God's Delays, Not God's Denials

If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, 

never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again.

 ~Flavia Weedn

People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are.  I don't believe in circumstances.  The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them.  

~G.B. Shaw

You learn you can do your best even when it's hard, even when you're tired and maybe hurting a little bit. It feels good to show some courage. ~Joe Namath

Never think that God's delays are God's denials. 

 Hold on; hold fast; hold out.  Patience is genius. 

 ~Georges-Louis Leclerc

Waiting for the Splendor...

“The basic premise of biblical trust is the conviction that God wants us to grow, to unfold, and to experience fullness of life. However, this kind of trust is acquired only gradually and most often through a series of crises and trials.

Through the indescribable anguish on Mount Moriah with his son Isaac, Abraham learned that the God who had called him to hope against hope was eminently reliable and that the only thing expected of him was unconditional trust. The great old man models the essence of trust in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures: to be convinced of the reliability of God.

The story of salvation-history indicates that without exception trust must be purified in the crucible of trial. David, the most beloved figure of Jewish history, was no stranger to terror, loneliness, failure, and even sinister plots to destroy him; yet he ravished the heart of God with his unwavering trust.

Behold the splendor of the human heart that trusts that it is loved.”

~ Brennan Manning, Ruthless Trust

Humbled

This morning, I told my friend (a Very Good Man) that I think I might be struggling through a period of depression. The past four and a half months have been very emotionally trying, my job seems to be in a state of instability and my spiritual life feels a bit like Carl Sandburg's "Fog" -- my relationship with the Lord feels tenuous, like my faith is creeping in on "little cat feet." I am not used to describing my feelings in terms of instability; I'm not accustomed to feeling like my brain is a jumble of emotions and words and feelings that will, somehow, NOT obey my commands to be ordered and structured. I am lost in my own head far too often. 

...

One of the blogs I've begun reading recently is written by a friend-of-a-friend. And this friend-of-MY-friend, a young wife and the mother of two small boys, tragically and unexpectedly lost her husband only a few days before Christmas. She is a gifted, gifted writer; her blog is incredible -- I cannot honestly say that I can read it without getting teary. I have openly wept, at times, over her grief and loss. And I've never even met her in person. She is allowing me, a total stranger, to read and see into her heart at this most vulnerable time in her life. Her courage humbles me. Humbles me. 

...

I do not discredit my own struggles -- but I want to begin to see those moments of discouragement or depression as reminders to pray for the people I KNOW are experiencing difficulties that my mind cannot fathom. I want, Lord, for You to break me in whatever ways You deem necessary so that I might be an effective demonstration of YOUR love and heart. Please, Lord -- help me to know more of Thee and less -- soooo much less -- of me.

All I Want for Christmas is a Noble Soul...

“Disappointment to a noble soul is what cold water is to burning metal; it strengthens, tempers, intensifies, but never destroys it.” -- Eliza Tabor