Have you ever heard of the hymn, "All Hail King Jesus?" I remember learning this song from my grandmother when I was a little girl. We visited my grandparents in Louisiana every few months for 8 years. My grandparents taught me lots of scripture and old-time hymns. I made a little money when I was able to recite what I had memorized. They were proud of their little granddaughter for knowing God's Word and I was proud of the wad of money stuffed in my pocket. This certain hymn has come to my mind in recent days. Due to an overwhelming amount of frustrations, I turned to Ty and said, "All Hell is breaking loose." In the last week, we have noticed that the pumpkins are not growing. The 6" of rain has smothered the seeds. Out of 2,000 seeds planted, approx. 300 have survived. Not worthy of a community wide Fall Festival. Which happens to be our biggest outreach. The John Deere tractor broke while mowing the church grounds. The hotel facade of the old west town blew over during the lightening storm Wednesday night. Our well has been tested by the water department and things are not going as we had hoped. All in one week we felt like so many things had fallen on top of us. It didn't stop there but I will spare you the drama. It has been tough to say the least. Ty and I found ourselves sitting in our walk-in closet floor broken. What do we do? Where do we start? Have you ever felt that way? Sometimes it pours during a rain storm. But right in the middle of our sadness the Lord speaks to my heart another scripture. Isaiah 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. It is only when we go through the fire do we become like pure gold. Whatever you and I go through, God will be there. He will not let go of His children. I am comforted by these words. I don't understand why things happen the way that they do but I am confident in this; My God is in control. I am trusting in Him and believing that He will make my path straight. Don't give up because of circumstances but keep going because you know God has a plan and He has not finished what He started. So instead of All Hell let your words be All Hail!
"All Hail King Jesus, All Hail Immanuel. King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Bright Morning Star. And throughout Eternity I'm going to praise Him. And forevermore I will reign with Him."
Mike Evans,pastor of River Crossing in Jackson,WY just spoke on this. He said instead of us saying,"God,please still the storm," HE wants us to BE STILL in the storm.HE will go through the storm with us. Praise God! I am in awe of your tender heart toward HIM. Love you, sally
ReplyDeleteIn each of our lives, in one way or another, we will face times when we must answer Satan’s charges and prove that even in the storm, God is still God! I heard a lady say once that she had been through the trials, just as Job, and just like Job she questioned God, as we all tend to do, and God's reply to her was 'How many clouds have you hung?" That was a shocking realization for me! Satan tries to make us forget that our GOD hung the clouds in the sky!! Our problems are simple fixes, if we just trust Him to fix them! Love you!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Heather, it has been one of those kind of days for the past two weeks for us. But I am just sitting back and waiting for what God has planned for us. I know he will take care of us, he always does, we just have to keep our Faith in Him because he never loses His Faith in us. Thank you for sharing with us all your encouraging words and reminding us to not lose our focus. You are such an awesome inspiration to us all. Love you so much.
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