Some Random Thoughts ...
BREAKING POINT...
Sometimes in life, you may feel you have reached the end of your rope. Your strength is done, your energy out. Your motivation to continue empty.
If something doesn't open, close, or change... you feel like you can't go on or last one more moment.
Several former students I've met with recently for Bible study... have reached those points.
And in the past few years... I have walked with so many who felt they had reached their breaking point.... in relationships, in heartbreak, in work, and in sorrow. And I too, have had those moments...
What do you do in these moments? What do we do?
Maybe you've prayed and you see no change? The storm continues to rage. The doors continue to stay shut. The healing or provision remains illusive. A disaster hits and there's no remedy. And the struggle continues with no relief in sight.
You need break through. Why doesn't it come? God can provide easily, but yet He tarries, why?
Life often is lived in these tension times. And they're not easy.
I believe a big measure of God's love is demonstrated actually in His restraint in these moments. For God sees our struggle. He can quickly open things, close things, answer, heal, restore, calm storms, part seas, solve things. But He withholds that power sometimes for His own reasons that are beyond what we can see or often even comprehend. Yet His restraint doesn't prove He doesn't love us but that He does. He knows that some of the greatest things we can learn is not over the pain or around the pain but THROUGH IT. And some of His greatest work can be done in our lives and in the lives of others in the hardest places and hardest pressure points. Sometimes He asks us to hold the hard position, to stretch and hold it, and with His power- keep there for a time.
He's not about our temporary comfort but our eternal place with Him. He wants to get us there and shape us for there and get as many there as possible too. His message needs proclaimed. His light shone in the dark. Testimonies need shared and darkness pushed back. God is about making Himself known and teaching us and helping become who He has made us to be. The hardest lessons often come from the darkest nights. The humility and dependency on Him that is needed is often learned in the biggest and longest storms.
In these times though ... when you've reached your limit, what can you do, how can you endure?
1. Keep praying and have others praying for you...
Have people pray with you and encourage you, for burdens are heavy alone.
Watch out for isolation, Satan likes to kick us when we're down. Keep in connection with God, trust Him, know Him in the hard times. He's there. Learn to trust Him. Let Him give you indescribable and unexplainable peace. He can. He can carry you and never leaves you.
Keep these verses in mind...
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus
Hebrews 10:25
Don't give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing...
Matthew 18:20
Where two or three are gathered, He is there...
1 Peter 5:8
Keep alert, your adversary, Satan, is like a roaring lion... seeking someone to devour
Philippians 4:19
My God can supply all your needs...
Philippians 4:6
Don't be anxious for anything, but in every situation, with prayer and petition, and thanksgiving, present your requests to God...
2. Stand on the Promises of God. Remember them, call them out, trust them!
God's promises stand. They're a foundation for our hope. Pray these for your life according to His will and timing and learn to trust Him...
2 Peter 3:9
God is not slow in keeping His promises, .. but He is patient, not wanting anyone to perish..
Jeremiah 29:11-12
I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Call on me...
Exodus 14:14
The Lord Himself will fight for you
Romans 8:31-39
Nothing will separate you from the love of God; if God is for us, who can be against us?
Isaiah 43:2
When you pass through the river and fire, you will not be swept away or burned
Psalm 16
I have set the Lord before me always, I will not be shaken.
Isaiah 54:17
No weapon formed against you shall prosper
3. Continue to Praise God
He continues to be faithful and worthy of our trust. In the darkest prison, like Paul and Silas's time there, they sang and worshipped God- Their worship blessed those listening. The jailer's family ended up coming to knowledge of Jesus through their worship and honor of God. And God shook the prison and set them free.
We need to continue to praise God.
Job was a man with a right to be angry with God. When all was taken from him and his wife said .. just curse God and die... he said...
Job 2:10; 21
You speak as a foolish one would speak. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive the bad? Should we only take the good things?... The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised."
Psalm 34:1
I will bless the Lord at all times
When you're at your breaking point, allow your weakness to be fueled by God's strength. He can carry you over the finish line, to endure what needs endured. Look at Him, not at the situation. Rest in the valley and even thank Him for allowing you to be there to praise and to learn from Him and to represent Him well.
Your breaking points can become powerful testimonies to God's glory and power!
STANDING MAN...
I'm not sure if you've seen the movie with Tom Hanks called "Bridge of Spies"? But it tells the true story of a Russian spy. You actually feel sympathy towards this spy as he recalls being inspired by a man from his past, that though this friend of the family was hit time and time again unjustly, that man would continue to stand.
You and I have a "standing man" as the Savior of our soul. He's the Lion of Judah, the Prince of Peace. He finished what He started. He endured persecution and death to give us victory. He is a standing man, our Redeemer. He continues to stand for us and in us ...saying we are His. He claims us and our place with His Father.
