Too Stressed To Feel Blessed?

October 17, 2023 Gracie

Are You Too Stressed To Feel Blessed?

Do you remember those pop quizzes we used to have in high school?

You know the ones.

too stressed to feel blessed We would sit in class ready for a lesson and then the teacher would tell us to close our books and get ready for a pop quiz.

Those quizzes weren’t “open book” either.

Yikes.

We could see the stress levels rising on each other’s faces.

Considering the way things are going in today’s world, on a national and global level, you’d think everything is a pop quiz.

What are the answers? How are we to respond?

Disturbing situations we’d never think would happen . . . are happening.

Stress levels are high, and depression rates are soaring.¹

Are we too stressed to feel blessed?

All the more reason to bend our knees.

God has a sovereign plan for all of history. He is working all times and epochs, as well as our times, after the counsel of His will, for our ultimate good (Eph. 1:11; Rom. 8:28). We can know that when tragedy hits us, God was not asleep or on vacation. His sovereignty is a great comfort in a time of trial. We can know that He has designed our distressing situation to teach us more about what it means to take refuge in Him. – Stephen J. Cole, author and theologian.²

Too Stressed to Feel Blessed? Pray!

Prayer is our opportunity to fellowship with God.

He hears you and me.

In fact, Proverbs 15:29 reminds us, “The Lord is far from the wicked, But He hears the prayer of the righteous.³

If you are alive, (and obviously you are because you’re reading this), God has a purpose for your life.

Our reason for living . . . is to glorify Him with our hearts, minds, and actions, even as the world around us is seemingly falling apart.

He wants to bless us.

When stressful times come into your life, trust Him to give you the strength that you need to withstand the challenge.

He loves you that much!

¹⁴For this reason I bend my knees before the Father, ¹⁵from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, ¹⁶that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner self, ¹⁷so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, ¹⁹and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to all the fullness of God. – Ephesians 3:14-19, (NASB).⁴

God is the God of our past, present, and future.

We honor God by trusting Him through all of it – no matter what the stresses are that we face.

To sum up, this is great food for thought from the late Christian missionary, Hudson Taylor:

I am no longer anxious about anything, as I realize that He is able to carry out His will for me. It does not matter where He places me, or how. That is for Him to consider, not me, for in the easiest positions He will give me grace, and in the most difficult ones His grace is sufficient. – Hudson Taylor, Christian missionary to China.⁵

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¹Source Credit, [2023] Courtesy of news.gallup.com. By Dan Witters, from “U.S Depression rates Reach New Highs. ” Web. Accessed 13 October, 2023.

^{2 Steven J. Cole quotation is courtesy of bible.org. from “Psalm 31: The Remedy For Stress.” April 18, 2013. Web. Accessed October 15, 2023. Retrieved from https://bible.org/seriespage/psalm-31-remedy-stress}

⁵ Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) quotation. From AZquotes.com. Accessed October 13, 2023. Web. Retrieved October 14, 2023.

Our Exceptional God

The Best Way to Wait on God

June 13, 2023 Gracie

The Best Way To Wait On God For Answers To Our Prayers

Let’s face it: waiting can be hard.

I admit, I’m not a huge fan.

But as you know, God doesn’t always answer our prayers right away.

Not only that, sometimes His answer is “yes,” sometimes “no,” and sometimes He answers, “wait.”

“Wait” can be just as hard as a “no” answer.

Even so, that is not the time to give up praying!

The best way to wait on God is through continuing to pray.

If you are praying with right motives, then keep on keeping on.

And While You’re Waiting . . .

Think about it – it takes a lot of trust on our part to even get on an airplane.

Every time we board a plane we trust that the pilot has the knowledge and skills to bring us safely to our destination.

On a grander and eternal scale, God has the controls and always has our best interests at heart.

Taking a look back in history: our Heavenly Father Himself wanted the captive Jews in Babylon to remember His promises as delivered by the prophet Jeremiah. In Jeremiah’s letter to the people, they were assured that God’s intentions are never evil, but through Him there is a future, a glorious end to forward to.

