We can do hard things...
I sat down at my computer to write but I have no words. I stared at the blank screen. Nothing.
Often when I have so much on my heart, it takes a while to resonate and let the Lord help me to process.
I scrolled through old posts and almost immediately I came across this one from exactly 5 years ago today. Tears filled my eyes as I was reading...so much has happened since I wrote this. Yet, so much has remained the same. "There is nothing new under the sun.." Ecclesiastes 1:9
My spirit is groaning and praying that these words from 5 years ago will minister to you in some way.
I love you all so much. I am grateful for every single one of you. I do not take you for granted. I pray for you every single day.
We can do hard things...
posted 6/3/15
Hi.
It's been a while, I know.
Are you still reading along with me on our reading plan? It's okay if you are not. You can jump in at any time.
Actually, now is a great time to jump in! We are reading some of my favorite scriptures right now in 1 Samuel. King David is the star of this story. Swoon.
I love David. I mean, I LOVE him. [Lem knows, he's cool with it]
So, Summer is here. Schedules can be kind of crazy. I get it.
My kids are home and we are having a blast. Well, I think we are anyway. If you ask them today if we are having fun, I am not sure what they will say.
Yesterday, I had them make homemade ice cream--without an ice cream maker. They googled the instructions and spent an hour in the kitchen learning about what rock salt does and how thankful we are for new technology--like ice cream makers and electricity.
I thought it was fun and a scientific learning experience. I don't think they have the same perspective.
/
Okay, so back to SHINE girls.
It's been hard for me to sit down and write. Not because I don't have a lot to write about. I could go on for years about God's Word. Decades even.
However, my heart has just been in a hurting place. When my heart hurts, it's hard to find the motivation to motivate. Know what I mean?
My friend, Erin, is going through the trial of a lifetime. I hurt for her. So badly. Please pray for The Spinks family. Please pray for healing. Please pray for peace. Please pray for Erin and Chuck.
Another friend lost her brother to suicide. Oh the loss. Oh the pain. Oh the sadness. Please pray for the Hudgins Family.
Another precious friend's husband was diagnosed with a large tumor in his brain recently, and his surgery is today. Please pray for Shane Beam. Please pray for healing. Please pray for peace.
Heaviness.
Such heaviness.
When I pray these days, I don't even know what to say. I literally, just beg Him for mercy on my people. I have run out of words to say. Groans, tears, and more tears as I pray.
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. Romans 8:26
There hasn't been just heaviness though.
There have been HUGE moments of Joy.
There have been HUGE moments of Peace.
Somehow, even in the dirtiest, messiest, ugliest, of situations, God gives us Hope.
Hope that He holds today and tomorrow.
Hope that this too shall pass.
Hope that He works all things out for our good.
Hope that He is the Beginning, and He is the End.
Hope that He never leaves us and never forsakes us.
Hope that our hurts and sorrows will soon be no more.
When things happen to us that bring us to our knees, something happens in Heaven that cannot happen otherwise. God's Power is made Perfect in our weakness. [ 2 Corinthians 12:9]
When we lose our strength in the battle and surrender, the Greatest Power on Earth fills us.
Surrender=Power.
Only in God's economy can this make sense.
Only in God's economy can JOY come out of pain.
Only in God's economy can Strength be birthed from weakness.
Only in God's economy can Peace come from the chaos.
As I am groaning through this post, I open my Bible.
It falls open to this passage in Isaiah. This passage that He has shown me time and time again in the midst of my own trials. When I was on my face before Him begging Him for direction and peace.
He shows me this again. To share with you. To remind me. To remind you. To remind us.
So, back to this Summer.
We can do hard things.
Who's up for some growth this Summer?
Let's do this,
Often when I have so much on my heart, it takes a while to resonate and let the Lord help me to process.
I scrolled through old posts and almost immediately I came across this one from exactly 5 years ago today. Tears filled my eyes as I was reading...so much has happened since I wrote this. Yet, so much has remained the same. "There is nothing new under the sun.." Ecclesiastes 1:9
My spirit is groaning and praying that these words from 5 years ago will minister to you in some way.
