Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Stand Firm

I woke up way to early this morning. I could have turned on the TV and lost myself in whatever was on but for some reason God led me to my Bible early this Tuesday morning. When I opened my Bible The first thing I saw was the notes from the Women's Conference last month. I reread them, alone in my quiet room. I believe someone out there needs to here what I learned there that weekend. SO here goes!

First you have to know the speaker was a Christian woman who's husband is a minister and was following God's plan for them. Her husband and son had gone on a skiing trip. They were on their way back to their Nebraska home when their storm hit.
Her and her daughter were sitting in the living room and got a call from her son. He said to her "Mom dad and I were in a wreck, I am OK but dad can not feel his legs."
he told her where they were and where they were taking them. She through a few things in her bag and left her house never to return again. This started the her storm. Months of hospitals, surgeries, therapy, and having to move to a new home all while her husband was in the hospital paralyzed from the arm pits down.
This what I learned from her as she spoke at the conference.
Day One:
Storms will come without warning so let your roots grow deep. You do not know when they will happen. Matthew 7:24-25. God did not call us to be easy, breezy and beautiful all the time. We are the reflection of Him. The evil one knows this and wants us to fail. The storm WILL come.

Live your life with no regrets. The people in your life are there for a reason and they are valuable. Treat every good-bye and hello like it is your last. What if we really loved those who God placed in our lives. What would happen if we loved them like Jesus LOVED us. UNCONDITIONALLY...

God wants to use us in our brokenness. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. We as women pretend with each other. We say all is "OK" even though we are crying on the inside. We all struggle. Sometimes we even look at someone else and say I"I wish I had what she has." But the problem is we do not see the whole picture. God sees the whole picture from beginning to end. Have you ever had a friend going through something and said "call me if you need something?" You know they will never call but we hand out broken promises. Don't say call if you need me......go make them a dinner watch the children for a day, buy them some groceries.
We isolate ourselves when we are broken. God loves brokenness! Embrace the brokenness, God does! Gratefulness and despair can not live in the same place. Gratefulness and despair are closely linked.

Acts 16:23-25 Worship in your storm. If I put my eye on Him. He will get me through. We try to escape so we can get out of our storm. We bargain with God "If you get me out of this I will do this..." Don't try to escape worship Him in the place where you are. When I lift Him up my circumstances become small..

Why does God allow the storms?
Sometimes God allows a storm to change our path.
God allows storms to make us more like Jesus.
God allows storms so He can repair our brokenness.
God allows storms to get us ready for heaven to focus on what is really important.

That was day one. I will post more at a later date.

Dear God. I pray these words on this page will lead someone who is broken to you.
In Your Precious and Holy Name.....Amen

2 comments:

Donna's Book Nook said...

Bernie--What a heart-wrenching story, and yet what a wonderful testimony from this woman. She has truly learned great lessons from her "Unthinkable circumstance";
On our cruise we had a speaker, Carol Kent, who went through an unthinkable circumstance with her son. I would recommend her book "When I Lay my Isaac Down".
We can learn much from women who have gone through storms.

Dee said...

My friend, you have gone through and weathered more storms than many people I know and you find the golden nuggests from the Lord in them each time.:)