Journaling 1189

Tag: Life

  • SIX MONTHS OF SIFTING AND REFINING

    The last six months have been a painful season for me, my husband, and our group of friends. (Friends that are in the faith and closer than a brother, where iron sharpens iron.)

    It has been painful because of people, circumstances, and ourselves. We have had to confess much and have been transformed by the Lord.

    Let me tell you something I am sure you know already: It is quite painful to be transformed by God, to be stretched, sifted, and grown.

    It is hard when this happens once. It has been week after week for six months for all of us, for our group.

    The Father loves us. We are His image bearers, so He will not leave us where we are. Nope. He sifts us like wheat and chaff, and refines us like dross and silver.

    And why does He sift and refine us?

    Stop and ponder that for a moment. Answer the question, please, before you read ahead in this journal entry.

    I have, at times, thought He did it to challenge me and/or punish me. But is this reality?

    This morning, I thank the Lord, He gave me a new perspective or point-of-view. I am giving Him praise, honor, and glory because of it.

    I just realized that since things have happened that caused great pain, and I have done wrong things and missed the mark, I have been quite hurt and beat-up. It has been very personal to me. I feel it every single day, and oftentimes throughout the day. My enemies have surrounded me and I have made mistakes. So this has been very personal.

    I wonder what all is wrong with me.

    I wonder why He has allowed it.

    I know without a doubt I deserve no grace whatsoever.

    I also believe I deserve punishment and discipline for what I have done and for how I have missed the mark.

    (I also have known the wrong thinking with all of those. But those admonishments and fears still come.)

    Adonai (God) just revealed something to me about all this that I just journaled this morning (and what a lesson to learn!):

    If we are in pain, and/or realize we have done something wrong, that is very personal. Of course. But when it is personal, we tend to act more off of emotion than off of thinking things through. And when we focus on emotion, and act on emotion, this leads to us not thinking clearly or rightly, and we tend to think and do foolish things. And this gets us in trouble. It compounds our pain and delays healing. This also means we do not turn to God like we could or should. Nor do we hear from Him like we could or should.

    Therefore, I have foolishly and stupidly thought through this season of pain I deserve it and He is disciplining me. And that the enemy was doing His greatest work in and through the circumstances.

    Umm… not really.

    Rather, the Father is sifting and refining me and my life because He loves me. He does not want anything to hold me back from living freely and fully in Him. He is getting rid of the junk that prevents me from abundant and fruitful living, where He can work mightily. He wants all of me, not part of me.

    I cannot fully know Him or His will if I have junk that prevents me from being all in at all times.

    Sifting and refining is about relationship with Him. He loves us. He wants us to be set free (fully healed; not encumbered) and to live fully for Him. It is how He shows us His great love.

    So I need to quit taking things so personally.

    And I need to thank Him for removing the junk in my life so He can be my all and at all times. After all, every moment of this painful season has been a blessing. They have driven me to Him and have helped me trust Him even more. Glory!

  • THE GREATNESS OF GOD

    It never ceases to me, amaze me how the Father works. He usually surprises me, and because of it, I am quite humbled and grateful.

    This just happened to me again this morning. I met yesterday with a friend who shared some prayer requests and struggles with me, as iron sharpens iron she asked my thoughts regarding her struggle. She knows how my husband and I do coaching, mentoring, counseling, and whatever else you want to call it. Therefore, she came to me in that regard, but also as a sister in Jesus. 

    If there is one thing, I know it is that when we share our thoughts, our wisdom, our advice, it is absolutely imperative to pray. To make sure that we hear what God is telling us to say, and what he is telling us not to say. I did my best to do that, but I also realized I could have done a much greater job with that. Nonetheless, I had the sense that regardless of how things went when we spoke, that God would work and do a great thing in her life. Consequently, I could not wait to see how things would unfold in the next week or two. I could not wait to hear her story.

