Broken or Blessed?

 

By Andrea Merrell

 

My troubles turned out all for the best.

Psalm 119:71 MSG

 

 

“My life has been really hard. I’ve been through so much,” my friend said. “How could God allow all that stuff to happen to me? I feel crushed and hopeless.”

Another friend recounted many of her bad life experiences and told me how much she had grown through them. She was thankful.

One broken, one blessed.

Weighing the two conversations caused me to look back over my own life experiences, both good and bad. All the joy and all the pain. Thankfully, I can now see how God used those painful situations to change me.

The psalmist said, “My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees” (Psalm 119:71 NLT). The Message translation puts it this way: “My troubles turned out all for the best.”

God doesn’t cause our pain, but He certainly uses it to teach, mold, and mature us. He doesn’t waste a single moment. He has helped me see how each experience I’ve gone through has shaped me into the person I am today. And … He’s still working on me.

I am truly blessed. How about you?

Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and photostock.

 

Giving Up or Giving In

 

By Andrea Merrell

So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. 

At just the right time

we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.

Galatians 6:9 NLT

 

 

“I give up,” the man said. “This Christian life is too hard. I can’t possibly do everything that’s expected of me.”

Unfortunately, he had put unrealistic expectations on himself that were impossible to live up to. He felt like a failure. He constantly disappointed himself and believed he was letting God down in the process.

Trying to live a perfect life will wear us down and make us want to quit. But the Bible says, “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good.” Why? Because “at just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”

So what exactly is the good the verse is referring to? What does God expect from us? According to Ecclesiastes 12:13, we are to “fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

God doesn’t want us to make serving Him so difficult that we get tired, frustrated, and burned out. He doesn’t want us to quit. His desire is for us to stop striving and surrender ourselves completely to Him. To love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. That’s what the Christian life is all about—not in all the doing, but in being ... exactly who He created us to be.

Are you weary? Don’t give up, give in.

Photo courtesy of Unsplash.com and Zachary Ferguson.

Are You a Good Listener?

 

By Andrea Merrell

You should be quick to listen and slow to speak or to get angry.

James 1:19 CEV

I watched a TV show recently where absolutely no one listened. They heard a few words and made assumptions, then either jumped to conclusions and tried to take over or stormed away without a clue as to what was really going on.

Listening—and really hearing what the other person is saying—has become a lost art. We are too full of our own opinions and ideas that we want to jump in and derail the conversation to fix the problem and prove we know more than anyone else. Or else ignore what is being said.

Proverbs says, He who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him (18:13 NKJV). The MSG really brings this Scripture home: Answering before listening is both stupid and rude. Ouch!

If we want to build and nurture our relationships, we must learn to listen. To put our thoughts, ideas, and stories aside while others are sharing their own. The Word for You Today gives us five suggestions:

• Don’t interrupt.
• Try to understand their point of view. Don’t assume.
• Don’t rush to conclusions. Keep listening.
• Don’t put them on the defensive by constantly correcting them.
• Validate the speaker. Everyone wants to know their words and feelings have value.

This is an area where we can apply the Golden Rule. If we want others to listen to us, we must first learn to listen to them. We are to be quick to listen and slow to speak.

Are you a good listener?

Photo by Alireza Attari on Unsplash

 

How Do You Handle the Whys?

 

By Andrea Merrell

I know the Lord is always with me.
    I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.

No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice.
    My body rests in safety.

Psalm 16:8-9 NLT

 

A young husband dies. A godly man. Healthy. Leader in the church. Everyone wonders why.

A single, hard-working mom loses her job and her home. She has to go on welfare. No one can understand why.

I’ve had my own share of whys over the years, especially when both my son and daughter became prodigals. There was no logical explanation for their actions.

David—shepherd, psalmist, and king—experienced the same dilemma. Throughout the Book of Psalms he cried out to God and asked “why?” But even when he didn’t get the answers he longed for, he said, “I know the Lord is with me. I will not be shaken, for He is right beside me. No wonder my heart is glad and I rejoice. My body rests in safety.”

David knew where his help came from. He was able to rejoice even when there were no answers to his whys. He gave up the right to understand and chose to trust in the Lord—no matter what. His joy and sense of well-being were not determined by his circumstances.

There are many things that will remain a mystery until we see the Lord face-to-face. If your whys are not being answered, give up the right to understand and trust the Lord instead. Then you can safely rest in His loving hands.

Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and Isolated Images.

 

You Can’t Hide from God

 

By Andrea Merrell

Lord, you know everything there is to know about me.

Psalm 139:1 TPT

 

“No one can know what I’ve done,” the young girl said through bitter tears. “I’ll never tell another living soul, and neither can you. It would ruin me.”

Her secret was safe with me, but what she failed to realize or accept was that God already knew.

When we try to hide those so-called secret sins—especially from God—they tend to take on a life of their own. They become our master and push us further into the darkness. No one understood this better than the psalmist David. He wrote:

Lord, you know everything there is to know about me. You perceive every movement of my heart and soul, and you understand my every thought before it even enters my mind. You are so intimately aware of me, Lord. You read my heart like an open book, and you know all the words I’m about to speak before I even start a sentence. You know every step I will take before my journey even begins. (Psalm 139:1-4 TPT)

When we understand how intimately acquainted God is with us, it changes everything. He know us inside and out, even better than we know ourselves. And He waits with open arms for us to come to Him and lay our burdens at His feet.

If you’re struggling in this area, pray along with David: God, I invite your searching gaze into my heart. Examine me through and through. Find out everything that may be hidden within me. Put me to the test and sift through all my anxious cares. See if there is any path of pain I’m walking on, and lead me back to your glorious, everlasting way—the path that brings me back to you (Psalm 139:23-24 TPT).

Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and artemisphoto.