Does God toy with those he loves?

Or is this just a question of learning to trust?

I’m trying,

but I’m not like the saints of old,

who by faith did so many things,

forever told.

Trust and obey they say,

there is no other way,

But hard to trust when everything’s shadowed in gray.

I know I’m not the only one who’s  come to this place,

And I know this is a test of faith.

But what if I fail,

what if this breaks?

What will we tell those who stayed?

They trusted us,

will it be in vain?

And if so,

is God to blame?

No.. been down that road.

So what am I left with?

When will this make sense?

Whatever comes at the end,

things happen.

Maybe not the best way to handle it,

Bible says in all things be content,

My answer, still working on it.

Sometimes our timing and God’s timing are completely different. He has a lot bigger puzzle to solve than we do. Here are two scriptures to look at in regards to waiting for prayers to be answered:

Hab. 2:3 –“This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.”

Rom. 8:24-26 – “For in this hope we were saved; but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he can already see? But if we hope for what we do not yet see, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words…”

Do what you’re told,

Play your hand or fold,

Cause in the end,

We’re the ones that hold,

all the cards in the deck,

Lies and deceit are the rules of the game.

We’ve made our choice,

You’ll make yours.

We’ll serve our God,

You serve your Lord.

And when we gather on that final day,

Everyone’s  ready to face,

 The Ancient of Days,

Our plans will come to nothing,

He will bring our defeat

And when we fall on bended knee,

To acknowledge him as

Lord of Lords, and King of Kings,

He will say,

“depart from me, you workers of iniquity

I never knew you,

Now Hell’s fire awaits 

How do we explain the grief and pain that plagues our race?

the blood and death on our screens?

How dare we believe that God is good in the midst of these tragedies.

We can’t diminish what we see,

There are just some things, that don’t have an answer why.

But he is above all this.

One day,

No more death sorrow or pain.

The former things washed away,

this is what we cling to

when confronted with this world’s fate.

Yet, is our grip slipping?

Our faith, a mockery?

or just wishful thinking

while life screams of realities

despite what we believe?

In the end,

That’s our choice to make.

Needing to release this,

But I’d just be bleeding on the page.

When will this end?

When will I come out the other side,

Find peaceful places in my mind.

That aren’t filled with shadowed thoughts,

Congealed into wicked jelly.

Taken a gut shot,

on the ropes, it seems.

go ahead

take another swing

now my head is spinning,

so much for my way of doing things.

Control, the one thing I couldn’t keep

doing my best to stay on my feet.

I strike back,

aim and miss

shove these thoughts down again.

They drop me to the mat

On my knees, ready to tap out

Then from outside the ring,

I hear him shout

Rely on my strength,

This fight is already won,

I have overcome.

I get to my feet,

Taking the last swing,

 the enemy staggers back in defeat,

I sigh in relief.

For greater is he that is in me,

than the enemy I’ve just beat.

NEW SONG – Grandpa Showed Me Love

Verse 1 – Grandpa, Grandpa, you’re so good to me. You take me to the ballgame, buy me candy and ice cream. Things are always fun with you. You make me laugh and play. I wish I could be with you, each and every day.

Vs. 2 – I was raised by Grandpa. He took care of me. He cooked for me and kept me fed. I never went hungry. He’d even read me stories, and tucked me in to bed. And when I asked him why he loved me, this is what he said:

“I love you ’cause God loves me. Sent His son to die for me. Said He’d always be my friend. He’ll stay with me to the end. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so.”

Vs. 3 – Grandpa, Grandpa, does He love me too? Will He be that good to me, like He is to you? Will He take me as I am, and take me as His friend? Will He take me home to Heaven, where I can stay with Him?

“Yes, He’ll be that good to you. He is faithful. He is true. If you ask Him, He’ll come in. He’ll forever be your friend. Yes, Jesus loves you. Yes, Jesus loves you. Yes, Jesus loves you. He will love you to the end.”

Jesus, you love me. Now I know. You’ll be with me as I go. Grandpa told me, and its true. You love me and I love you.

(Spoken) – “Thank you Jesus. Talk to you soon. I love you.

What to Do When You are Broken

When a bone breaks, it can usually be fixed with a cast, splint, or pins. If the mind breaks, there is medication, therapy, and counseling. These things help when there is something broken in the mind. Emotionally, we can be broken as well. Long term stress or trauma can break our spirits, and we can lose hope. As we reflect on that, we realize that God is our refuge, our strength, our protector. We know that He will bring us through. All of us have been broken, or will be. We don’t want it. We don’t like it. We want God to remove that burden from us.

