The Reckoning

I wrote this in 2018. In the battle of our life when Ralph and I were facing so many changes and our life looked nothing like we thought it would. And even in these days, we had no idea the harder days that lay ahead. But God has a way of using where you are and getting you ready for where you are going to walk.

This word given in 2018 got me through the next seven years and is still the truth I walk in today.

When all around me seemed to fail, when what I thought I knew was questioned by what was happening, when I need a stable place to stand... this is where I found peace and life and joy.

Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and they word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. Jeremiah 15:16

No matter what it looks like around you, there is a way through, a stable place to stand and a hope that will lead you on.

The Reckoning

Have you ever been in a place where your faith had to face your doubt?

Your courage had to face your fear?

 Your answers got called out by questions?

 All you knew suddenly stood facing the unknown and you need direction?

It might be a storm blowing in or a wind of change that you feel in the air. It might be a sudden weight that starts to break you down because you are just carrying too much excess stuff. It might be a messenger sent with the word of a threat of what might happen. It might be illness or money or doctrine or age or the news. But the trying will come. Shaking will happen.

And you will decide...

And you won't decide out of feelings... because now you know your feelings can't be trusted.

You won't be able to decide out of someone else's opinion, because you know people can mean well and be wrong.

You won't be able to lean on old things because they are not working anymore.

All of a sudden, the new has come and it looks nothing like you have seen before and you don't have anything to gauge it by.

Except... those things that do not change.

This is when you dig down to the root and the branches may have to be pruned.

You have to dig down to the foundation.

You may have to admit that some things you built were wood hay and stubble and must be burned.

You have to get back to the truths that cannot be shaken and stand on them.

Laying aside the weight and sin that so easily comes upon you... run. Run the race that is set before you.

When you free yourself of the excess burdens you have picked up along the way... you can run on.

When you get back to the truth of God's Word over your life... you can run on.

When you feel the wind of the Holy Spirit carrying you... you can run on.

And fear... it falls to the wayside, doubt is burned in the rubbish you threw away, questions and weariness crumble before the truth that makes us free.

Free to run on...

The unknown becomes a place you hope for in the presence of the God who is the beginning and the end. The one who knows the plans he has for you. The one who built a foundation that will stand the test of any storm you may face.

As I pray this morning, I pray for renewed strength, peace and joy, I pray you to find your feet standing steady upon a sure foundation. I pray hope will pull you forward and that you will, run, run, run toward all God has for you!!