Until His Purpose Is Accomplished In Your Trial

In my own trials and tribulations, I’ve about come to understand that a lot of my struggling in them, is not so much about them coming, but about when they will be leaving. I have through the years learned that, it is best to embrace them and learn from them the truth that they are trying to teach me as it comes to me directly from the hand of God, be it trail or test; least I make myself more miserable in trying to fight against them. Now days, I am more apt to ask “When Lord”, when will this thing end and what will the outcome be and not be so fretful that it has come. Walking by faith and resting in the promises of God is never easy but it is a must for the Believer! If we know what the Word of God has to say to us about our trials, we really should not have a lot of questions concerning them. We should know what God has promised to do in us though them and that His intentions are to bring good out of any trial that touches our life and rest in that truth. Still so often, we hold on to or become burdened with the “when” part. We ask, “When will we be on the other side of this or that trial, Lord?” and wonder, “when will God be finished?”. While we know this thing will pass, we still question and wonder when will it pass, that’s what our hearts are longing to know. Job 23:10-12 says this…But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food. Job found out for himself that there are seasons of trials. They come and they will go and he assures that there will be an afterwards to the things that we will go through as well, so hold on there’s going to be an end to this trouble, he encourages. God is watching your life and at some point in your trial, He will say enough. That moment may be crystal clear to you or you may realize it one day as you are looking back over it and realize that it is gone and you are even unaware of its passing. You now can only see it in the rearview mirror of your mind, a passing memory of it. Whether for weeks or months or years, every trial lasts for its appointed time. When you are undergoing a trial sweet friend, it may seem unending, but remember this, there is a limit, an expiration date already stamped on it. You have only to find its purpose and make the changes that need to be made in order to bring it to its end as quickly as possible. Your trials can even be in the nature of being be caught up in someone else’s storm and you may need simply to endure it, by riding it out. Trials come for various reasons. Not always out of discipline, because of some sin. Often times trials may and do come from a wrong choice that is made. But we must pray over and determine for ourselves the purpose of them. Psalm 30:5 reminds us, “For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” And know that Hebrews 12:11 tell us that “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant…” Job’s assurance can be ours today. So, do as he did, get under it and don’t waste any of it. The sooner we learn what we need to learn from it, the sooner the Lord will bring us out of it. Your painful season is going to come to an end, but until it does, endure, endure, till you get there and remember this, God’s timing is always perfect. When we are in the middle of a trial we must realize that we have to accept God’s time frames by our faith and trust in Him, because our human tendency is to bail out at the first opportunity of it coming on. Stay there friend and don’t move, until His purpose is accomplished in your trial! Look and see His purpose in it! Let’s pray, “continue to teach us Lord, and help us to stay still under the weight of this thing! Yes Lord, slap dab in the middle, until You have accomplished your purpose in us, through them”. Loving on you today! -Bren

WHAT JOB DID

While reading this morning abut the life of Job, I was reminded that he had a devotion to God, and in spite of all his pain and suffering he was determined to stay true to what he believed, that God was “Just”, no matter the situation, and he knew in his heart that God always had His children’s best interest in mind. He was already a man that bared much spiritual fruit. Which puts me in mind of a scripture found in the New Testaments that says, “Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit”…John 15:2

God prunes the righteous (His children) by removing anything unproductive in our lives that is not bearing or reflecting Him and His character. Job’s life before his great calamity was a life to emulate and his life during and after his calamity was one of great example to follow as well. The example that we should follow is to realize that when we don’t understand God, He can still be trusted. You see the devil caused Job’s troubles, but Job did not realize at first that it was the devil. He struggled with trying to understand why he was suffering. According to Job 19:1-12, at first Job thought that God was causing him to suffer, but in fact God did not. He only allowed his suffering. He also pondered the fact that he believed that God may be a little unfair… because it appears that God seems to ignore some of the wrongs that others do in Job 24. But those thoughts were about to be corrected in later chapters of Job.

Job had a few friends who thought the same thing and tried to advise him, but they gave him wrong advice. You see they did not think that God would allow an innocent person to suffer. So they thought that Job was guilty of something. While Job admits that he was a transgressor in Job 31:33… he did argue with them that he had done nothing wrong at that point to bring on his current calamity in Job 31. He still struggled within himself and with God in trying to figure out why the suffering was allowed. Now Job had another friend called Elihu who was much wiser than his other friends and listened to Job as he proclaimed his innocence. Then he rebuked Job in chapter 32. Elihu told Job not to accuse God… and he was angry with the other friends for being so cruel to Job. While Job never cursed God…he did struggle with God over some issues about his situation.

