It's just not fair!

Well...I had a really legit blog for you guys..it was pretty long too...and then my computer decided to shut down without saving it....so here's a new one lol

It's that moment when the Lord yells at you. Not a whisper, but a shout...and you can so clearly hear Him saying "Pay attention! I'm trying to tell you something! I'm still here!"
Lucky for me, I was able to listen when He yelled at me..Because sometimes that's the hardest part -listening.

A man walked out of His house where The Lord greeted him and said to him, "I am going to put a boulder beside your house. Every morning I want you to go out and push the boulder." The man said he would obey. Ever morning the man got up at 5:30am and went out and pushed the boulder. He did this in rain, storm, snow, and ice. One morning he hadn't slept well and didn't want to ge up (we all know those mornings!), not to mention it was raining, but he know he needed... to obey The Lord, so he got up and went to push the boulder. It was raining but he kept pushing and pushing and pushing. He finally threw his arms up and yelled at God saying, "Lord, why can't I move this boulder?!?!" The Lord replied " I never asked you to move the boulder, I simply told you to push it. If I want to move it, I will, on my time."

This story made me bawl...I heard it during chapel and I lost it...which leads me to the questions:
 What is or are you boulder(s)? Will you keep pushing and simply let The Lord move it if HE wants to?

 

Trust me...I know exactly how hard it is to push those boulders without seeing any result or any movement..I've been pushing mine for 9 years (and I'm only 17!). It can get so frustrating, and so often we too must throw our arms up and yell at the Lord saying, "WHY?!"

 

And so often, usually always during the suffering and the pushing, we tend to ask the hard questions like:

"Why, God?"

"How is this fair?"

"How could you do this?"

"Where are you?"

"How do I fight?"

 

And instead of those questions, why don't we ask some of these:

"Is God still God?" YES.

"Is God still in control?" YES.

"Is God still good?" YES.

"Does God still love me?" YES.

"Is God going to help me?" YES YES YES!!!

 

"Fair does not live here, but Jesus does."

 

Guys...no one enjoys or desires suffering. No one does. But we all desire the outcome - a deeper, more intimate, beautiful, trustworthy relationship with our King. We all desire that feeling of being loved and cared for and we all desire that feeling of accomplishment.

 

If I asked you if you would prefer to have a disease or disorder become a part of you, you would most likely say "um, no thanks", but if I asked you if you wanted a deeper and more rich relationship with God you would most likely say "yes, bring it on!". You can't get one without the other.

Now, I'm not saying that if you haven't faced hardship in your life that you don't have a great relationship with the Lord, I'm just saying that "suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."

 

I know this blog is shorter than I intended, but my battery is low and I still feel sick..

so let me leave you with this...

 

The next time you face hardship and suffering, count your blessings, ask the easy questions, and remember that suffering produces hope. Shalom.

 

In His Grace,

Montana

Bummer Lambs and Trust

Good evening to all you who are reading this. So nice to see yo again; and so glad you took the time to meet me in this moment. This grace. This God-centered time. May you be blessed. May the words that I write, and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to You, Our Rock and our Redeemer...
I started reading a new book (which I would highly recommend). It is called "God loves broken people" by Sheila Walsh. It is phenomenal, and I'm only on chapter five!!! So tonight, I want to take a few of her points and really dive in to the depths of what they say.
She talks about bummer lambs. If you don't know what they are, I will tell you :) (don't worry, I didn't know what they were either). Bummer lambs are the lambs that do not receive care or milk from the mother ewe. The mother will kick him out of the way, for many reasons. Maybe the mother didn't want a child, so she will push him away and let him die. Or if she has many lambs and can only care for a few, she will push one or two out to let the others in. These abandoned, weak, fragile lambs are called "bummer lambs". The shepherd will usually take in the bummer lamb and care for them in the warmth of their home, and keep them alive. The shepherd deeply cares for his animals. Sheila says that we all are "bummer lambs" in a spiritual sense. I believe that to be oh so very true. "We have a heavenly Shephard who cares for us deeply and loves us fiercely.". I love that line!! The Lord is our Shephard. Do you recall the passage in Scripture where it says that if the Sheohard has 100 sheep, when one of them gets lost? He leaves the 99 in order to chase after and bring the lost sheep home. That is what Christ does for us. He leaves the 99 because He can be in two places at once. He can watch the 99 and still search for the one that got lost. Have you felt lost lately? If not, chances are  that you will at some point in your life. The good news is that our Shephard will always come find us. He loves us so fiercely that we can't fathom it. He picks us up, holds us close, and carries us home. Even if you break a bone along the lonely path, He will bind up your wounds, and heal them through His own.

Do you find yourself sometimes looking up at God, and asking Him "why? Why me Lord? Why us? Why them?" Those are OK questions to ask. The Lord may not provide the answer that you want, but He is quietly whispering back "it's okay, just TRUST ME." Now, I can hear some of you saying, okay, that's easy; yet others I hear your silent cry of, that just seems so hard right now. I feel your pain. I carry your heartache. So often our hearts cry out with the questions that may never be answered; and as humans, that is perfectly acceptable. It is in our nature. The thing is. . . The Lord never promised us an easy road. In fact,He promised just the opposite. John 16:33 says " In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world". Those are two promises that He tells us clearly
1 - YOU WILL HAVE TROUBLE. He says that Himself.
2 - it's okay, because HE HAS OVERCOME.
In the trouble, He can make triumph! In the dark, He can make light! This is something that I have been struggling with lately... Trust. It seems so easy so often to just give up, but if I did that, I would miss out on how The Lord is going to turn my trouble into triumph. We can't make it happen, but He can.

I think that's all I have for you tonight. I am blessed to have you all read this. Please give me feedback. This is pretty much just my time to reflect and share those reflections. Let me say a prayer for you all. . . Father, Shephard, King. We thank you for loving the bummer lambs that we are. We thank you for turning our troubles into triumph. I ask blessings upon each person reading these words. I pray your all-abounding, amazing love to surround them. Give them your presence, let them feel you near. We love you. Amen.
In His Grace,
Montana