One step forward, two steps back.
That’s the way it seems to go sometimes, doesn’t it? I’ve just recently been there, and it is so frustrating. The encouraging buildup to change becomes short lived. Progress is fleeting, and patience is in short supply.
So, what do we do when our slow movement forward quickly slides backwards?
Remember the positive change we did see. Change takes time. Whether we’re waiting for emotional healing, improvement in a health condition, a job offer, changed attitudes, an ease in difficult finances, or whatever it might be, it often usually takes more time than we would like.
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There are days when it feels like my efforts go completely unnoticed.
It doesn’t matter where we’ve gone, what I’ve tried, or how many errands were run. Someone’s mood is less than desirable. The one thing not accomplished or that was missed on the shopping list is the one thing being talked about. And it seems to get bigger…overtaking everything else.
We tend to focus on the negative, don’t we?
The one thing that didn’t work out instead of all the things that did.
The item we would like to have, ignoring all that we do have.
The unfinished work versus the completed tasks.
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When you need faith to move your mountain…
This passage has been a challenge to me. It’s easy to feel like somehow we must manufacture mountain-moving faith–as if it is some secret formula only the most devoted can learn.
Sometimes we’re trying to move the wrong mountain.
I struggled with the questions in my heart about how to have faith to move my mountains. But sometimes we’re trying to move the wrong mountain and too often we ask the wrong question.
Jaque Banas of Vision Writer’s International teaches the concept of journalizing, a specific way of meditating on Scripture by taking dictation from the Holy Spirit and writing to capture, assimilate and obey His personal instructions.In
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Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV
My Life Verses are Proverbs 3:5-6. What are Life Verses? Simply, they are favored verses that hold a deep meaning to us. What do these verses mean to me? They are how I live my life. They guide my life. When I am faced with choices, struggles, and uncertainties—I run to these verses and apply them to each present situation.
Let’s look at these two verses a little closer today and how I have applied them to my life.
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There are not degrees of sin—sin is sin. I know that. But sometimes, when sin looks like pure evil…well, that’s harder to swallow.
I recently attended a presentation on human trafficking in the United States. The speaker, a senior criminal investigator, informed us that there are more enslaved in the U.S. today than in any other time in history. I’d already been hearing that, so I wasn’t shocked, but to hear him describe the crimes, the victims, and how the traffickers work…it was upsetting in ways I can’t describe.
I watched as he paced while answering questions and heard his attempt to temper his words.
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All too often, I have trouble praising God in the midst of unpleasant situations. I’m full of praise when I see His work in my life, and I praise Him for the beauty He creates around me. But it’s those times of trials where I struggle.
Praise was my One Word for 2013. So, you’d think I’d have this praise thing worked out. But, I’m still working on it. I think I’ll always be working on it because it’s hard to put myself aside—how I feel and what I’m thinking—and start praising.
It takes a conscious effort to praise God at all times—especially times I don’t feel like it, when I’m angry or complaining…times when I’m overwhelmed by life…and times I’m starting to doubt that everything will work out.
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“She’s taken some breathes on her own.” Those seven words brought a dramatic and noisy change to the hospital ICU waiting room. My family all cheered and laughed after too many days of careful, cautious smiles to one another. Hope is an amazing and powerful commodity. We cannot conjure it up on our own as hard as we may try. As believers we know that God is good and that He loves our mother even more than we do. So we hung on to that very real and deeply planted knowledge.
A few days later I asked Him where He was because things were not going well for our mom… His answer came swiftly, “As close as your breath.”
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Spring has always been my favorite season. I like that although 50 degrees in the fall feels cold, in the spring it feels like a heat wave. And with the warmer air, there’s hope that winter is nearing its end.
Spring reminds me of new life—buds on the trees, flowers peeking through the ground, the subtle shift of everything turning from brown to green…
And the new life we have in Jesus Christ.
New life because Jesus took on our punishment, and through His death and resurrection, we are set free from sin.
For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many.
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