I wrote this article while I was on a retreat. As I was in the middle of writing I looked up and noticed the above picture with the exact verses this article is about. I just has to smile. I hope you find encouragement here today!
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Take heart! God is doing something new!!
In my last article, Do You Value Yourself?, I wrote about how the hardships of life can take it’s toll on our self-value. But, Isaiah 43:1 tells us that we belong to God and He knows our names. God’s love and value for us is like no other and it is this knowledge that carries us through the rough points in our lives.
Today I am writing about those rough points. Times are rough for so many right now here in our country and certainly in other parts of the world with Haiti in the forefront. May the Lord be with them providing miracles of provisions, healings, and salvation both physically and spiritually, and much comfort.
I don’t know what you’re struggling with today, but I encourage you to stop wrestling with the issue in the sense of wanting things to go back to the way they used to be. Don’t we do that? I know that I will find myself in that position from time to time.
We say things like if only this didn’t happen or that didn’t happen. If we could just get things back to the way they used to be then life would be easy. We will even make a plan on how to get it there, but does it really ever work out? No. Why? …
… Because life is forever changing. Change is a good thing. The quicker we wrap ourselves around the change that we are in the middle of the better off we will be, along with those around us and our situation.
“This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.
The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.”
~Isaiah 43:16-21
Take heart! God is doing something new!!
Whatever your situation is, embrace it! Instead of dwelling in the past, look up and out! God is doing something new in your life! He is making a way for you in your desert. He is making provisions for you, His chosen, so that you can proclaim His praise!
Glory be to God!
Leave a Reply
January 22nd, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Shileen, you really had me pondering on this thought through this blog. I truly loved how it was interpreted and how we should face our situations. Even I know that there would be a time where I would wish things were so simple, but then again I looked at the whole thing and sees that if everything was simple, then I would find it boring. We need to challenge ourselves and strive to be like God.
January 23rd, 2010 at 9:40 am
Sarah, in all things we need to keep looking to God and face forward. We can’t change what is done. We have to walk in faith, trust and believe that He indeed works things out for the good for all those who Love Him and who are called according to His purposes. We must do the next step that is before us.