My struggles are getting easier to handle with each new day. I still face many issues each week and deal with some of those many times over, but they are becoming less of a burden on me. I am slowly coming to understand that while I must still struggle if I am to have any hope of moving forward, it doesn't mean that my struggle must be difficult. I am also learning that sometimes the real struggle is simply learning not to struggle. Sometimes we just need to let it go in order for it to work itself out. The more we struggle the tighter we pull the knots become and the harder it is to get free of the struggle. As I have said before, sometimes in order to continue walking with faith we must first stand still and wait for the path to become clear. I still face some kind of struggle almost every day, but I no longer feel beaten and drained by those struggles. As I continue walking with faith each day I am learning that I can still have faith even when I see no reason for believing.
It is said that faith can move mountains. I suppose that is true, but sometimes we just need to climb the mountain instead of trying to move it. I believe there are times when God wants us to climb the mountain, so that we can not only see what is beyond the mountain, but also see much further and clearer as well while we stand on top of that mountain.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Trusting God all the time
I got a surprise first thing this morning. My daughter called to tell me the heater had quit at her house. I told her I would be out to look at it once I had time to get ready. This being a weekend I doubt I can do much. This was not what I had planned to do with my Saturday. I know that God has been working in my life to make sure we were ready when this day arrived. That is why I had a vent less propane stove and a full tank of propane on hand when this happened. It is also probably why I was up earlier than I planned to be this morning. God knows exactly what will be happening in our lives and does provide for us ahead of time if we allow Him to do it. We just need to remember to trust in God not just during the times when we need God's help, but also during the times when life seems to be going great without God's help. The truth is the only time that our lives can actually be great is when we are with God.
God is always with us, but unfortunately there are many times during our lives when we aren't with God. That may sound strange to some people, but I have learned the hard way that is is very true. Today many people would have seen a disaster for their children, but I don't. I see God at work among the lives of His children. I see an opportunity for us to praise God and be grateful for all that God does, both great and small, in our lives. Sure it is troubling to have a heater go out the same day that the worst cold snap in years is supposed to arrive, but they have other heat available. They have a good house and a family that lives nearby to help them.
As the temperature drops below zero this weekend there are people who have no heat. There are families that have no home and no place where they can turn for shelter and warmth. My children are blessed. It wan't so long ago that I would have been struggling to take care of the heater problems for my children. Today I know that God has already taken care of it. I had repaired a stove that I had no need of days ago. God had made things ready for today, days ago. I am finding that it is much easier to walk with faith with you truly have faith. Trusting God all the time makes even the worst of times a time to praise Him and be grateful to Him.
God is always with us, but unfortunately there are many times during our lives when we aren't with God. That may sound strange to some people, but I have learned the hard way that is is very true. Today many people would have seen a disaster for their children, but I don't. I see God at work among the lives of His children. I see an opportunity for us to praise God and be grateful for all that God does, both great and small, in our lives. Sure it is troubling to have a heater go out the same day that the worst cold snap in years is supposed to arrive, but they have other heat available. They have a good house and a family that lives nearby to help them.
As the temperature drops below zero this weekend there are people who have no heat. There are families that have no home and no place where they can turn for shelter and warmth. My children are blessed. It wan't so long ago that I would have been struggling to take care of the heater problems for my children. Today I know that God has already taken care of it. I had repaired a stove that I had no need of days ago. God had made things ready for today, days ago. I am finding that it is much easier to walk with faith with you truly have faith. Trusting God all the time makes even the worst of times a time to praise Him and be grateful to Him.
Friday, January 3, 2014
Its not easy to avoid the struggles
I am trying very hard to avoid struggling with things in my life this year. I want to just live and enjoy my life. I still have issues and problems to face each day, but I don't want to struggle with them as I have in the past. I am going to try to deal with those issues without all of the struggles and worries that can become such a burden to me. I will try to lay my issues at the feet of the Lord and leave them there instead of struggling to carry them with me. I am uncertain of how well I will do at this. I have always been a doer and a fixer. I do what I think needs done and fix what I think is broken. It is hard for me to just leave things alone and let the Lord deal with them in His time and His way. That doesn't feel natural to me. I want to do it all for myself, even the things that I know in my heart are not meant for me to deal with. I have begun to believe that I need to live my faith more openly. I want to share my faith and love of the Lord more openly with everyone I meet, but that isn't easy for me. I don't open up or share easily with those I don't know. I now believe that I need to change that, because the Lord wants me to change. I am trying to change.
