Blog originally published January 17, 2010 edited
Pump waiting 20 years for hook up and trough 3 months.
If all things work for good for those who love the Lord, here are some frustrations experienced and how God used these 4 frustrations to encourage.
God also often uses our frustrations to point out a new view of ourselves.
1. The frustration of navigating holes and
piles of dirt while waiting three months for workmen to show up and finish the
work. In the end it was worth the wait.
God’s Point: “Why are you frustrated with others, when
you have not finished what I asked of you.” Encouragement: “Just show up and get to work.” The wall workers
arrived the day after I started back to write.
2. The well water comes out of the kitchen
faucet in a slow trickle. When the plumber shows up, he removed the sediment
blocking the line.
God’s Point: “You have much sediment in your life
that blocks the flow of what I want to do through you.” Encouragement: “Bring to Me the sediment of life that prevents
you from doing my work and I will set you free.”
3. The paths are muddied by the rain, making
trips to the laundry room difficult.
I heard about
someone who needed work, asked her and she helped me the next day to complete
the gravel path.
Point: “You need a God-sized covering so you don’t become so
stuck.” Encouragement: “I will continue to send what is needed
to keep you from being stuck, if you just ask.”
4. Heavy rain found a way through the sun room
glass roof, landing on the hatch door and dripping down to the wine cellar. I
put two buckets out and use them for collecting rain water for the plants
stored there for the winter.
Point: “The overflow of my Holy Spirit is available, you need to
know that.”
Encouragement: “Capture regular time too, to fill the bucket with a flow
of writing to nourish others.”
Paul tells us we are not alone.
“I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes.
I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do
it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they
are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets
the better of me every time....Is there no one who can do anything for me?
Isn’t that the real questions? The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can
and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I
want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of
sin to do something totally different.” Romans 7:18-20; 24b-25 The Message
What are the frustrations in your life? Where might
they point? How is God trying to change you?
Posts
2 comments:
I don't know how you found my blog but your comment couldn't have come at a more perfect time.
I followed your link to the most wonderful surprise; a "woman of wisdom" whose writing life seems to parallel my own.
I drank in your words and felt God's care for me once again. Thank you for visiting and I look forward to many future exchanges. JoDee Luna
Contemplating blog redesign, found your blog on twitter and just when I was thinking that social media was a waste of time.
Thank you for your encouraging comment here and on your blog. As a former teacher, I too look forward to getting to know you.
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