Quote and a verse

"The last thing I want to do is offer easy answers and simple platitudes. If God has allowed suffering in your life, it is for a significant purpose. so rather than just focusing on getting rid of it, seek to discover God's purpose in your pain, to submit to his plan and his purpose, to please him in how you respond to adversity. You have an incredible opportunity to glorify God just by your simple trust in him during those dark days. He will bring you from the darkness into the light, so look for him in the darkness."- Rick Warren

Psalm 143:8
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.

A Great Quote

For the next few days I'm going to be posting some quotes and Bible verses that mean a lot to me. I am wanting to get rid of some of my paper clutter and unfortunately I have papers everywhere with little anecdotes, quotes, and verses on them. So, in order to do that and have them all in one place I thought this would be a great place to put them all.

"During the times when you and I can't trace God's hand of purpose, we must trust His heart of love. When we don't understand why, we must trust Him because God cares for us more than we can possibly know." - Anne Graham Lotz

Psalm 138:8- The Lord will fulfill his purpose for mr; your love, O Lord, endures forever-do not abandon the works of your hands.

Gratitude

So often I look around and I am in awe of what I see and even more so-what I experience. Life is not easy- it was never promised to be easy. Christ didn't have an easy life so I don't know why my expectations for my own life would be different.

However, I have found in the midst of life I have a choice to grumble and complain or to have an attitude of thankfulness. I wish I could say the majority of time I exhibit thankfulness, but, more often than not it's the former.

The question then becomes- how can I foster an attitude of gratitude?

1.) Dig into the Word- experience the life of Moses, Joshua, David, Jesus, Paul, and all those in between. In the midst of difficulties they still praised God.

2.) Pray- for eyes to see life, to see people, and most importantly- to see God.

3.) Serve- find your passion. Set foot into the midst of where God is working- you will experience God and in the middle of experiencing Him you will experience an attitude adjustment!

4.) WORSHIP- We are created to worship! When we worship- praise will continually flow from our lips and where there is true praise there can be no complaining or arguing!

Philippians 2:14- "Do all things without grumbling or questioning" (ESV)

Words of Encouragement

In the midst of daily lives we often let ourselves get overwhelmed.  I know I often ask myself- "what am I doing here?"  Why have I gone down this path?  Where is God leading me?  Then I feel guilty- as if I am questioning God.  However, as I read the Bible I see that it's okay to ask questions.  When reading 2 Chronicles 15:7- "But you, take courage!  Do not let your hands be weak, for your work will be rewarded." (ESV) I hear God clearly speaking to me.  He is commanding me to be strong!  To hold on- to give it all of our heart- because in the end- when He is looking at the big picture- all those questions- all the struggles-all the daily battles- are going to be worth it.  It will be rewarded, and that's a promise you can count on!