Posts Tagged ‘God’

Following on from yesterday’s blog post where I talked about how I’m beginning to dislike lying in bed trying to sleep, I have been reminded of the following song:

Out of my darkness God called me,
Out of the death of my night,
Out of the shadows of sorrow,
Into the life of his light.
 
Out of my darkness he called me,
Out of my doubt, my despair,
Out of the wastes of my winter,
Into the spring of his care.
 
Out of my darkness he called me
Into his sunshining day,
Out of my gloom to his glory;
What could I do but obey?
 
Out of your darkness he calls you,
Out of your doubt, your despair,
Out of the wastes of your winter,
Into the spring of his care.
by John Gowans

I pray regularly that God will give me the strength to get through these days, and although I may still be finding it difficult to not get upset because my Dad has passed away, I believe I would be finding this even more difficult if God wasn’t supporting me.

Therefore, I urge you to talk to God about all that concerns, worries or upsets you, as He, and He alone can truly give you the strength and the encouragement to face each day.

out-of-darkness

 

Are you afraid of the dark?

I’m definitely not afraid of the dark, however I am finding that when the darkness surrounds me when I’m lying in bed trying to sleep, it’s then my mind seems to want to do nothing but think about my Dad!

Don’t get me wrong it’s not that I don’t want to remember my Dad, because I will always remember him, but why every night when I go to bed? What makes it worse is that when I start thinking about Dad then, I get very emotional, get myself in a state and then can’t sleep!

So while I’ll not afraid of the dark, I don’t particularly look forward to lying in bed trying to sleep, as these days that seems to mean lots of tears and lack of sleep.

insomnia

You can close your eyes to things you don’t want to see, but you can’t close your heart to the things you don’t want to feel ~ Unknown

…and the most important thing you can feel in your heart is God!

When God enters your heart, there is no greater feeling.

When you accept God into your heart your life will change forever.

When did you let God into your life?

Is God still in your life?

Is He still at the centre of your life?

God can make your life feel brand new, and help you see and experience life in a whole new way, so kneel before Him today and give your life to Him. I can promise you it’ll be the best feeling you’ll ever have when you let Christ into your life!

I read the following by Mark Twain the other day and it amused me:

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.

It just amused me as I can think of one or two people I know who, whenever they get a pain or feel a bit off colour, they try to diagnose what’s wrong with them. Unsurprisingly, their diagnosis is just about always wrong, as none of them are medically qualified in any way…unless googling their symptoms counts as a medical degree these days!

bibleAnyway, my main reason for mentioning this quote from Mark Twain, is that it reminds me that we are all quick to believe what we read in newspapers and books, but are we as quick to believe what we read in the bible?

It’s funny how we’re quick to believe the words we read in newspapers which are written to make profit for their owners.

It’s funny how we’re quick to believe what we read on internet sites which have no authorisation or qualifications to say what they do.

It’s funny how few of us read our bibles regularly and believe God’s promises contained in it.

Let’s make sure we believe all God’s promises to us, and live our lives as He directs us to.

All the Way My Saviour Leads Me by Chris Tomlin

I am so glad I believe and trust the words of the above song…

All the way my Saviour leads  me
Who have I to ask beside
How could I doubt His tender mercy
Who through life has been my guide

Because, I am sure that without God by my side, I would not have got through these last few years, never mind these last few months.

I believe God can help me through every situation I encounter in life, and I believe He can, and will help you too, all you have to do is let Him lead you.

Testify To Love by Avalon

All the colours of the rainbow
All of voices of the wind
Every dream that reaches out
That reaches out to find where love begins
Every word of every story
Every star in every sky
Every corner of creation lives to testify
For as long as I shall live
I will testify to love
I’ll be a witness in the silences when words are not enough
With every breath I take I will give thanks to God above
For as long as I shall live
I will testify to love
From the mountains to the valleys
From the rivers to the sea
Every hand that reaches out
Every hand that reaches out to offer peace
Every simple act of mercy
Every step to kingdom come
All the Hope in every heart will speak what love has done.

How about you, will you testify to love for as long as you live?

I will do my best to testify for God for the rest of my live, but I know I will only be able to achieve this with God’s help. That is why I pray each day that He will continue to help and guide me each day.

Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,
Uttered or unexpressed,
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast.
Prayer is the burden of a sigh`
The falling of a tear;
The upward glancing of an eye
When none but God is near.
 
by James Montgomery (1771-1854)

When we feel alone…Jesus is there for us.

When we feel rejected…Jesus is there for us.

When life is cruel to us…Jesus is there for us.

In all these situations, pray, because Jesus is there for you, and will help you.

If you’ve every attended a church service or heard someone pray, you may think you cannot pray because you could not use the type of words or phrases, that those you heard used. This however could not be further from reality, as God wants you to speak to Him just as you would anyone else.

So have a think about how you speak to your family and friends…This is exactly how God wants you to speak to Him.

Speak to God as you would another human.

Speak to God about anything and everything that’s on your mind, because He cares about you, and everything you care about.

Speak to God just as you would your best friend.

Trust God more than you’d trust your best friend, because God, and God alone will always listen to you when you pray, and will always answer your prayers.

God Moves in a Mysterious Way
by William Cowper [1731-1800]
 
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform:
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
 
Deep in unfathomable mines
With never-failing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs
And works his sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
 
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for His Grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
 
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour:
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower
 
Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

When times are tough and God seems distant, don’t despair, because God is there with you. It may feel as though God’s doing nothing to help you, but He will be, you may just not be able to actually see what He’s doing for you yet.

What you can be assured of though, is that God is with you and He will answer your prayers, maybe not in the way you expected or wanted, but in His way.

In the last couple of months I’ve spoken several times about how I’ve felt as if I’m running on auto pilot. But do you understand what i mean?

A pilot is normally associated with aeroplanes, however a pilot is really just described as someone who leads or guides. So for me what that meant was, I was going through the motions, doing and saying all the things I was supposed to without really feeling as though I was really there or really in control of what I was saying or doing…I was there in person but my mind was definitely elsewhere thinking about my Dad and my Aunt Mae  who died within 6 weeks of one another earlier this year.

I am just thankful that particularly in these last couple of months, I’ve had a great pilot to guide me…Jesus!jesus is my pilot

I’m reminded of a chorus we used to sing:

I have a pilot who guides me
Night and day;
Through cloud and sunshine I trust him,
Come what may.
Dangers may threaten but I never fear;
I’m full of confidence while he is near;
I have a pilot who guides me
Along life’s way.

I have certainly found those words reassuring in the last while, I hope you do too.