faith – Page 2 – simply a musing blog

31 Days of Praise {Day 8} – Praising in Adversity

A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. – Prov 17:17

Years ago, I worked for a personnel agency as a recruiter. I didn’t particularly enjoy my job, because I was required to make over 100 cold calls a day. We were given a script to use as a guideline, but anyone who has been successful in cold-calling knows that scripts are just that – a guideline. They don’t prepare you for the sometimes frustrating and crazy things that happen in real life. Let’s just say that not everyone appreciates the fact that you are calling them, but the quota had to be met. It was a very stressful and fast-paced job – when we weren’t cold-calling, we conducted interviews and scouted for people to fill positions for our clients.

There were four of us in the office and we became fast friends because of the experiences we shared there. We spent time together outside of work listening to the other’s problems and frustrations, watching kids for one another, and supporting one another in any way we could. Over the years, we have all lost touch – one of the ladies moved out of state to get married, one got divorced and moved away, and I really have no idea what happened with the other one. But I still think about each of them from time to time because these were friendships born out of adversity. We all shared something in common and were able to minister to one another’s needs because of our situation.

I love the above verse because it reminds me that a true, hearty, faithful friend, loves in times of adversity as well as in times of prosperity. To no one person can this verse be applied with so much truth and exactness as to our Lord Jesus Christ. John Gill, a Reformed Baptist theologian, said it better than I ever could:

He is a “friend” of men; more especially of his church and people; of sinful men, of publicans and sinners; as appears by his calling them to repentance, by his receiving them, and by his coming into the world to save them.

He “loves” them, and loves them constantly; he loved them before time; so early were they on his heart and in his book of life; so early was he the surety of them, and the covenant of grace made with him; and their persons and grace put into his hands, which he took the care of.

And he is a “brother” to his people; through his incarnation, he is a partaker of the same flesh and blood with them; and through their adoption, they having one and the same Father; nor is he ashamed to own the relation; and he has all the freedom, affection, compassion, and condescension, of a brother in him: and now he is a brother “born”; born of a woman, a virgin, at Bethlehem, in the fullness of time, for and on the behalf of his people; even “for adversity”; to bear and endure adversity himself, which he did, by coming into a state of meanness and poverty; through the reproaches and persecutions of men, the temptations of Satan, the ill usage of his own disciples, the desertion of his father, the strokes of justice, and the sufferings of death; also for the adversity of his people, to sympathize with them, bear them up under it, and deliver them out of it.”

Spend a moment today in praise and thanksgiving to God for giving you friends born out of adversity – and for giving you a friend like Jesus. There is no one like Him!

Please visit the other ladies who are participants in the 31 Days of Ministry Online:

Amy Bayliss {Cajun Inspired} : 31 Days of Heart Matters
{A Martha Heart} : 31 Days of Prayer
Karin {Mommy Matters} : 31 Days of Intentional Parenting
Jenny {867-53oh9} : 31 Days of Social Media
Dawn {My Home Sweet Home} : 31 Days of Encouragement
Lisa Boyd : 31 Days of WordPress

*Links to all posts on this subject can be found here.

January 8, 2011 by Karen | 1 Comment

31 Days of Praise, children, faith, family

31 Days of Praise {Day 7} – When We’re Busy

She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar. She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night. She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.Â – Proverbs 31:13-19

Okay, confession time. It’s now 8p.m. on Day 7 of 31 Days of Praise and I’m just now finding time to write this post. When reading about the Proverbs 31 woman above, I get exhausted thinking about all that she does. I aspire to be her, but there are some days that I just can’t quite measure up to her, much less even imagine my children rising up to call me blessed.

Today has been ‘one of those days’. Between homeschool lessons, three conference calls, four website designs in progress, two blog moves, and church responsibilites, I was left feeling a little deflated and a LOT overwhelmed at the tasks on my plate. I wasn’t sure I had the energy (or much less, brain power) to write this post, and then the Lord brought Proverbs 31 to my mind. I hadn’t even come close to doing all she does and yet, I was ready to quit!

