Do you start out January with resolutions, a special word, a verse, a commitment to exercise more, eat healthy, make better choices? Just turn on any form of media and the New Year's good intentions surround us. It can be challenging, but sometimes overwhelming.
As I sat with my cup of coffee and my Bible this morning, I realized what a blessing it is that not only have I been reading God's Word for wisdom, guidance, and support through the years...I've been underlining and leaving little notes of His Faithfulness to me through life's trials and adventures.
In high school when it seemed all the other girls were getting asked out on dates, and I doubted I would ever have someone to love me and get to experience giving love to little ones...
Psalm 25:12-14 "Who, then is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him. He will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land. The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them."
I wrote in the margin that this was God's promise to me that I would get married and have children...all in His perfect timing.
Or when the frustrations of the first job after college was driving me crazy. Between corporate pressures and warehouse mentality, I needed a way out and knew this career path was not for me...
Hebrews 12: 3, 7, 11, 13 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of rightousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Make level paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed"
The verses from our wedding ceremony...
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."
God's promise to me on a college trip where I had my passport stolen, and I was all alone in a communist country, that He was watching over me and protecting me. None of my family or friends were around, but God supplied all my needs...
Psalm 121 "I lift up my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip-he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you-the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm-he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore"
As my third baby popped out totally blue and struggling for life and I doubted that he would live...
Psalm 27:13, 14 "I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."
Psalm 119: 154, 156, 159...preserve my life, according to your promise...preserve my life according your laws...preserve my life, O Lord, according to your love.
Through the pain and turmoil of a church split, when the tiredness of faith felt like too heavy of a burden to bear...
Hebrews 10:22-25 "Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith...let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching".
When I picked my word for last year from the song we were singing at church, "you make me brave..." and didn't realize I would need that word to endure all the medical picking and prodding to come out the other side...
Psalm 107: 6,13,19,28 "Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress".(4 times in one chapter!)
Whatever you're going through...and we've all got something...
Pick up your Bible, and not only read it, but underline and make notes. It will be your journal of God's Faithfulness in your life, and will give you the Peace that you need to keep going. Life's not a sprint, it's a marathon.
Psalm 116: 5-7 "The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. The Lord protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me. Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you."
This is beautiful. Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: Andrea | Tuesday, January 12, 2016 at 11:16 AM
Glad you appreciated it, Andrea! Thanks for the comment:)
Posted by: Lora Bloomquist | Tuesday, January 12, 2016 at 03:00 PM