timing | Courage for Today

Refine Me Like Silver

I don’t know about you but it seems like the past several months have just been extremely trying for several people I know. I’ve seen my share of health issues and job concerns. I’ve listened to concerns about finances and relationships. All I could do in each situation is remind my friends of the goodness of God’s love and grace and encourage them to keep going on.

I suppose I have a unique perspective because I’ve certainly had my share of difficulties at various times in my life. God taught me so much through my various trials and its those hard learned lessons that I can now share with my friends and loved ones and, perhaps, give them some hope during their trials. It also helps to keep me grounded and reminds me that, as Christians, none of us are immune from trials. It’s not a matter of if, but when.

When I am at the end of my rope and don’t know what else to do, it helps to remember these things:

Recognize Gods refinement in our lives: Just like refining gold or silver, God continually molds and develops us into his image. Sometimes the refining is painful and hurtful, but it always ends in a beautiful, shiny creation. We have to trust the Lord during the refining process.
Look for righteousness more than solutions: I am preaching to the choir with this point. I know that I always tend to search constantly for a solution and worry myself beyond measure. Sometimes, I just need to stop. I need to take a breather from searching “how” and realize that God already has the solution. It’s just that HIS timing isn’t always in sync with my timing.
Remember it is not permanent: While trials are inevitable, they’re only temporary. It may seem like your trial is lasting forever and that you can’t take any more, but it will end.
Recommit to full surrender: Sometimes, what we are experiencing is a conflict between what God is directing us to do and what we stubbornly refuse to do. It often helps to surrender our full life and will to God and allow him to fully direct our paths, not fight HIM the entire way.

As difficult as it is, always remember that you are one of God’s Jewels and that God’s refining produces gems with immeasurable beauty.

For You have tried us, O God; You have refined us as silver is refined. Psalms 66: 10 (NIV)

Understanding the Puzzle of Faith

Encouragement

Faith is one of those concepts that has always been hard for me to grasp. Not only that, but I would just get downright mad at others who would sometimes just tell me to “have faith.” I already knew that I should have faith, but I spent many years wondering how? I wanted someone to tell me how. These well-meaning friends that were telling me to “just have faith” didn’t ever tell me HOW to have Faith or what exactly to do. I know there isn’t some magic formula, but there had to be something to grab on to. It was just an abstract concept to me and I struggled with how to attach some “meat” or a real meaning to this thing we call Faith.

I can tell you from personal experience, my discovery of Faith has come from the school of hard knocks. It hasn’t come from some book I read (other than the Bible), or some message I’ve heard, just blood, sweat, and tears. So, without further ado, here are my suggestions on how to make Faith real in your life. I even used the letters F-A-I-T-H to make it easier to remember:

Follow what God has already directed in your life. I remember many years ago when my daughter was struggling on her decision to become a missionary. She prayed and agonized over the decision for years and could never come to peace with a decision. She was totally miserable because she always felt called to be a missionary, but just couldn’t take that step of faith. One day, she was talking and praying with my wife and mentioned that she just didn’t know what to do; she just couldn’t get God’s direction on what to do. My wife, in her Godly wisdom, told my daughter that she believed God had already given her the direction and instruction she needed, but that my daughter wasn’t being obedient to follow that direction. Once she heard that from my wife, it was as if a ton of bricks was lifted from her shoulder. God’s will and direction for her life was there all along; she just wasn’t willing to accept it at the time.

Accept God’s timing. I don’t have enough space in this article to tell you how many times God’s timing has been perfect in my life. Now, I didn’t say HIS timing was what I wanted it to be, but it was always what I needed it to be. There were jobs and promotions I thought I deserved and didn’t get, only to realize why many months later. There were financial decisions that I needed to make that had I made them when I wanted to make them, would have turned out disastrous. I could go on and on, but my point is that you have to accept and trust that God’s timing is perfect and there for a reason, even if you don’t understand it.

Ignore the naysayers and Invite wisdom from others. Don’t spend your time listening to wisdom and advice from ungodly people or those that haven’t experienced what you’re experiencing. Don’t listen to financial advice from someone working 3 jobs. Don’t listen to your hair-dresser give you Stock market advice. Instead, seek out wise and Godly counsel from those you trust and who are experts in the area you are needing advice, or at least experienced in the areas.

