Perspective

I was reading from my "go to book of encouragement" tonight, a compilation of three of Corrie Ten Boom's books, and I couldn't move on from a chapter until I picked up a pen and wrote about my thoughts ;)
Corrie is telling the the story of another prisoner at Ravensbruck who was hesitant to believe in Jesus because she thought she had too much changing to do before Jesus would accept her. Corrie quickly told her that all that was required of her was to believe...and accept Him...for He already did all the work on the cross.

I read this and I thought they were perfect words for the one who looks ahead and feels overwhelmed by the space between who you are now and who you desire to be....a better person at X...fill in the blank...

I feel that we, I, have such a tendency to collapse into ourselves and view a desire to change as just "one more thing" to wear us out, require all our energy, and then some...But we don't have to feel like our tiny little human strength is all that's going to be available to us to achieve change in our lives.

Thank God that He has already allocated to you all the strength, courage, faith, etc you need to REACH for the horizon He has placed in front of you. Thank Him that he will do (the change) in you as you keep simply supplying the "reach".
Change your perspective on the change and keep focused on the One who has already done it in you.

Why "in the meantime"?

In looking through all kinds of notes and journals I have, most of what I wrote down or underlined involves something that stood out to me that made me think of something I was going through, something I was struggling with, something I thought would make me better etc. Then I was looking through the journal I kept during my Hillsong trip and I came across notes from a sermon Judah Smith was giving on Jesus in the boat in the storm, whenever was scared, trying to wake him up while somehow he was sleeping through it.  Part of Judah's points around that was that Jesus may be with us in the boat, in the storm, and we still might get soaked from the waves, but we still can have peace.....we still MUST have peace.  Jesus is with us in our lives, we know Him, we believe in Him, we have to trust in Him....also even though He is with us, we may still get "soaked by the waves".   Judah said "you may not know what's coming next, or if you can make it, all you know is what you know, so in the meantime......worship soaked from the waves....you may be wet, you may be waiting to dry off, but in the meantime......."  We just can't get discouraged when the waves still soak us, and we cant be fearful that we'll be in the boat forever, or for longer than we can handle.  I think the point is that no matter what or where or how much or who or why.......everything has a "in the meantime".......and I believe that is where we must focus and listen and learn.

All of us have some "meantime" things we have to get through, so I pray that we are always alert, always seeking the lesson, always ready to recognize the blessings in our daily lives....those are the things that get us through the "meantime"

Cindy

Day One of my return to WHO I am

So I used to write, frequently....I started this mainly after I was an intern at the Christian Training Center, where we would have daily devotional time.  I would write about what I read that day, and then we would gather and share our thoughts.
When everything started happening with my Dad, I kept up my devos, and God started giving me words to write and share to lots of people through email.  He would show me something even in a snippet of Old Testament..and I would send it out. 
I just recently got a new laptop, and I told myself that I was going to start writing more, emailing more.  So far I havent gotten to that, but here I am, first post in my first blog ever, so here we go:)
The first post comes from Job 11: 13-19  These verses were a part of a sermon one Sunday when my Dad was going through treatment.  They really stuck out to him, and he even put them on his signature line of the new "non-work" email account he had just created after his retirement. 
......to look on your troubles one day as Waters Gone By......that was his desire.....and that is my desire today.

I know the days ahead, in my life AND the lives of my friends and family, are bound to be uncertain, scary, dark.....for some of my friends that is the perfect description of their PRESENT reality......what I pray though, is for God to become so PRESENT around, beside, in front of...within.......me, and my loved ones that our darkness will become like morning.......we will be secure because there is hope......and we will look about us..ALL AROUND US........and we will take our rest in safety.

CR