trials

Peace, Be Still

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Photo Credit: Connor Scott McManus

“He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.”

Jesus is right there with you in whatever storms are brewing on the horizon or that are already surrounding you.

Can you hear Him speaking to your heart even now? “Peace, be still.”

He will never leave you or forsake you. He stays. In the calm, in the peace, in the joy, and through the storms, the heartbreak, and chaos.

With a word, a glance, a brush of His robe the storm is stilled, fear is silenced, and worry is blanketed with His unending peace.

Whisper His name. He’s got you. Even the wind and waves obey Him.

Cup of Blessing

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I love the imagery in this verse .The Lord is my cup of blessing.

When I imagine a cup, I immediately think of my favorite coffee mug. It’s familiar, comforting, filled with something warm and soothing that makes me happy. It feels peaceful and safe.

Of course Jesus is SO much more than a mere coffee mug, but He is comforting, safe, and soothing. He delights in bringing joyful, happy, lovely things into our lives to help soothe and comfort us when life blindsides us, wounds us, and we walk in seasons that are overwhelming and so tiring.

Walking with Him and being in His presence is the true blessing. That He loves us enough to give us even more is an undeserved, yet beautiful kindness.

He guards all that is ours and draws a boundary around what He’s given us. Those we love are guarded, protected, and hemmed in. We can let go of the fear and exhaustion of trying to control and manipulate life and circumstances to keep our loved ones safe. He’s got them. They are safely tucked up into the folds of His robe. He knows what He’s doing. We can breathe out, let our shoulders settle, and allow the joys from His cup of blessing to pour over us – healing, delighting, and comforting.

He Hears Our Prayers

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David’s confidence and assurance that when he prayed the Lord heard him and WILL answer encourages me. I love his boldness! David doesn’t say, “I think He heard me and I hope He will answer.”

David doesn’t tell the Lord all the different ways He can answer the prayers and give Him a carefully thought out to-do list. David simply believes and trusts that God WILL answer.

I have been known to get stuck in a pattern of worry and control when I pray. I already have an idea or plan in my mind of how my prayers should be answered and the issues worked out. I rehearse and overthink trying to forecast the outcome. This doesn’t promote trust, faith, and belief that God knows what He’s doing. It’s fear and self-reliance trying to micro-manage whatever circumstances are happening around me.

I’ve gotten much better in trusting God with me, those that I love, and all the trials, and situations that enter our lives. It isn’t easy and it takes effort. It takes remembering all the times God has answered prayers, maybe not how I envisioned, but how He knew things needed to play out.

He is good. He is trustworthy. He is safe. He’s your protector.

I’m so thankful that He knows what lies ahead. He isn’t worried, fretting, fussing, and asking for myriad opinions on what He should do. He is God and He knows.

I have learned and continue learning, that He’s got me and is right there with me for every single thing that I go through. Nothing is wasted and nothing is random. I trust in His goodness and His love for me and mine. I don’t always understand His ways. He tells us that we won’t, but to trust Him because He loves us. He in enough.

Whatever it is you are praying for, trust Him. Believe, even if that belief is a wobbly, flickering flame, that He hears you, sees you, and has a beautiful, mysterious, perfect plan just for you.

Go Gently

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Go Gently

“Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.”  Philippians 4:4

Go gently into the world today; gentle with yourself and gentle with others.

Go gently as your day unfolds; watch and see who He places in your path.

Go gently letting Kindness guide you, as He opens doors of opportunity to react with softness and tenderness in a world that is suffering, harsh and rough.

Go gently letting Goodness be your guide, as you bump against those facing pain, loss and trials beyond your understanding.

Go gently letting Peace direct your steps, as you navigate a world full of anger, hurt, and division.

Go gently letting Joy take you on a journey of delightful surprises, unexpected beauty and infectious hope that spills and washes over those you encounter.

Go gently letting Love permeate your words and actions as you interact with another who is greatly and extravagantly loved by the Father.

Go gently letting Patience fill you up as you pray for endurance and perseverance for the one struggling to keep up, fearing they will never be enough.

Go gently letting Self-Control infuse you with strength and discernment as temptations and distractions attempt to pierce and blindside as the enemy slithers and prowls.

Go gently letting Faithfulness and devotion keep you in tune with the heart of the Father as you sit at His feet, quench your thirst with Life giving water and feast at His banqueting table.

Go gently, the Lord is near.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.  Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)

Living with Hope

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1 Peter 1:6-9 NLT “So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while.  These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold – and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him, you trust him; and even now you are happy with a glorious, inexpressible joy. Your reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.”

These can be hard words to read when we are in the midst of a painful trial that seems to have no end in sight. Sometimes the trial blindsides us and we reel with feeling overwhelmed, unprepared and totally out of control. Maybe this trial was caused by the result of someone else’s choices and we didn’t see it coming. Other times, the trial is born out of our own poor choices and we are left stumbling through consequences that our own actions brought to our doorstep. We have all been there at least once in our lives. It hurts, we are confused and we desperately want Jesus to take it all away. It becomes easy to feel helpless and to want to throw our hands up and say, “forget it, what’s the use, God?”, especially when the trial we are going through is one that God wants to use to change us and move us away from destructive patterns and steer us in a new and healthy direction. Remember, that feeling helpless is NOT the same as being helpless. With God, we are never truly helpless. He is always close to us. We are not without hope because our God is the source of all hope. He never leaves us to face our trials alone.

