wow....this year is just flying! At this point last year, we were tying up the loose ends of wedding preparations, getting excited for our wedding, N brother's wedding and J friend's wedding....hard to believe it's been nearly a year!
It's a rainy and dreary week here....which of course always puts me in a pensive mood. I'd love nothing more than to go home, curl up with a book (re-reading Piercing the Darkness for the billionth time), a cup of something warm (dusted off the espresso machine Monday night...) and my favorite fleece blanket...let the storm rage outside and enjoy the peace inside. Which of course...makes me think.
You've all heard one of my favorite quotes (and I really wish I knew who said it!) Sometimes God quiets the storm...and sometimes God lets the storm rage and quiets the child. How true - and how often do we miss that He is actually calming us? We are inside of our houses, safe and warm, staring at the rain blowing sideways, jumping when the thunder booms.....focusing all on the storm rather than enjoying the beauty in it and knowing that God's got it all....
Did she just say beauty of the storm? Yep. I did. James 2 -4 (message version) tells us to Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.
when? Did that say when I endure trials of many kinds? But I thought once I became a Christian all that stuff went away and God supplies all my needs and I get to just live on a cloud full of joy....
well...God does supply all of our needs...but we must weather those storms....we must press through and endure the refinement....and when we do....it's amazing what God does. We can step back and see the beauty of the storm -- remember the smooth beautiful stone made so by the waves? The pearl....sand made beautiful by being eaten? The coal pressed but not crushed....pressure from all sides....becomes a diamond...
My prayer today is that we press on....take hold of the promises, and learn to enjoy the beauty in the storm.
I am pressed but not crushed, persecuted, not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed. I am blessed beyond the curse for his promise will endure for His joy's gonna be my strength....though the sorrows may last for the night, His joy comes with the morning! (Trading My Sorrows)
2 comments:
Thank you. Between you and M, I am feeling thoroughly chastised and encouraged all at the same time today. :) Love you. Thanks for sharing.
my pastor really stresses that the message is a paraphrase as opposed to a translation, but I like that Peterson says right in the beginning that his version (whatever you want to call it) is meant to "wake you up" and "force you to pay attention" to the text. It sure did that this time with the James passage. Thanks!
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