Strength

I had someone tell me today they wanted to be strong like me...honestly I don't see where that comes from because I don't see myself as strong.  Where my perceived strength comes from is in the knowledge that I know where I'm one day going.  It will be perfect, a true heaven, surrounded by a heavenly host and I will see Jesus.  All that comes before that is just a pathway, a journey, a  means to an end.  I am not perfect.  I am forgiven.  And that, in itself, is a journey.  It is something I choose to do on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis.  I choose to ask forgiveness, I choose to ask The Lord for refinement, I choose to seek His face, His grace, and His redemption.  It doesn't mean I'm not going to slip up from time to time, because I am human and I will make mistakes...and often do.  It's a process, and I am far from the end of my journey.

I am His child, and because I am His child, I have freedom.  Freedom to choose the right path, no matter what the circumstances.  If I am in pain, sick or hurting, I choose the path of seeking His help.  He comforts me, sometimes heals me, but always loves me.  If I am angry, I choose to seek forgiveness, and He is faithful to forgive.  Not only does He forgive, He forgets my sin!!  I am once again clean, spotless, and white as snow.  If I am confused, I seek His guidance, and once again, He is faithful to direct my path.  With that freedom, we can (and I often do) make wrong choices.  Hopefully, with time and practice, I will begin to make more right choices than wrong.  Thankfully, He is a forgiving God!

I choose to seek Him every day.  This means reading His word.  I have reading plans that I follow, but sometimes afterward I just choose a passage and start reading.  I read until He gives me a passage that makes me think, gives me direction, encourages me, or reminds me of someone else.  Then I write verses on Facebook as a reminder to me what He tells me that day.  This also means praying.  When I say I will pray for you, I do!  Sometimes I write out my prayers in a journal.  Often I've gone back and seen answers to prayer that astound me.  Not that He HAS answered, because I believe He is faithful and will answer, but in the WAY He answers.  His ways are so much better than our ways.  And because of my experience, I have learned to trust Him when I can't always see the direction He is taking.

I'm a firm believer that we go through trials in this life, and they are either for our benefit, to strengthen us and our faith, or to help others who will later go through similar circumstances.  I don't believe God makes these things happen, I believe He can deliver us from them if He chooses, but sometimes I think He joins us in our journey through them for a greater purpose.  His plans are to help us, not to harm us.  So with that in mind, I journey through things with the thought in mind that one day, if I persevere, I will know what He was teaching me, or others who were watching me.

So...do not envy my "strength", because I believe it is available to everyone who chooses to accept the Lord as their Savior.  It is His strength you see through me...and hopefully the calm assurance that He is my Savior, my ever present help through this journey called life.