Trials

Have you noticed how impatient our world has become? And because of this impatience, it makes us question God. Why in the world have we not got it through our thick heads that our time is NOT God’s time? We treat God like a wishing genie, and pour all these wants & must haves out to Him. If we don’t get what we want, in a short amount of time, we start wondering where God is.

We had a guest preacher talk about this Sunday. Bro. David Lipe posed the question,

“What has the world come to? What has the world come to that everything has to be instant or we are downright upset? Hello? Have you heard of instant grits?”

Why, yes. Yes I have.

I don’t think he was saying we should be ashamed of ourselves for eating instant grits. I believe he was trying to get us to see how we have reached a brand new level of ridiculousness. Our expectations have become so that if we heard it 7 seconds ago, that’s old news. Gimme something new to hear about. Don’t that just beat all? Just like our prayers to the Lord. If our well thought out good intentioned requests don’t start coming true soon after the words part our lips, we begin losing faith in God. We are not trusting in His timing. Just because we may have trials & heartache does not mean God is not working in our lives. Sometimes it may take years to realize how God has worked for good in our lives.

Let’s talk about the story of Joseph.

Dolly Parton sung her little heart out about that coat he had. Bless her heart.

Joseph was loved by his father, but hated by his brothers. Their daddy gave Joseph a coat of many colors. What do you think the brothers thought of that? You got that right, they didn’t like that either. Also, Joseph had a special gift. He could interpret dreams. Which made his brothers hate him more. He was sold into slavery by his own flesh & blood siblings. But the Lord was with him. Joseph was entrusted by his master with his household. But you know what? Since Joseph was so good looking, the master’s wife got after him & would NOT leave him alone. She finally cornered him & he ran off. Of course, the master’s sorry wife made up this big story about how Joseph was making an advance toward her. That landed Joseph right in jail. Remember I said the Lord was with him? Just stay with me here. When Joseph was in prison he became the prison guard’s favorite. Before long, Joseph was over the prisoners. Pharaoh’s chief butler was put in prison, under Joseph’s care. Joseph interprets a dream for the butler & asks him for only one favor. He asks that the butler remember him & mention to Pharaoh what he had done for him. That way, Joseph could show his innocence & get out of jail his own self. The butler told Pharaoh what the dream meant. But low & behold wouldn’t you know it, only TWO years later, the butler’s memory finally got jogged. Pharaoh needed a dream interpreted & the butler remembered, ya’ll, & had Joseph taken right out of jail to tell Pharaoh what his dream meant.

Well, after that, things got A LOT better for Joseph. So much better that he became 2nd in command in Pharaoh’s army. Now you tell me Joseph didn’t have all kinds of problems. I will say his life had a happy ending. When a famine struck the land, he had the opportunity to have a blessed reunion with his brothers. Wonder what Joseph made of all of this, that happened over the course of his life? Do you think when he was in jail he was thinking,

“Boy, God sure is working for good in my life.”

Probably not. But he was faithful anyway. He loved the Lord. He didn’t give up. He didn’t get anything instantly. Do you remember it took the butler 2 years to tell Pharaoh about him? Sheesh. Write yourself a note, will ya? In the end, Joseph’s faithfulness was what made the difference. True story. I read it right here in Genesis 37-45.

Are you sinking in problems? Keep your eyes on God. Don’t quit. He will not forsake you. Just keep your head down & keep climbing the hill. At the end of the day, God is in control. He is always working behind the scenes with our best interest at heart. Before you know it, you will be sitting on the mountain, once again.

I hope ya’ll are having a wonderful week. My iron quit working around Mondayish. So, my husband & I have been spraying our clothes with water & prayerfully hoping the dryer will get most of the wrinkles out. Some may ask why I have not purchased a new iron yet. See below to find your answer. Until next time I hope your clothes are starched & pressed just like you used a new iron on them. As for me, I have to be going because I should be washing clothes.

photo credit: Facebook, http://www.bplolinenews.BlogSpot.com,www.oopsitseverything.wordpress.com

Sometimes when I have a problem, I let it take me over. It’s all I think about. I just can’t get it off my mind. I want to talk about it, whine about it, be a bit dramatic about it, contemplate “why me”, & so forth & so on. I walk around with a cloud over my head, tensed up, perhaps not very friendly, & then inside the pit of my stomach, it starts to burn. I begin to feel bad all over. I get to thinking nobody has had this bad of a situation EVER! Then, I hear a voice in the back of my head, (which is my mama, God rest her soul). She always would tell me,

“Get ahold of yourself.”