Fast forward to modern day: how quickly that we too can forget that God is faithful in the center of our storms.

For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for prosperity and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. – Jeremiah 29:11, (NASB).

We may not see or understand how God is working behind the scenes, but we can trust that His timing and His answers will always be perfect.

Poet M.S. Lowndes eloquently describes the struggles we face as we wait on God.

Wait With Faith

Lord, you have faithfully shown me
So many times before
And this time is no exception, Lord,
And simply can’t be ignored

That you know all that concerns my life,
Everything your eyes do see
You always come through at just the right time
To meet my every need

For nothing escapes your watchful eye,
No problem that we may cross
But so often, Lord, it seems as though
There’s a delay in your response

I know it’s a testing of our faith
To wait so patiently
You stretch us so our faith may grow,
Though we want it instantly

But it’s for our good that you respond
In your time, not in ours,
For if you didn’t – we’d stay as infants,
Getting everything right now

For us to grow more Christ-like,
We need to learn to wait,
For often that’s the answer to prayer
And builds us up in faith

So I thank you for the answer to come
As I hand it over in prayer
Thank you that you’re still working on me
And my breakthrough’s drawing near.

© By M.S.Lowndes

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²Poetry courtesy of M.S. Lowndes. “Wait With Faith.” [online post]. From Heavensinspirations.com, ©M.S. Lowndes, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, n.d. Web. Accessed June 8, 2023. https://www.heavensinspirations.com/wait-with-faith.html

Our Exceptional God

Don’t Worry About The Future

January 3, 2023 Gracie

Why You Don’t Need to Worry About the Future

Have you ever heard a friend say, “I’m scared about the future.”

Personally, and from conversations I’ve recently had, I can answer “Yes.”

I get where they’re coming from.

Sometimes the mainstream news just gets to be too much to take in.

Bad things do happen to good people

. . . to people we know

. . . to us

Likewise, bad things also happen in the great big world around us.

Even so, God’s Word tells us to be anxious about nothing.

That can be hard sometimes.

Let’s look at God’s Word.

What does the Bible say about anxiety and fear?

In this well-known verse, Paul teaches the Philippians about letting go of fear.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. – Philippians 4:6, (NASB).¹

Anxiety and fear are just as prevalent in our present day.

Is it possible to have a sense of peace when life throws us a curveball?

Don’t Worry About the Future

What is the source of our strength and peace when these bad things come at us, seemingly out of left field?

Actually, it’s not a “What,” but a “Who”!Jesus is our strength when unexpected challenges send our world into a tailspin.

We’re now in the year 2023.

Does the new year seem just a little bit daunting?

An unknown future

Mounting pressures at work

A progressive illness

Challenges in relationships

When life is hard, then it can be hard to feel encouraged about anything.

Does God know what I am going through?

Does He care?

Let me assure you that God absolutely does care.

Please allow me to share a beautiful verse from the Bible that offers us much hope.

It’s found in the Book of Jeremiah and I’m sure that you’ve heard it many times. In fact, a dear friend shared with me recently that it’s her favorite verse.

From Deb. S. :

“It was hard to choose one scripture as so many have given me hope and strength thru my darkest moments. But, Jeremiah 29:11 is one that always comes back to me no matter the situation. When I face anything whether small or enormous, there’s a sense of peace knowing that the Lord knows all, He’s got the plan, and He wants my future to be good.”

From our small frustrations, all the way to the big trials we sometimes face, God is in control.

Combatting Fear With Trust In Him

What can we do when fear overtakes our thought life?

We can pray, and we can ask for prayer and support from our loved ones and friends.

Instead of dwelling in the frustration, we can also reach out to others who might be going through the same struggles.

In other words, don’t dwell.

Learn to excel in turning our need to control a situation over to God.

Through prayer and mutual support from our Christian loved ones, we can use life’s challenges to not only strengthen our own faith, but to encourage others who are losing hope.

We’re in this together!

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Our Exceptional God