But what do we do when we are broken, when we are shattered into a million pieces. This can happen to any of us, and it can seem like it will last forever. When it does, we question why. One way to look at it is that God is refining us to get rid of impurities, to get us to the point where He can completely transform us. He is getting us back to dust. A painful process, but part of transformation.

But dust is valuable. We were created from dust, yet God calls us valuable.
“Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7, NIV). In John 9:5-6, Jesus uses dust to restore a man’s sight. “… After saying this, He spit on the ground, made some mud from the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.” Then the man could see. All because God used something common to make something beautiful and to restore that which was broken.

Finally, dust, when mixed with water, becomes clay. And in the potter’s hands, clay can become something beautiful, new, and fresh – and useful again. Our brokeness can bring us down and defeat us (which the enemy of our soul would love), or we can put it all in God’s hands and let Him make it into something valuable, useful, and productive. God sees the beauty and the value within us, and He wants to refine us through our brokenness, in order to bring that beauty out. He knows what we are going through, and He will continually see us through. Brokenness is a common thing, and God can use that for good.

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Ps. 34:18 – NIV).

This writing’s content is inspired by the writing of Lisa Terkurest, from her upboming book, “It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way”, and from the article, “Shattered Beyond Repair” (link below)

https://proverbs31.org/read/devotions/full-post/2018/10/04/shattered-beyond-repair?fbclid=IwAR31i_DQIx1igjFnTBPEI-WZq8UvH09VocLfOEITuOPx_Nf9zNxmtDDoqBs

Social gathering,

Drink in hand.

After-party cravings,

Slave demands.

By day chase the dream,

Money loves speed.

At night, see the sites,

With lustful eyes.

Get loud,

Sold out,

Addiction rules your life.

Drunk, out of your head,

Life is a wreck,

But what does it matter, the nightlife is the best

Trauma – Part 4 of 4 – Trauma of the Soul

This may be the most important writing I have ever done, not because my writing ability or style, but because of the subject matter. The implications of trauma to the soul are literally eternal, and will affect believers and unbelievers as well. Please read on.

What we are talking about here is your eternal soul, the one that will stand before Jesus one day, either with His arms open wide, joyfully giving rewards to you, or a “sorry, I never knew you.” That last one is for unbelievers, for those that don’t know Jesus, the ones that thought all along that they were good enough to make it to Heaven, or that just wanted to try to “do things their own way”, the souls that chose themselves over Jesus. Dear reader, that’s not going to work. We need Jesus to help us with our body, our mind, our emotions, and our eternal soul. Jesus came to bring wholeness to all of us and to give us eternal life. Have you received it? That’s one trauma that can be avoided. Just ask. Submit your soul, and your cares, to Jesus, because He cares for you.

“A Heaven to gain, and a Hell to shun.” That’s the saying I’ve heard many times. But “gain” Heaven implies it is something we grasp, something that we take hold of, an accomplishment, a goal, a measure of success to achieve. The problem there is that it puts the focus on us, and not Jesus. It’s not about our ability or our success in “acheiving” Heaven, but about Jesus’ availability to us in all of our needs – physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, eternal. It’s about what we do with the free gift that Jesus offers. Heaven is a gift, not a goal.

In Heaven, there is no trauma. No more night, no more darkness, no more pain, no more tears, no more “drama”, no more restless nights, anxiety, depression. One day all these will be gone for the believer. We would like them gone now, but we do live in a sin-soaked world. “In this world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33). Because of Jesus’ victory on the cross, we can receive victory over sin, death, and Hell. This victory is a wonderful gift of grace, brought to you by the blood of Jesus.

But in Hell … In Hell, there is no end of trauma, pain, suffering, darkness. It is not a place where can just do whatever you want and party on. You will not have any choices there, no joy, no purpose, no peace, no life, only death, destruction, pain, and loneliness. Totally alone. Isolated. That’s bad enough in this life, but for eternity? No thank you! I choose Jesus. Do you? Have you?

If you are in Christ, your days of trauma will be over, and He is there with us on the journey. If not – well, I guess all I can say is “may God have mercy on your soul.” That mercy is available NOW through Jesus. What are you waiting for. Just ask. Admit your need. Believe in Jesus’ sin-payment. Receive the gift.