To all of you who have read my blog, thank you. I hope that I have written something that has encouraged you and helped you along your journey.
2011 is fast approaching. Only God knows what is coming, so I hope that together we can all just walk with Him one day at a time and keep our eyes on Jesus.
I remember as a boy that when I was with my grandfather, grandpa Burkart, there was never anything to be afraid of. He was there to protect me and provide whatever it was I needed. He knew how to give good gifts. God is so more infinitely able to protect and provide I should have no fears for today and the days to come.
I also want to wish you all a Merry Christmas! I hope that we will truly celebrate Jesus' birth and thank him for the gift of salvation that He has made available for all who will believe and receive it.
Merry Christmas!
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Little Did I Know
When I begin this blog I had no idea, obviously, what the future would hold. I know that life can be challenging and sometimes difficult but we can live through most of the things that happen to us and around us. I believe, in a wonderful way, God led me to begin this blog as a way of preparing for some difficult things in my life.
We can't always see at the moment what God is doing but once the "event" or circumstance has passed we look back and we see God right there; always walking beside us and in some cases carrying us through.
I have experienced another realization - God doesn't always remove us from the circumstance. Jesus went through a time of temptation. Peter fell to temptation twice (that we know of). Paul was unforgiving toward John Mark. God has the power to take us out of the difficulties we often face but more often then not He allows us to remain in the difficulty rather than remove us from it. It seems that sometimes He doesn't heal some folks until death. It seems that we hit "bottom" before things begin to improve.
Here is what I believe a part of the point is - God uses these circumstances in our lives to help us to understand more clearly how dependent we are upon Him! What are we going to do if God does not provide? We will perish! The nature of God is love and He loves His children. He will not allow us to face adversity that He will not provide the strength to endure. Our response is to be one of faithfulness because He is faithful; our response is to persevere because Jesus endured the cross scorning it's shame. We are to be obedient to His word because Jesus was.
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives within me. The life I live in the body, I life by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" Galatians 2:20
We can't always see at the moment what God is doing but once the "event" or circumstance has passed we look back and we see God right there; always walking beside us and in some cases carrying us through.
I have experienced another realization - God doesn't always remove us from the circumstance. Jesus went through a time of temptation. Peter fell to temptation twice (that we know of). Paul was unforgiving toward John Mark. God has the power to take us out of the difficulties we often face but more often then not He allows us to remain in the difficulty rather than remove us from it. It seems that sometimes He doesn't heal some folks until death. It seems that we hit "bottom" before things begin to improve.
Here is what I believe a part of the point is - God uses these circumstances in our lives to help us to understand more clearly how dependent we are upon Him! What are we going to do if God does not provide? We will perish! The nature of God is love and He loves His children. He will not allow us to face adversity that He will not provide the strength to endure. Our response is to be one of faithfulness because He is faithful; our response is to persevere because Jesus endured the cross scorning it's shame. We are to be obedient to His word because Jesus was.
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives within me. The life I live in the body, I life by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" Galatians 2:20
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)