Even so...it is well with my soul!

This past weekend Amber and I went down to Orlando and what a wonderful time it was. The whole time there we felt like we were on a retreat…We were able to catch up with many friends we don’t get to see very often and during all the meetings (singles, church, and a worship and ministry night) the Lord was faithful to meet us. We both realized that we needed to break away from all the chaos of life for a couple days. I came home very refreshed (and tired, but thank God for caffeine!) and ready to take on a busy week….

Over the past couple weeks the Lord has delivered me from many challenging obstacles and turned them into joyful circumstances. I’m becoming more and more aware of why God had me where I was over the past couple years even though, at times, it made absolutely no sense. Though I’m still just as busy and maybe even busier than I was, the Lord has brought much joy to my soul and has lifted a huge burden off my shoulders. Things are still kind of crazy for my family. It’s especially hard not having dad at home, but God continues to be faithful. He has been our rock during troubled times! Words do not express how overwhelmingly wonderful His love has been to me recently. I’m continuing to see glimpses of His faithfulness and learning to rest in the arms of my Daddy in Heaven through difficult times. Though still walking through a season of the unknown…strength is rising as I wait upon the Lord! How kind He is!

Psalm 62:5-8- “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.”

Lamentations 3:22-23- “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Wait, be still, trust, and obey!

This past weekend I received a letter in the mail from my friend Damaris. God has been using this friend countless times to speak truth in my life. In the letter she took time to write out some quotes from one of my favorite books “Keep a Quiet Heart” by Elizabeth Elliot. These exact words were convicting to me a year and a half ago when I read the book and are just as convicting and encouraging today. I pray if you’re in a season of waiting, you find the wise and biblical advise from Elizabeth Elliot to be encouraging to you as well!

“The tests of our willingness to wait patiently for the Lord come almost daily. Waiting requires patience- a willingness calmly to accept what we have or have not, where we are or where we wish we were, whomever we live or work with. To want what we don’t have is impatience, for one thing, and it is to mistrust God. Is He not in complete control of all circumstances, events and conditions?...

It is here and now that we must win our victories and suffer defeats. Spiritual victories are won in the quiet acceptance of ordinary events, which are God’s “bright servants” standing all around us….

Restlessness and impatience change nothing except our peace and joy. Peace does not dwell in outward things, but in the heart prepared to wait trustfully and quietly on Him who has all things safely in His hands. (John 14:27) What sort of peace has He to give us? A peace which was constant in the midst of ceaseless work (with few visible results), frequent interruptions, impatient demands, few physical comforts; a peace which was not destroyed by the arguments, the faithlessness, and the hatred of the people. Jesus has perfect confidence in His Father… Nothing touches me without my Father’s permission. Can I not then wait patiently? He will show the way…

If I am willing to be still in my master’s hand, can I not then be still in everything?... If I mean to be obedient and submissive to the Lord because He is my Lord, I must not forget that whatever He allows to happen becomes, for me, His will at that moment. Look to Him for the outcome….

His message to me everyday is wait, be still, trust, and obey!!!"

-Elizabeth Elliot, “Keep a Quiet Heart” p. 134-136

Psalm 25:4- "Make me to know your ways O, Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long."

When we cannot see our way
Let us trust and still obey
He who bids us forward goes
Cannot fail the way to show
Though the sea be deep and wide
Though a passage seem denied,
Fearless let us still proceed,
Since the Lord vouchsafes to lead

Diving Into Scripture

Over the last few days I’ve been spending quite a bit of time searching for scripture on certain areas. Some are areas that I’ve been struggling with in my own heart and some are areas that I believe the Lord has been drawing me to that I might be able to encourage others. I’m going to take some each day this week to share scripture on the specific topics of waiting, anxiety, trusting God, joy/delighting in God and His word, and God’s love. I pray you find this helpful and encouraging!

Scripture on waiting:

Lamentations 3:25- "The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him."

Psalm 37:7- "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him…"

Isaiah 40:31- "But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."

Psalm 40:1- "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."

Psalm 33:20- "Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield."

Psalm 62:5-7- "For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God."

Psalm 130:5- "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord."

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord!

Battling Impatience

In God’s Place, At God’s Pace, By Future Grace!

James 5:7-11- “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful”

Yesterday I shared what the Lord had been showing me through the chapter on “Patience” out of the book “The Fruitful Life.” Well, I’ve also been reading through John Piper’s book “Battling Unbelief” and it just so happens that I’m reading through the chapter on “Patience” in this book as well. I don’t find it ironic that I’ve come across different chapters on “patience” in two completely different books in the SAME week. It just amazes me how creative the Lord is when it comes to ministering to His children. These two chapters have helped me tremendously and I’m oh so grateful for them!

Here are a few things I pulled out of this chapter "Battling Impatience":

“Impatience is a form of unbelief. It’s what we begin to feel when we start to doubt the wisdom of God’s timing or the goodness of God’s guidance. It springs up in our hearts when our plan in interrupted or shattered.”

Patience is a deepening, ripening, peaceful willingness to wait for God in the unplanned place of obedience, and to walk with God at the unplanned pace of obedience. Patience means to “wait and endure.” We need to trust God to make all barriers blessings. The glorious might of God that we need to see and trust is the power of God to turn all our detours and obstacles into glorious outcomes. If we believed that our hold-up at the long red light was God’s keeping us back from an accident about to happen, we would be patient and happy. If we believe that our broken leg was God’s way of revealing early cancer in the x-ray so that we would survive, we would not be irritated with that inconvenience. If we believe that the middle-of-the night phone call was God’s way of waking us to smell smoke in our house, we would not grumble at the loss of sleep. The key to patience is to have faith in God’s grace on our lives to transform all our interruptions into rewards.

When we have patience, it sustains us! In every unplanned frustration, God’s Word holds true:

Jeremiah 32:40-41- “I will not turn away from doing good to them… I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.”

“Impatient complaining is therefore a form of unbelief that God is not in control!”

Psalm 23:6- “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me ALL the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord FOREVER.”

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace.
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face
-William Cowper

Lamentations 3:25- “The Lord is good to those who WAIT for him.”