Why is it that after you have just had some amazing time with God it is followed with a blah day? Or maybe it's just me...
Monday I woke up with a weight on my shoulders. Nothing tangible, no obvious reason, just a heaviness upon me. One of those mornings where I stare at the sky and the trees and gaze absent-mindedly at my unopen Bible and clean notebook page in front of me. One of those mornings when I need a pep rally to just have the desire to want to get going. One of those mornings when my focus is on the issues of life instead of the Creator of life.
When these mornings, these days, come I have learned I have to just sit and wait. So I just sat and continued to stare out into the open sky and watch the slight breeze sway the tops of the trees and I just listened. Then after some time I took a deep breath and wrote out to God about my heaviness. This didn't cause any weight to lift, but at least it was not hidden. Then I proceeded to open my Bible and started digging into Isaiah chapters 40 and 41.
I wish I could say that the heavens opened and glory came down and filled my soul and the weight was lifted and I walked away from my quiet time skipping light as a feather as I sang the praises of my blessed Redeemer... but I can't.
However, I was reminded by my blessed Redeemer that He had chosen me and not rejected me. I was reminded that I was not to fear because He was with me. I was told that I was not to look anxiously about me for He was my God. I was told that He would strengthen me and would surely help me and He would uphold me with His righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:9-11).
He didn't say that He would remove the blah day, but He would help me and strengthen me. Today I am still in the blah day, but there is less blah than yesterday :-)
The blah days are when we trust what we learned in the wonderful days. As God is carrying us through the blah days, He doesn't leave us without encouragement. When I checked my email this morning I received some words of encouragement from a fellow follower of Christ, Mr Chuck Swindoll:
I don't know what your intimidating giant is today. It may relate to your job, your roommate, or your school. Maybe it is a person, a lawsuit, unemployment, a disaster . . . maybe even your own partner in life. Perhaps it is some fear that is lurking around the corner, sucking your energy and draining your faith. God is saying to you right now, "All I ask of you is five smooth stones and a sling of faith. I'll take it from there. You don't have to wear somebody else's armor. You just trust Me. And I'll strip you down to nothing but faith, and then I'll accomplish a victory where I'll get the glory.
But as for you . . . you trust Me."
Perhaps you don't know what lies across the valley. Maybe you can't get a handle on what that giant is; but it's there, haunting you. That uncertainty alone is a giant. But look at that worry in comparison to the Lord God Himself, and say, by faith, "The battle is Yours, Lord. It is Your battle. I lean on You. I give You all my weapons, all my skills, and I stand before You, trusting You."
It is God's love for us that causes Him to bring us to an end of our own strength. He sees our need to trust Him, and His love is so great that He will not let us live another day without surrendering our arms to Him, giving Him our fears, our worries, even our confusion, so that nothing becomes more significant to us than our Father.
Never, ever forget it: the battle is the Lord's!
So from the pen of Isaiah and from the pen of Chuck, the Lord's message remains the same... trust Him.
I love how God never says, "well if you really loved me you wouldn't be feeling that way." God never condemns us according to our feelings. It is our actions that matter to Him. It's not our feelings, but how we respond to our feelings.
So in these blah days, these heavy days that haunt, these days that have us walking around like those old Looney Tunes cartoons... you know the ones... the ones where the one single rain cloud is above one person's head and it's pouring down rain and thundering and lightening above them and yet the sun is shining all around and on everyone else...
yes, in these days...
trust Him.
yes, in these days...
trust Him.
Thank you so much Nicole!! Blah day is right !! I really needed this word today. I love how God always puts something or somebody out their for his children. Thanks again for the extra encouragement !! Be Blessed!!
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