Faith

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When It Rains……

I know you’ve heard the expression, “when it rains, it pours”.  Well, that’s been our weekend.    Our van has been out of commission for a while now, but now so is our truck and our dryer.   This is one of those times when I’m very thankful for my faith in Christ because I don’t know how in the world I’d be able to stand up under the pressure when things start getting this tough. 

1 Corinthians 10:13 says:

“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.  And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” 

God promises His children that He will not give us more than we can handle, and that as long as we keep our eyes and faith focused on Him and let Him take care of the details everything will be fine.   Does this mean that we should be lazy and do nothing?  Absolutely not.  This means that we need to do what we know we should do and not necessarily what we might want to do. 

In our case, we know that God does not want us to be in debt (Proverbs 22:7 – “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.”)  so we need to pay cash for all of our purchases.  

The truck’s water pump went out which, thankfully, Brian can fix himself.  He had to work for a few hours today and then pick up the kids, but then he will be fixing the truck this evening.  The van will have to wait for a bit, though, but that’s okay.  We have one working vehicle, and that’s what’s important.

As for the dryer, I hang most of our clothes out anyway, so this is not too big of a deal at this time, but there are times when I do need my dryer.   So, we will be saving up to pay for a new dryer.  Normally, we would have this money already put aside, but we’ve been hit pretty hard with extra expenses the last few months, so we don’t have the extra that we normally would. 

Also, before we purchase a new dryer, we need to start (and finish) the laundry/pantry room remodel  so that we can move the dryer inside and out of the storage building.  But, to do the remodel, we need replace the bathtub fixtures, replace the hot water heater (which is pretty old and has been acting up for a while) and the floor underneath the hot water heater (ruined from leakage from washer over the years- most of it prior to our moving in here), and do a small remodel to the wall connecting the bathroom and pantry.  My washer is currently in the bathroom and we want to move it to the pantry (basically flipping it around to the other side of the wall), but to make it fit, we have to move the wall a bit to create a little more space in the pantry so they fit.  

I’m very thankful that my husband is very handy and can do remodeling and plumbing, AND he’s a certified electrician!  Praise God for a handy man for a husband!  It’s so nice to not have to hire out all of these projects!!   It has saved us lots of money over the years!  God has provided us with a handbook on how to handle these types of situations, and through faith and prayer, He will guide us in the directions that we need to go.

Am I worried?  No.  How many people have no vehicle at all, or no home, or electricity, etc.  I’m blessed beyond my comprehension, and I’m a little inconvenienced by all this, then maybe there’s a lesson in all this that I need to learn.  So, I’m  going to leave all these  so-called “problems” in God’s hands and let Him “take care of His business” and I will try to stay focused on what He would have me to learn through all of this.  

So, how do you handle these types of situations?  I’d love to hear from you!

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Another Reason To Celebrate Today!!

 

Today was Katie’s birthday, but Melia was also baptized today!  She made the decision to give her heart to Christ Jesus during our Revival a couple of weeks ago, and today she made her public profession of faith through baptism. 

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I was crying happy tears!  What a joyous day it is to see your child(ren) take such an important step in their lives.   I’m so proud of you, sweetheart, and I’m praying that you will grow strong in the Lord and allow him to direct your paths in life.  I love you!

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Revival In Our Church = Revival In Me Part 4

 

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Our last revival service was held last night, and it was just amazing!  Rick O. Collins (aka ROC) spoke and it was great!  He’s got an amazing sense of humor that keeps you riveted to your seat, but at the same time he has a serious side that tells it like it is!  He holds nothing back about God has to say to us through His word.  I have to admit that I was so engrossed with what he was saying that my note taking was very poor, but his message was amazing. 

Psalm 37:25

“I was young and now I am old, yet I have  never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.” 

The key points that I did get written down were:

  • The righteous are those that know what it means to be forgiven by Christ.
  • The righteous can stand upright before God even though we are so unworthy of doing so and of the grace bestowed upon us.
  • The righteous will experience difficulties, but you will never be left alone.  (Jesus even says that there will be difficulties, but that He will “never leave or forsake us”.)

ROC also touched on a couple of other scriptures:

Hebrews 11:6

‘And without faith it is impossible to please God, because everyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnest seek Him.’

  • We are to have faith that God will never leave us, and we are to earnestly seek His will in all that we do.

Hebrews 13:5

‘Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” ’

Verse 6 goes on to say:

‘So we  say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  What can man do to me?” ’

And I love verse 8:

“Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

To me, that pretty much sums it up!  Jesus has never and will never change!  If there are changes made, it is me making the changes which means that I’m relying on self and not on Him.   It means that my focus (aka faith) is not where it should be and I need to get back into the word more and (quoting from earlier in the week) “get out of God’s business!” 

I have to admit that my toes are pretty sore from being stomped on this week, but that’s OK.  I needed it!  Sometimes we need a little toe stomping to help keep us from being too prideful and to remind us that we are supposed to be humble. 

I’ll sum it up this way:

Philippians 4:13

“I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.”

Our strength comes from the Lord, and everything we do should be pleasing to Him.  I’m so very thankful that no matter who bad I mess up, He will never leave nor forsake me.   Yes, I will have to reap the consequences of my bad choices (just like my children have to when they mess up), but I’m also able to reap the blessings that come with staying in His will.  How wonderful it is know that kind of love and forgiveness! 

I hope you have enjoyed hearing about our Revival services this week.  I know it has been amazing to be there, and I’m praying that it has touched you this week, too.