Tag: loss

There is No Waste In God’s Process – Part 2

waste

“I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.”

Isaiah 57:18

At 24, the hardships I have faced, still facing, and watched, and still watching others around me face, has honestly been challenging. I come from a place where abject poverty and hopelessness is a norm. Even after my move to America, I grew up in a community (suburb and all) that fell from grace each time a young life was gunned down or another young life turned to the path of destruction.

So, admittedly, I have asked inwardly and outwardly over the years, through my personal pain and my heartache over the world around me, ‘where was God?’

It took time, prayer, and more prayer to tap into the grace of God, to trust His Way above all other thoughts.

See, God’s Higher plan goes beyond what we see or how we feel even in the face of havoc and discomfort. And I know how hard it can be to keep that in mind sometimes. We have to remain grounded in faith and hope and trust God, and know and know and know that we serve a loving, merciful, and powerful father!

Friend, there is purpose in your pain.

Over 4000 homes were lost in this one tornado. 4000 lives halted, scattered, shattered with one event. I can’t begin to imagine the pain and tiredness from such a life-changing occurrence.

But God’s purpose for the community of Moore was greater than the material things that were demolished in the storm. God’s purpose proved powerful in love and togetherness that became greater than the anguish of losing loved ones. The community of Moore did not wallow in pain. They worshiped IN FAITH AND HOPE… How great is our God?!

Hearts were restored with the fullness of God’s mercy and grace as families drew nearer to one another to comfort and help carry each other’s burdens. Wounds (present and past) were healed as former addicts opened up to the Lord seeking forgiveness and a new start. Faith was strengthened as survivors who clung to the mercy of God in the eye of the storm, praised God for preserving their lives and loved ones…It wasn’t all good, but it was all God.

So I wonder today what parts of your journey the enemy has convinced you was a waste. What has the voices of doubts and hopelessness told you over and over again? What lies of worthlessness and inferiority have you succumbed to in the past? What tragedy has left you without solid grounds to stand or walk on?

Will you please bring it to God today? Will you please come into the arms of your Maker for the comfort you desperately need and has been seeking for in all the wrong places? Do you know that healing comes from God?

Friend, I cannot stress it enough that there is NO waste in God’s process. It is all for His glory!

May your heavenly Father in His tender-mercy, pull you close in your time of loss and despair. May your Almighty father restore your faith and hope today to behold the fullness of His glorious plan in Jesus name. Amen.

God Gives Even When He Takes Away (2)

 give and take

“Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer.”

Proverbs 25:4

The lady’s testimony over the radio was amazing to me. The strength that coursed through her voice was God’s own strength.

God gives even when he takes away.

As I think about the young lady who I am currently praying for, I can’t help but praise God for what He has given her through her short pregnancy, and what more He is about to give her through her healing.

Friend, God restores. And He does so bountifully. Psalm 23 vs 5 testifies to that overflow when it says, “my cup runneth over.”

I wonder if your cup feels empty right now because of the loss or losses you have endured overtime. God says to remind you that He will give you beauty for ashes, because He that made heaven and earth is capable of giving you so much more than you can ever imagine.

Take a minute to absorb the beginning scripture above.

Could it be that the losses you feel are only remnants of the dross that God is taking away to present the finer vessel within you?

The glory of God will surely shine through you for the world to see, you just have to keep standing, sitting, kneeling, and living in faith. No matter what you’ve endured, no matter how bad it hurt you, no matter the discomfort, I pray over your circumstances in Jesus name that the Lord your God will restore you abundantly.

Friend, I give God praise over your life and the doors He shut for you even when you tried relentlessly to pry it open. God knows it all. He sees it all. He alone is God and He is God alone. He knows your wants and needs even before you utter a word of request to the heavens.

When God takes away, He still gives.

You may not see it or feel it, but I know that our merciful God gives and gives. We just have to believe that He is more than able to heal our broken hearts over what we think we lost and open our spirits to receive what He knows we need.

May the Lord almighty touch every broken piece within us over our losses and put it back together for His glory. I pray that our Father in heaven restores our joy and faith in Him to give him praise for the blessings that we have and not yet see, and the ones that we see but don’t recognize, in Jesus name. Amen.