Now, what does that mean, you may ask? Well, my sweet southern mama had her fair share of problems. At what most of us call mid-life, she found out she had Multiple Sclerosis. For years, she fought this disease with such grace. She never relented or let on that she had given in to what life had set before her. She “got ahold” of herself & the life changing event & did not let it overtake her, as a person. It’s so funny. We respected her & loved her so much, that even being bedfast, she still told us all what to do. And we did it, because even though her body was weak, the fire the Lord put down in her was not. She showed us that even though you are right in the middle of a bad situation, it does not have to take ahold of you. Morals & character surface when troubles make themselves present. Let me tell you, my mama had strong Christian convictions & proved to us that living it was the only way to survive. She never held a pity party for long. She encouraged us to follow suit. No matter how out of sorts things got, with the MS, she showed us the Lord had a plan. She strongly believed He was the healer. She did what the doctors said, but in the end, she showed us God has the last say. The message was when you live for the Lord, no problem you have is too big for Him. There is nothing that you & Him can’t handle. No matter what happens it’s for the greater good. We may not see it right then. However, it’s God’s time, not ours.

There were some people in the Bible that thought they had problems. One that comes right to mind is Peter.

Peter denied Christ.

Jesus told him by the time the rooster crowed, he would deny Him three times. (Matthew 26:34) Peter thought that was crazy talk. Until it happened. Historically, it is said, the 3^rd time Peter denied Jesus, Peter looked across the way & locked eyes with the Lord. If that is true, can you imagine what a rush of shame must have come over him? After that he went out & wept bitterly. (Matthew 26:75) Not just a silent, tearful, moment, but bawlin’ his eyes out. Don’t you reckon Peter thought he had created himself a big problem? Poor Peter, I’m glad the story did not end there. Peter got through that awful experience & went on to serve the Lord with great eagerness. He did not let a tragedy paralyze him in the work Jesus needed him to do. He repented, “got ahold of himself” & went on. Thank goodness there is life after problems.

When Mama was sick, we thought we had problems. Big, huge, frightening problems that we did not know how to handle. But you know what happened? Every time we turned around, there was someone there willing to help. Sometimes it was someone sharing their story to let us know they had also been through a similar trial, so we would not feel like we were in this by ourselves. Sometimes it was a homemade cake or meal cooked. Sometimes it was a wonderful helper to relieve us & sit with Mama while we tended to other things. Sometimes it was a friend with a listening ear. In the whole ordeal with her, I never remember feeling like we were alone. It gave us a greater thankfulness & faith in humanity & how God works through people. It strengthened our faith in the Lord, as well. Would we have learned & appreciated all of this, had we not been through this experience? I’m going to say probably not. Was it a wonderful & beautiful thing? Well, if you would have asked me that back in the middle of all of it, I would have absolutely said no. Now, though, I see so many blessings that came out of it, I just can’t keep it to myself! In this storm of life that came our way, I want everyone to know how good God was to us.

Today, I hope you know if you are struggling with a problem, you are not alone. I am here to tell you everybody on the face of this Earth has a struggle. If someone says they don’t, don’t you believe them! We are here to help each other. If you stretch out your hand to help someone, you will be blessed for it, as well. Sometimes it can be hard to admit we have things in our lives that are not so great. However, when we open up, we find a whole lot of support from people, that we never would have imagined. As Christians, we are not told we won’t have problems. We are just given the tools to know how to handle them. What can you do to help someone? Start by smiling at someone today. That may just be all it takes to melt their heart & make their day more bearable.

I have so enjoyed you stopping by today. I hope you are getting that menu ready for your Thanksgiving dinner. We will be hosting another breakfast & dinner at our house, for our family & friends. There are 13 of us now (that just includes my husband, kids & their families) I just can’t put that off on somebody else to try & feed us! My brother & his family will be coming from a faraway land, 200 miles south of us, as well. Miss Neenee has only asked 241 times when her cousins will be getting here. I hope each & every one of you have a happy & healthy Thanksgiving holiday. As for me, I have to be going now, because I should be washing clothes.