TIMELY REMINDERS

Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though

I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in

darkness, the LORD will be my light.

(Micah 7:8, NIV)

Just the other day I was shedding tears while sharing the frustration I was feeling over an ongoing financial trial with a friend and asking her why God was not providing a way out of it as He had always been faithful to do in the past.

She had no answers, but the next day and the day after, some timely reminders (and answers to my question) popped out at me from the pages of a couple of devotionals I had been reading during my early morning quiet time with the Lord.

I'm jotting them down here to help etch them a little more firmly in my mind, but also in hopes they will encourage someone else as well who might be feeling as dejected as I had been the day of my friend's visit.

1.   Whatever you allow to captivate your mind will rule your life. Will it be the truths in God's Word, or the lies of Satan?

2.   Resist the devil and refuse to surrender to the circumstantial pressure he brings your way.

3.   God's ability is not limited by your inability.

4.   Though trials are not pleasant, and we may not be able to understand the why, we can trust that God is in control and thank Him for the good things we anticipate He will bring about, in His perfect time, through this unpleasant bit of life.

5.   Instead of trying to get God to do this or that, try to adjust to what He is already doing, and give yourself fully to the adventure of each day.

6.   Rather than try to maintain control over your life, abandon yourself to God's will, knowing that Jesus is walking right beside you.

7.   Jesus is your Shepherd, and He is taking care of you, so you don't have to be afraid of anything.

And last, but not least, some words of wisdom from Dennis J. DeHaan:

        Once we stop our own devising,

        Quit the schemes of our own choosing,

        Cease from all our fruitless striving,

        God steps in with grace and power!