God gives Hope to our Weary Souls

                         

                        Give Me Jesus Bracelet

“And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.”

‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭1:18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

After I read this verse I am in awe of how God gives hope to our weary souls. Pouring out our souls before the Lord empties us of the despair we can feel in our difficult situations doesn’t it? Like Hannah I went through times of sadness when parenting a strong willed child was hard and all I felt was despair. I felt the thoughts of people wondering why our child was the outsider and how we must of messed up in our parenting. I couldn’t change the situation but I could pray.  

God meets us there and leaving our burden with God and truly believing Him for the outcome is where our faith is strengthened.  Raising our children is kingdom work and I believe we keep fighting the good fight for our children daily giving them back to the Lord. 

He is the perfect Father and will bring joy into our lives through difficult times! 

My takeaways from 1 Samuel 1-2 this week are:

•faith is believing God hears my prayers

•faith is living like God has already answered me

•faith in Christ the Lord guards my heart from what others think of me 

Accepting Forgiveness

 I couldn’t forgive her. 

I knew what she had done. 

She had confessed and by the grace and mercy of God she was set free. She was forgiven. This is our free gift of grace when we pray and confess our sins to God. 

If there is unconfessed sin in our life then there is a barrier between us and God. 

I knew this barrier too well. God hears the prayers of the righteous of the man (Prov. 15:29)  meaning living in obedience.  There is also another part of forgiving others including ourselves. 

My barrier was I couldn’t forgive myself for my sin but God had already. I had to understand the mercy bestowed on me was to be believed not doubted and shared with others. I had to learn the love and forgiveness of God surpasses my human understanding.  This the beauty of the gospel that says, Jesus will save you when you ask Him, Jesus will forgive us when we confess our sins and continues to sanctify us as we dwell in Him. 

Maybe you have struggled with this too? 

It isn’t naturally in us to forgive but Jesus is calling us to a higher standard. We are called to abide in His righteousness and when we pray confess our sins so that there isn’t any barriers between Him and us. Pray for forgiveness for yourself and for others and believe Him friends! 

Bless you friends! I would love to hear your testimonies below

Tracy  

Faith and Prayer

 “Because of your little faith,” he told them. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭17:20‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Our faith is always being tested. Prayer requires our faith, trust and submission to God.  God said nothing is impossible for Him but my faith hasn’t always displayed that belief.  A big part of prayer is believing God. 

There has been a heaviness lately on my heart and I couldn’t believe God would ask such a hard thing of me but God does ask us hard things of us sometimes like leaving the closeness of family, the comfortable home/job or to be a caregiver to someone. 

All these things can stretch us emotionally and be super hard but Jesus is who we are to trust and follow. He is where our loyalty lies in the face of decisions.  Come to Him in faith, believe and our joy will be made complete. (John 16:24) 

Today may my heart believe God. That He has my best in mind even when I don’t see or understand but that I will follow and may our mountains be moved today because we trust in Jesus name, amen! 

Bless you friends! 

Waging War Against the Enemy

 

For although we walk in the flesh, we don’t wage war in fleshly way, since the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. 

1 Corinthians 10:3-4

I feel like we can see and feel the spiritual war going on around us more than ever. Can you see it too?  

It’s always been there and even in my life I feel it.  Spiritual dryness has crept in since March and I have struggled to keep doing what God wants of me.  I have questioned why are bad things happening around us and found looking for the goodness of God amongst all the bad we can easily see helps my attitude and helps me to lift my eyes upward instead of down and inward. 

Strongholds of sin and spiritual dryness can be demolished by picking up the armor of God. (See Ephesians 6)  It is this discipline of going to God even when we don’t feel like it and waging war against the enemy who wants to keep us away from seeing the good.  God will reward you and you will see the faithfulness of God around you as we in His strength seek Him. 

His Word is living and active and it will fill us up like fuel and soften our hearts toward Him and others. Praying will give us power and hope that only comes from Christ!  

Pray: 

Lord, arm me with your words today that I will hear them louder than the enemy. 

Forgive me where I have been lazy in seeking you for help when I don’t feel like it.  It is in my weakness you are magnified. You are my strength and I have hope because of you Lord💜 amen

Blessings 

tracy