The authors of the Life Recovery Bible (NLT) offer these words that bring comfort to the pain and weariness that the trials of life bring us. “The refiner would heat the gold in the fire in order to separate the worthless and impure dross from the precious and beautiful gold. The dross would be skimmed off until the refiner could see his image in the liquid gold. God uses the fiery trials and tribulations in our lives to purify and beautify our faith so that one day he will see clearly his image in us. This truth offers great comfort to those of us who struggle to make sense of a past marked by suffering. We can be confident that God will separate something priceless from the dross of our experiences.”

Imagine God looking down on us as he skims off the gunk and begins to see HIS image in us; something priceless. Oh, that I could see something priceless from the mess of my life experiences! I hope it makes you smile, that the God of the universe, Creator of galaxies, is so invested and in love with us, that he takes all the time necessary, with infinite patience, to allow us to feel the heat of trials, so that he can one day bring forth, for the world to see, the radiant beauty of our life testimonies; so that we can be a beacon of hope, salvation and love to a world full of his children who are hurting and need to hear a word of hope and see a life redeemed.

1 Peter 1: 3-5 NLT “Now we live with a wonderful expectation because Jesus Christ rose again from the dead. For God has reserved a priceless inheritance for his children. It is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And God, in his mighty power, will protect you until you receive this salvation, because you are trusting him. It will be revealed on the last day for all to see.”

Faces of Peace

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I am on a constant journey to find peace. It is something I crave on a soul deep, inner man deep, level. It is difficult to describe, but it is there and it is insistent.  I search for rest, because I am weary. It is not always the feeling of overwhelming exhaustion or the desperation of drowning kind of weariness, but sometimes it is. Life is showing me that peace has many different faces and it invades every situation. It can be quiet and unobserved, waiting to be noticed and when it is noticed, brings surprise and a deep sense of well-being. This happens in the wee hours of the morning, while rocking a tired, cranky baby; back and forth, back and forth, praying for rest and calm until suddenly you feel it – peace. It was there waiting, gently and softly. Rest. Peace. Joy. Love. All is well, you are safe and secure. Sheltered.

Peace is there on an ordinary day, when things are flowing smoothly and life is pleasant and people are kind. Peace was there before the day started off well, before everyone got up and got ready for work and school on time, before lunches were remembered and PE clothes were grabbed on the way out the door, before the house emptied and things were quiet. Peace was already there, waiting and present and real.

Peace is there in the absence of storms, just as real and alive and powerful, as it is in the midst of grueling trials and storms that seem to have no end. Peace is there, strong and powerful and full of compassion, when the Doctor opens the door to your room, takes a deep breath and says, “I’m so sorry. You have breast cancer.” It is there. Peace is what keeps you from losing yourself to terror when desperation blasts in and you feel like you are drowning and have no control. Peace is there in the middle of the fears of the “what-if’s” saying, “Yes! What if you are healed? What if you are well taken care of and deeply loved, what if you are never, ever alone in the midst of this, what if you are held in arms that are bigger than all your fears, what if you have shelter in the midst of all this hurt and chaos? What if? What if…

Peace reminds you that it was there before this storm hit and it will be there forever after. Peace lifts your face and asks you to fasten your gaze steadily into the eyes of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. It is Jesus, peace is Jesus. Such calm, such safety, such lovely rest.

On this journey of mine, I have discovered time and again, that my searching and desire for peace leads directly to Jesus.  Every single time. I won’t find it inside myself, in my own strength. That will fall short every time. I know. I have tried over and over to be self-reliant and strong enough. The One who created me, when I was but a thought in His mind, the One who formed every single part of me, all my weaknesses and failings and all my strengths and gifts – He wants me to feel peace, to feel Him working out all things for good, according to that beautiful, unique plan that is my life. Your life. The time He took to carefully place us right where we are, surrounded by the people and circumstances that He brought into being, tells me that He knows what He is doing. He is the Master planner. He knows how it all ends. We win because He is victorious over death and sin. It is good. He’s got me, He’s got you. It is ok to not know what to do, if you know the One who does. It is ok to not have it figured out and planned and plotted. He already did that. It’s done. Can you and I walk this out? The not knowing? We can. We do it every day, don’t we? We wake up and just go. However, the going is so much easier when we understand and truly believe that He has us in His hands and that nothing, nothing at all, comes toward us, His children, that He has not first filtered through hands of love, a mind of infinite wisdom and a heart that loves us so intensely, intimately and fiercely, that He allowed His beloved Son to die for us, to take all this on for us, to forgive us and to become our Peace. This is a wild love. It is not tame and it is not controllable. Yet, in this fierce and protective love, we find the greatest of peace. Jesus.

Melissa Giomi, October 7, 2015