Okay, so I know that I usually only do book reviews on here. But tonight I want to share some thoughts with you:
Whenever I go through a bad time, I always ask God to renew
me and to once again fill my life with His joy and peace.
Well, lately, I have been taking walks where I just talk to
God and think about things. And I started thinking about it that God says He
will never leave us or forsake us. Which means, He is always there in our
lives, even when we feel alone. So why do we feel alone? And if He never leaves
us, then why don't I feel His peace and joy in my heart sometimes?
Big questions. So of course they have complicated answers,
right? Or at least really deep ones? Wrong! At least, it's not complicated to
me. Not anymore.
I have always said that some things are a choice. Things
like contentment and loneliness. You can be in a room full of people and still
feel lonely, and you can be all by yourself and not be lonely at all. Or, you
can be in a group and feel surrounded and loved, and you can be totally
miserable by yourself. It's a choice, a frame of mind, a point of view.
So, yes, I have been saying that for years. But I still
couldn't figure out why there were times when I couldn't feel God with me or
feel His peace in my heart. And then a couple days ago it hit me.
Yep, you guessed it. It's a choice.
During a really bad time in our lives, when we are there
feeling miserable and lonely and all torn up inside, asking ourselves where God
is and why He isn't with us, guess what? He is right there next to us. We are
just choosing not to see Him. We are choosing our misery rather than the peace
He is offering us.
I don't know how many times I have chosen discontent over contentment,
misery over joy, loneliness over the fullness of God's presence. Every single
time, I sit there and I say, "God, I am SO miserable! Why aren't you doing
anything about this? Why aren't you here with me? Can't you come back and fill
me with your peace and joy again?" And all the time, He is right there.
And His peace and joy are right at my fingertips. But I just turn a blind eye
and keep on crying out.
God doesn't break His promises, people! He WILL NEVER LEAVE
US. Yes, we are going to have problems and bad things are going to happen. But
we don't have to go through them alone. He wants to be there and help us
through them. And if we don't reject it, His peace and joy will be with us and
fill us through it all.
But it's up to us to decide if we are going to let Him do
that. We can go it alone and be miserable, or we can stop pushing Him away and
have peace in the storm.
I know what my choice will be. What about you? :-)
