Some thoughts on prayer...
Have you ever felt like you were just stuck? Like you couldn't pray, didn't want to pray, couldn't focus to pray, and guilty over it all? I am a campus minister with the Coalition for Christian Outreach. I put up a pretty good front sometimes, but I definitely don't always have it together. But I've found that it is in those moments of weakness, of feeling stuck, God finds ways to speak to me and to restore my soul.
It's funny the way God works. I read blogs pretty regularly...and oftentimes they are how I connect with God. I have a hard time focusing on writing in my own journal or on my own blog about different Biblical passages and whatnot, so I turn to others. It's nice to have my beliefs reinforced by something else I read. Anyway...recently I read one blog and one article at http://www.relevantmag.com that helped me see God a little more clearly.
In the first, an article that you can read at http://www.thelongbrake.com, the writer reflected on renewal. I've been in some serious need of attitude re-vamping lately, as evidenced in my often crappy mood. When I am not "plugged into the vine" very well, I get tired and cranky. In the post previously mentioned, the author states two things that struck me. Here's the first:
"you are who you are because of the things you've gone through. God has taken you through some very specific things, both big and small, to shape you into who He wants you to be. it's true. it's not always easy, but it's true."
Can you say, Wow? I had a bit of a tiff with one of my dearest friends on Tuesday night. But she is a new friend; I've only been spending time with her since about August. She doesn't know the back story to my life. She doesn't know the dark places in my soul where I struggle. It's a challenge for me to go there and share why certain things upset me and why I react the way I do to certain things. I can't blame her for wondering why I was upset when I've never shown her certain sides of me. It's in those moments that I remember. I remember how God has molded me and shaped me into who I am NOW. The old has passed away; the new has come. I am a different person than I was years ago. I hate it when old issues rear their head, but it's then that I go back to God, and He heals me and renews me again. Amen and Amen.
This is how the aforementioned writer closes his post, and I can't echo it more wholeheartedly:
"i have come to believe that God is a God of restoration. of redemption. of rescue.
i believe that God wants to restore you. me. i don't claim to have all of the answers, nor do i claim to understand God very well, if at all. but i do know that rescue is central to who He is.
so i hope that you, friend, will be restored today. i hope that you will be rescued and gain a more full understanding that God loves you. your past. your present. your pains. your failings and victories. all of it.
all of it.
you are who you are because He formed you this way. and He wants you to be who you will be under his rescuing and redemptive hand.
and as i live, i keep hearing Him say come back. i love you. i want you for who you are. come back. keeping coming back."
God is my rescuer, my redeemer, my healer. And I can't thank Him enough for that on a day to to day basis. Even when I am in a funk, even when I feel like I'm lost and can't pray, He's still there to pick me up off of my face.
The other article from Relevantmag.com titled "Wading in the Worry" ends on this note:
"Next time every decision in your life seems to be staring you straight in the face and everything you have so carefully constructed seems to be collapsing, remember the futility of worrying. Instead of lending yourself to despair and anxiety and trying to add days onto your life, please take a chance to remember the timing and sovereignty of God and allow Him to provide you with comfort.
He has and will provide you with everything that you need; be content to rest in His arms and accept His peace because it might just change your life."
Amen and Amen. I worry too much somtimes about how badly I've failed in certain aspects of my job, or even what people think of me because of the job that I do. I have to surrender these thoughts to God. He will take them from me and heal me and show me that my real value lies in Him and in Him alone. It's "the timing and sovereignty of God" that I have to remember on a day to day basis. He's in charge; not me. He knows what I will do with the rest of my life. He knows who I'll marry, He knows where I'll live out my days, He knows what jobs I'll do. I don't need to worry because He's got a plan, and He's in control. I take comfort in that. When I take the time to lean on Him and to rest in His arms, I am refreshed. And my soul is restored. I just have to remember to go to Him in these times.
It's funny the way God works. I read blogs pretty regularly...and oftentimes they are how I connect with God. I have a hard time focusing on writing in my own journal or on my own blog about different Biblical passages and whatnot, so I turn to others. It's nice to have my beliefs reinforced by something else I read. Anyway...recently I read one blog and one article at http://www.relevantmag.com that helped me see God a little more clearly.
In the first, an article that you can read at http://www.thelongbrake.com, the writer reflected on renewal. I've been in some serious need of attitude re-vamping lately, as evidenced in my often crappy mood. When I am not "plugged into the vine" very well, I get tired and cranky. In the post previously mentioned, the author states two things that struck me. Here's the first:
"you are who you are because of the things you've gone through. God has taken you through some very specific things, both big and small, to shape you into who He wants you to be. it's true. it's not always easy, but it's true."
Can you say, Wow? I had a bit of a tiff with one of my dearest friends on Tuesday night. But she is a new friend; I've only been spending time with her since about August. She doesn't know the back story to my life. She doesn't know the dark places in my soul where I struggle. It's a challenge for me to go there and share why certain things upset me and why I react the way I do to certain things. I can't blame her for wondering why I was upset when I've never shown her certain sides of me. It's in those moments that I remember. I remember how God has molded me and shaped me into who I am NOW. The old has passed away; the new has come. I am a different person than I was years ago. I hate it when old issues rear their head, but it's then that I go back to God, and He heals me and renews me again. Amen and Amen.
This is how the aforementioned writer closes his post, and I can't echo it more wholeheartedly:
"i have come to believe that God is a God of restoration. of redemption. of rescue.
i believe that God wants to restore you. me. i don't claim to have all of the answers, nor do i claim to understand God very well, if at all. but i do know that rescue is central to who He is.
so i hope that you, friend, will be restored today. i hope that you will be rescued and gain a more full understanding that God loves you. your past. your present. your pains. your failings and victories. all of it.
all of it.
you are who you are because He formed you this way. and He wants you to be who you will be under his rescuing and redemptive hand.
and as i live, i keep hearing Him say come back. i love you. i want you for who you are. come back. keeping coming back."
God is my rescuer, my redeemer, my healer. And I can't thank Him enough for that on a day to to day basis. Even when I am in a funk, even when I feel like I'm lost and can't pray, He's still there to pick me up off of my face.
The other article from Relevantmag.com titled "Wading in the Worry" ends on this note:
"Next time every decision in your life seems to be staring you straight in the face and everything you have so carefully constructed seems to be collapsing, remember the futility of worrying. Instead of lending yourself to despair and anxiety and trying to add days onto your life, please take a chance to remember the timing and sovereignty of God and allow Him to provide you with comfort.
He has and will provide you with everything that you need; be content to rest in His arms and accept His peace because it might just change your life."
Amen and Amen. I worry too much somtimes about how badly I've failed in certain aspects of my job, or even what people think of me because of the job that I do. I have to surrender these thoughts to God. He will take them from me and heal me and show me that my real value lies in Him and in Him alone. It's "the timing and sovereignty of God" that I have to remember on a day to day basis. He's in charge; not me. He knows what I will do with the rest of my life. He knows who I'll marry, He knows where I'll live out my days, He knows what jobs I'll do. I don't need to worry because He's got a plan, and He's in control. I take comfort in that. When I take the time to lean on Him and to rest in His arms, I am refreshed. And my soul is restored. I just have to remember to go to Him in these times.