    Little did I know that the entire situation far exceeded what I could have imagined in a couple of weeks, let alone that night. My friend did the work that was necessary for things to turn around. She was willing to take the extra steps, regardless of how difficult they were. I won’t lie. What I asked was extremely difficult for her. However, this is another example of what happens when we do not avoid the hard, or the difficult, or the challenge. She went against everything in her body, in her mind, and her heart that was screaming at her that her situation was difficult, but she trusted God and moved forward anyway.

    I do not think I can stress this enough what she did. She did the impossible. It took everything in her to do what she did after we spoke.

    Talk about an inspiration. It never stops to absolutely astound me how when we trust God, and we do the hard, he honors that. And it is more than that. He does not just honor it. He shows up in a powerful way.

    Because my friend trusted in the Lord, and did the hard thing, she was blessed tremendously.

    What a reminder to me of how important it is to go against your nature that does not want to do something, but to do it anyway because you know that it will honor God, and it is the right thing to do. The easy way is rarely the right way the hard way is usually the best way.

    This is a reminder that the best life we can live is the hard path that is ripe with challenges. It is the path that we walk knowing we cannot do it on our own, that we have to trust God and we have to walk with God. Living the best life possible means doing things that are so hard that we can’t do them, that we had to step out in faith and trust and know that God will be with us, catch us, and carry us. 

    Doing the hard thing is necessary for living the best life because we step outside of ourselves, and we have to trust in God. And when we do this, it is obvious that God is real, and God exists,  because we could not have done it on our own. There is no way. We could not have planned it to happen that way. We do not have it in our ourselves to achieve the results of what ended up transpiring. Doing the hard is literally living the best life.

    How often do we even think in these terms?

    How often do we act with this knowledge?

    How often do we choose the easy way and we miss out on so much because of it?

    My friend did the impossible yesterday. And because she stepped out, and did the hard thing, God was able to work in her and through her and bring healing.

    I am amazed by what she did.

    God gave her his perfect and infinite strength. She didn’t just do one hard thing, she did three hard things. And each of them went against her heart and her mind. She did not want to do them, but she did them.

    Oh, how much I have to learn from this beautiful woman.

    A PRAYER

    God, you are amazing and are so good. We are grateful because of what you have done and because of what you have taught us. Thank You for always being with us.  Thank You for your healing. Thank You for the reminder of how important it is to trust you and do the hard thing. Help us remember that living the best life possible is doing the hard, it is not avoiding it, it is trusting You no matter what. To You alone be the glory, but honor, and the praise. 

  • ABOUT 1189, THIS BLOG JOURNAL (THE GOOD, GREAT AND THE NITTY GRITTY LIFE)

    This is how many chapters of the Bible there are. Hence,  it is not a random number. Rather, it is very intentional and gives some hints as to part of what can be expected from this blog journal. And since the number is in the name of this blog, it shows how important the number, and its meaning, is. 

    This blog journal will be mainly about this.. this journaling through the Word of God, the Bible.

    After all, this blog journal is about living the best life possible. Period.

    Let’s be honest here. We can look live a really good life outside the Bible. This is fact. However, it is not lasting or sustainable. Never mind how this also usually depends on multiple things, which we cannot control.

    I will talk about through this blog journal how to live a good life and how it can be sustaining and not depend on things.

    Note how there is the good life, and there is the great life.

    There is a difference.

    The greatest and best possible life is only found in Jesus (Yeshua) and through living the Bible. Period. There is no other way, contrary to the lies we can fall for and believe. 

    This is the main purpose of this blog journal.

    This blog journal is about journaling through the 1189 chapters of the Bible, as they help us live the best life possible.

    And this blog is about the nitty gritty of how hard life can be. 

    Sure. We want to live the best life possible.

    But life happens.

    The very tough stuff happens and the challenges come.

    And we make mistakes.

    And we live in this world.

    And we can get lost or sidetracked…

    … all while trying to live the best life possible.

    This blog journal is about the good, the great, and the hard stuff.