Journey4Jesus
Praying Gods Word in all areas of life… The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
lord, be my bridge…
It’s so fascinating to me, what God is doing and has been doing in our lives. When I wrote this journal entry it was the end of April 2018, we were living in the midst of a very difficult time. Every thing we knew was crashing down around us.
We sold our home and moved ourselves and my Mother-in-law, back into the condo we had moved her out of, a year earlier with the plan of renovating and selling it. Never had it crossed our minds that the three of us would be the ones actually living there. This was a difficult time for each of us in different ways; for Mikes Mom, it came with memories of time passed, reopening a door thought closed. For Mike, it represented failure, he was moving into what had been his Mom & Dads home during his Dad’s last years. For me, I did everything I could to try to make it feel like a new home… which sadly never really worked.
In the midst of all of this change, God was determined to help us keep perspective. It would have been so easy to fall into the trap of the pity party, yet He chose to use this time to teach us to live in “Faith not Fear”.
If you’ve read some of my previous blogs coming up to this point, you would have already heard that “Faith not Fear” was our daily mantra, as we put one foot in front of the other choosing to Trust in Gods plan rather than our own.
He used this time, to draw our eyes away from ourselves and onto those He had brought into our lives. Those with life threatening journeys that had no easy answers. He showed us Faith that held people together in the most difficult of days, weeks, months & years. We saw His Love and tender faithfulness to these in such dire need. Ultimately, what He did was teach us to take our eyes off our own situation and see what He was doing in others.
In this time, I built a beautiful time of communion with the Father. There is something so precious in taking our eyes off of our needs and focusing on the needs of others. Friends let me tell you, there are deep needs out there, and God has called each of us, as His children, to be intercessors for those He puts before us.
I came to recognize that when He caused a name or a person to pop into my mind, He was reminding me to intercede, to lift them up to Him. I came to learn that in this He was giving ME a gift… the gift of obedience. In time, He showed me how He was at work in the midst of these oftentimes silent, moment by moment prayers. He was teaching me that although my circumstances felt hopeless, He was still in control. As He was calling me to pray for others, I soon learned that He was calling others to pray for me.
These criss-cross prayers became like a bridge, and this bridge spanned across the chasm of the unknown. That valley deep below that causes us to fear and worry, this valley that if unchecked can lead to depression and anxiety. God started painting a picture in my mind of a wooden suspension bridge.
I was on the one side praying for those He put in front of me… Those for whom I was praying and those praying for me were on the other side, and Jesus himself was the suspending floor-boards connecting us so that we could cross that “valley of the unknown” together, and continue on the journey He had for each of us.
Although the Lord gave me that vision two years ago, I continue to hang onto the picture in my mind. The road is rarely flat for very long, and it’s only a matter of time until another valley comes along the path that we will have to cross, who’s bridge will we trust to get us safely across; the one of our making or the one Jesus calls us to?
Journal Entry: #36
And then, after your brief suffering, the God of all loving grace, who has called you to share in his eternal glory in Christ, will personally and powerfully restore you and make you stronger than ever. Yes, he will set you firmly in place and build you up. 1Peter 5:10 TPT
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for Your Word. Thank you that each and every day, You speak to me and my situation from within Your Word.
In 1 Peter 5:10, You remind me that it was because of Your kindness and love for us, that You gave us the opportunity of Eternal life through Your Sons’ suffering for us. You also remind us that we will suffer and have difficulty in this life, that is a guarantee because You don’t say “IF” You say “WHEN”. But then You tell us that we will get through them and You will restore us and give us a firm foundation… Praise you Lord!
Nothing in this verse tells us it will turn out according to our plans, but encourages us that if we stay true to You and your plans & purposes for us, You will give us what we need, including the most important of all … a Firm foundation.
A firm foundation in our minds… which is our understanding. A firm foundation in our hearts… which is our love for you and others. A firm foundation in our feet as we serve you in love and gratitude. Thank you Jesus, continue to strengthen me, support me and restore me as You are building into me Your firm foundation.
Then I go to Psalm 16:11, which just bookends these verses so well together. While I am currently still living in the “suffering for a little while”, as seen in 1 Peter 5:10, You give us the beautiful promise that “You will show us the way of Life”, granting me the joy of your presence in this life and the glory of eternity with You forever.
Your promises are for all times – the good- the bad- and the ugly, but You WILL come again. Thank you that these are not mere words on paper (or a computer screen), but Truths that You proclaim for us.
Lord God, I am so grateful for your incredible Love for us /me, that even in these times of struggling, confusion and uncertainty in life, I am filled with an inner joy that can only come from you. It’s not a foolish joy or a naive way of life that “what will be…will be”. It is a deep heartfelt knowledge that You are IN this, and You are FOR us.
We comprehend Love from a human mindset, but Your Word says, You ARE Love, it is Your very character. Humanly, Love is a word like a neon open/closed sign. It can turn on and off with our wims. But true Love, being YOU is something our minds are too small and limited to ever fully understand. Teach me O Lord, to comprehend real Love a little more today. Open my heart to Love You and others better…Thank you Jesus.
in Jesus precious name ❤️Amen
My Final Thoughts & Encouragement:
I can’t begin to guess what journey you are on today. Maybe yours is calm and flat, you haven’t hit any of those valleys yet, be prepared they will come, plan in advance how you will get across them… where will you put your strength for the hard parts of the journey.
As I sit here writing this, I was just told of a four year old little girl that died yesterday, I can’t imagine the valley this family has just found themselves in. I don’t know the family, nor do I know if they have faith to sustain them at a time like this, but God reminded me to pray… to lift them up to His throne, what if no-one else is praying for them, I encourage you to join me in interceding for this family in their time of need.
As I pause and I think of the three situations I prayed for in 2018, my heart smiles and my eyes fill with tears both at the same time: The heart transplant was a complete success, and although she will always have struggles that go along with this, she lives to praise Jesus in the midst of it.
For the third family member to get a cancer diagnosis, all three of the adult children are cancer survivors and can celebrate life, but this past year, their forth sibling had a stroke and now begins a new challenge, while God uses each of them to build into his life, so thankful that this family has a foundation of faith to hold them up through each of these valleys.
Finally, my beautiful Sister-in-law who was called home to the arms of Jesus this past February 29,2020. We miss her terribly and continue to grieve the hole that is left behind, yet we also praise God for how He sustained her and used her in this journey. She was a light to so many people, and she wore her faith like a mantle on her shoulders, never ceasing to pray for others, while God built that bridge between her prayers and those that were being lifted up for her.
For ourselves, God has brought us 10 hours North (definitely not the direction of my choice), but the direction of His. We have the privilege of serving Him, by walking along others that have faced crisis and tragedy in their lives. We are far from out of the valley of financial ruin, but we trust in the one guiding our journey onward.
The beauty is, He is using our valleys of Loss to bring hope and comfort to others experiencing their own losses. We would not have been equipped to stand in the gap this way, had we not gone through our own first hand… so in this we Praise His purpose and His redemptive plan.
If we allow Him, God will use ALL of our hills & valleys that we have experienced, to bring Him Glory, to be the light that draws others to himself. If you are in that valley now… I urge to to not despair. Trust God is in the midst of this with you, He has a plan and a purpose… surrender your plans to align with His, and He will bring beauty out of the ashes.
Blessings ❤️ Janet. Journey4Jesus
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