When God answers NO. Not your will but mine.
Hold On To Me Lauren Daigle
Feel the Struggle
Mark 14:32-36 NKJV The Prayer in the Garden
32 Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 And He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed. 34 Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch.”
35 He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and 36 And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”
Wrestling
Jesus Wrestling in prayer
In the stillness of this early morning, I wrestle. There is silence all around me. Not a cloud in the sky! Not a bird chirping or flying! No breeze in the trees. It’s as if God hears my soul’s distress and stands silent with me.
Is God silent today? Is creation in mourning too? I am not sure! I have no answers. Silence and wrestling are all I have at the moment? Didn’t we come together and agree on a miracle? Isn’t that what your Word tells us to do?
Darkness
Suddenly,darkness has plunged us into the depths of our faith! Despair, anger, crying out to God. You told us to ask anything in your name and you would give it. As a practicing follower of Jesus, I am not used to the darkness. I try to walk in the light.
I hear the words from our study of Elijah. Not here Lord surely not here. Anything but this. (Elijah was fed by ravens, disgusting nasty birds, forbidden to be handled by Jews. God sent him to live with a Gentile widow, which was also not kosher with his faith..) But God was preparing him for Mount Carmel, fire coming down and engulfing his sacrifice.
Is that what you are doing Lord? Preparing us to be able to call down fire on our idols we’ve learned to rely on?
I believe that is exactly what God is teaching each of us. Fire on the mountain. Burning up everything that holds us to this life except Him!
It will be a faith that is deep enough to call down fire to extinguish darkness. Just like Elijah, it wasn’t about being able to do miracles; it was about turning the hearts of God’s people to see their sin and return to Him.
Wrestling with Friends
Today one of my oldest and dearest friends releases her second child into the arms of God! She is a testimony to all who know her. Some have even said when they see her they wonder at her radiance lightened from within.
She is truly a Proverbs 31 woman of God. Her strength and faith sustains and builds up everyone around her.
How will she get through this “dark night of the soul?”
She will rely on the promises of her God! A million times in the next few months she will ask “why.” She will sit and ask God where are you? BUT GOD… I will never leave you or forsake you.
Valley of the Shadows
Psalms 23:4 “yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…. (shadows are not the real thing!)
“I want to encourage each of us to remember that even as you go through the valley that may reflect death, discomfort, and uncertainty, God stands right beside you. He is the One guiding you, protecting you, and keeping you in peace as you journey through life. ”https://hope4israel.org/rod-staff-comfort-psalm-234b/
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 NASB Those Who Died in Christ
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as indeed the rest of mankind do, who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead, so also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep [b]through Jesus. 15 For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
My Hope
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore, comfort one another with these words.
We will all use these words to comfort her and her family. But still, we wrestle!
Miracles or No miracles we will stand in the presence of our God. In Him (Jesus) is life and there is no other one who can save.
https://youtu.be/nyLrl0SWe7s Mercy Me Even If
Lord God,
Thank you for never leaving us even in the darkness. May your light shine through us while we walk in these difficult days. We love that after the rain and the storms there is glorious light from your SON.
Freda – treading water!
May also find peace in this post
Valley, shadows and mountain tops
