“The troubles of my heart have multiplied; free me from my anguish.”
– Psalm 25:17
– Psalm 25:17
There is no doubt that we can all relate to this verse. At some point, if not throughout every point of our lives we have been overwhelmed by the advance of troubles and we have all yearned to be free from them. At my lowest times I have wondered if death might be better than dealing with the pain of it all. Not that I desire death, but in desperation death seems to be the only escape. It is easy and final. But even though it can be an escape it cannot always be a solution.
Strangely enough, as I grow closer to Christ my troubles do not flee. To the contrary, they seem to become more and more - more in number and in difficulty. What then does this mean? Is God not faithful? Is He not good? Does He not truly love me? Or perhaps, perhaps I have just screwed up unknowingly and am being punished.
But the truth is in my heart. Yes, God is faithful. I, however, am of little faith. Yes, He is good. The world, however, is full of evil. Yes, He does truly love. I, however, love myself more than Him.
Sometimes I feel like I’m Peter. I can hear God asking, “Caitlin, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord. Of course I love you. You know I do!” He asks again, “Caitlin, do you really love me?” “Jesus! I do! I love you!” Like Peter, my heart is heavy with the repetition of this question.
Gently He speaks to my heart again. He lovingly tells me to choose Him over myself, to serve others no matter the discomfort I fear, and to follow Him regardless of my own desires.
Love in words is theory. Love in action is proof.
Love in words is weak. Love in action is powerful.
Love is from the Lord, and it is because of Him that it has power.
Sanctified and Surrendered by Caitlin Marie Stacy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
2 comments:
"Love in words is theory. Love in action is proof. Love in words is weak. Love in action is powerful."
That's fantastic. I'm going to write that down in my book of quotes. :) (And yes, i do actually have a book of quotes.)
Cait, I am always encouraged by the things that you write/say. God has done in a good work in you and is continuing to work through you daily, maybe in ways you don't see or understand.
Love you girl!
Yes, Cait. I have come to be more aware of the unseen spiritual warfare that is occuring just beyond what our physical senses can detect. And I believe that as we get closer to Jesus, our soul may be calm but our lives become turbulent. As we draw nearer, we experience the effects of the battle; Satan is at War with our Lord!
IPeter 4:12-13 "Friends, when life gets really difficult, don't jump to the conclusion that God isn't on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner." The Message
So, we learn to expect and accept suffering as we draw near to our Lord Jesus who is fighting for us! The assumption that a growing Christian should experience a life of increasing ease, is not scriptural!
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