Encouragement

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This is one of those days when you just want to give up on everything. It seems like the harder you try, the worse it gets. As I sit here, writing this, I’m overwhelmed, confused, disappointed and completely frustrated! Money is tight, bills need paid, worries about family, health, kids, work, and so much more. That is just the tip of the iceberg.

I want so much to be used of God in an extraordinary way. I want to make a difference. I may never be behind a pulpit or be a famous writer. I have always wanted God to use me to touch thousands of lives. I do everything I know to do as a Christian. I read and pray, study, worship, give to the best of our ability and try my best to help anyone that I can. Sometimes it feels like I just can’t touch God.

It seems like when you need comfort the most, everyone is too busy for you. When it comes down to it, there is no one who can comfort you but the good Lord. I am very blessed to have the perfect husband, for me. He is extremely loving and sensitive to my needs and my emotions. I often go to him for comfort. I know God sent him to me to help me make it through life, in this old world. I have parents who are incredible. They are Godly, wonderful people, who were also given to me, to train me in the way of the Lord. I have a sister who has been through thick and thin with me. A daughter who holds my heart in her hands and a soft hearted son, who I believe, God is going to use in a mighty way. I have many family and friends.

There is still that place down deep inside, that no one can get to, but God. No one else can give me the peace, comfort and joy that I long for. This is how I know that God is up to something big. When the enemy wants to bring you down, you must be doing something right. The enemy has no reason to bother you, if you are not doing something for God.

It is times like this when I have to let the spirit of God encourage me and lift me up to keep me going. I know God is using me. I take turns doing devotions at our courthouse where I work. I am leading a weight loss class every Monday night and doing devotions there. I write my stories and share them with the people I love and Faith Writers. I’m in our choir at church and very involved in church activities. I have decided that God can use me by touching one person at a time. Maybe, by the end of my life, I will have been used by God to touch the thousands that I have prayed to touch.

When I feel alone and can’t seem to get a prayer through is when I believe He is doing the most in my life. He’s watching me to see if I will hang on. I will! I have trusted God long enough to know He will not let me down or forsake me. I think of Job. He lost everything. I don’t know of anyone who went through as much tragedy as Job. All of that happened because God was bragging on him. Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." Job 1:8

Job never cursed God like Satan thought he would. Job was a man who really suffered and felt alone. God was there all the time, preparing to bless him for his faithfulness. The LORD blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first. Job 42:12
Satan came against Job because he was a righteous man. Will he not come after us as a Christian? In the last few chapters of Job, he was with God. God said, "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone - while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Job 38:4-7
What a reminder of who God is and the power that He holds in his hand. He is mighty and majestic. Far beyond what I believe our human minds can even comprehend. He is there for us in the good times and in the hard times. His presence is always with us.

After being in God’s presence, Job was changed, and so are we. So that’s what I do when I get down. I get down on my knees, knowing that when I come up, I will never be the same. Then I let God encourage me through His word. Just as reflecting on the story of Job, has lighted my heart and reminded me that I don’t really have it so bad. I am blessed! I am determined! I am renewed by the spirit of the Lord, to keep going, keep working and to keep ministering. It’s just the tip of the iceberg of what God wants to do through me.

If you are reading this story, don’t get discouraged. God is up to something big. It was such a big deal with Job that his story was recorded in the Holy Bible for all generations to read. He’s a big God and we can’t limit Him to what He can do in our lives. Let’s draw close to that intimate presence and let Him lead us. I wait in sweet anticipation to see what glorious things He wants to reveal in our lives.

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