Strength In Weakness

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 NIV

...Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

This scripture gives me the desire to expand upon the word of God. So many times we ask God..."Why are you doing this to me? ". It isn't until sometimes years down the road what the purposes for our struggles have been. But God ALWAYS knows what his purpose is.

Of course, I do not rejoice when I'm going through trials. In fact
I probably murmur just as much as any normal human being. But the more "practiced" I get I now try to approach difficulties with a different perspective. I know that He has purpose in ALL things, so I now ask in my prayer time, "Lord, what am I supposed to learn from this? What are you trying to teach me?". I have found that not only are my burdens a little bit easier to bear, but I often AM able to identify some of the purposes He has for me to learn with each situation.

I hope that we will all try to apply a different perspective to each hard time we face. If we remember that God is not done with us, and we are His greatest masterpiece, then we should be able to deal with the hard times better than someone who does not share an eternal perspective like we do.

How can we use this to minister to others?

Many people curse God for the trials & difficulties they experience in life. They become hardened and allow Satan to take control of their minds, and often end up slaves to addiction, homelessness & complete loss of all hope. It actually makes me feel PAIN when I see people making themselves suffer this way. Because in reality there is no reason for us to suffer! All we have to do is give everything to God. Jesus came to take away this pain we deal with. If we DAILY take up our own cross, and FOLLOW HIM, as He has asked us to do, we will find that he makes our burdens light because He is carrying us through it! Then we will learn to live with more joy in our sorrows. 

True Love Is Hard Work!

What do you do when marriage gets tough?

As many people are anticipating the arrival of Valentine's Day it got me thinking about what most people think love is. A lot of people think that love is something that you can "fall" into or out of, but I think that is wrong. 

Love is a CHOICE.

Sure, love is easy to do when everything is hunky dory, but what do you do when things get rocky, or worse...downright DIFFICULT! I was faced with this decision last year, and I thought that the best thing that I could do to get my husband's butt in gear was to leave him. That's what brought me to Montana from Arizona....separation. But just a few hours after leaving it all set in, and over the course of the first week of my separation I knew that I had made the wrong choice. I didn't want to live without my husband. There wasn't anything that had happened that we couldn't overcome. Within two weeks of being separated, my husband and I decided to save our marriage. We were separated a little over a month before we were reunited. The things that caused me to leave have improved, but we are still working on a lot of things. But I'm glad that I made the DECISION to stay with him. 

My husband and I made the decision that we would stick together no matter what obstacles we may face. I knew when I married him that he faced very difficult barriers to employment, but his lack of motivation makes it even harder. So I've encouraged him to go to school so that he can complete the degree he wants to have the career that he wants. I'm hoping that encouraging him to follow his dreams will give him the motivation he needs to have a promising future once he's done with school.

The above images are verses that were also read at our wedding. I am grateful that we are given the definition of what love is in the word of God. If we all learned to love this way then divorce rates would be much lower. 

Love Is A Verb!

It requires ACTION. When you make the DECISION to love someone, and you pledge your life to them in marriage, remember it is for BETTER or for WORSE, in SICKNESS or in HEALTH....every day until death separates you from one another until the next life. 

I'm glad I choose each day to love my husband. My life would be so much emptier without him. 

I Am a Wounded Warrior

Heal The Wound But Leave The Scar

Tonight I had a talk on the phone with one of my oldest friends. This dear friend has been through a tremendous amount of trials in her life...ones that if I'd had to endure I'm not sure I could have handled it. I've dealt with my own share of trials....lost pregnancies, abandonment, rejection, divorce, rape, sexual abuse, spousal abuse (verbal, physical, mental, financial), homelessness, drug addiction....Wow, once I list them I see just how much I have personally gone through!

I'm an Overcomer!

And so is EVERYONE who puts their faith in Christ. What truly saddens me about my dear friend that I spoke to tonight is that she has lost her faith after all that she has been through. There were times when I doubted my faith along the way....times that I ran as far from God as I could because I didn't think He was there for me with everything I'd faced. But I was WRONG!

When the time came that I finally hit rock bottom (which I did a FEW times before surrendering), I noticed that the ONLY person who was there to pick me up and heal all that was broken in me. I find now, that after fully surrendering to Him, I can talk about my experiences without feeling the pain and anger about them that I once felt. I can talk about how God has healed my soul, and made me whole again. My life is still FAR from perfect, but it is so much better since I've learned to give it all to Him every day. 

This dear friend of mine has lost her faith in God, others and herself because of the difficult things that she's gone through. She turned to God several times, and has given up on organized religion, because of people who have called themselves Christians and have fallen short of the mark. My dear friend expected the leaders of the churches she attended to give her the things that she needed, and when they proved to be human, as indeed they are, she gave up on God. 

WE WILL NEVER FIND PERFECTION IN ANY HUMAN, REGARDLESS OF WHAT CHURCH THEY ATTEND, LEADER...APOSTLE....PROPHET... EVERY HUMAN WILL FALL SHORT OF THE MARK OF PERFECTION WE PUT ON THEM.

There has always been only ONE perfect person to ever walk this earth, and He CAN give you the strength, healing and support you will always need. His name is Jesus!

The third musketeer in our group of friends....my girlfriend, our dear friend, and I....has been missing for several years and is also tormented by the horrific things he experienced in life. After enduring several traumas he turned to drugs, and he has never been the same. Sadly, I feel partly to blame for this dear friend's addiction, because he and I used heavily together back in the day, but I chose to enter recovery and change my life. He chose to remain in his addiction and refused to give up his pain to the only one who can truly heal our hearts. He also chose to rebel against Jesus and claim that He didn't care about him or He wouldn't have allowed him to go through all that he has. 

This is the greatest lie that the enemy can get us to believe. I have chosen to have a different philosophy in life. I have chosen to turn to the one who rescued me and give Him all my imperfections, and all my pain. The Word of God says in James 1:2-5...I prefer the Amplified translation, as it puts it into such great context...

    "Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations. Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience.But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing."  

I am truly grateful that I've been changed from the inside out by His great love. For a long time I was just as bitter and angry as my friends. It makes me sad to see people resort to a life of sadness and misery, when all they have to do is surrender and allow Him to take away their pain. I hope that anyone who is suffering from the intense pain of life's scars will be able to find peace as I have someday. I'm grateful now that Jesus has healed the wounds of my past, but left the scars behind so I will never forget. In closing I'd like to share this song with you, and I hope it touches your heart as it has mine. 

I pray for you every day, my friends. May God's peace be given to you through the one and only healer of all wounds....Jesus Christ!