Turn toward HIM, not the problem. This is probably the most difficult of all. Whatever you’re going through, no matter how bleak, no matter how depressing or seemingly hopeless it is, Focus on HIM not the situation. I don’t mean that you sit back and do nothing to help your situation. What I do mean is that you pray and cry out to God and let HIM know that HE is the most important thing in your life. Let HIM know that even though you don’t understand what’s going on, your accept that HE is in control and knows what’s best for you and your situation. You’ll be amazed how turning toward HIM will strengthen and uplift you, even during the darkest times.

Humble yourself; we don’t deserve anything anyway. At some point, we all have to realize that if we never received another thing in this world; if I never accomplished anything else in life; I am still victorious in Christ. I am a sinner saved by Grace. I don’t deserve anything but HE loved me so much that he died for me. That alone, should be sufficient no matter what may happen in life itself.

I pray that whatever you may be experiencing right now that you’ll find new courage and strength in your daily walk of Faith.

Countdown to Your Victory at Sunrise

Strength

I’m convinced that I could live at the beach without too much persuasion if I could only afford it. There’s just something peaceful and relaxing about the ocean waves and the beach and just sitting in a lounge chair all day soaking up the rays. In fact, I enjoy just walking on the beach along the water’s edge. I can walk for miles, it seems, and not get tired, just watching the children building sand-castle masterpieces.

I remember one trip to Daytona Beach, years ago, with my family, when I was maybe 10 or 11 years old. This was a family trip to the beach. My parents went, of course, but so did my grand-parents and my great Aunt. We all rented vacation cottages and were just having a blast. My Great-Aunt loved the beach. I mean, she loved the beach. Sun-up to sun-down, she was on the beach. This particular vacation, she decided it would be fun if I got up early one morning, along with her, so that we could walk down to the beach and watch the sun rising over the horizon. For some reason, this seemed rather exciting to me. I had never really gotten up at the crack of dawn just to see a sunrise, so I thought this would fun and something different. My great-Aunt kept talking everything up and telling my how beautiful the sunrise was, so my curiosity was peaked.

The great event was scheduled. My great-Aunt and I were to wake up at 5:00 AM the next morning, put on our swimsuits, and head to the beach. I couldn’t wait. I went off to bed and was so looking forward to waking up early the next morning. Unfortunately, I was so excited I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned all night long. To make matters worse, I didn’t have a clock in the room and I didn’t wear a watch, so I had no idea what time it really was as I was tossing and turning during the night. It seemed like an eternity. Everyone else was sound asleep, but all I could do was lay in bed and wait until my great-Aunt woke me up at 5:00 AM. I had no earthly idea how much longer that would be. Without a time-piece, I couldn’t tell if the time was 2:00 AM; 3:00 AM, or perhaps closing in on 5:00 AM. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in such a situation, but there is nothing more miserable than waiting in the bed for hours upon hours, knowing something exciting is just around the corner, but not knowing how much longer until the magic moment arrives.

Finally, 5:00 AM came and my great-Aunt woke me up right on schedule. We both got dressed and walked the short distance to the beach and waited. About 45 minutes later, we both witnessed the most beautiful sunrise I had ever seen or, in my case, probably the first sunrise I had ever witnessed. It was gorgeous. The wonderful yellows and oranges piercing the darkness and reflecting off the water was something I have never forgotten. The agony and misery I had experienced waiting the night before didn’t matter any more. It was all worth it.

I’ve learned over the years that our Christian Walk is very similar, especially when we go through trials and struggles. I think most of us, as Christians, believe that God will answer our prayers and work in our situations, we just don’t know when. It’s almost as if life itself is like the long night I experienced that time at the beach, without my timepiece. I knew the sunrise was coming. I just didn’t know how much longer during the night I had to wait for the time to arrive.

No matter what you may be experiencing now in life, you can have confidence that your “sunrise” is coming. It won’t be on your timing. It will be on God’s timing. You may be impatient and you may want God to act now; that is only natural. Just sit back, wait for the beauty of the sunrise and you’ll discover that there’s nothing as beautiful as God’s timing in your life.

Understanding the Puzzle of Faith

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