Of all the things we allow to “slide”, one thing we should keep front and center is our relationship with the Lord. He’s well aware of what is happening in our daily lives and how quickly we can become overwhelmed. We never intentionally stop spending time with God or praising Him, it just sort of happens somewhere between that third and fourth load of laundry. If we are able to steal a few moments, they are usually spent on basics things such as taking a shower. {Can I get an “Amen” on that one?}

So all of that to encourage you to grab a few minutes {just do it now} and spend some time giving a prayer of thanks and praise to God that He knows what we go through on a daily basis. Ask Him to instill a genuine desire to spend more time reading His Word and praying. Ask Him to nudge you when you forget to give Him the praise He deserves.Â In Isaiah 65:24 God says, “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will answer.”

He’s waiting…are you willing?

Please visit the other ladies who are participants in the 31 Days of Ministry Online:

*Links to all posts on this subject can be found here.

January 7, 2011 by Karen | 0 comment

31 Days of Praise, faith, freedom

31 Days of Praise {Day 6} – Created for Praise

And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. – Luke 19:40

Back when my husband and I were teaching Children’s Church, there was an object lesson we liked to use when teaching the children how to praise God. It involved filling up a long balloon with water, reading Luke 19:28-40, and then allowing one of the children to squeeze the balloon with all their might until it popped and water flowed out between their fingers.

We then explained that was how all of creation would feel if we didn’t do our part in praising God. Praise would burst forth from the cracks in the ground and all of creation itself would cry out that we aren’t doing what we were created to do.

Creation will cry out in the only ways that it can, all of creation will cry out if we keep our peace, we remain silent, we refuse to put our faith into words. There are some things that must be said, and they will be said , even if we do not say them.

God has given most of us the gift of a voice, shouldn’t we use it to praise Him?

Please visit the other ladies who are participants in the 31 Days of Ministry Online:

*Links to all posts on this subject can be found here.

January 6, 2011 by Karen | 1 Comment

31 Days of Praise, depression, faith

31 Days of Praise {Day 5} Deliverance

The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. –Psalm 18:2-3

I have always been a very positive person and generally choose to see the bright side of life, rather than the bad, hence my blog’s tagline. But last year was a very difficult year for me – I lost my brother to a drug overdose in April, my step-dad of 30 years died in July, was there for my mom after she ran over herself with her car, and saw her through yet another major surgery. I wasn’t able to spend my days focusing on too much good…it actually felt like the world was closing in on me.

I lost my desire to blog, work, go to church, or even stay connected to people. I spent vast amounts of time sick and in bed because I just didn’t want to face the day, it was too much like waiting for ‘the other shoe to drop’.Â My children didn’t have a summer vacation – we spent it shuffling back and forth to nursing homes, hospitals, and rehab hospitals. We didn’t even use our Kids Bowl Free coupons very often. I just didn’t want to do anything that required leaving my house.

I had officially hit rock bottom, and when a friend (who had been there) called it by the ugly name ofÂ “depression”, I was taken aback. “Me? Depressed? It’s not possible.”Â But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I had let LIFE overwhelm me and I had inadvertently allowed myself to give up on the things that mattered the most – my family, my friends, and most importantly, my relationship with the Lord. I had become apathetic.

Sometimes when you’re in a miry pit, you don’t realize it until you’ve gotten so bogged down that you can’t move, and then you’re trapped. But that single comment spawned a true turning point for me because I knew in my heart that God could deliver me from those feelings. A lot of prayer has gone up since then, and though it hasn’t been easy, things have gotten better. I am sharing this because I believe there are others hurting the same way I was and I want you to know that GOD IS ABLE to deliver you too! I have to give Him all the glory and honor for what He’s done in my life – even my kids have noticed that mom is back to being more like her old self.

God will hear us no matter what the nature of the distress is. He will always be there: in trouble, adversity, need, calamity, whenever we are in turmoil. What adversity are you facing? Is it conflict in the family, financial problems, stress at work, emotional problems, spiritual battles? No matter what the distress, God is there to meet your need. God will answer us in the day of trouble.

Please visit the other ladies who are participants in the 31 Days of Ministry Online:

*Links to all posts on this subject can be found here.

January 5, 2011 by Karen | 6 Comments

31 Days of Praise, faith, music

31 Days of Praise {Day 4} – Singing a New Song for 2011

I’ll be the first to admit that my thoughts are not always focused on ways I can praise God. What?! You’re not surprised about that?

