4/07/2011

Blessings

This morning, I am so thankful that my salvation is wholly dependent on God and not on myself. 

"For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son,... and whom He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called, them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified" (Romans 8v29, 30)

My salvation is of grace from all eternity to all eternity. Sola gratia.

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I am thankful that during times of discouragement, God has seen fit to give me the husband He gave me. I am thankful that He used this series of lectures on Marriage and the Family to teach us ways of communicating that we just did not have in the past.

We are all different, and different situations can discourage different people. I tend not to be too easily discouraged, but sometimes a situation can come my way that may cause me to deflate. Often, bigger battles can be fought with gusto, and a 'small' hiccup can cause me to struggle. The reasons can be numerous: at times I can figure them out. They may be hormonal; they may be caused by extreme tiredness; they may be because of my spiritual condition. But other times, I really don't know why I am so affected emotionally and spiritually by circumstances that, at other times, I would bounce my way through.

How do you cope with discouragements?

Do you take them to your Heavenly Father? Or do you, like me, too often store them up instead of doing what He asks us to do: 
"Come unto Me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)

I am a slow learner. My Lord calls me to come to Him with all my cares and burdens. I have never had cause to doubt His love and His mercy, and yet I am so guilty of storing my woes as though I were better able to deal with them alone.

And so, I am thankful again that He gave me a husband, not only that I can talk to, but who will encourage me to go to my Saviour, who is both my husband and that 'Friend that sticketh closer than a brother'.

So many blessings to be thankful for.

11 comments:

  1. This post is a blessing to me. No matter how we feel, we know that God never fails nor leaves us and He will preserve us to the very end. Like you, I am joyful that God knew me as His own from everlasting and that salvation is of Him and not anything I could do. How wonderful we can go to Him with all our cares!

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  2. All I can say is amen to your post, and amen to pilgrimscottage comment.

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  3. So often we want to hang onto our worries and concerns and continue to carry our burdens. It is a daily struggle to always turn them over to God -- and then not snatch them back to worry over some more. But, oh the peace we find when we let God lift the burden of worry and discouragement off our shoulders. Great post!

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  4. Lately, my mind has been focusing and longing for our heavenly home.....not in a morbid sense by any means, but I am finally beginning to grasp that we cannot fully experience the hope yet to be on this side of heaven. We cannot conjure up feelings in songs or experiences to make it so.....
    Our pastor has been teaching on this. Things are not now what one day they will be! We are still in the separation stage from our beloved JESUS. Can you imagine, my friend, what is in store for us, HIS children? WHAT HOPE we have!!!

    Keep enduring and pressing on......keep looking back to the finished work of CHRIST and forward to the LORD's coming!

    (And I so agree with you regarding the gift of our husbands.....the LORD is so kind. I see my Jeff the same way....)

    Praying for you.....and you for me, ok?

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  5. Oh I too am so thankful my salvation was not left up to me.

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  6. This morning I am thankful that I stalk my own page to see who visits. I saw you came by my page through blogfrog, so I clicked on your name to see who strolled on by. I am thankful that you came by. Two deaths in my family has brought my family closer, including distant family and we will be having our first Bible study together this coming Monday. Your post is exactly what I needed to hear/read this morning. How God gives us messages just when we need them, and just what we need amazes me every time. God is a huge blessing in my life. Your post was a huge blessing to me this morning. Thank you for sharing.

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  7. Hi Anne,
    Amen and dittos! I am so thankful for my husband too. I think we struggle emotionally and spiritually because we are women, and God made us that way. "And the two shall be one" - and that's why He gave us strong, Christian husbands. I go to Him first and then my husband.
    I think it's hard to not store some things up and again, I think it's because of the way God made us. It seems men can so easily put things behind and move on, at least mine can, and a whole lot better than I can.
    God bless and have a nice weekend,
    Anne ♥

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  8. Yes Anne,
    I know what you mean. I am so thankful for my husband too. It seems to me the days are so much darker than they used to be. It is a battle not to allow the oppression get to you. I feel it so strongly if I just turn on the news... not to mention just the things we battle personally. Praise the Lord, He does always bring us through doesn't He. I do believe He is teaching us to step into a higher sphere of faith, so that we can face the difficult days ahead.
    Much Love, and Many Blessings,
    Pam

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  9. Well said. A constant prayer for me...Father, thank you for the joy of my salvation. Thank you for a godly husband who desires Your strength to be in the center of our marriage.

    God is good to save us from the death we deserve, and He is good to give us strong, God-fearing men!

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  10. I love this...women being open about their struggles gives us all courage to be stronger, We are not alone. My best weapon against discouragement (besides God's Word of course) is knowing that it will pass and remembering not to act on it. Let myself feel it, then pray and move on. Good post. Thanks, Lisa~

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  11. Thank you all so much. I'd never have believed how much of a blessing fellow-bloggers could be to me.

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