Posts Tagged ‘Faith’

Hope

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

If you have been reduced to God being your only hope, You are in a good place. – Jim Laffon

Sometimes the only thing that gets a person through the most difficult and disappointing times in life is holding on to hope. In our lives sometimes hope is all we have. We face struggles in life not knowing what the outcomes will be. Somehow we know that we can not give up or loose hope. I have seen people who have lost all hope and in the process many of them have lost their faith in God. I don’t want to be one of those hopeless people. I want to cling to the hope that God has given me through him.  (more…)

What I learned from Exodus this week!

Friday, April 9th, 2010


Since this week has been more of relaxed pace I had time to actually sit down and study a few passages of scripture. I camped out in Exodus and Matthew Chapter 6.

The reason I choose Exodus is because on Easter we had nothing better to do with our time so we watched the classic movie “The Ten Commandments.” I had never seen the movie and after viewing it I had a few questions about how closely the movie followed the Bible so I decided to sit down and read for myself. Overall I found the movie did a pretty good job. I did learn a few things upon reading Exodus though.
  • Why did God want to kill Moses. When I read Exodus 4:24. I was taken by surprise. Never had I heard this verse read, and I don’t recall ever reading the verse; “at a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him. But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses feet with it. Surely you are a bride groom of blood.” My wonderful husband did some research and found that at the time Jews circumcised there children. Moses was going to led the people and as a leader had not followed one of the basic religious practices of the people. The made me start thinking about those who are in leadership positions or want to be that have something standing in the way of them being an effective leader. The verse just really made me think that how we all should take care of the big and little things in our lives to make us more effective for the work of the kingdom.
  • Where did all the stuff come from: In the movie “The Ten Commandments” the people were packing to leave the land of bondage. I thought to myself these people are slaves they would not have so much gold, silver, live stock and other material possessions. But as I was reading Exodus I came across another verse I never heard preached upon or even read in church. Exodus 12:35-36 says, “The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. The lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people and they gave them what they asked for so they plundered the Egyptians.” I wonder why preachers do not preach about this when they preach about God’s provision for his people. He made sure that the people would be cared for during their time in the dessert. This scripture would be an excellent reference for showing that in trying times God will provide all of our needs. He made the Egyptians feel favorably toward the slaves and they gave them their valuables. As a kid I always pictured the slaves roaming the dessert with only the clothing on their backs, because as a child anytime we learned about slaves we learned about the total reliance they had on their masters for everything (food, clothing, shelter). But to know that God went ahead of them and met their needs before they became needs is an awesome thought.
  • All of the signs and the people still did not believe. I can not even think about living in that time and seeing all of the miracles and still doubting God. The plagues, the provision in the dessert of manna, water, parting the Red Sea. But time after time the people complained to Moses and doubted the hand of God. I have really had a personal struggle with doubting God during the last few months. I sometimes wish I had a cloud by day and night to guide my path. I wish that manna would rain down from heaven so that I could see that God still does miracles. While I do not have those visible symbols I do have faith that he is there and he does care for me. I just don’t understand the trials we are going through now. I hope that we can all have faith without all of the signs and wonders that the people of Israel had.
Since this is long I will save Matthew 6 for another post. I have learned a lot from Exodus and Moses this week. I hope that some of you who read this will think about these verses and thoughts and form your own thoughts.

My how time flies

Thursday, June 18th, 2009


Last year at this time I was getting ready to start a new job, David was getting ready to go to London for 2 weeks and we had totally given up on the hopes of adopting a child. It has been just over a year since I posted the following:

June 2008: We both feel that if this was really meant to be we would not still be at step one. We have had all that we can take emotionally and need to move on with our lives. We have been stuck in “baby wish land” for far too long and need to figure out what the real plan for our life is.

When I wrote that post I had no idea what God had in mind for us. I just remember feeling so crushed that our efforts to expand our family had failed.

As I reflect on what has happened in our lives during this past year and what has happened in the lives of our family and friends I am reminded that God’s plan and timing is always perfect. We may not understand his plan, but we don’t need to we just need to trust in him and know that we are never alone if we trust in him.

Life Goes on

Monday, January 26th, 2009

The last few weeks have been rough. People all around me have experienced great loss with the death of loved ones. I have seen them be strong in the mist of all of this and have realized that God is big enough to help us when we are weak, and can get us through any and all trials of life. I am so impressed with the Newmans and how they are continuing to live life after the death of their infant. Yes, they have hard days, but they are letting God carry them through this time. Will they have hard days for weeks, months and years to come? More than likely, but they know that God is there to carry them. I pray for them daily and pray that I will have faith like theirs not only in the bad times but also in the good times.

I’m not strong!!!

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

Over the past years while David and I have dealt with infertility I have been told many times how strong I am. Today I feel so weak. I feel so inadequate. I can not understand how in times of sorrow, loss and anger that people can stand and be so strong. I have faith in God and I know he has a plan for my life but sometimes it is so hard to stand up and be strong. When looking at the stuff people around me have endured during the past few weeks (friends husband died, and a couple in our church lost their 14 month old) I just feel like I would never get through the losses they have suffered. Why can’t I be strong? Why am I so weak? How can I be a stronger person?

Rough Week- Jan 11-17

Monday, January 19th, 2009

This week has been a rough week. It has been overwhelming and emotionally draining.

My friend Julia lost her husband this week. His death was unexpected. A couple in our church lost their 14 month old daughter. And our church is in the air as to if the city is going to let us stay in the convention center.
Julia will be a rock in her loss she is a strong woman. While Joe’s death was unexpected Julia knows it was in the plan written for his life and hers. I went to the funeral in Albany, and was touched by the many people who were there and the things that were said about his life.
The family at church amazes me with their faith in God and ability to continue on with life. They will be in my prayers for the weeks and months to come. I don’t know that I could be as strong as they are if something were to happen to one of my children.
As for our church and our meeting location. We will be a church no matter where we meet. The stumbling blocks that we are facing will only make us stronger. As of today we can stay in the convention center, but who knows what will happen in the weeks and months to come.
I am glad this week is over and hope that the coming weeks will be better.