Saturday, June 20, 2009

2 Corinthians 12:9 My power is made perfect in weakness.

When we are weak, He is strong. In times of trouble we go to Christ to go before the throne of God to plead our case either to heal us, to help us grow, to forgive us etc. When illness strikes, it humbles us and we realize we are nt in control, He is.


When your heart is being wrung out like a sponge, an orderly list of "sixteen good biblical reasons as to why this is happening" can sting like salt in a wound. You don't stop the bleeding that way. A checklist may be ok when you're looking at suffering in a rearview mirror, but not when you're looking at suffering in the present tense. When people are sorely suffering, people are like hurting children looking up into the faces of their parents, crying and asking, "Daddy why?" Those children don't want explanations, answers or reasons why, they want their daddy to pick them up, pat them on the backs, and reassure them that everything is going to be okay. God, like a father, doesn't just give advice. He gives himself;
He becomes the husband to the grieving widow (Isa 54:5)
He becomes the comforter to the barren woman (Isa 54:1)
He becomes the father of the orphaned (Psalm 10:14)
He becomes the bridegroom to the single person (Isa 62:5)
He is the healer to the sick (Ex 15:26)
He is the wonderful counselor to the confused and depressed (Isa 9:6)
This is what you do when someone you love is in anguish; you respond to the plea of their heart by giving your heart." Joni Eareckson Tada

"There is no university for a Christian, like that of sorrow and trail" CH Spurgeon

God is teaching us even in times of trouble, we just need to trust and lsiten to His words.

Cristina

Thursday, June 18, 2009

"as thy day, so shall thy strength be."

1 Peter 4:11"If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

When adverse winds and waves arise,
And in my heart despondence sighs,
When life her throng of care reveals,
And weakness o'er my spirit steals,
Greatful I hear the kind decree,
That "as my day my strength shall be."

When, with sad footsteps, memory roves
'Mid smitten joys, and buried loves,
When sleep my tearful pillow flies,
And dewy morning drinks my sighs,
Still to thy promise, Lord, I flee,
That "as my day my strength shall be."

One trial more must yet be past;
One pang, the keenest and the last;
And when, with brow convulsed and pale,
My feeble quivering heart-strings fail,
Redeemer, grant my soul to see,
That, "as her day her strength shall be."

by Lydia H. Sigourney
Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10