When I think of a standing man .. I also think of my Dad. Literally my Dad's back has not been good for him. With hip and back trouble over the past several years and alot of pain, many would have sat down and given up trying. But my Dad is a standing man. He mans his post at church. He serves. He loves. He's continues to be a great Father and husband. And He endures. How? Because of the standing Savior at his core. His life is a testimony to so many because of that. I'm so grateful for the example of my Dad.
Are you standing? Are you manning your post- holding the position God has called you to? In your own strength, it's not possible to endure time and age and sin and self. But with Jesus in you, you have access to the strength to stand. To give worship and praise to God even when you're hit.
Be a standing man / a standing woman for God. One that can't be knocked down or out. One who remains.
2 Corinthians 4:8-10
I am hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed...
Hebrews 10:39
You are not of one who shrinks back and are destroyed, but who believe and are saved
1 John 4:4
Greater is He that is in you, than He that is in the world.
EYEING THE PRIZE...
Recently our school just finished a big soccer tournament called Hope Cup. Twenty games came down to two teams vying for first place. I had the privilege to walk in the trophies and to set the prize before the masses of students. As cheers errupted, the teams eyed the prize. And one team walked away with 1st place, having won the tournament. What a day!
As the wining team accepted their reward, it made me think about life.
Sometimes we forget our focus and our goal. What is the prize we live for here? Is it wealth? Position? Power? Comfort? Ease? Recognition?
Or do we live for the applause of God? To move His heart and be part of His work? To bless His name and make Him known? Our reward one day will be to be with Him forever and to hear Him say... WELL DONE, GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT. May we not lose our focus and that prize!
Philippians 3:13-14
...I do not consider that I have arrived...but one thing I do; forgetting what lies behind and straining towards what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ
1 Corinthians 9:24
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run that you may obtain it.
James 1:12
Blessed is the one who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
May God help us in our breaking points to keep standing and eyeing the prize... lifting our lives to God in trust!!! The journey of life is not easy, but it is a gift to live and love and learn about God on this path. May He help us as we journey with Him!
Praises/ Prayer Requests
-It's been a very busy Spring 2019 in Ethiopia for me. Pray for my schedule... I'm working with our Student Parliament at Hope, finishing classes at ETC for the semester, and taking Amharic. Please keep all in prayer.
-A big praise we have is for my Dad- he had successful hip replacement surgery a few weeks ago. Praise God... We love him so much! He's a standing man!
-Pray for my sister and her fiance- Mike Martin- as they prepare for their June wedding. Pray that God will give Mike and Noel provision and a great beginning of their lives as One. We are thrilled to have Mike join the family.
-Please consider praying to help with my travel costs and fundraising for supplies I will need to purchase in June. Thanks so much for your prayers and support.
Please let me know how I can pray for you as well.
Honored to be with you on the journey!
BREAKING POINT...
Sometimes in life, you may feel you have reached the end of your rope. Your strength is done, your energy out. Your motivation to continue empty.
If something doesn't open, close, or change... you feel like you can't go on or last one more moment.
Several former students I've met with recently for Bible study... have reached those points.
And in the past few years... I have walked with so many who felt they had reached their breaking point.... in relationships, in heartbreak, in work, and in sorrow. And I too, have had those moments...
What do you do in these moments? What do we do?
Maybe you've prayed and you see no change? The storm continues to rage. The doors continue to stay shut. The healing or provision remains illusive. A disaster hits and there's no remedy. And the struggle continues with no relief in sight.
You need break through. Why doesn't it come? God can provide easily, but yet He tarries, why?
Life often is lived in these tension times. And they're not easy.
I believe a big measure of God's love is demonstrated actually in His restraint in these moments. For God sees our struggle. He can quickly open things, close things, answer, heal, restore, calm storms, part seas, solve things. But He withholds that power sometimes for His own reasons that are beyond what we can see or often even comprehend. Yet His restraint doesn't prove He doesn't love us but that He does. He knows that some of the greatest things we can learn is not over the pain or around the pain but THROUGH IT. And some of His greatest work can be done in our lives and in the lives of others in the hardest places and hardest pressure points. Sometimes He asks us to hold the hard position, to stretch and hold it, and with His power- keep there for a time.
He's not about our temporary comfort but our eternal place with Him. He wants to get us there and shape us for there and get as many there as possible too. His message needs proclaimed. His light shone in the dark. Testimonies need shared and darkness pushed back. God is about making Himself known and teaching us and helping become who He has made us to be. The hardest lessons often come from the darkest nights. The humility and dependency on Him that is needed is often learned in the biggest and longest storms.
In these times though ... when you've reached your limit, what can you do, how can you endure?
1. Keep praying and have others praying for you...
Have people pray with you and encourage you, for burdens are heavy alone.
Keep these verses in mind...
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus
Hebrews 10:25
Don't give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing...
Matthew 18:20
Where two or three are gathered, He is there...
1 Peter 5:8
Keep alert, your adversary, Satan, is like a roaring lion... seeking someone to devour
Philippians 4:19
My God can supply all your needs...
Philippians 4:6
Don't be anxious for anything, but in every situation, with prayer and petition, and thanksgiving, present your requests to God...
