My Friend is Hurting

My friend is sad.  My friend is going through some very hard times.  That makes me sad too.
But my friend is learning to trust in God.  She is learning to have hope even when things are unjust, unfair, and turning her whole world upside down.

I would be tempted to despair but she has a  BIG God who loves her more than she knows and who WILL work all things together for her good.

It's just going to take time and lots and lots of trust.  Trust in God. Trust that it won't always be this hard. It will get better but it will be hard for awhile. Trust that knows she can do all things through Christ who strengthens her.

How do I know?  Because God did all of the above for me.  If I hadn't gone through my own hard times, I would not be able to encourage her.  Someday she will be the one to encourage someone else. I can hardly wait.

"...the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.  Let us not become weary in doing good , for at THE PROPER TIME we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galations 6: 8b & 9

Lots of love, my dear friend, Sam

If I had one wish...

Now normally I would like to keep most of my posts on the lighter, more uplifting side but I have a friend who is hurting today. When someone you care about hurts, you hurt too. I was thinking... If I could ask God for one gift, I would ask for the ability to take peoples' pain away. Wouldn't you just love to go up to someone who is in the depth of heartache and just take all of their pain away and replace it with joy? That would just make my day!!! :) It's a nice dream but I think God is the only one qualified to do that job. The only problem is that He takes His good sweet time in getting it done. He does it right, He does it best, but He does it S-L-O-W.

And then I remembered something. I remembered the day a great revelation came to me. The realization of the spiritual giant's big secret. I took a good look at all the people I most admired, the people who demonstrated God's love and patience and wisdom more than any others. And then I noticed how they got to that place. It was through PAIN. I believe it is a very rare thing for anyone to have that close of a walk with God that didn't find their way there by struggling through their own personal trauma. In their pain, they found that God still loved them and that He cared. They learned to lean on God and to trust Him. They discovered that God is faithful. And now they can love and encourage others because they themselves have been loved and encouraged. Would I really want to take away someone's road to REALLY discovering how good and wonderful God is????

Maybe I will ask God for the gift of encouragement instead. I won't be able to take people's pain away but it would be nice to help them along the road until they find their answer in Him.

And God will exalt you in due time (that explains the S-L-O-W part), if you humble yourselves under His mighty hand by casting all your cares on Him because He cares for YOU. 1 Peter 5:6-7 Amen

A Sad Truth

I was chatting with a friend on-line tonight - a very dear friend I had lost contact with for years. We recently got connected again through Facebook. Catching up can be bittersweet. You hear of their joys, successes and their disappointments. My friend is dealing with some disappointments. She said that she is learning do deal with the fact that if you do everything "right" as humanly possible as you can, some things still may not turn out the way you always hoped and dreamed they would.

Amen, sister. I am learning that obedience to God needs to be out of love for Him and not just the results you hope to get. Our obedience doesn't mean we won't have money troubles or perfect marraiges or good Christian kids.

"If you love me you will obey me." - period.

Our reward is not always on this earth.

And just think of how much worse it could be if we weren't obedient!!! Now there's a pleasant thought to end on. (Not)