Suffering

Several months ago, I suffered a miscarriage. I was so devastated, but God, in his His grand and wonderful mercy, has brought Dave and I through this time. There are times that I get sad...but I pray and know it was for a reason.

There was someone who was found out she was expecting the same time I was. I just found out today she's having a girl. God in heaven, why does it hurt so much? Anyway, I came across this awesome devotional that I wish to share with ya'll. I love how God knows what we need to hear and when.

2Cr 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding [and] eternal weight of glory,

Steel is the product of iron plus fire. Soil is rock plus heat and the crushing of glaciers. Linen is flax plus the water that cleans it, the comb that seperates it, the flail that pounds it and the shuttle that weaves it. In the same way, the development of human character requires a plus attached to it, for great character is made not through easy living but through suffering.

Consider the diamond; it is formed through YEARS of extreme heat and pressure. It starts out looking like a piece of coal; but then turns out to be this thing of beauty. Don't think that this situation you are going through, is a form of punishment. Suffering is a wonderful fertilizer for the roots of character.

Remember Psalm 37:5 - Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring [it] to pass.

God is working through you, for a reason. Just wait on Him and He will bless you.

Be Still...

Hey all, I've been suffering from a bad case of Bronchitis so I've had no time (really brain power) to write something. So here is an awesome devotion for today from Streams In The Desert by L.B. Cowman.

Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10

Is there any note in all the music of the world as mighty as the grand pause? Is there any word in the Psalms more eloquent than the word "Selah," meaning pause? Is there anything more thrilling and awe-inspiring than the calm before the crashing of the storm, or the strange quiet that seems to fall upon nature before some supernatural phenomenon or disastrous upheaval? And is there anything that can touch our hearts like the power of stillness?

F0r the hearts that will cease focusing on themselves, there is "the peace of God, which transcends all understanding" (Phil 4:7); "quietness and trust" (Isa 30:15), which is the source of all strength ; a "great peace" that will never "make them stumble" (Ps 119:165); and a deep rest, which the world can never give nor take away. Deep within the center of the soul is a chamber of peace where God lives and where, if we will enter it and quiet all other sounds, we can hear His "gentle whisper" (1 Kings 19:12).

Even in the fastest wheel that is turning, if you look at the center, where the axle is found, there is no movement at all. And even in the busiest life, there is a place where we may dwell alone with God in eternal stillness.

There is only one way to know God: "Be still, and know." "The Lord is in His Holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him" (Hab 2:20).

All-loving Father, sometimes we have walked under starless skies that dripped darkness like drenching rain. We despaired from the lack of light from the sun, moon and stars. The gloomy darkness loomed above us as if it would last forever. And from the dark, there spoke no soothing voice to mend our broken hearts. We would gladly have welcomed even a wild clap of thunder, if only to break the torturing stillness of that mournfully depressing night.

Yet Your soft whisper of eternal love spoke more sweetly to our bruised and bleeding souls than any winds that breathe across a wind harp. It was Your "gentle whisper" that spoke to us. We were listening and we heard You, and then we looked and saw Your face, which was radiant with the light of Your love. And when we heard Your voice and saw Your face, new life returned to us, just as life returns to withered blossoms that drink the summer rain.