I love you all so much. I am grateful for every single one of you. I do not take you for granted. I pray for you every single day.
We can do hard things...
posted 6/3/15
Hi.
It's been a while, I know.
Are you still reading along with me on our reading plan? It's okay if you are not. You can jump in at any time.
Actually, now is a great time to jump in! We are reading some of my favorite scriptures right now in 1 Samuel. King David is the star of this story. Swoon.
I love David. I mean, I LOVE him. [Lem knows, he's cool with it]
So, Summer is here. Schedules can be kind of crazy. I get it.
My kids are home and we are having a blast. Well, I think we are anyway. If you ask them today if we are having fun, I am not sure what they will say.
Yesterday, I had them make homemade ice cream--without an ice cream maker. They googled the instructions and spent an hour in the kitchen learning about what rock salt does and how thankful we are for new technology--like ice cream makers and electricity.
I thought it was fun and a scientific learning experience. I don't think they have the same perspective.
/
Okay, so back to SHINE girls.
It's been hard for me to sit down and write. Not because I don't have a lot to write about. I could go on for years about God's Word. Decades even.
However, my heart has just been in a hurting place. When my heart hurts, it's hard to find the motivation to motivate. Know what I mean?
My friend, Erin, is going through the trial of a lifetime. I hurt for her. So badly. Please pray for The Spinks family. Please pray for healing. Please pray for peace. Please pray for Erin and Chuck.
Another friend lost her brother to suicide. Oh the loss. Oh the pain. Oh the sadness. Please pray for the Hudgins Family.
Another precious friend's husband was diagnosed with a large tumor in his brain recently, and his surgery is today. Please pray for Shane Beam. Please pray for healing. Please pray for peace.
Heaviness.
Such heaviness.
When I pray these days, I don't even know what to say. I literally, just beg Him for mercy on my people. I have run out of words to say. Groans, tears, and more tears as I pray.
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. Romans 8:26
There hasn't been just heaviness though.
There have been HUGE moments of Joy.
There have been HUGE moments of Peace.
Somehow, even in the dirtiest, messiest, ugliest, of situations, God gives us Hope.
Hope that He holds today and tomorrow.
Hope that this too shall pass.
Hope that He works all things out for our good.
Hope that He is the Beginning, and He is the End.
Hope that He never leaves us and never forsakes us.
Hope that our hurts and sorrows will soon be no more.
When things happen to us that bring us to our knees, something happens in Heaven that cannot happen otherwise. God's Power is made Perfect in our weakness. [ 2 Corinthians 12:9]
When we lose our strength in the battle and surrender, the Greatest Power on Earth fills us.
Surrender=Power.
Only in God's economy can this make sense.
Only in God's economy can JOY come out of pain.
Only in God's economy can Strength be birthed from weakness.
Only in God's economy can Peace come from the chaos.
As I am groaning through this post, I open my Bible.
It falls open to this passage in Isaiah. This passage that He has shown me time and time again in the midst of my own trials. When I was on my face before Him begging Him for direction and peace.
He shows me this again. To share with you. To remind me. To remind you. To remind us.
This is what the Lord says—
he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,
who drew out the chariots and horses,
the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland
he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,
who drew out the chariots and horses,
the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland
Isaiah 43:16-19
Just this very week, I was praying about something in particular. I told him, "Lord, it is SO HARD. Why does it have to be SO HARD?"
He breathed the answer into my soul almost immediately.
"Because your surrender to Me comes only in the hard, Jill."
If it never would have gotten hard, I never would have called on Him so fervently. So desperately.
So, back to this Summer.
Back to our Bible reading.
Stick to it. Even when it gets hard.
Hard is where the growth comes .
Hard is where the fruit is produced.
Hard is where we begin to be molded into His image, because we surrender.
We can do hard things.
Who's up for some growth this Summer?
Let's do this,
jill
