The featured blogger (and 5:16 gal) today is the sweet Miss Lisa of...
Boy does this gal have some passion! A passion to know and love Jesus Christ and to encourage other women! She pours over the scriptures in search of truth and intimacy with her creator. This week she is writing about the sister of a dear friend of hers who is batteling cancer...the woman as decided to stop fighting. Lisa encourages us to pray for this young woman.I know you will glean something from her kind spirit, so why not hop on over there and say, "hi."
Now onto MMM...
Do You Really Trust God?
Fully trusting God has been a struggle for me in one area: abuse. I cannot help but question how God can allow children to be abused, specifically sexually abused (no, I have not personally been sexually abused). I have wrestled with Him over this issue, over His goodness and trust worthiness.
I thought I had dealt with the issue of trusting His goodness quite a few months ago, but I realized lately that I still have a heart issue here, and it all came up after reading Psalm 121 (a passage of scripture I have been challenged to memorize):
I raise my eyes toward the mountains.
Where will my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to slip;
He will not allow your foot to slip;
your Protector will not slumber.
Indeed, the Protector of Israel
Indeed, the Protector of Israel
does not slumber or sleep.
The LORD protects you;
The LORD protects you;
the LORD is a shelter right by your side.
The sun will not strike you by day,
The sun will not strike you by day,
or the moon by night.
The LORD will protect you from all harm;
The LORD will protect you from all harm;
He will protect your life.
The LORD will protect your coming and going
The LORD will protect your coming and going
both now and forever.
I know the Lord wants to deal with this issue in my heart. Today, he gave me great comfort with another verse, one that gave me hope and a beginning to my journey of trusting Him fully.
"When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me
till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny." (NIV Version)
till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny." (NIV Version)
"But when I considered how to understand this, it was too great an effort for me and too painful
Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood [for I considered] their end." (Amplified Version)
I find great comfort in that the Psalmist who wrote these words couldn't understand how it was that evil seemed to prevail while good seemed to suffer. It was overwhelming and painful to him...until he entered the sanctuary of God.
I need to enter into the sanctuary of God...into the trust and intimacy that He freely gives and offers...humbling myself under His mighty Hand and trusting when I don't understand. I do believe He will give me insight. I believe He wants full faith first.
Perhaps you are on a journey yourself when it comes to trusting Him.
Do you trust God? Do you trust that He is good...always?
(I will continue with "Ex Prep" tomorrow)
Your Turn!
- Share some advice, wisdom, practical applications, tips you've learned, etc. that you think would benefit and motivate others.
*Make sure to link directly to your MMM post and then link back here!
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17 comments:
Hi Sarah
I love your blog!
Whenever I come and visit you, I am always left with something to think about. A few of months ago I really had to come before God on the issue of trust concerning our daughter. She has been called into missions and will be leaving this fall to attend YWAM (Youth With A Mission) in Maui. One morning while praying for her, I was overcome with fear and worry for her and all the what if questions kept popping into my mind. God is so good though because He led me to this same Psalm that you have written here. Psalm 121 was the verse that was given to her at the time she was baptized and it it is one that I have prayed for her many, many times. He is her Protector. He is my Protector.
It's so easy to say we trust God, but like with the situation you have wrestled over, can we really believe and know that we trust Him- with all things, not just the easy stuff. I have found when I am being honest about my lack of trust, I can wrestle it over with Him and in the end my faith is strengthened. Thank you for sharing this post today and like I said, for making me think!
What a wonderful post this morning Sarah! That is the verse I memorized in Beth Moore's "Stepping Up" study and I had the same reaction as you, though from a more general perspective. It was hard to understand how it is possible that, "He will not allow your foot to slip" when I personally had felt my foot slip many times before!
I too realized that it was a heart issue that I needed to work on, and the only way to work on it was through time spent with Him. I still don't completely understand it, but I believe every word of it now! In fact, I believe Him now! It's been a long road for me to get back to a place of trusting Him (after the death of my infant daughter), but I am gratefully and joyfully there again and don't plan to ever leave! He is worthy, no matter what!
Have a wonderful week!
This is something I have been learning in my life a lot over the last few years. Do I really trust that He knows what's best for me? Do I really trust His plan? I love the thought that I don't until I enter His sanctuary, until I get close to Him. It is only until we spend time with Him, do we really know His love and in His I learn to trust Him.
