Spiritual Sundays ~

*You will need to turn the playlist off at the bottom of the blog to view the video.

And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. ~ John 8:32

God's Perfect Timing

I am so glad that God knows best, aren’t you? I remember how frustrated I used to get when people would tell me that things would happen in ‘God’s time’. I believed them, of course, but it took me a long time to agree that God’s timing is better than my own. God’s timing has reached an all new level of significance in my life, as my husband and I just learned two short weeks ago that we are pregnant with our first child (together). As some of you may know, I had a child when I was younger that I placed for adoption, she will be 16 in December. I also have 6 step-children, ranging in age from 20 down to 12, but this will be our first child together. We are very excited to say the least. Actually, we are completely over the moon about the news! However, I really want to share the coolest part of the whole scenario, which relates directly to God’s timing.

My husband and I decided to start trying back in February and come March, when I was not pregnant, I was quite upset. I knew the likelihood of conceiving the first month out of the gate was very slight, however, there was still that glimmer of hope. I was quietly praying to God that this be His will entirely and not my own. As I continued praying, I heard the word ‘August’. It stopped me in my tracks and I repeated the word in a state of confusion. I asked God to repeat this if it was truly coming from Him (a little discernment trick I like to use) and again I heard the word ‘August’. I wasn’t too pleased about it at the time, being that August was still 5 months away, but I stowed it away for safekeeping just the same. I did share this revelation to one close Christian friend who was on the ‘trying to conceive journey’ with me at the time. I didn’t even share it with my husband until after we learned we were pregnant. My husband suffered a very serious toe injury after he cut and broke it on a lawn mower in mid-June. It forced us to take a two month break from our efforts and we were able to start trying again in, you guessed it, August. In the back of my mind I was thinking about how the timing of everything came together and the fact that we were back to trying in August. Wouldn’t you know, that’s when we conceived, I guess God was right again!

I offer this story of our wonderful blessing in the hopes that all of you reading this will believe in the great hope we have in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He does love us and He does want to provide everything we want and need. His promises are true, He delivers on them and He wants to know all of our greatest desires! Bring everything to Him in prayer and He will answer them for you!

Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

God bless you all my friends!

Trudy

Authenticity

Recently, the subject of authenticity has been on my mind. By this I mean personal authenticity, or the quest to be our authentic selves. First, let's take a look at the definition of the word, courtesy of dictionary.com.

authentic: not false or copied; genuine; real

Personally, I consider myself to be much more authentic today than I have ever been before. I think I recognize this authenticity more and more as I see others who are far from authentic. You know the type, backstabbers, gossipers, those who preach one thing and live another, those who treat certain people with respect and others with disdain. As I continued down this list, I found myself becoming more important (in my own eyes, of course) and much more authentic than all of 'those' people. Just as I was settling in to give myself a nice little pat on the back for being so gosh darned authentic, God stopped me in my tracks as He silently whispered, "You are MY authentic self". Immediately, I was jolted back to my reality and realized that not only was I more authentic now than I had ever been, but I was also still every person I had just described in my overly inflated head. Wow, can you say conviction?

As I was wondering just exactly what it was within myself that had brought about this morphing into my authentic self, God revealed to me that it was nothing of my own doing, but everything that He was doing within me. It had little to do with my power and everything to do with His great power. With this bit of knowledge came a great deal of revelation. God began to point out all of the sin within me, even as He was praising me for striving more each and every day to become His authentic self. This was both humbling and somewhat unsettling. Here I was, feeling so great about myself for overcoming so much of the sin that used to hold me captive and define my entire being, only to have God stop me in my perfect little tracks to tell me that the work wasn't finished. I wasn't there yet, that the only perfect one is God Himself. I suppose I'm ok with that, and I praise Him for that. And I will continue to seek this authentic self in Him.

Psalm 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

God bless each and everyone one of you. Live in Him today!

Trudy

6 Words

I'm weak, then I am strong.

God said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. ~2 Cor 12.9-10

Please also remember to lift Andrew up in your prayers today.

Prayer Request for Andrew

Brothers and sisters, please join me in lifting Andrew in prayer. He has been taken to ALL Children's Hospital after tests revealed a large mass on his brain.

We all know that God is our Great Physician and that He still heals mightily today. In the wake of having just received wonderful news from a close friend of mine that God just delivered their son Alex from Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma after chemotherapy was given, I now lift Andrew and his family to God and ask that He may grant them the same healing.

He sent his word, and healed them, and

delivered them from their destructions.

Psalm 107:20

Hold Fast: Help Is On The Way!

Hello, I'd like to introduce myself briefly since this is my first post as a contributing writer on Through Him All Things Are Possible. My name is Trudy and I am a newly, and happily married lady (May, 08) and a step-mother to six beautiful children! I am lucky #3 for my husband, who is a pastoral intern at our church and will enter seminary next year, God willing. I love to write, sing, read, laugh, love and most of all, praise and worship our Lord and King. I am thrilled to be on board here and look forward to contributing! Oh, and selfishly, my husband and I are also trying to conceive our first child so prayers are welcomed and appreciated!

Enough about me though. Let's talk about the superstar of this blog...God! I love the title of the blog, it is a favorite passage of mine. Don't you love how scripture just weaves in and out of our lives at the perfect time, whether we find ourselves in a valley, on a mountaintop, or somewhere in between? God is just so good about giving us the perfect words at the perfect time! I don't always know exactly where to find them in the Bible (though I'm working on memorization), but He paints the words on my heart and then I go off in search of them later. God has been giving me a lot of His words lately, as I find myself in a valley.

Briefly, my husband sustained a work-related injury in October of 2007 and was on disability through June of this year. Since the disability ran out, we have been living on only my (meager) income as we await a decision on unemployment benefits, while continuing to seek gainful employment for my husband. He does work part-time as a chaplain at a nursing home, but that is just one day per month and doesn't provide much at all. While savings has become literally non-existent for us and we run the checking account down to almost nothing each month, we lack for nothing and are so grateful for the gift of one another and the saving grace we have in Christ. We are so fortunate with all that we do have and still delight in serving others every chance we get. God is blessing me with His Word, placing it on my heart, on my mind and on my lips. Here is what He has been giving me lately:

Trust - Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

Grace - 2 Corinthians 12:9
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

Light - Matthew 5:16
In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Hold Fast - Psalm 139:10
even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

As for my husband and I, we know that God is faithful and will carry us through this valley. We also know that if we had nothing more in this world but Him, we would have enough. My friends, God is enough. His grace is sufficient. His grace is plentiful. His mercies are new each and every day. In the midst of this valley, we are chooosing to hold fast.




My prayer for all of you today, regardless of what life is throwing at you, is to hold fast and trust in Him with all your might!

Go forward and let your light shine!

Trudy

Spiritual Sundays ~ Will You Call Him Father?

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. ~ John 1:12-13