FOR THE TIME BEING…

Psalm 31:15 My times are in Your hands.

This text fell out of my bible the other day and the Lord was bringing it to my attention to remind me not to be concerned about delays because my times (and yours) are in His hands.😊

If you’re waiting for something it’s good to remember God knows all the ins and outs of our lives in great detail and He can see the big picture. As we trust Him and just follow His instructions, and not mind His silences when there are no new instructions, then He will bring us to the place He wants us to be in every sphere of life.

Philippians 1:6 says ‘being confident of this very thing that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” In other words, God’s good plans for us will happen if we do as He says.😊

Waiting can be the hardest part in any experience whether we’re waiting for results of an exam, or medical results, or just waiting for our offspring to ring us up! But waiting is part of our growing in our trust of the Lord, to believe all the affairs of our lives are safe in His hands, and that He is working everything out for the good of all in the background, that all will be well.

Psalm 23 reminds us that our Good Shepherd leads us, but we’re tempted sometimes to run on ahead in our thinking with the ‘what ifs’ which is not a good idea! Isaiah 40:31 NKJV says, “But those who wait on the Lord, Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.” In this verse to wait means to attach and bind ourselves to the Lord with an eager expectation of good, and take His promises by faith, then the rest will follow.😊

Isaiah 49:23 NKJV …For they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.” 

Let’s be encouraged in our waiting as we go into our new week, knowing God’s goodness is on the way which means we can relax knowing ‘our times are in His hands.’ 😊

Thank You Lord. Amen.

LIFT OUR SPIRITS

Philippians 4:8 NIV Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

A bear with bunny ears is not normally what you expect to see and it makes me smile. I believe God has things for all of us that are not what we normally expect in our daily routine lives; things that, if we’re on the look out for them, will make us smile and lift our spirits too.😊

Too often we hear on the media of all the sad things that pull us down but there are good things happening each day as well, we just normally don’t hear about them.

For instance I discovered there are several Good News websites anyone can tap into to read about the good things that are happening round the world.

The Evangelical Alliance reported this: “Ministry analysts and church data trackers indicate that Gen Z is leading a sudden turnaround in young adult church attendance, reversing multi-decade patterns of decline. Many young people report that a search for authentic community and absolute truth in a "post-truth" culture is drawing them to faith.” How encouraging that is.😊

At a local level, Chris was talking with an acquaintance who had recently been made homeless, through no fault of his own, and had been living in a tent, then in a friend’s caravan, but has now been given a permanent home. 

Last week someone had abandoned a beautiful big bouquet of expensive roses on the pavement nearby, so Chris rescued them and brought them home for us to enjoy. We have no idea why they were there and it was something one wouldn’t normally expect, but such a lovely surprise!😊

It’s easy to dwell on all the hard things that are going on in the world, the things that can make us sad, but I believe God wants to lift our spirits each day, to look for the good things, the unexpected, to pass on good news if we hear some, to encourage one another. We can’t solve all the problems of the world but we can celebrate the joy of one person being given a home, or when we hear of one person feeling stronger or better than they did before, of young people seeking God, or of an unexpected gift.

As the Holy Spirit said through Paul, think about those things which are noble and praiseworthy, which are lovely, and let’s give God all the praise and glory while we’re at it.😊

Have a blessed weekend.x