You know those Sunday mornings when you plop down into the pew and expect to hear a good message that gets you a little pumped up, but what you hear instead is the EXACT message that you have needed to hear? Well, I’m praising God right now for getting me to church yesterday morning!
It’s been a rough several months for Blaise and I, with the house, Blaise’s hand, and a load of other things–it’s felt a lot like being in a desert. However, God has been sending us some rain showers lately in the form of encouragement from friends, divine appointments, and yesterday morning’s sermon. I always love our pastor’s sermons, but yesterday’s had me in tears as he spoke words directly to my heart.
His message was about clinging to God’s promises, especially when we are in a ridiculously deep valley–emotionally, financially, spiritually, physically, whatever. He talked about how we are often tempted to camp out in the valley of fear instead of trusting God to get us over the mountain. He discussed how we often lose sight of the Savior and focus too much on the “impossible” task in front of us. We forget His power. We forget His promises.
Truthfully, I have been in that camp lately. I’ve been hanging out in the valley focused a lot on the mountain range in front of us. It’s scary. But neither Blaise nor I want to stay there. We don’t want to live “safe” Christian lives, clinging to the balance beam for fear of losing anything “valuable.” It’s hard to give up our own will in exchange for living God’s will, which doesn’t promise safety, ease, or security by worldly standards, but promises so much more!
