Recently I heard someone speaking on a topic that hit so close to home, in so many seasons I've walked through.  Have you found yourself in a season of life, or maybe a long season of years that look so opposite to what the Lord has promised you.  In fact, it doesn't even resemble any of the vision He gave you, or the word He gave you.  You may have held onto that word or promise for years, and here you are just barely able to remember what it looked like.  All that promise, all those joyful moments that you experienced with the Lord, and all you see is pain and you may not even recognize who you've become after all this time.  My friend, I know what that looks like and I've lived that too. 

I'm not here to tell you that you aren't supposed to be in those trials, or that we don't go through struggles, because the Bible talks about these.  Going through a trial doesn't mean you are doing something wrong, or have missed something, but the Bible talks about how these kinds of trials change us and grow us.

If you can relate, I want to encourage you further.

We are blessed with a new season and for many it stirs up the desire to make new changes, resolutions and begin things afresh.  It's been on my mind a lot, especially learning new things, processes and new ideas to share in the Community, but I'm also reminded it's more than replacing the old with something new.

I was reminded of that today actually.  When we are made new in Christ, and old things are passed away, that doesn't mean we just replace an old way of thinking with a new way of thinking.  We are transformed, as we encounter the God of the universe, and begin a relationship with Him.  That is far more than just replacing an idea, or believing something new.  That is an entirely new life.

Jacob left his uncle Laban with wives, servants and loads of livestock, in those days that was their wealth and he was a very wealthy man. In working hard for Laban, Yahovah / God blessed the work of his hands and he then was instructed to return to his homeland. He was so wealthy that he was prepared to offer his brother Esau, who he feared meeting, 550 different types of animals as a peace offering from goats, to rams to camels to cows, bulls and lots more. He had so much that even when Esau told him not to worry Jacob insisted and said:
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​This morning as I was paging through the Bible the word suddenly stood out to me. I did a little research and discovered that it occurs 87 times in the Bible!  It’s fun to think that I could be minding my own business and then, suddenly, an angel appears! Or, like the shepherds who were tending their sheep in the field, suddenly, an angel appeared and then many appeared, whoa! I’d be terribly frightened at first too. There’s no gradual process when angels appear, they just seem to pop up out of nowhere, you know, suddenly. As amazing and fascinating as it is, I am left to ponder the method.

What an incredible gift we've been given.  We are made new - a new life!   

I was reading this week in Romans, and just re-reminded all over again about how I was given such a precious gift, and how I operate in faith vs. the law.  God's grace is totally sufficient.  He reminds me that I am to believe by faith, and as I do God imparts to my account righteousness.  Isn't that incredible?  He's done all the work.

I've had days where I don't feel new life, and all I think I see is myself failing.  Then I get reminded all over again to have new eyes to see and ears to hear, what the Lord says and keeps saying.  We are not that person anymore, we are transformed.  

​God promises over and over in His Word that He will strengthen those that trust in Him. He promises to give us confidence that is as sure-footed as a deer, when we live in faith.

I am blown away when I read this scripture - and I know that it is true!!  Limitless.  I know that no matter how large the dream I have, how large my imagination can stretch that God will outdo it all. 

Can you picture it?  Whatever dream you have God's dream for you is far more than you can grasp.  It says here that His miraculous power which resides in you, is what energizes you and strengthens you.  Basically, when we are at rest in Him, He does the work that we cannot and it's his desire to!  

There isn't a place so far away that we can go, so dark that the Lord isn't there.  He is passionate about us, and He is jealous over us to be close.   The Lord meets us in that place, and pulls us close.  He is our very foundation, our rock, our fortress and our strength.

Walking through serious health problems as a child into adulthood, I clung to the Lord just like this verse says,
"Be brave and courageous, and never lose hope. Yes, keep on waiting—for he will never disappoint you!"   I can honestly say that after I walked through that journey, it didn't seriously occur to me that there might be seasons just as hard or sometimes harder that I might walk through.  There have been years where the it felt like the trials just kept coming, but the Lord would remind me of who He is, and who I am in Him.  We all have a choice whether to believe the truth of who God says we are and keep our eyes on Him, or get lost and feel far away from Him.  He's already stated that He won't leave us.