Growing in God

It still amazes me the way that God works. His ways are in no way my ways and his timing is definitely not on my time schedule. I have been waiting for the funding to purchase my farm from the FSA. sometimes I do not know if the seller will wait any longer and they may sell it to somone else. so the waiting has been difficult for me. many a days I have felt like giving up, like nothing would ever go right, and that no one else has to go through this. Many days God has reminded me to keep trusting him, and to lean on his ever strong arms. that no matter what happens he is in control, and nothing can go out of his will. the other day i just felt that I must being doing something wrong that I keep having to wait like this. when I had my prayer time nothing seemed to encourage me to trust in God and so I was having a pretty good pity party when I began to read my daily reading. (I try to read good Christian books usually a chapter a day after my prayer time, if I have the time) I have been rereading Stones of Fire by Isabel Kuhn, when I came across this little jem of truth. "I had been feeling that no one had such heavy trials as I had. But doctor said that everybody has trials and that they are purposely allowed of God that we may develop and grow in our spiritual lives. That was a great help to me, changing my point of view. Even as a limb of the body needs exercise or it will become unusable, so we Christians must have circumstances that cast us upon God or we will never experience the strength of His undergirding arms or the faithfulness of His love toward us." it amazes me that no matter where we are and how alone I feel there are others out there who feel just like me. but what amazes me even more is that we serve a God you loves me so deeply, and yet knows exactly how I feel, and is strong enough to help me. Heb 4:15-1615 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (from New International Version) It is reassuring to know that I need this stress and strain so that I will grow into the likeness of my savior.

Living and Dying

I cannot beleive that it has been a month since I last wrote! time continues by in a streak of lightning today it is today and the next thing you know another year has slipped its way pass. So much has happend and yet so little really changed. I have been busy and as always getting seamingly nothing done. Today I picked up "The Normel Man" by DR cho and was captivated by a short part about dying with Christ. I was not all that surprised as he related that we died with Christ, but the time of our death was when Christ died (it is all in the past tense) meaning that we have already died! know I know that it sounds good and that yes to a point we did die with Christ, but if that is the case then why does my dead self raise its head up in my life? and that same dead self dosn't act dead! even more clearly the apostle Paul in 1 Cor 15:31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.KJV says that he dies daily. I think maybe even though the work is done on the cross that daily we must walk and live that death out in our lives! Not that we didn't die with christ but that we must stay and continue to live in that death that we can then raise and live new in Christ!