Nine years and six days after losing my dad in a horrible vehicle accident I loss my mom in a horrific vehicle accident. I didn’t get to say good bye to either. My dad I saw just a few days prior but my mom I hadn’t gotten to see in months. She had planned on visiting and we had plans to visit also.  Events like this in life can really change one’s perspective. 

I have had several deep heart to heart talks with God. It has felt like it’s been one thing after another and I just can’t catch a break. So much has happened the last couple years. I try to have faith and trust in God but at times honestly it’s so hard. I started doing a devotional and journaling with it. Truly laying everything at his feet. 

Recently I saw my husband in bed sleeping and such joy and peace came over me about how blessed I am. I was running errands and found myself with such joy and peace and a smile across my face. I was doing dishes and found myself with such joy and peace and even a smile though I hate doing dishes.  More and more lately I find myself smiling, feeling joy and peace. It’s not something this world can give you but it’s what God can give you no matter the circumstances you are facing. 

I still have moments of grief, tears, and disbelief that my mom is gone and even that my dad is gone. But I have come to a place that even though I have been through hard, painful events I can’t stay in the despair and the hurt. Instead, I will embrace what the Lord gives everlasting, unfailing love, peace, and joy in the heart. 

I want to encourage you today that you don’t need to stay in the despair or hurt either. It won’t always be easy and sure there will be moments that you are overwhelmed with grieve but don’t dwell there. The Lord can and will give you overpowering peace and joy that this world can never give or take away. 

Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!” Nehemiah 8:10

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

The Lord gives his people strength.
    The Lord blesses them with peace. Psalm 29:11

​How I can relate to this. When I focus on the negative then my life just feels like one trouble after the next. It feels relentless, a never ending stream of issue after issue. Focusing on the negative can lead you down a very dark destructive path. I know I have been there too many times.

I now try to focus on the second part of this scripture “but the Lord delivers him from them all”. No matter what troubles have come I am still here because God has gotten me through them all. God is my strength. God is my comfort. God is my healer. I am far from perfect I have moments of weakness and despair but I choose to remember all the good God has done for us and gotten us through.
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No matter what the trouble you are going through right now or the next one that comes I encourage you to focus on the fact God will get you through it.

I love how God gives us different perspectives/revelations depending on the season we are in. 

Years ago I heard a song that said “He gives and takes away" and I remember getting angry at it. To me at the time it sounded like it was saying God will give you something then just take it away to be mean. I wrote a post ranting about that he only takes away if you ask him too. 
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I recently heard the song again and couldn’t help but smile because I have a different outlook on it now. God gives good things he doesn’t take the good things away.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 

For example: he doesn’t take a loved one cause he needed an angel. 
However at times God does take things away. He takes away our sins, shame, guilt, pain, brokenness, and such when we ask him. 

John 1:29 "The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"
Psalm 34: 17-18 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

I also believe that because he sees the whole film of our lives and not just a few clips he takes away things that aren’t the best for us. 

For example: maybe a job opportunity that in the moment sounds amazing or one feels is their only option. When in reality it’s truly not the best thing for the person in the long run.  I have been there several times for myself and my husband and I can say in the moment it was so disappointing. As time went on though we learned that it was a blessing it was taken way because there was something way better for us. 

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
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We have to depend on God for everything. We have to trust him to give us good and take away what is not good.

Happy New Year!! I have heard people talking about goals & resolutions for this new year and I wasn't feeling those words. I wanted a different and better word for me. One that didn't make me feel like a failure if for whatever reasons the things on my list didn't happen. I was taking apart my Christmas tree this morning pondering on what word to use and it hit me: Hope. I hope and trust God will empower me. I thought I would share this idea and several scriptures on hope. I pray all that read this have a blessed year!

You are my refuge and my shield;
your word is my source of hope. Psalm 119:114

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD.” Jeremiah 17:7

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

“‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I hope in Him!’” Lamentations 3:24
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“Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope.” Psalm 16:9