Thankful Thursday: Hang in there!

Hebrews 10:23

New International Version (NIV)

²³ Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

Hebrews 13:5

New International Version (NIV)

⁵ Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”^[a]

Deuteronomy 31:6

New International Version (NIV)

⁶ Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Faith is a difficult conquest and it requires daily combat in order to be maintained. - The Valkyries.

It is not often that i pack in the actual Bible verses, let alone start a post off with them. But i cannot avoid the signs, and i cannot call it coincidence that not only have they presented themselves to me, they have made it clear that this is what this post ought to contain. You see i have a list of posts i'm to do..Yet somehow, on Thursday, i end up writing a radically different one. This is not because i have nothing to say concerning the other topics..it's because once i get on this, my fingers take a life of their own and something beautiful happens.

So here we go..Temptation and keeping your body as a living sacrifice to Him and all of that good stuff will just have to wait their turn.

Do you see what those verses have in common? God will never forsake you. He is faithful and cannot deny Himself.

These verses mean a lot to me, and are very personal, because He causes them to cross my path in those moments when i'm hurting and wondering and silly questions are creeping up regarding the things He asks me to do, or that i'm doing and there seem to be no fireworks happening.

He sends me this reassurance, this encouragment that assures me that He is there and hasn't forgotten my case, that assures me that everything is how it should be and i should not worry, just hang in there until His plan is fulfilled.

See, it's a bit like this: You ask, and He gives. But you're going to have to trust Him to do it His way, and sometimes that involves a lot of what looks like waiting around. If you've taken that crazy leap i wrote about a few posts back, it means that you have turned your life over to Him, that He should do what He will. This means that a lot of times, you are going to be taken waaaay out of your comfort zone, because if you keep sitting there where you're comfortable, you'll never grow. God doesn't say you will never be in danger or in a situation that looks hopeless, what He says is that He will deliver you from it, and as such you have nothing to fear..but i digress.

It all leads to this: If you've asked that His will be done in your life, if you live by the faith that He has you covered, then be assured that He has promised, and will uphold His side of the promise forever. If you feel like you've hit a wall, or you're just sitting there and nothing is happening, don't lose faith.

There is no such thing as nothing is happening. Let go of your expectations of what something happening looks like and notice all the things that you deem insignificant that ARE happening. Always acknowledge and respect that He knows best, and give thanks to Him in every situation, because He uses everything to lead you to where you need to be. Take this analogy: when we plant something, we do not see what is happening to it in the soil. We plant it, cover it up, and go about our business, watering it as necessary. And then, one day, this thing breaks the soil and we see the results of our waiting and watering..and the best part is that it doesn't stop there- but keeps growing! and even if we want to attempt the pessimistic route and say that the plant will grow, and then die..well, it would have spread out seeds which will in turn bear new plants..except this time, a lot more!..which also leads to the analogy that some plants are annuals, some biennials..and some are just great big trees that grow and grow and are thousands of years old...and these ones, they grow a little at a time too, we spend a lot of time that looks like waiting just staring at them..and then one day we stop and see that they're three times the size they were..

I'm rambling now though...the bottom line is...hang in there, do not be discouraged..He has promised, and He is faithful..He hasn't forgotten..just keep doing what He says...

I am thankful for life

I am thankful for today

I am thankful for revelations

I am thankful for Paulo Coelho and the miraculous ways in which God leads me to him..and all the things He teaches me through his books...

I am thankful for God's word

I am thankful for His love

I am thankful for Love. Love is everything.

I am thankful, that everything is the way it should be, and if we acknowledge this, and work with it as opposed to against it, the everything that is the way it ought to will keep being bettered...keep up with that there :P

I am thankful for His guidance

I am thankful for the omens and signs He sets along the way

I am thankful for kindness

I am thankful for His patience with me

I am thankful that He teaches me, patiently, until i understand..

I am thankful for my family

I am thankful for books

I am thankful for my mother

I am thankful for prayer

I am thankful for ODB

I am thankful for healing

I am thankful for forgiveness

I am thankful for God

I am thankful for life

I am thankful for health

I am thankful that i am blessed

I am thankful for where i am, who i am at this place in time

I am thankful that He is not indifferent to me

I am thankful that he who seeks, finds. The universe will conspire to lead you to what you seek. The questions i've had pop up along the way- He has sent answers my way, in books, in videos, in epiphanies..but He has sent answers.

I am thankful for Church :D

I am thankful for laughter

I am thankful for friendship

I am thankful that He leads me away from what i don't need and what is destructive to me, even if i do not understand at the time..

I am thankful that He is my support, my courage, my strength and my comfort. And no matter what i've been through in the past year, no matter the hurt and the pain, He has always been there. He has never left my side, and out of everything, He has carved a stronger me. He has not let me fall apart, and for this, i am thankful.

I am thankful for this post..even if it feels rather foreign to me...

I am thankful.