God is.....

I Peter 1:21 says -
...and so your faith and hope are in God.
Yes...that's right, they are. But who is this God??
Type that 2 word phrase "God is" into a blueletterbible search and it occurs in 161 verses.
Here's just some of them.... to paint you a picture of this amazing God..... who is my hope:

God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfil? God is near us whenever we pray to him God is a merciful God God is God; he is the faithfulGod, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, For God is the King of all the earth Surely God is my help God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever For the Lord God is a sun and shield God is full of compassion. Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation." The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. God is with you. God is a righteous judge God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries God is truthful God is faithful God is the builder of everything. God is a consuming fire God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. God is love

Threes

What do they say about threes?
That God always speaks in them?? Nope...I think the only reason we hear things 3 times from God is because we are either hard of hearing or slow learners. How wonderful that He's a God who speaks loudly...when He needs to....and is extremely patient.


Well life had been going along so well. I thought I had the routines and functions of a Mum down pat. That was until mid-week last week when disaster hit. Sparing you the gory details, I will simply say, breastfeeding is not as nice as it used to be.
Meanwhile, the emotions started going haywire thanks to the pain and subsequent sleeplessness and I found myself upset, questioning and doubting and poor old J found himself with a whinging, sooky wife.

Then God spoke.....3 times in 3 days. And as per usual, He was creative in how He spoke....it was of course, in 3 different ways. And yet the 3 different messages, all interlink. How like Him to take the random, lose ends of thoughts and ideas and tie them up nicely so they make sense.

1. As I was driving in the car I had the Christian radio station on (Go Rhema!) and an oldie but a goodie came on. The lyrics are: "I love You, all of my hope is in You....Jesus Christ take my life, take all of me..." WHAM! I heard God. He was saying, "Get your focus right my girl. Look at me, love me, trust me and you'll know hope. And hope is what you need right now....the hope for healing and a better day tomorrow. Give your life, including your pain and doubt to Jesus. Give Him your emotions, your attitudes, your thoughts and let Him give His to you. Instead of doubt, know belief. Instead of despair, hope. Instead of unrest, peace." I sang along with that song with great gusto, making it my prayer...albeit a very loud and off key prayer!

2. My friend L has had her own struggles in recent times and she has been such a great encouragement to me. Through them, she has grown closer to God and in sharing some of that experience, she has been a challenge and a blessing. So one of the ways God has spoken to her was through Joyce Meyer's book 'Power Thoughts.' (L shared something of that book in last Friday's blog) I now have that book in my possession and as I read chapter one on my attitude...God spoke. The 5 rules Joyce presents about our thinking and more specifically our attitude, reminded me that in the midst of what's going wrong, I need to: maintain the right attitude when the going gets rough; realise the rough times won't last forever; stay in touch with God and try to keep things in perspective. (You can read Chapter 1 for yourself at Joyce's website.) All things I needed to hear and take the time to process and apply to how I was feeling and responding right then....and in the days since.

3. Sunday's sermon came from the story of the Israelites crossing into the Promised Land. The theme?....'Trust God.' Considering all that the Israelites had seen and experienced in the past 40 plus years, you'd have thought trusting God would be easy. Afterall, they'd been led by fire and cloud, rescued out of slavery, provided with food in most unusual ways, saved from charging Egyptians and the rest. But I guess I'm a lot like them really. I have seen and experienced God doing great things and also working in small, quiet ways. Firsthand, I know Him to be good and faithful. So I need to TRUST Him in all my days, but especially the ones that are difficult.

So 3 words....HOPE, ATTITUDE, TRUST. May they be a reminder to you and me both that God IS alive...He IS good (all the time)...He IS faithful.....He DOES love us.....He IS working things for our good. Hey! That's 5 things! Yep, that's God...He exceeds all our expectations. I'm so glad!

Surviving Singleness #6

The Comparison Game

Just a couple of months back, I learned a painful, but important lesson. It’s one you think I would have learned years ago…and maybe I did, I had just forgotten. But to me, the issue of comparing ourselves to others is a continuous battle we girls fight. Sadly, it’s one that unless we win it, can do much damage to us….especially if we are single.

Far too many times in my single days I found myself comparing ‘me’ to someone-else. Typical thoughts included…..”No wonder I don’t have a boyfriend….I’m not as pretty as her”…..”Hey I’m smarter/prettier/nicer/funnier than that girl, so how come she is married and I’m not?”……”If only I was like her, then I’d have a man”….blah bee blah blah.  And as many times as I’d read in the Bible how much God loves ME, it didn’t always penetrate beyond a head knowledge.

Well, a few Saturdays ago, the comparison game raised its ugly head again. My husband and I attended a wedding and one of the guests was an ex-girlfriend of my husband. By ‘ex’ I do mean along time ago, before I was ever on the scene and when he was quite a different person. However, as I sat in the congregation and watched this beautiful girl in a stunning dress with a gorgeous figure…despite just having a baby.…..I couldn’t help it…..I started playing the horrid comparison game. “Does J wish he was with her, instead of me?”…..”Why did he ever choose me when he could have had her?”…..”I’m so fat….brunette…spotty compared to her”…..and the doubts and concerns kept coming. Ok, admittedly they were probably made worse by the fact that as a very, very pregnant woman I was looking rather round and feeling rather emotional right then. Still, the feelings of inadequacy, doubt, self-loathing and the like were real enough.

I battled with those thoughts for some 24 hours before I was graciously reminded by God that I was walking down the road of ‘stinkin’ thinkin’’ – again! Sunday night’s sermon was on the prodigal son, but more from the point of the son who stayed at home, while his younger brother left to waste his inheritance. Our pastor spoke about the three tests this older brother faced once the younger brother had returned and been welcomed with open arms by their father. Test 1 was the isolation test….instead of confronting the situation, he chose to dwell on his anger and isolate himself in his pain. Test 2 – the self-righteous test…..”I would never do that” and the start of comparing ourselves to others and noting how much better we are than them. And Test 3 – the comparison test.

In no uncertain terms, I was challenged by the sermon to stop measuring my security and identity against others. I was reminded how prideful I become when I do this and consider myself better than others. And I was reminded how inadequate and insignificant I feel when I do this and consider myself less than others. Neither attitudes are helpful…at all! And they are wrong. God’s word repeatedly tells me that I am to find my identity ‘in Christ.’

Romans 8:1 - Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus….

1Corinthians 1:30 - It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

2Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

I can’t promise to never play this comparison game again, but I am strengthened and reminded by God’s word and His great love for me that I don’t need to play it. I am enough…for Him and for my husband. So right now, I’m opting out of the game and in doing that, I’ve won!