Good to Me!

Happy Thursday! Well I couldn't help myself.

 

There is a gorgeous white powdery snow starting to fall here in CT which is most definitely the highlight of my rough week. Something I've been thinking about this entire week is how my peace shouldn't be impacted by everything changing around me. My peace shouldn't be there only if I'm having a good day. Faith, peace and love should be totally independent from fluctuating feelings.

 

It can seem at times that many things are against us such as current situations or trials. But I've learned as I work through them, to walk by faith that it will be okay. That the trial is there to develop something in me! If you ever feel the same way, remember Romans 8:28, " And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

 

In my walk with God so far He has never sat down and gave me the whole picture. He gives me pieces. He tells me one step then the next then the next. If he gave me the whole picture, I wouldn't need faith, right? But faith in God is what He loves, it's exactly what He is hoping to find when He returns! (Luke 18:8)

 

Here is a song from Audrey Assad, Good to Me. I hope as you reconsider the situations that are giving you a difficult time in your life, that God is good, all of his ways are mercy and truth! (Pslam 25:10)

 

Enjoy!

 

Feel free to leave  a comment about your experience, too!

 

 

 

Good to Me - Audrey Assad

 

I put all my hope in the truth of Your promise
And I steady my heart on the ground of Your goodness
When I'm bowed down with sorrow I will lift up Your name
And the foxes in the vineyard will not steal my joy

Because You are good to me, good to me

I lift up my eyes to the hills where my help is found
Your voice fills the night - raise my head up to hear the sound
Though fires burn all around me I will praise You, my God
And the foxes in the vineyard will not steal my joy

Because You are good to me, good to me

Your goodness and mercy shall follow me
All my life
I will trust in Your promise

Tuesday Melody

Good Morning! 

As you know sporadically I will share a song with you that has come and spoke into my life. I'm going to start doing this on a regular basis. Every Tuesday I'm going to link a youtube video of a song. I haven't come up with a catchy name for it yet, next week I will have something! Without hesitation, here is Secret Place by Phil Wickham featuring Madison Cunningham. I think their duet is so beautiful and the song captures how God is our refuge when everything is changing. He's not the last thing we run to once we've tried everything else, He is the first thing we run to!

"Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;" (Ephesians 5:19)

Get Up!

It was raining and I was late, which normally had nothing to do with each other, except I was in Germany on my bike rushing towards an exam. The rain had made the cobblestone slick as ice. I took the curve too fast and my wheel wedged into the track of the streetcar and I was flung over the front handlebars of the bike

Obviously, it all happened in slow-motion so I had a lot of time to think about my life in the 0.004 seconds I was in the air.  I knew as soon as I hit the ground that I would get back up again, I would have to, right? People don’t fall on the ground and never get up their whole life. I couldn’t stay on the slick cobblestone forever. The moment I stopped sliding I pressed into my palms to stand back up and in that moment the Lord spoke to me. Encouragingly, he said “Yes! Get back up!”

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had my share of situations that “knock me off my feet”. They may be losing friendships or family, doing poorly on an exam, being on the receiving end of a mean person and a mean comment, the list goes on. In situations like these, it’s not so obvious, as it is when we physically fall down, that we are injured. Many times life goes on, but we never have gotten up emotionally from being hurt by a certain person. That stunts our growth. That hurts us. That weighs on us.

For the longest time, while I took a math exam, I would heard certain people and their comments about how I should be better at math. Though I am not around these people anymore, their comments remain because I never got up emotionally.

Falling off my bike prompted me to think about areas of my life where I was stagnant, where I was still on the cobblestone. This revelation lead me to search my heart and see where I was hurting and to bring it before God. 

I believe God wants very much that we are whole in heart, meaning that we don’t let ourselves be defined by negative experiences, as it is so easy to do. For example, childhoods marred by bullying, instead of moments of discovery, friendships coming to an end instead of friendships being found, etc.  It’s a new way of thinking, but I believe that is exactly the point. We are not to conform to the world, but to be renewed, by the transforming of our minds (Romans 12:2).

God changed my perspective of falling off a bike being an embarrassing thing, to an encouraging moment that I will always get back up through His help. I have fallens o many times since then, but His encouragement has been my strength. How much more of my thinking is He waiting to transform, if only I were to bring it to him in prayer?