2. Stand on the Promises of God. Remember them, call them out, trust them!
God's promises stand. They're a foundation for our hope. Pray these for your life according to His will and timing and learn to trust Him...
2 Peter 3:9
God is not slow in keeping His promises, .. but He is patient, not wanting anyone to perish..
Jeremiah 29:11-12
I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Call on me...
Exodus 14:14
The Lord Himself will fight for you
Romans 8:31-39
Nothing will separate you from the love of God; if God is for us, who can be against us?
Isaiah 43:2
When you pass through the river and fire, you will not be swept away or burned
Psalm 16
I have set the Lord before me always, I will not be shaken.
Isaiah 54:17
No weapon formed against you shall prosper
3. Continue to Praise God
He continues to be faithful and worthy of our trust. In the darkest prison, like Paul and Silas's time there, they sang and worshipped God- Their worship blessed those listening. The jailer's family ended up coming to knowledge of Jesus through their worship and honor of God. And God shook the prison and set them free.
We need to continue to praise God.
Job was a man with a right to be angry with God. When all was taken from him and his wife said .. just curse God and die... he said...
Job 2:10; 21
You speak as a foolish one would speak. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive the bad? Should we only take the good things?... The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised."
Psalm 34:1
I will bless the Lord at all times
When you're at your breaking point, allow your weakness to be fueled by God's strength. He can carry you over the finish line, to endure what needs endured. Look at Him, not at the situation. Rest in the valley and even thank Him for allowing you to be there to praise and to learn from Him and to represent Him well.
Your breaking points can become powerful testimonies to God's glory and power!
STANDING MAN...
I'm not sure if you've seen the movie with Tom Hanks called "Bridge of Spies"? But it tells the true story of a Russian spy. You actually feel sympathy towards this spy as he recalls being inspired by a man from his past, that though this friend of the family was hit time and time again unjustly, that man would continue to stand.
You and I have a "standing man" as the Savior of our soul. He's the Lion of Judah, the Prince of Peace. He finished what He started. He endured persecution and death to give us victory. He is a standing man, our Redeemer. He continues to stand for us and in us ...saying we are His. He claims us and our place with His Father.
When I think of a standing man .. I also think of my Dad. Literally my Dad's back has not been good for him. With hip and back trouble over the past several years and alot of pain, many would have sat down and given up trying. But my Dad is a standing man. He mans his post at church. He serves. He loves. He's continues to be a great Father and husband. And He endures. How? Because of the standing Savior at his core. His life is a testimony to so many because of that. I'm so grateful for the example of my Dad.
Are you standing? Are you manning your post- holding the position God has called you to? In your own strength, it's not possible to endure time and age and sin and self. But with Jesus in you, you have access to the strength to stand. To give worship and praise to God even when you're hit.
Be a standing man / a standing woman for God. One that can't be knocked down or out. One who remains.
2 Corinthians 4:8-10
I am hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed...
Hebrews 10:39
You are not of one who shrinks back and are destroyed, but who believe and are saved
1 John 4:4
Greater is He that is in you, than He that is in the world.
EYEING THE PRIZE...
Recently our school just finished a big soccer tournament called Hope Cup. Twenty games came down to two teams vying for first place. I had the privilege to walk in the trophies and to set the prize before the masses of students. As cheers errupted, the teams eyed the prize. And one team walked away with 1st place, having won the tournament. What a day!
As the wining team accepted their reward, it made me think about life.
Sometimes we forget our focus and our goal. What is the prize we live for here? Is it wealth? Position? Power? Comfort? Ease? Recognition?
Or do we live for the applause of God? To move His heart and be part of His work? To bless His name and make Him known? Our reward one day will be to be with Him forever and to hear Him say... WELL DONE, GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT. May we not lose our focus and that prize!
Philippians 3:13-14
...I do not consider that I have arrived...but one thing I do; forgetting what lies behind and straining towards what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ
1 Corinthians 9:24
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run that you may obtain it.
James 1:12
Blessed is the one who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
May God help us in our breaking points to keep standing and eyeing the prize... lifting our lives to God in trust!!! The journey of life is not easy, but it is a gift to live and love and learn about God on this path. May He help us as we journey with Him!
Praises/ Prayer Requests
-It's been a very busy Spring 2019 in Ethiopia for me. Pray for my schedule... I'm working with our Student Parliament at Hope, finishing classes at ETC for the semester, and taking Amharic. Please keep all in prayer.
-A big praise we have is for my Dad- he had successful hip replacement surgery a few weeks ago. Praise God... We love him so much! He's a standing man!
-Pray for my sister and her fiance- Mike Martin- as they prepare for their June wedding. Pray that God will give Mike and Noel provision and a great beginning of their lives as One. We are thrilled to have Mike join the family.
-Please consider praying to help with my travel costs and fundraising for supplies I will need to purchase in June. Thanks so much for your prayers and support.
Please let me know how I can pray for you as well.
Honored to be with you on the journey!
