Blue Skies

Blue Skies

Even some of the best Christians can sometimes experience periods of depression and doubt. I know I am no different.

For the past few days, I have wrestling with some feelings of anxiety. I had some issues come up that made me question God about the “fairness” of my situation. And, to be honest, sometimes I would find myself getting angry because my finances are not what I want…no, need…them to be. I found myself quote this Psalms 37: 25 over and over… “I once was young, but now, I’m old. Yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.” But, it seemed to me like I was begging for bread. You know the routine: “Robbing Peter to pay Paul”…listening to adult children who still need help financial. It was so frustrating.

I was having these detrimental thoughts as I was driving down the highway. About the time I found myself getting angry, I lifted up my eyes toward heaven. The sky was stormy and raining. I couldn’t help thinking but thinking that my life was the same way. But, then the most amazing thing happened. I drive out of the storm and into clear, beautiful, blue skies. I couldn’t help but laugh. Then it dawned on me. My situation was just like the clouds and storm that I had just drove through. The storm was only temporary. At the end, there were blue skies. We go through life’s storms, but God is there with us. He knows our distress. He sees our tears, and he cares.

       So, I had to calm down and quote the following scriptures to myself:

        Proverbs 13: 22

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, And the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.

 

2 Chronicles 7: 14

   If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from heaven and heal their sins and heal the land.

 

Believe the Word of God

Believe the Word of God

It is so easy to say “I believe God”. However, it can be difficult to do just that. When times are tight or when the situation is dire, it can be almost impossible to trust God and not give in to ones fears.

I had a parent who asked me about her child. I kindly explained to the lady that I would do all I could for her son. However, instead of trusting me. The lady decided that she needed to come by every week. She constantly called and constantly asked other students what was going on in my classroom. This lady even decided that she needed to complain about me to other teachers. She stated that she just could not understand what I was doing or why.

 

I can understand that this lady was nervous about her child’s success. However, instead of making me do more for her child, she succeeded in alienating me. I was more than willing to spend extra time working with her son. But, her antics made me very angry. Yes, I still helped her child and worked with him. However, I was so insulted that she didn’t trust me to keep my word. I vowed to myself that I would not do anything extra for this lady or her child again.

In my anger with her, I realized that we treat God the same way this lady did me. We ask God to do something for us, but we don’t really trust him to keep his word. We don’t really believe God is concerned about our little problem. God tells us in his word that he is faithful. He states that he is not a man that he should lie nor the son of man that he should repent. God states that he said it, and he would bring it to pass. He was faithful to Abraham. He was faithful to Isaac. He was faithful to the Children of Israel. God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we should ask or think. All he asks is that we have the faith of a grain of a mustard seed.

Sadly, most of us don’t have that childlike faith. We say we have faith, but do we really?

Just like this woman, we say we will trust, but we don’t. We get nervous. We become afraid as the winds and the water rise. However, we must learn to trust in the Lord. We must learn to lean not to our own understanding. Instead, we must believe God.

Numbers 23:19

Isaiah 40:8

Proverbs 3: 5-6

Matthew 17: 20