3 things I've learned...

So, normally I write about things that God is doing in my life, however recently the things that have been going on in my world aren't things that I could share on a public blog.  God has, however, been at work, and I wanted to share a little bit. 

The last few weeks have been brutal for me and my family.  We have endured several hardships  heartbreaks and have come through to the other side.  I haven't written about them because they are quite private and honestly, they really aren't our stories to tell.  But that aside, I have learned a few things through the whole ordeal that I believe are true for each of us when we are going through a tough time.

1.  God is always faithful.  He is consistently there.  He listens to me cry out to him when I am broken hearted and when I finish spilling my emotions He reaches down and puts salve on my heart, he binds up my wound and refreshes my spirit.  He is faithful.

Psalm 36:5  Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.

Lamentations 3: 22,23 The faithful love of the Lord never ends!His mercies never cease.  Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

2.  God cares that I'm hurting.  I am a child of the King.  He is my Abba Father--my heavenly Daddy.  What parent doesn't care about their child when they are hurting?  I feel sad when my son skins his knees, even if he isn't fazed by them, so how much more does our Father care about us when we have bruised hearts and spirits?!  He cares when we are sad and hurt.

1 Peter 5:7  Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

Nahum 1:7 The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble.  He cares for those who trust in him...

3.  God loves to show off his glory.  At the end of a particularly trying time, I like to look back over the situation with a fresh perspective and just look at how the hand of God has moved.  Sometimes really bad things happen in our lives.  Someone close to us dies, or there is an accident, maybe a divorce or separation happens or an unexpected fight that leaves friendships severed....life happens to each of us.  What makes it all worth going through is seeing God glorified through the circumstance.   A death of someone close may make a friend of the deceased look at their own spirituality and send them searching for God's grace and love.  An accident could leave the victim in the hospital with nothing else to do but "look up"---sometimes that all God really wants from us--look up and see his Glory.

Romans 9:22-24  In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction.

He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom

 he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory. And we are among those

 whom he selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles.

Ezekiel 43:2 Suddenly, the glory of the God of Israel appeared from the east.

The sound of his coming was like the roar of rushing waters,

and the whole landscape shone with his glory.

My hope is that you see the humanity in our God--that he isn't as stoic and cold as some may believe he is.  He is warm, loving, kind and gentle.  He isn't always those things, but then, neither are we.  I have appreciated his comfort the last few weeks.  I have reveled in his warm embrace and was able to relax when things got really tough, knowing that He was in control of it all and would see us through again.  To God be the glory, forever and ever.  Amen.