Skip to main content

Sit back and marvel

 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. (Romans 8:28)

There have been moments when I just didn't know what to say to God - unsure of what really was going on inside of my mind and emotions, just needing to get out those feelings, but really not sure how to put them into words. How about you? Do you ever experience those moments when there is an overwhelming sense of heaviness within, but you cannot really express it in words? I am so glad God can understand our sighs, groans, and even our silence. He knows our heart better than we do, but he also understands the mixed-up muddle of emotions that can occur at times. The more mixed-up we are about the things, the more we need to lean into God for his perspective and a fresh infilling of his peace.

Every detail is worked into our lives for some manner of good. I had a hard time understanding how 'bad stuff' could actually be turned into something I would benefit from in the long run. Yet, over the years, I have seen God take the various 'bad moments' and bring some element of growth within me that wasn't previously there. I guess this is what he means when he promises to bring good from the bad. It doesn't mean we won't face the hard stuff in life - it just means we don't face it alone and we don't face it without a purpose. We might be in a place of despair, but he remains in a place of control.

I live in a home that is over thirty years old now, so as each year passes, I try to do something 'big' to improve it and keep it in tip-top shape. One year I replaced the roof and central air. The Arizona sun means the outside needs painting from time to time. The inside needed a fresh coat of paint, so that was another year's project. The bathrooms needed a refresh and now the flooring is being redone. These projects come at a cost - financially, physically, and emotionally. I don't like to live in chaos - I like order (no...I am not OCD, I just like the comfort of things being settled). 

I think our minds are a little like these 'big projects' around the house. There is a cost that comes with all the emotional turmoil we face in those hard times. Our minds get all muddled-up, emotions riding high one day and down the next. Our thoughts can be carried away like a feather on the wind. Our bodies feeling the tension of the season we are in. There is no better time to take things to God than when we are experiencing those moments. We may not even have one clue what to ask for, but he knows exactly how to take the chaos of our present and create something so beautiful within us. Just like when the floors are all done, we will step back, sitting in peaceful repose, and marvel at what he has done. Just sayin!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What did obedience cost Mary and Joseph?

As we have looked at the birth of Christ, we have considered the fact he was born of a virgin, with an earthly father so willing to honor God with his life that he married a woman who was already pregnant.  In that day and time, a very taboo thing.  We also saw how the mother of Christ was chosen by God and given the dramatic news that she would carry the Son of God.  Imagine her awe, but also see her tremendous amount of fear as she would have received this announcement, knowing all she knew about the time in which she lived about how a woman out of wedlock showing up pregnant would be treated.  We also explored the lowly birth of Jesus in a stable of sorts, surrounded by animals, visited by shepherds, and then honored by magi from afar.  The announcement of his birth was by angels - start to finish.  Mary heard from an angel (a messenger from God), while Joseph was set at ease by a messenger from God on another occasion - assuring him the thing he was about to do in marrying Mary wa

A brilliant display indeed

Love from the center of who you are ; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply ; practice playing second fiddle. Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. (Romans 12:9-12) Integrity and Intensity don't seem to fit together all that well, but they are uniquely interwoven traits which actually complement each other. "Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it." God asks for us to have some intensity (fervor) in how we love (from the center of who we are), but he also expects us to have integrity in our love as he asks us to be real in our love (don't fake it). They are indeed integral to each other. At first, we may only think of integrity as honesty - some adherence to a moral code within. I believe there is a little more to integrity than meets the eye. In the most literal sense,

Do me a favor

If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. (Philippians 2:1-4) Has God's love made ANY difference in your life? What is that difference? Most of us will likely say that our lives were changed for the good, while others will say there was a dramatic change. Some left behind lifestyles marked by all manner of outward sin - like drug addiction, alcoholism, prostitution, or even thievery. There are many that will admit the things they left behind were just a bit subtler - what we can call inward sin - things like jealousy,