"Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever." Psalm 106:1
As a believer and follower of Christ, this verse is one we have to ALWAYS remember. God is not just good though, He is GREAT! He deserves all our thanks and praise, in the good and the bad. Personally I have learned through the good and bad I CAN praise Him. With all that I have struggled with over the last 2 years, I could have easily given up like so many do and just turn my life over to do whatever I could to survive. But that's not God's plan for His children. He has something so much more for them. We have to keep pressing on, as the Apostle Paul says, there is a higher mark we have! All the while we are attacked by satan! I have felt that attack. The closer I have striving to get to my Lord, the more darts and evil satan throws at me.
Now back on God being good, He is not going to sit back forever letting satan do that attacking without showing hope to His. Just this week I felt first hand God's greatness. He allowed me to begin a new job closer to home and with the benefits would be making about the same I was at my previous job. THAT DAY, after knowing what I would be getting paid the Lord showed up and the company restructured pay and in just 4 hours "working" I got a "pay raise"! Praise God! Then yesterday started off bad, I checked my bank account and NO PAYCHECK deposited. I panic, but I quickly said a prayer to God to take it and use it to His Glory. Guess what? He did! I was able to workout the issue with my bank and given another day to make my payment to them. The day didn't stop there. I have been struggling mightily financially and KNEW that my check was going to be small. So Yesterday I go to pick up my final check, start walking away and looked down at it and was FLOORED! I had to go back and ask if this was right, and sure enough there is was printed on the check, it was more than DOUBLE what I expected. First thing I could say was GOD, YOU ARE SO GOOD TO ME!
That is testimony to show that through whatever comes, have faith and God will bless it. But YOU must continue in the path of serving Him, even when things are going great. So if you are struggling just know God has a time and place for everything. He will bless you when He deems it is time. I hope through my experience someone will find peace about their problems. I am not out of the woods, but boy it feels nice to know there is some clearing up ahead! God, thank you for being so good to me!
Friday, April 30, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Keep My Heart
"Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil." Proverbs 4:23-27
This morning I sat here a moment trying to get my mind together from sleep and thinking about the past couple days at work. They have been days that SHOULD have been much easier with a new directive with more people added to my "crew". Well, that did not occur. I have 3 different bosses in my ear with seemingly 100 different directions they want me and those I am trying to guide to go. Admittedly, the last 2 days I lost my cool and snapped back at my 2 direct supervisors. Just like anything else bad decisions turn more bad decisions. They made a unwise call in a objective for me to complete and with me in my already "bad" mood made the unwise decision to share my displeasure with the way they were changing plans on me. I say all that to say this morning I realized I must STOP and not lose it.
This morning I did what I have learned to do more and more, I turned to God and His Word, especially in times of trouble(We should also be the same way in times of joy as well!) . I love the book of Proverbs and the passage above quickly jumped out at me. As a child of God I MUST present myself better before EVERYONE. I can't let the troubles of work and life get to me. I have to remember to look ahead at the goal and not all the bad going on around me. God placed me here to honor and serve Him. I can't do that very well when I am angry or disappointed with the people I am around. Scripture above say to "remove thy foot from evil". How do I do that? I will have to go back to the thing I used to do and become the person I used to be somewhat in just taking a breath and biting my tongue. So today being off, I am going to sit back, take a deep breath, pray, and let God take care of these issues. Thats got to be the way we do ANYTHING in life. Mine just happens to involve work. You can apply it to money issues, relationships, or anything thats got you down.
We MUST, as Proverbs 4:23 says "Keep thy heart with all diligence.." Satan is alive an well. I fully believe all the struggles I have been going through with money and NOW work, is Satan. I made an even deeper decision a few month ago to be souled out to God and work harder to know Him more and serve Him better. I have been reading scripture more, have gotten behind but will keep going, been more active with sharing God's word with others. Satan will do anything to slow down those who are drawing closer to God. I have seen it with me and others.
If you are reading this and do not know the love of God in your life, today can be the day you can know it. Send me a message to josephlawson81_00@yahoo.com and I will be more than happy to share how to become a follower of Christ and be a Child of God!
This morning I sat here a moment trying to get my mind together from sleep and thinking about the past couple days at work. They have been days that SHOULD have been much easier with a new directive with more people added to my "crew". Well, that did not occur. I have 3 different bosses in my ear with seemingly 100 different directions they want me and those I am trying to guide to go. Admittedly, the last 2 days I lost my cool and snapped back at my 2 direct supervisors. Just like anything else bad decisions turn more bad decisions. They made a unwise call in a objective for me to complete and with me in my already "bad" mood made the unwise decision to share my displeasure with the way they were changing plans on me. I say all that to say this morning I realized I must STOP and not lose it.
This morning I did what I have learned to do more and more, I turned to God and His Word, especially in times of trouble(We should also be the same way in times of joy as well!) . I love the book of Proverbs and the passage above quickly jumped out at me. As a child of God I MUST present myself better before EVERYONE. I can't let the troubles of work and life get to me. I have to remember to look ahead at the goal and not all the bad going on around me. God placed me here to honor and serve Him. I can't do that very well when I am angry or disappointed with the people I am around. Scripture above say to "remove thy foot from evil". How do I do that? I will have to go back to the thing I used to do and become the person I used to be somewhat in just taking a breath and biting my tongue. So today being off, I am going to sit back, take a deep breath, pray, and let God take care of these issues. Thats got to be the way we do ANYTHING in life. Mine just happens to involve work. You can apply it to money issues, relationships, or anything thats got you down.
We MUST, as Proverbs 4:23 says "Keep thy heart with all diligence.." Satan is alive an well. I fully believe all the struggles I have been going through with money and NOW work, is Satan. I made an even deeper decision a few month ago to be souled out to God and work harder to know Him more and serve Him better. I have been reading scripture more, have gotten behind but will keep going, been more active with sharing God's word with others. Satan will do anything to slow down those who are drawing closer to God. I have seen it with me and others.
If you are reading this and do not know the love of God in your life, today can be the day you can know it. Send me a message to josephlawson81_00@yahoo.com and I will be more than happy to share how to become a follower of Christ and be a Child of God!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
WHY?
"For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding." Proverbs 2:6
Sometimes it hard to figure out why things go the way they do. Why do jobs have to be difficult? Why does the money always seem to run out? Why am I sick? Why does my vehicle break down? Why why why?? And while we don't know, the scriptures points to the one who does. The Lord will, if you humbly come as a believer and follower of Christ, give you the knowledge and understanding you need to get through the hard times.
"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." Proverbs 3:5
Sometimes it hard to figure out why things go the way they do. Why do jobs have to be difficult? Why does the money always seem to run out? Why am I sick? Why does my vehicle break down? Why why why?? And while we don't know, the scriptures points to the one who does. The Lord will, if you humbly come as a believer and follower of Christ, give you the knowledge and understanding you need to get through the hard times.
"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." Proverbs 3:5
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