God is in a Lifetime

Recently I have been reminded of how God has been with us day by day on this unexpected journey.  He has been so good and so faithful in the midst of a long, hard season.  I would never have survived without His daily grace and strength.

This led me into a time of thanking Him for His grace!  His grace is "enough" for each thing we face.  The well of His sufficiency never runs dry.  It is full to overflowing.  We can drink deeply from that well whenever we need His grace.  He isn't upset with us in any way because we are in need of that grace - He planned it and provided it for us!

I've been thinking of this, pondering it, worshipping Him - and then someone sent me the following.  It's profound and beautiful.  It's taken from @commoners.communion.

"God is in a lifetime.  Not just little wins and easy changes.

The smoothest stones in a river are the ones who have stayed the longest.  Even the roughest boulders can turn into spheres under enough persistent water.

We are all those boulders, rough and unable in so many ways to take the easy wins when it comes to changing ourselves and growing more godly.

Our sin can feel as ingrained and heavy as rock, immovable and unchangeable, even with our greatest tools at hand.

But Christ invites us to come, sit under his constant gentle flow, day in and day out, that in a lifetime we may take the image his persistent grace affords us.

I have to keep reminding myself that my transformation isn't about days, weeks, months and with some things, even years.

It's about trusting God's persistence with me, his patience, his kindness, and most importantly, his longevity."

I'm so glad He's with us for the long haul! 

"The Lord has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." 2 Corinthians 12:9

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."  Matthew 11:28,29 

" 'Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,' say the Lord, who has compassion on you."  Isaiah 54:10

He is good.  And He always has good in store for us - even in the midst of hard seasons.  Our unexpected journey has been hard, but there has been so, so much of His goodness in the midst of it!  I can't thank Him enough. 

I think we are sometimes under the assumption that if we live a Godly life and make the right choices that things will go well with us and we won't have problems.  It's certainly very important that we do both of those things!  That's what the word tells us to do.

But we can easily forget that we live in a fallen world - a world filled with sin, sickness, and evil.  Unfortunately we don't live in a perfect world.  We are impacted by the ungodliness around us in many ways.  Sickness, pain, and suffering come our way in this fallen world.

Some months ago someone sent me a teaching on Caleb.  I've been pondering Caleb's example for a long time.  Caleb was one of the 12 spies sent by Moses to investigate the land of Canaan.  Caleb and Joshua saw that the land was bountiful - filled with the good things God had promised them.  They gave a positive report.  They said we can take it!  They had the faith and the obedience to trust God's promise.  But the other 10 spies gave a very negative, pessimistic report that filled the people's hearts with fear and anger towards God.

As we all know, the children of Israel spent the next 40 years (a year for each day the spies had been sent out) wandering in the desert because of their unbelief and anger towards the Lord.  They took the word of the spies with the negative report, and they turned their hearts against God.

The thing that struck me was that Caleb and Joshua made the right choice - but they still had to go through the 40 years in the desert!  They were the only ones from the first generation that left Egypt who entered the land the Lord had promised to give them - but they had to go through the 40 years of suffering with all the others.  However, it also says that God strengthened Caleb.  "Here I am this day, eighty-five years old.  As yet I am as strong this day as I was on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war."  Joshua 14:11

There's no indication that Caleb and Joshua were upset with God for those extra 40 years before they entered into what God had for them.  I'm sure it was hard - we can read in the Bible about some of the difficult things that happened in those 40 years.  But they remained steadfast and saw God fulfil His promises.

The thing that has spoken to my heart is that we aren't immune to hard things, suffering - even if we make all the right choices, even if our heart is turned fully towards God.  But - He'll help us and strengthen us as we go through the hard times.

I want to keep my heart steadfast towards the Lord as I continue to walk the path of our unexpected journey.  I hope it won't be 40 years!

"Not one of all the Lord's good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled."  Joshua 21:45

"The Lord has done what He planned; He has fulfilled His word, which He decreed long ago."  Lamentations 2:17

"Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."  Philippians 1:6

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."  Galatians 6:9

God has promised to be with us - to help us with whatever we go through - to strengthen us - to give us sufficient grace - to never leave us or forsake us.  Whatever we face in our fallen world, He will be with us - and He will fulfil His promises to us.  He is faithful!