Reading these verses reminded me of the times that I have wrestle with God over my own problems. Sometimes I know without a doubt why trouble has come my way. I do my best to repent of any actions that may have brought them on and move forward with a better understanding of how God prunes off the unfruitful and unprofitable things in my life. But sometimes I do like Job and question God’s decisions in why He allows certain things or does things the way He does; because sometimes it does seem like the innocent suffer while the guilty get away with wrongdoing. But as Elihu reminded Job and his friends, God has a reason for everything that He allows….and if we know Him and trust Him we are to counter our doubt and lack of misunderstandings with that faith.

The only reason that satan had, in bringing on Jobs’ conflicts, was in hopes that Job, would curse and dishonor God because of his pain and suffering. And while Job struggled with trying to understand it all….he never cursed God. Even God tells us to come and reason with Him. He understands that we have questions. But we are never to doubt His reasons by thinking that He is unfair for what He does. Understanding our situation will only become clear to us, when we surrender any frustration, bitterness, anger or self opinion.

I ended my scripture reading with this verse… “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends”: also the Lord gave him twice as much as he had before Job 42:10. You see this is a prime example of how satan wants to do us harm by what he sends our way….yet God wants to turn it around and use it to prune off the bad in us, so that the good fruit will surface….imagine it….your friends telling you what your problems are because they have it all figured out, and it may sound pretty solid… to them!

Yet you know in your heart where you stand before the Lord. What do you do? ….Yep, you forgive and you pray for them and satan will slither away like the humiliated snake that he is….knowing that he failed again…..just like with Job and his friends and just like Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane and the cross….defeated once again!

You were on my mind…I love you!
Bren

JOB, THE FATHER OF TROUBLE

In the quiet pages of the book of Job, the scripture reminds us that Job had a devotion to God, and in spite of all his pain and suffering he was determined to stay true to what he believed, that God was “Just”, no matter the situation, and he knew in his heart that God always had His children’s best interest in mind. He was already a man that bared much spiritual fruit before his calamites came upon him. Which puts me in mind of a scripture found in the New Testaments that says, “Every branch that bears fruit, He (the Father) prunes it, that it may bear more fruit” John 15:2. God prunes the righteous (His children) by removing anything unproductive in our lives that is not bearing or reflecting Him and His character. Job’s life before his great calamity was a life worthy to be emulated and his life during and after his calamity was one of great example to follow as well.

The example that we should follow is to realize that when we don’t understand God, He can still be trusted. You see the devil caused Job’s troubles. But Job did not realize until later on, that it was the devil. He struggled with trying to understand why he was suffering. According to Job 19:1-12, at first Job thought that God was causing him to suffer, but in fact God did not. He only allowed his suffering and friend, there is a difference. He also pondered the fact that he believed that God may be a little unfair, because it appeared that God seemed to ignore some of the wrongs of the unjust in Job 24. But those thoughts were about to be corrected in the latter chapters of this great story. Job had a few friends who thought the same thing and tried to advise him, but they gave him wrong advice. You see they did not think that God would allow an innocent person to suffer. So they thought that Job was guilty of something. While Job admits that he was a transgressor in Job 31:33, he did argue with them that he had done nothing wrong at that point to bring on his current calamity in Job 31. He still struggled within himself and with God in trying to figure out why the suffering was allowed. Now Job had another friend called Elihu who was much wiser than his other friends and listened to Job as he proclaimed, his innocence. Then he rebuked Job in chapter 32. While Elihu told Job not to accuse God, he was angry with the other friends for being so cruel to Job.

While Job never cursed God, he did struggle with God over some issues about his situation. Reading these verses reminded me of the times that I have wrestle with God over my own problems. Sometimes I know without a doubt why trouble has come my way. I do my best to repent of any actions that may have brought them on and move forward with a better understanding of how God prunes off the unfruitful and unprofitable things in my life. But sometimes, I do like Job and question God’s decisions, in why He allows certain things or does things the way He does; because sometimes it does seem to me, like the innocent suffer while the guilty get away with wrongdoing. But as Elihu reminded Job and his friends, God has a reason for everything that He allows, and if we know Him and trust Him, we are to counter our doubt and lack of misunderstandings with that faith.

