Day 293

God must be doing something HUGE behind the scenes right now, because I feel like everyone around me is getting attacked. One friend’s father went to the hospital unexpectedly and later in the day she found out she was losing her job. Today, her father is having emergency heart surgery. Another friend of mine’s sister is five months pregnant and essentially her water “ruptured” early, now she is waiting and on bed rest to keep the baby safe. Lord willing, she will be transferred to a hospital that specializes in preemies, as the chances of the baby being dangerously premature are huge. Please pray for these ladies and their families.

1 Peter 5:10-11
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

I truly feel privileged that these women would ask me to come along side them and fight, through prayer, for them and their situations. It also helps me put the battles I face into perspective. I read in my devotions (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest) today:

“God wants you to understand that it is a life of faith, not a life of emotional enjoyment of His blessings.”

“Then God withdrew His conscious blessings to teach you to ‘walk by faith’ (2 Corinthians 5:7).”

“Faith by its very nature must be tested and tried. And the real trial of faith is not that we find it difficult to trust God, but that God’s character must be proven as trustworthy in our own minds. Faith being worked out into reality must experience times of unbroken isolation.”

In unbroken isolation, we are so much more willing to come before the Lord, on our knees, and acknowledge, we can’t face anything in this world by our own strength. It is only by His power, His grace that He imparts on us - that is what makes us strong. So “I will boast the ever more gladly in my weakness for His power is made perfect in my weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)