Storms of Life

My husband and I have been reading My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. Most nights before bed I read 2 days of the devotional to him, we read 2 because we are behind. Some of them have been very challenging. Some very comforting. Before we went through the trial we are currently facing (2 3/4 years of unemployment and counting) we would not have gotten as much out of this as we are. Some days, I also have to admit, I don't understand what he is talking about. But, those gems we have found make the other readings worth it. I am also thankful to have my husband, a lot of times he can help me understand a lot of the bits that make me go, "Huh? What is he talking about?" It is one of my goals to finish this book this year and I will do it.

One devotional that especially touched me...

May 8
"....God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, but our Lord continues to stretch and strain, and every once in a while the saint says, “I can’t take any more.” Yet God pays no attention; He goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight, and then He lets the arrow fly. Entrust yourself to God’s hands.

...even though you cannot see Him right now and cannot understand what He is doing, you know Him. Disaster occurs in your life when you lack the mental composure that comes from establishing yourself on the eternal truth that God is holy love. Faith is the supreme effort of your life— throwing yourself with abandon and total confidence upon God.

God ventured His all in Jesus Christ to save us, and now He wants us to venture our all with total abandoned confidence in Him. There are areas in our lives where that faith has not worked in us as yet— places still untouched by the life of God.... The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering...."

God is doing a work in me, a work that I may not like, a work that is hard. He knows what is best for me. He leads me into storms in my life. Storms I don't want. Storms I would rather avoid. But the storms cause me to run to God. The storms cause me to grow and change. I read the book How People Change and now we are reading it again as a family. It is a challenging book and we are doing the Study Guide with it. I am also currently reading The Resolution for Women and recently I have been thinking a lot about faithfulness. I love this quote from the book which I already posted on Facebook, pg. 76.

Having a strong set of beliefs is one thing, But standing up tall on them, making decisions according to them, and adjusting your life to line up with them - that's quite another.

That's faithfulness. 

Faithfulness is born when the outward expressions of your beliefs are lived out over time. Often through difficulty. For difficulty is where faithfulness is honed and brought to life. 

I want to be faithful through this trial. I want to learn/get all God has for me. I definitely don't want to have to redo this trial because I didn't learn it this time. I want God to touch all the areas of my life that he has not yet reached. I want my faith to be strong and not wavering. I want to trust my Lord. I want to be strengthened through the storms of life. I want to grow.

Note: Portions of the devotional are quoted above. To read the complete devotional go to: http://utmost.org/the-faith-to-persevere/ At that sight you can read each daily devotional from the whole year by Oswald Chambers. I plan to share a few more of my favorite quotes from this devotional.


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