The only purpose that satan had in bringing about Jobs’ conflicts, was in hopes that Job would curse and dishonor God because of his pain and suffering. And while Job struggled with trying to understand it all, he never cursed God according to Job 1:22. God himself tells us to come and reason with Him. He understands that we have questions. But we are never to doubt His reasons by thinking that He is unfair for what He does or allows. Understanding our situation will only become clear to us when, we surrender any frustration, bitterness, anger or self-opinion. I ended my scripture reading with this verse, Job 42:10, “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends”. That has deep meaning that is often times overlooked. Job prayed for the very ones that judged him and gave him wrong council, then God restored his loss, after he prayed for his friends and gave him twice as much as he had before.

According to John 15:9-13, that is exactly what Jesus is telling us. Jesus was saying to remain in love so that our joy may be complete. You see this is a prime example of how satan wants to do us harm by what he sends our way, yet if we respond as Job did in the right way, God will turn it around and use it for our good, to prune off the bad in us, so that the good fruit will surface and confirm to us a sure future. If you will simply respond as did Job in your situation knowing that God wants to use this bad thing for your good, you will more than likely endure with the right attitude and satan will slither away like the humiliated snake that he is; knowing that he failed again, just like he did with Job, and just like he did with Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, headed to the cross. satan defeated once again! You see victory was won for Jesus in the garden when His final answer was, ”Not my will Father, but thine”. For Job it was Job 1:20-22 as he fell to the ground humble and broken in surrender and praise. It’s all about coming to the end of ourselves and choosing faith to get you through. Let us learn from Job, the father of trouble!

Loving on you today,

Bren

HAVING THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE

Having the right perspective is not always easy, but it is always the right choice. I recently received an email from a family member who was sharing with me about her parents who had been preparing for an estate sale where they had lived for the past 45 years. The two of them had been diligently working towards their goal of getting everything ready for the sale. During the process of preparing for the upcoming event, they encountered a series of events that elevated their already overwhelming situation to a whole new height of frustrations and discouragements.

As they began to busy themselves with their packing which was an overwhelming and stressful job itself, their issues began and the list of concerns seem to grow. In the midst of packing, their hot water heater went out and the needed repairs could not be made any time within their near future. As the issues of packing mounted, a tractor that her dad had planned to place in the auction suddenly would not start; so of course that situation would change the value of the sale of the tractor, in which he then would have to take a great loss. With much effort and to no avail, the tractor repairman could not be reached. Since he was unable to be reached by phone, her dad had decided to drive by the repairman’s house to see if he could catch him at home, or at least leave him a message.

As he reached the man’s home and drove up into the driveway, he noticed that a BIG tractor that was usually in the yard, was no longer there. The repairman’s truck was there, but had grass growing up around it as though it hadn’t been driven for some time. As her dad reluctantly started to leave, due to fact that it seemed pretty obvious that no one was around, he remembered that the repairman was often gone for long periods of time during that time of the year, and in his desperation, decided to get out of his vehicle and knock on the man’s door. For at that point her dad had nothing to loose. After all, he had driven all the way to man’s house. Upon knocking on the door, he heard the man calling out to him to hold on, that he was on his way to the door. After a short wait, the tractor repairman opened the door. The right side of his face was somewhat droopy, reminiscent of someone who had had a stroke. His movements to walk and open the door were labored and he leaned heavily on a cane. Her dad was concerned for the man that he might fall over. It was a very different picture than the vigorous man he usually encountered. The ensuing conversation revealed that the man had recently had a small brain tumor removed. The doctors had told him that he should be back to almost 100% by 6 weeks after his surgery. It was then 13 weeks past that surgery. The repairman shared with her dad that he of course was now unable to work and doesn’t know if he’ll ever get any better and respectively referred him to someone else that could possibly do the repairs.

Her dad shared that suddenly, he remembered the differences between an inconvenience and a tragedy as he stood staring at God’s illustration and reminder of that difference. He returned home with a very different perspective and frame of mind than that which he had when he left. He had changed his attitude from being dismayed to being grateful. At that point both her parents were reminded the importance of changing a wrong attitude to having a heart full of gratitude.

