Many of you know I have been nervous or troubled or feeling an urgency about me. I have been feeling this way for a week now and in many ways I feel a heaviness on my shoulders. Maybe its of my own doing - maybe its God adding to my load - or maybe - its you I have this urgency for. Only God will reveal this to me in time. God does things like this when He wants to get our attention - to move us along in our paths or in our understanding. Maybe God is moving me along side you so that I can help carry your burdens. Many of us are feeling alone - my small group has been praying for some close friends who are recently going through a divorce or a separation. I have been praying for those who have lost a loved one - I know how this feels because I am there with you. But God has something to share about all this friends:
2 Corinthians
3-5All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too.
I know many of us are struggling with things and I can't even explain the pain that some of us are in. Some of these struggles are caused by ourselves, some are caused by the devil himself but some are placed there because God chose to put them there. Now before you say " if there was a good loving God - why would He do this to me or put me into this struggle?" I have news friends - I don't think God is majorly concerned about your happiness. I think God is more interested in your character - I think God wants to move you in a new direction and onto a new path. I think God wants for you to put down your agenda and pick up His. Your struggles even then loved ones, might just continue. God cares about your character - not you being happy.
I think about a baseball player - bottom of the 9Th and the bases loaded - need a hit to win the game - the pressure is enormous! You get a hit and your team wins. We sometimes perform best when the pressure is on. We sometimes go the extra mile or the extra effort to get over the hump or land that sale or get the monthly bonus check.
I think sometimes by God keeping the pressure on - keeps us playing in the game and performing at our best. Apostle Paul knew suffering - He performed best under the pressures that God placed before him.
2 Corinthians
6-7When we suffer for Jesus, it works out for your healing and salvation. If we are treated well, given a helping hand and encouraging word, that also works to your benefit, spurring you on, face forward, unflinching. Your hard times are also our hard times. When we see that you're just as willing to endure the hard times as to enjoy the good times, we know you're going to make it, no doubt about it.
We can walk together friends - we can help each other carry the burdens that this life has given us. I am not asking for God to release me from what I am feeling friends - this Bordon, anxiety, nerves or urgency - is there for a reason. God is interested in working through me - to accomplish what He wants me to do. Maybe its to continue writing this, maybe its to do something bigger for church, maybe its to lead a family member to Christ - I don't know but I am not asking Jesus to take away anything that I truly believe He alone has placed there for a reason. When the pressure is on - I have an opportunity to do my best. God will be with me during this time - He will show me something of Him or even myself that I did not know I had before. Friends, God will walk with you during your struggles, the hard decisions in life, your hang ups and hurts. God does not place things on our shoulders for no reason - everything has a purpose. I did not think I would make it through the dying of my mom - the funeral afterwards and the past LONG year - but God has brought me through some green pastures friends. The pressure is still there - and it seems sometimes the more I pray - the more the pressure mounts. I know I can only do so much - and God is in control of every detail of my life~ I am living for His glory and for His purpose. I know if God can trust me with what I currently have, He will give me more and bless me beyond where I am today.
2 Corinthians
24We're not in charge of how you live out the faith, looking over your shoulders, suspiciously critical. We're partners, working alongside you, joyfully expectant. I know that you stand by your own faith, not by ours.
As I think about our service at church yesterday and how moving it was - I think about you. I continue to press on, to pray for you, to serve you in some capacity. Friends no matter where you are today - right now - God has the mercy to equal your burdens. That alone is why I am at peace with whatever God has me moving to next. I pray you have Gods mercy and have accepted this free gift. Your struggles might still be there, but you will have someone walking with you always. God is looking to do something through you - it is time to get moving.
Randy~
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