Thanks for sharing!
I hope you have a wonderful Monday!
Thank you for your words and the scripure! I have been learning more and more about trust as I have worked through grief and now moving on to hope as we anticipate the arrival of our daughter. It is so scary to trust, but so comforting. I didn't come to the realization that God is good--no matter what--until I was able to surrender everything that I am, including my hopes and dreams, to him. It's a daily lesson though and one that I am thankful you posted on today.
Happy Monday to you Sarah Mae! Thank you for sharing that scripture. I hope you're feeling better... take care of yourself and rest.
Hugs,
Gayle
Thank you for the great reminder on trust, being in his presence really does help to put things in perspective. We must remember to continually go there, go before him first!
I appreaciate you sharing that today.
I feel like I have to trust God, I couldn't do anything without Him! Does God always work for good? Yes. HIS perfect plan. Does this always feel good to us, like when tragedy strikes, or we have troubles? No. Does God sometimes give Satan permission to cause woe in our lives? Yes, because God trusts that we will remain faithful to Him and He has an eternal plan in mind that we cannot see. Sometimes our troubles are used for God's greater good, and can end up being a positive impact for His kingdom.
What a great reminder of remaining faithful and trusting even when it's hard! :)
Sarah Mae,
I just sent an email to you about my name on Mr. Linky. I didn't know if you might see this comment first and be able to fix the mistake I made:)
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and these verses with us this morning! You always give me something to think about during the week, and give me new perspectives!
Thank you so much for your inspiration and motivation!
Hope you're feeling well and God Bless you!
Good Morning Sarah! Great post. At church yesterday our Governor was our guest speaker. He is a wonderul godly man (Bobby Jindal...look for him as Rep. nominee for President in 2012) and is going from church to church in our state encouraging people to plant seeds wherever we can and bring people to the Lord. He spoke about putting limits on God and how we cannot put limits on what the Lord can do. He is sovereign and as many questions as we think we have for Him when we get to heaven, imagine those that He would have for us.
That really hit home with me and made me think of Job when God asked him "Where were you when I created the heavens and the earth?" Wow, so powerful. Our God is good, even though sometimes we don't understand His ways!! But we know that His ways are not our ways, PRAISE BE!!
Sarah Mae,
Can you please delete my name(#9) because it is linking to the wrong spot. Thanks!
Hi Sarah! What a wonderful challenge here. It's easy to trust God with the little things, but about the bigger things?
Also, in response to your TWO responses on my blog: Yes, I would love to guest post for you. That is truly an honor for me! Thank you for your encouraging words. Seriously. It's people like you who God uses to keep me moving forward when things get rough. :)
Secondly, YES! Definately give yourself grace with two toddlers and a baby on the way! Obviously, every circumstance is going to be different! I am the same way pregnant. Pregnancy takes a toll on our energy and God knows that! :) My issue comes when I know I can/should be doing something else other then my own agenda. When I'm pregnant it's a whole other story. It's the opposite effect, actually! I do TOO much and don't sit down enough! ha ha! Love you Sarah Mae!
It's interesting that my husband and I were talking about trust last night. He is hoping for an interview this week with a company that he thinks will hire him. I asked what he would do if this WASN"T what God has planned for us. It's easy to trust when things are good. Not so much when they aren't. I could write an entire novel on how my strong christian parents reacted when my brother was nearly killed in a car accident. Rather than trust him in the storm, they have fallen so far that the entire family has been fractured. Trust. Thank you for these specific scriptures.
It can be so hard to trust in Him sometimes, but I do know that everything that happens is for our good and His glory and we may not be able to comprehend it all right now.
Wonderful post! Have a restful, peaceful Monday!
Greetings Sarah Mae!
Trust of my heavenly Father has been a huge issue for me because I could not trust my earthly Father. But just as you said, the closer I am to the Lord, the greater my confidence in Him becomes. Thank you for always giving us something to think and pray about after stopping by your place! Blessings to you and your family as baby's time approaches!
It's Wednesday morning & I'm just now linking up, but I did post this on Monday! I wasn't going to link here, but my post goes along with trusting God, so I changed my mind. ;-)
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