This may be your situation today sweet friend. You may be slap dab in the middle of an enormous job or situation that seems overwhelming to you. Maybe every corner you take brings only another problem. While changing your attitude may never take away the problem itself, it always allows you to bear those moments and situations with peace and dignity, that every child of the living God has access to; as well as being indebted to walk in. We are His witnesses to a world that needs us to keep a check on our attitudes because of the victory that is bestowed upon us and that we have access to, if we will only choose it!

A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth: and the recompense of a man’s hands shall be rendered unto him. Proverbs 12:14

Loving you today….keep striving…..the peak is worth the pain of the path, never forget that!

Bren

WHEN IT ALL FALLS APART

Have you ever found yourself in a life shattering pivotal moment where you feel you are about to lose your footing amidst some unforeseen chaos, loss or sadness brought into your life unexpectedly? Well sure you have, we all experience those times when our circumstances cause us to lose our spiritual footing in the midst of that chaos. There are a couple of verses in the book of Lamentations that reminds me that while my circumstance may be causing me to feel disconnected in some way to the source of my real joy momentarily, that disconnection will only last until I remember something that God’s Word may say about it, and then I am automatically reconnect to the assurance that all things work together for the good to those that love the Lord. Lamentations 3:31-32 says, “For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.” In the book of Lamentations, the prophet Jeremiah after he witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem and the people of Israel being taken into slavery by the Babylonians, became brutally honest as he stated his complaints to God over the events that he saw taking place around him. He basically lamented to God the he did like anything that wass going on in his life at that time. He didn’t like what he saw happening in the land that he loved, or how things were effecting their economy and especially their national security. He lamented that he did not like seeing people hungry and out of work nor did he not like seeing the immorality, injustice and crime that was taking place all around him. But the thing he really did not like was the fact that God’s people was being taken away into slavery to serve the ungodly Babylonians.

However, in the middle of all his writings in this wonderful book of complaints, God shows us through the life of Jeremiah’s experiences, how to deal with our feelings when the wheels come off and our own world begins to crumble. For the people of Israel, it was their own personal sins that brought on their calamity. Lamentations serves to remind all God’s people, that though sin is very attractive and exciting for a season and while it is very appealing to eat, drink and be merry, that attitude and practice inevitably brings with it a heavy load of misery, grief, pain and sorrow in the end. God is only faithful to His Covenant that He has established with His people. He is not a god that can be bargained with whenever sin is involved. Though we experience many oppressions and miseries which will come into our lives and our nations when we break that covenant, we should never forget, that God’s chastisement always brings good to the people of God. Sometimes our sadness comes about simply because something is happening in our lives that we are unhappy about. Maybe we have lost a loved one and now feel the sadness of that loneliness and find ourselves questing God. Maybe our sadness comes from being disappointed in someone. Whatever the cause; in long term sadness and disappointments the source is the same. Our lack of trust has been violated by our current situation and we have chosen to lament over a thing longer than we should have. We must move away from those feelings and move towards replacing them with trust and hope in what God is able to do in that situation and not what our eyes see taking place. For God’s children are to walk by faith and not by sight and anytime we choose to let our eyes lead us, we fracture our trust in God and we become unstable. Never be tempted to blame others so that you might feel better and don’t do things to distract you from the problem, because distraction never solves the problem.

Remember that all things will work together for those who love the Lord. You must make your mind up to trust in God in that situation and stay away from focusing on anything other than the fact that God is busy working things out for everyone and everything involved. Busy yourself and dig deeper in finding the hidden opportunity disguised in your setback or ongoing problem. While you may not have control over your problems, you most certainly have control over how you feel and respond to them. For as a child of God you have inside you the strength and confidence that while you may not be able to solve life’s problems, you can rise above them; and when you do, it does not matter any longer that things are falling apart all around you. Your hope is in the One that can sustain you through anything that you will ever go through. God has not cast you off sweet friend, so remember this, never let your situation dictate your joy!

