointing at myself and demanding my rights.
Then there is this forgiveness issue…pride says “I’m right and you are wrong!” But love says “I’m so sorry, will you forgive me?”
Remember this familiar description of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 in the Message paraphrase:
“Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.”
I want others to know that it does work. But also, that it may take some elbow grease in the process. Like scrubbing away me to see I am in this with another.
Love this song from Casting Crowns that points to the fact that most times we don’t enter a marriage with the intent on giving up our selves. But if it is going to work it must. What God has Joined Together… Share on X
My question to you is this…will you fight for marriage?
Will you lay aside your demands and get on your knees and ask God to show you how to make a difference in your life, not change him Lord, but in you?
Close your eyes, stop and think…random now…where does your mind drift off to? Honestly, I sure think most about me, my world, my home, family, problems and agendas and more ME! It kind of bugs ME to have a Me mindset. After all I share my home with others and thoughts of them tend to bring ME back around to ME. I rather think that this is a natural inclination, to be ME focused. However, as a woman of God, I am learning that this journey here on earth is NOT about ME!
Father wounds are very painful and they can take a very long time to heal. We have been airing a program on our radio station that has naturally–because of upcoming Father’s Day–made father the focus. Rightfully so! 
