Category: Hope In Hard Places

Humpty Dumpty

So here you are and you’ve has just done a Humpty – Dumpty off the wall and shattered into pieces, but yet, though shattered, there you stand, because life doesn’t go away just because does it? Oh, it’s you, but it’s not you, as you stare into the reality of that surreal nightmarish picture. How? Why? What? yeah all the questions but no answers, track you down, beat you up and step on and grind those already fragmented shards of life into the dirt.

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men can’t put you back together again. Can’t fix it! Can’t mend it! Can’t make it better! No, it can’t be repaired because it’s yours and no one could ever understand, not in a million years could anyone get it! Not now, not ever! The Good news is, the King can! The One Sovereign King can do it! He’s got the broken pieces! He’s got the skills! He’s got the plan! He’s got the mercy! He’s got the grace! His life was broken too, so yours wouldn’t have to be. Because He was crushed for you, He’s got life for you! And while He holds you in those arms that carried His cross of death, He’s got you in those skilled hands that took the nails! Those same divine hands that healed the sick, and yeah that raised the dead to new life. He’s in the business of putting lives back together again. Reach out to Him! Get with His program and let Him teach you! Allow Him to work His custom plan from the ground up in your life! God’s words through His prophet, Isaiah, to a stubborn and rebellious people, are words to us today in Isaiah 48:17, “This is what the LORD says, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow.”

Although it’s a promise first spoken to Israel, It’s a relevant message for those of us traveling this journey of life in need of guidance and help along the way. So, those broken pieces are fixable, our part is to simply and humbly bend down to pick them up and hand them over and let our Sovereign King do the transforming work in us!

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Shades of Gray

Sometimes we just wonder how much rain can spill from the skies and yet more drops still fall. More rain still comes and the earth is green, so green, and when raindrops glisten in the sunshine between drops, the skies are blue, so blue. Yet, even the green, green earth and the bluest of blue skies somehow don’t cover the gray in the soul of you, because the muted gray hanging over your beautiful self is a heavy cloud from doing life. Yeah, just so happens, life happens and grays come, and rains fall, and storms threaten, and even the green, green grass of home doesn’t seem to make a difference, because the gray in the heart is a heavy gray; cumbersome, surrounding and overwhelming and it seems there’s nothing to comfort it this side of heaven. And you’re tired and restless and even though your mind wants to rest, it doesn’t shut down because it’s in relentless pursuit of quiet answers to hush the anxieties of the soul and heart of you.

The Psalmist in Psalm 84, expresses his deep, spiritual longing for God’s presence in his life, as he reflects on the temple and the pilgrims making their way to Jerusalem. He prays for himself and for them because he knows that only God’s goodness is greater than life itself. Verses 5 -7 he imagines the pangs and pains of their travel turning to joy upon arrival.

Yeah, the Psalmist knew anguished and lonely travelers needed strength to meet the challenges of pilgrimage along unmarked and unpaved paths, in all kinds of weather with threats of attack along the way. Verse 5, 6, he pens, “What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord, who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When they walk through the Valley of Weeping it will become a place of refreshing springs. The autumn rains will clothe it with blessing. They will continue to grow stronger and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.”

So hey, you and I and we and us, even when we feel totally exhausted from the rains and the heavy grays of life ever overhanging our beautiful souls, the prospect of drawing near to the Lord renews our spirit and refreshes our soul. Let’s do that today then! Let’s drag our tired, weary selves before the sovereign One who made us and knows our day ahead even when we don’t. He knows the gray of our sky on a blue day. He knows the lonely, the anguish, the challenge and the unmarked road we face. Let’s continue on then through this pilgrimage heavenward, undaunted by the gray, the rain and the adverse weather along the way. He’s got the day. He’s got the season! Let Him refresh and renew!

“For the Lord God is our Sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The LORD will withhold no good thing for those who do what is right. O Lord of Heaven’s armies, what joy for those who trust in you.”

Psalm 84: 11, 12

#loveonthebrokenroad

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Hope Lies There

Yeah, He’s there even in your hard times, and in your down and outters. He’s always there, right there beside you, around you, surrounding you ready to lift you up and hold your head high. When you see the Saviour and when you look into the face of our Lord you see the Hope that He holds for you in those scarred palms and in those hands that outstretched the cross for you. Yeah, He’s the One, the sovereign One who’s right there with you now ~ very much alive and very much real and very much present in your deepest hurt. His light shines darkest in your night 

 

“You are my hiding place; You will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.”
Psalm 32:7-8

“My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Exodus 33:14

#SoulNotesToSelf

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Mom’s World

 

 

So you’ve just wiped up spilled milk, scrubbed crayon off the wall, threw in your fourth load of wash for the day, wrestled up a quick, nutritious lunch for your hungry brood, kissed a hurt and sealed it with a band-aid! You’ve rocked, and lulled, and sung sweet lullabyes, while all the while just wanting to have a spare minute for yourself but you can’t find one anywhere. The day wears on and the hours are tedious and so the same with whines, and cries, and fussiness and wet diapers, and quarrels, and how come no one ever told you that motherhood assigned you referee credentials? So, you’re a mom, and when you signed up for parenthood, you were unaware of it’s strange mix of excitement, fear, joy, panic, happiness, sorrow, fun, or anxiety. But it is and there you are right up there in the top ranking of it all, and it’s awesome but it’s scary, and it’s sheer delight but it’s frustration, and it’s rewarding but it’s so time consuming. Oh so time consuming!! Yeah, motherhood; there’s really nothing like it on the planet! It’s challenges are out of this world and it’s rocked yours to the moon and back. It’s got you booked solid ~ hook, line and sinker and drowning in it’s many demands! The hats you wear are ridiculous and next to impossible and your sanity? Well it’s gone south for a break and right now as you think you might go under for the very last time, know that you won’t! You won’t because your job is the toppest of the top notch jobs in the whole wide world. You’ve been entrusted with gifts from heaven, all ‘little life’, wrapped up and so tenderly placed in your lap. And there you are!! Smack dab in the middle of days that don’t end and nights that don’t sleep. Those gifts of life are yours to cherish, to love, and to nurture, guide, teach and train and when that journey overwhelms your beautiful soul, remember King Lemuel’s mom had some good words of advice for him in Proverbs 31: 10, 17, 25, 26, 28. She told him exactly how fortunate he would be to find a women of noble character just like you. You may be tired and exhausted but your value is outstanding…. “A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies…….she sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks…she is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue….Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also and he praises her.”

Little Thoughts For Big Days

God hasn’t promised pastel rainbows for your days of motherhood, in fact some days might just well be purple and red, but He has promised joy to the mom who seeks Him and grace for the one who walks the ho – hum of the daily journey by His side. No, your rewards won’t necessarily be seen nor given out today there in your little kitchen nook, but your loyal works and your tedious steps will etch their memories into little hearts that will grow big and strong to become mom’s and dad’s of their own little gifts of life. So mom, take heart! Your tasks performed faithfully today will navigate back and will find their way into your seasoned heart of hearts when all you have left are the memories of the long lost, good old days. So yeah, beautiful Mom, enjoy these joyous but trying days of motherhood. They’ll be gone all to quickly.


#momsworld #Fragmentedsouls #hopeinhardplaces

by Categories: Bible, Food for Thought, Fragmented Souls, Hope In Hard Places, Inspirational, Mom's Grace, Mother's DayTags: , , , , , , Leave a comment