Actually I am trying to let the Lord make the changes in me. That is the hardest part for me, letting go of the control of my life so that I am just living by faith as I am walking with faith. I think this is the next step I must take in my spiritual life. I have been walking with faith for a while now, but walking and living are as different and talking and walking. I often question myself and others about talking the talk, but not walking the walk where faith and God are concerned. Now I am beginning to see that it must go beyond that. I try very hard to walk with faith each day. I try to talk the talk and walk the walk, but there is even more left for me to do. While I have come a long way since I first laid down my burdens and truly began making an effort each day to walk with faith, I still have much further to go. I can talk about my faith and I can walk with faith, but still not be truly living by faith.
I believe that is where my walk must take me next. I believe I must take the steps required to make my life one of true faith. I am not yet certain of what that will actually mean for me, but the Lord is. That is why I believe so strongly that I must yield to Him. I must not only lay down my burdens, but I must daily take up the cross that He provides for me to carry that day. If I am to follow the Lord then I must live for the Lord and not for myself. My life must belong completely to Him, holding nothing back from Him. I cannot continue to struggle, not against the Lord or against myself. I must continue walking with faith as I allow the Lord to show me how to truly live by faith. It sounds easy enough, but I find myself resisting it.
To struggle no more isn't an easy thing to do after living a life that has been filled with struggles. I just need to remember one thing though. The Lord said all things were possible with Him, but He never said they would all be easy.
Actually I am trying to let the Lord make the changes in me. That is the hardest part for me, letting go of the control of my life so that I am just living by faith as I am walking with faith. I think this is the next step I must take in my spiritual life. I have been walking with faith for a while now, but walking and living are as different and talking and walking. I often question myself and others about talking the talk, but not walking the walk where faith and God are concerned. Now I am beginning to see that it must go beyond that. I try very hard to walk with faith each day. I try to talk the talk and walk the walk, but there is even more left for me to do. While I have come a long way since I first laid down my burdens and truly began making an effort each day to walk with faith, I still have much further to go. I can talk about my faith and I can walk with faith, but still not be truly living by faith.
I believe that is where my walk must take me next. I believe I must take the steps required to make my life one of true faith. I am not yet certain of what that will actually mean for me, but the Lord is. That is why I believe so strongly that I must yield to Him. I must not only lay down my burdens, but I must daily take up the cross that He provides for me to carry that day. If I am to follow the Lord then I must live for the Lord and not for myself. My life must belong completely to Him, holding nothing back from Him. I cannot continue to struggle, not against the Lord or against myself. I must continue walking with faith as I allow the Lord to show me how to truly live by faith. It sounds easy enough, but I find myself resisting it.
To struggle no more isn't an easy thing to do after living a life that has been filled with struggles. I just need to remember one thing though. The Lord said all things were possible with Him, but He never said they would all be easy.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Struggle no more, a new beginning for a new year.
A new year has begun. This is my first day of posting on a blog. I am uncertain of how this will turn out. I have been writing a journal now for a couple of years about walking with faith. It is a simple journal of my life. It includes a few events from the day and then closes with my thoughts about my own relationship with the Lord. I try to write each day, with the exception of Sunday. That day is my day of rest. I don't always manage to write though. Just like most people I know, my life is filled with distractions and struggles. Those have taken my focus away from the Lord more often than I like to admit. Those are the days when I find it difficult to write. I suspect that is because it is hard to write about a relationship that you don't have at that moment.
