I am at a strange place in life as a Christian. My husband and I have made a mess of things and now have nothing to place our trust in but the Lord. And as I ponder what I have to bring to the Lord, there are no great accomplishments, no great offerings of wealth, no great talents. All that remains is me, broken and humble.
I struggle with feelings of unworthiness in this place and as I pray and repent for having nothing left to give, God gently whispers to my heart "Good, now I can accomplish
MY plans in your life. Let's begin again. It is time to "Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And trust in the Lord." (Psalm 4:5)
Where ever we are at in our journey with Christ, we must remember we have His righteousness through His grace. When that is all we have left to give, God's love is still extended to us and His mercies are still new every morning. When we come to God empty handed and broken hearted in willing submission to Him, He shows up and begins to do mighty works in us and through us. Sometimes God's best work begins with nothing.
Many blessing to each of you today, may you be blessed and encouraged in your walk with the Lord.
Cherry Fargo
(formerly Cherry's Creations)
Object Lessons
Have you ever noticed times in your life when God teaches
you something. It starts with a Bible
verse and upon meditating on it you have this nugget of wisdom that you can use
and share. I happen to be a slow learner
at times, so God will often follow that up with an object lesson for me.
I had one of those ah ha moments just this week. God
impressed upon me that it is a good trade when we bring our frustrations to Him
in exchange for His peace. So I shared
it with others. And then came the object
lesson. I had been working very hard on
a new batch of my mosaic clay crosses for an upcoming craft show. They are a little labor and time intensive so
I was only able to get about fifteen of them completed. And I had favorites, a beautiful purple and
lavender one and a gorgeous green. The
story behind these crosses is that when we bring God all of the pieces of our
life, the pretty ones and the broken ones, He makes something beautiful out of
them. I stored them on the table in my
home studio and late in the evening, just before bedtime, my cat became overly
curious exploring the table and knocked five of them off the table, including
my two favorites, and three of them were destroyed. As you probably have
suspected, my two favorites were in those destroyed and boy was I ever frustrated.
“All that hard work, all that lost
income, all that waste” were the thoughts that began to run through my head.
The irony of broken crosses designed to show how God transforms brokenness into
beauty stung me just a bit.
And then God so graciously reminded me of that very thing
He’d impressed upon me earlier that same day, “Bring me your frustrations,
exchange them for my peace.” I don’t know about you, but sometimes the concepts
are so much easier to grasp for me than the practical applications are. So God gives me a chance to practice what He
has taught me. His peace can accomplish
so much more in our lives than a temporary frustrations ever could. By trading those in for His peace, we are
trading sorrow and anger for joy and hope. I would much rather walk out my days
in the latter.
My prayer for you this week is that you will see
opportunities to exchange your frustrations for God’s peace, that you will hear
the lessons He has for you to learn, and when given the opportunity to put
those into practice, you will be able to do so easily.
Many Blessings,
Cherry Fargo
cherryscreations.etsy.com
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13 (NIV)
Happy Sunday!
Melanie/Beads-N-Style
9:57 PM |
Category:
hope,
joy,
peace,
scripture
|
"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord, "plans to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
A couple of weeks ago, my family experienced a sudden and unexpected loss. It has left us asking many questions.
"Why?"
"Why must these tragedies happen?"
"Why must life on this earth be so painful sometimes?"
"Why?"
I freely admit that over the last couple of weeks I have asked God "Why?" often. It is so hard for this human mind of mine to understand why it must be this way sometimes. However, I also freely tell you that I have not once doubted that God had a plan in this situation. He only wants good for each one of us. And, while the road to the good may be lined with difficulties, we can be assured there are many blessings to be found along the way.
Praying many blessings for us all as we walk the roads of pain and struggle in our lives.
Happy Sunday!
Melanie/Beads-N-Style
You, LORD, keep my lamp burning;
my God turns my darkness into light. Psalm 18:28
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.
Hebrews 6:19
Faith, Hope, Love sterling silver Valentine's heart necklace
Sissie's Pretties Custom Designed Jewelry
In peace I will lie down and sleep,
for you alone, LORD,
make me dwell in safety. Psalm 4:8
Wordz From the Heart Snippet Ornament - PEACE - Stitched From Recycled Vintage Quilt Piece
Wordz of Life
I love music! I can't tell you the number of times God has spoken to me thru the lyrics of a song. And, because of this, music is many times my "go to". Not just when life is a little rocky, or I've had a bad day, but also when all is right. Whether I need words to pick me up, carry me along, or rejoice... I can almost always find them in a song.
One of my favorites over the last year or so has been "God of this City" by Chris Tomlin. It has touched me in so many different ways. It has been a reminder of the many that are hurting that I walk past everyday. It has convicted me as I thought of the ways I could be the hands and feet of God in the city where I live.
This last week, though, I focused on a different part of this song. I was traveling and as my flight was homeward bound Thursday evening, I pulled out my Ipod and settled in for some rest, relaxation and a bit of quiet worship. This song came on and these are the words that caught my attention....
"You're the Light in this darkness
You're the Hope to the hopeless
You're the Peace to the restless
You are"
Those four lines are such an awesome reminder of what we have as followers of God.
Light.
Hope.
Peace.
Outside of the gift of eternal life, I can't think of much better. Those 3 words cover so much as we walk our daily journey on this earth. God lights our path, gives us hope in trials, and gives us peace thru it all.
My prayer today is that we would experience God's LIGHT, HOPE and PEACE and we walk forward thru today and the week ahead.
Happy Sunday!
12:01 AM |
Category:
hope,
scripture
|