Loving on you today,
Bren

TROUBLES AND HURTS

This past week has been a very difficult week and one of which I pray, may not have to be repeated for a long time. It has been a week characterized by both defeat and victory in my life. What I am continuing to learn is this: the difference in the people whose lives are characterized by victory, triumph and rejoicing as opposed to those whose lives are characterized by depression, self-pity, defeat and bitterness lies in what they did with the hurt and trouble that came their way. While what I have learned, has not been a new lesson or new truth to me, it has been a strong reminder of what sin in me can do, if I do not deal with it quickly. There are two ways that we can receive the wounds, hurts and troubles that come into our life. One is God’s way, and the other is the world’s way. Paul told the Corinthians in chapter 7 of II Corinthians that, the wounds and sorrows which are born in God’s way brings a change of heart, in which we do not regret, but the hurt which is born in the world’s way brings death. He is saying that when you bear your wound God’s way, it brings about a change of heart. That means that it brings about such a transformation of your heart, which is the control center of your life and the steering wheel which turns your heart one way or another, to see the truth and enables you to be refreshed and restored to peace and joy in those pangs. He says if you bear this hurt the world’s way, it will produce death in you. Death to your sweet spirit, to your joy, to your happiness, to your relationships and to your very life if you allow it. Paul is telling us that if we bear those things God’s way, while we may have some pain in them, we will have peace with no regret. We can learn through them and with the right heart attitude, even begin to welcome them because of the results they will produce in us.

The Corinthian church had been greatly troubled and had gone through a great deal of tribulation. Paul wrote to them concerning all their pain, wounds, hurts and troubles that they were experiencing by not only rebuking them, but encouraging them as well. He wanted them to understand the importance of having a repented heart and the difference that it would make in their lives. He wanted them to see the difference between happy people and unhappy people, between people who are rejoicing and people who are down and out. Sometimes we will have to work through our pain and it may take a while. But when we get to the other side, we realize that the effort was worth the enduring of it. Paul used the word tribulation that indicates “being pressed down”. That word indicates anything that comes our way causing pressure of any kind that bears down on our soul and brings us terrific grief. It can be any kind of pain, physical, emotional or mental, any size or color. Paul gives his personal autobiography of the tribulations that he had experienced throughout the book of 2 Corinthians. He emphasized to the Corinthians, that not only they but he and Timothy themselves had received a great deal of various kinds of pressures and troubles. So he talked to them as one who personally understood and was uniquely qualified through his own personal tribulations, to encourage them. You would be completely astounded if you knew some of the deep wounds, hurts and troubles of the people that you encounter every day. The difference between some of those people is not the absence of trouble, but the attitude towards the trouble that comes to them. If the Bible makes anything clear, it is that trouble and hurt come to everybody. The outcome from those troubles depend on how they deal with them. This is one of the reasons that we become downcast and troubled and our happiness becomes depleted. It is because the peace and contentment of our heart has been slaughtered because we have responded to our pain in the world’s way and not Gods.

I am often reminded whenever I go through rough times in my life of 1 Corinthians 1:3-5, which states, “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforted us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounded by Christ.” I know that apart from my own tribulations I would be worthless to God in helping others walk through the same troubles that I have had to walk, unless I myself have traveled in their shoes. When pains of trouble, distress or hurts, pressure of any kind come our way, it simply means that God is up to something in our lives. Through these troubles, He is perfecting his eternal plan in us. The best way to bear it, is to realize that it is a minister sent from God to do a good work in us. Once God has helped us walk through our own pains He tells us to turn to others who are hurting and encourage them as well. God is the God of all consolation and the prerequisite to His comfort Jesus said was to mourn, thus “Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.” The word actually means one who comes to stand beside us, to champion our cause, to encourage and strengthen and comfort us. Maybe I should say it like this, someone who comes to stand beside us in our time of need, to take up our cause, making it His cause, and stays there to encourage, strengthen, and comfort us while we go through them. If God never allowed me to have a problem, then I would never know the things that He could not solve in my own life. God does not simply enable a Christian to endure a problem, but He gives us His peace to rejoice in it! Philippians 3 talks about, “that I may know the fellowship of his suffering” the word fellowship here simply means sharing alike. We are going to suffer all kinds of troubles, some for our faith and the stand that we take for Christ. Some troubles will come our way because life happens. Christ has shared our kinds of troubles and we must respond to them in a way that is pleasing to Him and is beneficial to us!