I normally write late in the day or early the next morning about each day of my walk with faith. The first year I wrote 'Walking with Faith' the subtitle was 'Why is such an easy walk so hard?' Last year the subtitle changed to simply 'Day by day'. This year I have started with a subtitle of 'Struggle no more'. That is going to be the focus of my efforts as I walk with faith for this year, to struggle no more. Each year as I have written I have grown and changed. I believe for the better, though I know some in my life who would question the changes in me. I feel closer to the Lord and more connected when I am writing and thinking about my relationship with the Lord. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint, that also makes me feel more lost when I can't find that connection and write. Writing helps me to think and grow my faith. It also offers me an opportunity to share what I feel is a wonderful gift; a story about a relationship with God.
I have spent most of my life in a constant struggle. During the last few years that struggle has come close to destroying me. Indeed it would have destroyed me, if not for the Lord walking with me. As this past year began coming to a close I began to realize that my struggles weren't a requirement for walking with faith. Now don't take this wrong. I still expect to struggle and face problems. We are told that we must sacrifice and even suffer if we are to follow the Lord. However we aren't told that it must be a constant struggle and sacrifice for us. In fact we should be filled with joy no matter what we might be facing on our walk with faith.
Each day we are told we must take up our cross and follow the Lord. I have begun to realize that doesn't mean taking on a burden each day. You see the Lord asks us to take up our cross not His cross. Jesus carried the cross that held the burden of our sins upon it for us. The cross we are to carry has the burdens of love, joy, and obedience upon it. Those are light burdens to carry or they should be. The thing that makes our cross such a burden is that we often seem to forget one of those. I think that instead of taking up the love, joy, and obedience that we should each day we often leave one or more of them behind. Then they become a huge weight that we must drag along behind us as we 'struggle' to carry other burdens that we should leave at the feet of our Lord.
My day has just begun and I do not yet know what it will hold in store for me. I am hopeful that today will be a new day in a new year of my life. I am hopeful that today I will lay down my other burdens and stop struggling to carry those, so that I can take up my cross and truly begin walking with faith. I am looking forward to being loaded down with love and joy as I obediently follow my Lord. Walking with faith isn't meant to be a constant struggle. It is meant to be a constant journey... a journey home with the Lord.
I normally write late in the day or early the next morning about each day of my walk with faith. The first year I wrote 'Walking with Faith' the subtitle was 'Why is such an easy walk so hard?' Last year the subtitle changed to simply 'Day by day'. This year I have started with a subtitle of 'Struggle no more'. That is going to be the focus of my efforts as I walk with faith for this year, to struggle no more. Each year as I have written I have grown and changed. I believe for the better, though I know some in my life who would question the changes in me. I feel closer to the Lord and more connected when I am writing and thinking about my relationship with the Lord. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint, that also makes me feel more lost when I can't find that connection and write. Writing helps me to think and grow my faith. It also offers me an opportunity to share what I feel is a wonderful gift; a story about a relationship with God.
I have spent most of my life in a constant struggle. During the last few years that struggle has come close to destroying me. Indeed it would have destroyed me, if not for the Lord walking with me. As this past year began coming to a close I began to realize that my struggles weren't a requirement for walking with faith. Now don't take this wrong. I still expect to struggle and face problems. We are told that we must sacrifice and even suffer if we are to follow the Lord. However we aren't told that it must be a constant struggle and sacrifice for us. In fact we should be filled with joy no matter what we might be facing on our walk with faith.
Each day we are told we must take up our cross and follow the Lord. I have begun to realize that doesn't mean taking on a burden each day. You see the Lord asks us to take up our cross not His cross. Jesus carried the cross that held the burden of our sins upon it for us. The cross we are to carry has the burdens of love, joy, and obedience upon it. Those are light burdens to carry or they should be. The thing that makes our cross such a burden is that we often seem to forget one of those. I think that instead of taking up the love, joy, and obedience that we should each day we often leave one or more of them behind. Then they become a huge weight that we must drag along behind us as we 'struggle' to carry other burdens that we should leave at the feet of our Lord.
My day has just begun and I do not yet know what it will hold in store for me. I am hopeful that today will be a new day in a new year of my life. I am hopeful that today I will lay down my other burdens and stop struggling to carry those, so that I can take up my cross and truly begin walking with faith. I am looking forward to being loaded down with love and joy as I obediently follow my Lord. Walking with faith isn't meant to be a constant struggle. It is meant to be a constant journey... a journey home with the Lord.
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