Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end. Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word. Fulfill your promise to your servant so that you may be feared. Take away the disgrace I dread, for your laws are good. How I long for your precepts! In your righteousness preserve my life.
Psalm 119:33-40 NIV
Oftentimes we do not know that Jesus is all we need until Jesus is all we have. This can be why we experience adversity. God is providing opportunities for us to learn by leaning on Him. Being with God as our daily purpose is how we can be taught His ways rather than following our own. Faith begins where understanding ends. If we want to increase how much we trust and listen to Him we must obey Him. Obedience is learned. Think back to being a child. We did not know what we should and should not do. Our parents or the people around us taught us. Of course when we rely on people of the world to teach us we only learn the ways of the world. When we study His word and pray it helps us to learn what He has for us. Then we are able to hear Him more clearly and obey as He calls upon us.
Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.
1 Peter 1:17 NIV
When we call out to God, He always helps. The tough part can be knowing how He is helping. This becomes easier to see when we are in close proximity to Him. Think about the relationship we have with close friends. Do we call on the friends that we rarely talk to? Or do we call on the friends that know us well and that we have invested a lot of time into. The same is true with God. He is at our front door knocking. Waiting for us to invite Him into all the rooms of our home. Our door is our heart. Our home is our lives. The rooms are all the areas of our lives that we must invite Him into in order to receive His help. He will not let us get by with a surface relationship. He is waiting and ready for us to call Him into an intimate relationship. Sustaining our walk with Christ means being with Him and investing time and attention into that relationship.
A Story of Refining:
I was married for 18 years and my husband and I felt that we fell out of God’s will. It hit my husband first and I suffered with him. He was in an accident that left him permanently disabled. I believe he was hurt because of his disobedience.
For the word of the lord says for the wages of sins are death, and yes he went into cardiac arrest 3 times. As for me, his wife, I suffered through his infidelity. I stood by his side through 3 years of recovery, until he came out of his coma, and an air ambulance out of the country to the U.S because his accident happened in Central America. I didn't have to do it, but I did because it was the right thing to do. He was living a double life with someone else.
I saw so many miracles take place during this time. God loved me enough to die for me. I knew I could love my husband through it all. Fast forward to now, my journey has been a rollercoaster of pain and curve balls thrown at me. I am and will continue to stand because this too shall pass with God who strengthens me.
- Renee Campos
Strengthen the Christian Planner Family by sharing your experiences. We'd love to hear a story about God's work in your life. Use the form linked below to submit your story.
Considerations for your planner:
- Have you set time aside for God today? Creating habits requires intention. Write your time with God in your planner daily until it becomes second nature.
- Write down a hard time you have been through. Take account of how you were refined in that time. Remember this time the next time hardship comes your way and know that your faith is being stretched and grown.