As women, we sometimes tend to every other areaÂ in our lives (husbands, children, work, home, church…the list goes on) before we make time for what’s important to us — I know that my Bible reading is sporadic, as my daily schedule is full with homeschooling, work, and just life in general.

If we are truly honest with each other, very little of our daily schedules are comprised of thoughts about God, much less how we can find ways to honor Him and offer the sacrifice of praise compared to how many hours there are in the day. We are usually good at showing our thanks, no doubt! If you’re anything like me and you happen upon a good parking spot at Wal-Mart, that’s always something to give some thanks for.

However, there’s a difference between ‘thanks’ and ‘praise’. Thanksgiving describes our attitude toward what God has done, while praise is offered for who God is. Praise originates in a pure heart, one full of love and born from a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Praise is an important act of Christian worship. The Bible even states we are to continually find ways to praise God! {Psalm 34:1}

So how can we make it an integral part of our daily life, especially when we are running 90 to nothing on a slow day?

Praise can be expressed in song, in verse, or in prayer. We may not always be able to pick up our Bible or go to our prayer closet, but we can always have a song in our heart! One of my absolute favorite songs {and one that is frequently in my heart} is “Come Thou Fount”:

Come, thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace; streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it, mount of thy redeeming love.

Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by thy help I’m come; and I hope, by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God; he, to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be! Let thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love; here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.

I challenge you to sing a new song in 2011 with me – a song of praise.

Is there a song in your heart today?

Visit other participants:

*Links to all posts on this subject can be found here.

January 4, 2011 by Karen | 1 Comment

31 Days of Praise, faith, family

31 Days of Praise {Day 3} Praising in the Storms

He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them. – Psalm 145:19

As the rain poured heavily on the road in front of me, my windshield wipers beat a steady rhythm as I drove through the pitch black night of downtown Austin during a citywide blackout. The year was 2000, I was a single mother and had just relocated to the “big city” with my 3-year old daughter to take the job of my dreams and start a new life. Katie and I were on our way to meet my new boss and his wife for dinner at Olive Garden to celebrate our move and to better acquaint our families, but the freak power outage was not something we had planned on, nor were we prepared for it.

The glare of oncoming car headlights combined with the white-hot flashes of lightning made it difficult for me to see anything at all and I silently bemoaned the fact I hadn’t replaced theÂ wipers when the Wal-Mart tech told me they were worn out. Pretty sure I had already missed my turn a few roads back, I struggled mightily to make out the street names, slowing my car down to a crawl in order to read the approaching signs. It was becoming increasingly obvious that we would arrive late, if we made it at all. I didn’t own a cell phone and didn’t have a way to even contact them to let them know we were lost…this was most certainly NOT the impression I wanted to make.

Hot tears of frustration slipped down my cheeks as I gripped the steering wheel of my car. I pulled over into an empty parking lot to clear my head and attempt to calm my jittery nerves. I had to make a decision.

Temporarily forgetting that I had a tiny passenger in the backseat, I slapped my hands against the wheel and yelled out to no one in particular, “I can’t see SQUAT!” I like to think that Jesus made some intercession on my half-hearted prayer that went something like this, “Lord, I’m lost and need your help. I am in a city I don’t know and I’m scared and alone. Please help me find my way.”

My decision made, I turned around to tell Katie we were heading back to our little apartment to wait out the storm. It was then that I noticed my daughter’s tiny nose pressed to the passenger window. When I asked her what she was doing, she remained steadfast in her task of looking out of the window and simply replied, “I’m looking for SQUAT!”

Sometimes we just need to know that through our trials, there is someone in our corner. We need to know that God is listening. I was so thankful to have my ‘storm buddy’ with me – someone who was helping me find my way and cheer me on. I gave thanks to God at that moment for the gift of my daughter and began singing one of the praise songs I had learned as a child, “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, in the mountains of His holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King”

Looking back, my situation was not all that bad, but at the time, it felt hopeless until He reminded me of what was truly important. Often, we are faced with much larger problems, mountains that are so high we can’t see over them and valleys so low we can’t see how to cross them. On that night, it was something as simple as being lost in dark city with some rain coming down.

What storms in your life has God seen you through?

Visit other participants:

*Links to all posts on this subject can be found here.

January 3, 2011 by Karen | 0 comment

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