Loving on you today sweet friend!
Bren

WHEN GOD TROUBLES YOU

If you believe in Murphy’s Law, then you know, “If anything can possibly go wrong, it will”! From personal experiences, we have all felt the casualties of when we least expect it, disaster in some form or another, always seems to hits! Well, let me remind you of another law that is at work all around us, yet we seldom give credit to the one who’s credit is due. That law, is the law of mercy and grace. You see when we least expect it, God delivers something good to us and we are surprised as His kind fortune drops in on us. Yet fortune has nothing to do with it really. For it is the same act of God that brings the sun up and gently sets it down in the evening, day after day. It is an act that was set into motion when the first man and women sinned and suddenly found themselves in a grim situation brought on through their disobedience to God, yet even in their punishment they found mercy and grace that sustained them during their lifetime of reaping from the consequences of their actions.

There were other times and other people that God would shed mercy on and send grace to sustain them in their own difficult times. Job said to his wife, when she was begging him to curse God and die over his grim situation in Job 2:10, that she was talking foolish. He ask her, should they not only receive good from God and not trouble as well…and by his meager understanding of God, He did not sin by what he said. Job understood that God teaches by trials, and every trial should be looked upon as sent, to teach us some lesson of importance. For the trials of the saints, what a different book the Bible would have been without those examples. How many records of the trials and troubles of believers are there today for us to turn to in times of grief, pain, trials and hardships that we do not understand. Who can be in trouble today, and not find a companion or kindred spirit from someone in God’s Word, if we will go to it. The example that Job gives us alone is enough to encourage us to trust and wait until God reveals His plans in our situation. Everything Job had, was taken from him but his wife, and she appears to have been spared, to have been nothing more than trouble and a tempter for him. For all the ravaging of Job’s trials, the heartache and loss of his children, the physical discomfort beyond what most of us have or will ever experience, Job knew that somehow, in some way, the hand of God was involved in his test and that God had fenced up His way and had set darkness in his path according to Job 19:8. For many those trials would have turned them away from God, yet it did not Job, but only served to strengthen his inner trust, so that he still declared, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.” Job 19:25-27.

There are those times however, when God simply fences in our way and He sets darkness in our path. Yet it is through those times that we learn that God is working out other things through the dark moments and our understanding is enlarged to embrace new dimensions of His will and purpose for us. God will never sanction any evil or sin no matter what the situation, for He is Holy. He will however allow and even send afflictions, bereavements, losses, crosses, pains and sorrows. At times, likewise, he gives liberty to our enemies, and allows them to trouble us, and for a time to prevail against us. He sends good and evil sometimes in quick succession. For instances, He sent the fish to preserve the life of Jonah, and grew a gourd over his head to provide him shelter and screen him from the hot sun. But He also sent the worm to destroy the gourd which in turn destroyed his shelter to teach Jonah a life lesson. Who can read the life of Jacob or Joseph, of David or Daniel, and not see that the Lord sends good and evil upon his people.

As we learn gradually what we must, we also learn to cease our struggle and yield to His workings in us, and then and only then do we no longer think of our restraints in terms of punishment and judgment, but in pure “the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” Heb. 12:11. For it is during those tight restraints and dark times, that we might share the experience that Job went through, when for a time he had no conscious sense of His presence, and he cried out, “Oh that I knew where I might find Him! That I might come even to His seat! Will He plead against me with His great power? No; but He would put strength into me. – Behold, I go forward, but He is not there; and back-ward, but I cannot perceive Him; on the left hand, where He works, but I cannot behold Him: He hides Himself on the right hand, that I cannot see Him. But He knows the way that I take: when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job 23:3, 6, 8-10, and this sweet friend is how you and I must look at our situations on every side. Like Paul we will affirm the same truth that He himself learned as he endured hardship, and declare, “Having come to this settled and firm persuasion concerning this very thing, namely, that He who began in you a work which is good, will bring it to a successful conclusion right up to the day of Christ Jesus.” Phil. 1:6. So please sweet friend remember this, that in spite of your prayers and best efforts, as you see your situation worsen as God may be what appears to you, troubling you, hang in there, pray with a greater confidence and embrace those new dimensions of His will and purpose for your situation and know, just know that as you turn to Him through them, you will move them with more ease and peace, never to forget again that sometimes, God takes you through those troubled waters, not to drown you, but to cleanse you!

Loving on You,
Bren