“Our lives may have somewhat ‘gone up in flames’ but the smoke may have been our very cry to Him… We just didn’t know it.” ~ Mrs. Hillary
- A man had become stranded on a deserted island after his ship sank. He prayed desperately for God to send help, daily; and as he prayed he searched the island for anything that might be of use. Finally he found enough driftwood to build a small hut, barely big enough to protect him from the “weather”; leaving a couple pieces to use to start a fire. While out searching for food a strong gust of wind swept over the island. He came back to find his little hut engulfed in flames with thick black smoke that seemed to go forever up to the sky. He stood staring in disbelief, shock, and anger. He felt the worst had happened and that all hope was lost, as he cried out, “God! How could you do this to me?!” Early the next morning he was awakened by the sound of a ship stopping at the island. As the passengers approached him, he again stood staring in disbelief. “How did you know I was here?” the man asked. “We saw your smoke signal,” they replied. – Author Unknown
No matter what trials, difficulties, hardships, pain or suffering that we are faced with, God remains faithful to us. He is never more than “arms length” away, and He is always there waiting for us to reach to Him. It is only from Him that the lasting and comforting peace can come.
I have to be honest and say that the past 6 months have been pretty hard for me, especially emotionally! The song “Can Anybody Hear Me?” by Meredith Andrews has pretty much become my song. The words are exactly how I feel and what I want to say. The first verse and chorus say this, “I’m staring at these empty walls, Wondering when You’ll visit me again, When will you come? If there is anything at all, Coming in between our love, please show me, Cause I am barely hanging on. Can anybody hear me? The silence is deafening, Why do You feel so far away? When I know You’re here with me, But I just need the faith to see, Nothing can separate me from Your love.” I’m just going to be honest and say that I have felt like just totally giving up on God, before. I mean, I’ve always known that being a Christian wasn’t easy. But I never even imagined it would be this hard. I know what you are thinking, “How can this ‘goody goody’ who has gone to church her whole life, and never done anything majorly wrong know anything about things being hard?” Well let me just say, my life has been just PERFECT! Please catch the 100% sarcasm in that statement. I have had my share of screwups, wrong decisions, bad situations, and been hurt a lot. Though I may have known pretty much who God is, and He promises me (and everyone!) there was a period of time after my cousin Matt died that I really wasn’t sure if all this “stuff” about God could be real. I mean, God was suppose to love us, and not leave us; but me being 13 and 14 and extremely sad and hurt because my best friend had been “taken away” from me. Surely if God really loved me He wouldn’t just take him from me, that doesn’t seem very loving, does it? I was so upset, and practically angry that I went for probably a year and a half, maybe longer without ever feeling God move in me. And I didn’t see Him moving around me. I would go to church, sit, stand, sing, pay attention but not get a single thing out of it. Let me clarify by saying, that I now have absolutely NO doubt in my mind that God is real, and all the “stuff” about Him loving me and never leaving me, yeah it’s ALL real! From this point in my life, looking back I feel so dumb for ever thinking God didn’t love me or thinking He didn’t care enough to move or work in me. He put some of the greatest people in my life, when I needed them most. How could I not see God in them, it is so obvious to me now, and with every tough or difficult situation that I have faced since then those same people that God used to get to me then have been there for me, encouraging me, praying with me, praying for me, talking to me, listening to me, laughing with me, crying with me, and always have a hug when I need one. I thank God every day for putting such special people in my life, and I thank Him for never giving up on me. He continues to bless me by putting new wonderful, special people in my life.
And to conclude this blog that I HOPE makes some kind of sense to someone, I just want to say that the God who is with you on the mountain tops (or during the good/happy times) is the SAME God who is with you in the valley (the not so good times). So please don’t be discouraged if you are going through a difficult time, because God is still God and He is ALWAYS with you, no matter what!
- A man had become stranded on a deserted island after his ship sank. He prayed desperately for God to send help, daily; and as he prayed he searched the island for anything that might be of use. Finally he found enough driftwood to build a small hut, barely big enough to protect him from the “weather”; leaving a couple pieces to use to start a fire. While out searching for food a strong gust of wind swept over the island. He came back to find his little hut engulfed in flames with thick black smoke that seemed to go forever up to the sky. He stood staring in disbelief, shock, and anger. He felt the worst had happened and that all hope was lost, as he cried out, “God! How could you do this to me?!” Early the next morning he was awakened by the sound of a ship stopping at the island. As the passengers approached him, he again stood staring in disbelief. “How did you know I was here?” the man asked. “We saw your smoke signal,” they replied. – Author Unknown
No matter what trials, difficulties, hardships, pain or suffering that we are faced with, God remains faithful to us. He is never more than “arms length” away, and He is always there waiting for us to reach to Him. It is only from Him that the lasting and comforting peace can come.
I have to be honest and say that the past 6 months have been pretty hard for me, especially emotionally! The song “Can Anybody Hear Me?” by Meredith Andrews has pretty much become my song. The words are exactly how I feel and what I want to say. The first verse and chorus say this, “I’m staring at these empty walls, Wondering when You’ll visit me again, When will you come? If there is anything at all, Coming in between our love, please show me, Cause I am barely hanging on. Can anybody hear me? The silence is deafening, Why do You feel so far away? When I know You’re here with me, But I just need the faith to see, Nothing can separate me from Your love.” I’m just going to be honest and say that I have felt like just totally giving up on God, before. I mean, I’ve always known that being a Christian wasn’t easy. But I never even imagined it would be this hard. I know what you are thinking, “How can this ‘goody goody’ who has gone to church her whole life, and never done anything majorly wrong know anything about things being hard?” Well let me just say, my life has been just PERFECT! Please catch the 100% sarcasm in that statement. I have had my share of screwups, wrong decisions, bad situations, and been hurt a lot. Though I may have known pretty much who God is, and He promises me (and everyone!) there was a period of time after my cousin Matt died that I really wasn’t sure if all this “stuff” about God could be real. I mean, God was suppose to love us, and not leave us; but me being 13 and 14 and extremely sad and hurt because my best friend had been “taken away” from me. Surely if God really loved me He wouldn’t just take him from me, that doesn’t seem very loving, does it? I was so upset, and practically angry that I went for probably a year and a half, maybe longer without ever feeling God move in me. And I didn’t see Him moving around me. I would go to church, sit, stand, sing, pay attention but not get a single thing out of it. Let me clarify by saying, that I now have absolutely NO doubt in my mind that God is real, and all the “stuff” about Him loving me and never leaving me, yeah it’s ALL real! From this point in my life, looking back I feel so dumb for ever thinking God didn’t love me or thinking He didn’t care enough to move or work in me. He put some of the greatest people in my life, when I needed them most. How could I not see God in them, it is so obvious to me now, and with every tough or difficult situation that I have faced since then those same people that God used to get to me then have been there for me, encouraging me, praying with me, praying for me, talking to me, listening to me, laughing with me, crying with me, and always have a hug when I need one. I thank God every day for putting such special people in my life, and I thank Him for never giving up on me. He continues to bless me by putting new wonderful, special people in my life.
And to conclude this blog that I HOPE makes some kind of sense to someone, I just want to say that the God who is with you on the mountain tops (or during the good/happy times) is the SAME God who is with you in the valley (the not so good times). So please don’t be discouraged if you are going through a difficult time, because God is still God and He is ALWAYS with you, no matter what!
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