It only took 4 years for me to celebrate this day
but when I wrote the date in my journal this morning it hit me.
I have joy.
Today.
A day when, in 2014, we were leveled after a phone call that changed and uprooted our lives.
A day when, now, we are witnessing so much of God’s
faithfulness in spite of that pain.
With wide eyes and a racing heart, I jotted down, “Oh
God, you’ve done so much! SO MUCH!!"
You’ve
turned our mourning into dancing… You’ve truly given us comfort and joy in place
of sorrow.
I still don’t understand many of the details
but in reflection, I do see with more clarity the circumstances that led us to a greater need
of our Great God.
For that I celebrate.
And I will praise.
I declared that when there’s breakthrough I will not only praise, but I will
share.
So in celebration today, I want to encourage you.
Keep your hopes up even when you can't hold your chin up.
Know there's a Great God fighting for you when you can't fight for yourself.
Don't place your trust in people, not even in the "godly" ones.
We cannot trust what we see or even what we feel.
But we can trust in the same God that held Job through all the storms that
sought to rob him of life.
Job recognized God’s sovereign right to decide all things
and y’all, we have to do that, too.
With an understanding that God’s faithful
and loving character doesn’t waiver, we have to realize that with testing comes
teaching. He is growing us in the hard, in the muck. When we are tempted to run
back to the familiar, to the things we know so well, we have to reach for the
unknown when He leads us there. And sometimes we have to cease the fight to
push for our way and just let Him lead.
Hold on while He breaks walls down and
lights up the shadows.
Hold on while He does what only He can do.
“Position
yourselves, stand still and see the deliverance of the Lord, who is with you.”
2
Chronicles 20:17
We are truly in a haven where we've learned in stillness that God is our refuge but I don’t share from a haven where everything has
fallen into place. I am not praising from a stance without need, but GLORY.. oh, Glory….HE is with us.
And He is with you.
No matter what you see, what you feel, He is there.
He hasn’t forgotten you. He’s not out to get you. He’s not absent from your
pain. He is working all for your good, even when it hurts like hell.
With raised
hands and a grateful heart, proclaim the promises! When letting go of things
you want to hold white-knuckling close, claim the truth that God doesn’t give us all we ask for
when it isn’t for our good, but that He works for our good even when we cry out
against the plans He makes.
“Let
us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.”
Hebrews 10:23
Your ways are not our ways, God, and we know that despite what circumstances look like,
You are working to bring about only the best. Help us claim that in the hard places.
You know better and Your plans are always for our good.
As this new year unfolds I pray that we will all have courage to lean..
..to rest on a
Savior that we so desperately need and to share..
..to share all that He teaches
us along the way.
So, raise your hands, and your glass if you so choose, and CELEBRATE!
Here's to 2018, where God is waiting for me & you!
~Happy New Year~
from our family to yours
❤,
6 on a journey