Comfort

THIS WEEK was different. God did something special on Wednesday, and has continued to do things, which are turning me around from how things were last week.

You remember last week's post - loss and anger. Well, on Wednesday I went into church feeling pretty much the same way as I had been feeling for the past few days. This week there was a service called "Engage the Spirit" where people come to just worship, loud and open, singing and dancing and kneeling if they need to. I was coming for two reasons: I needed a place to shout, and I needed a place to be with God and ask for healing. Engage the Spirit was amazing. I went in tearful and I left joyful. Let me explain exactly what happened in there.

God is a God who answers prayer. He listens when those in need call to Him and beg for His help. This week I read Psalm 72. Verse 12 says "For He will deliver the needy when he cries, the poor also, and him who has no helper." There is nobody in the world who lives his entire life without ever having been needy in any way. Whether we have plenty or little, we are all needy for comfort, for strength, for spiritual revival, for something at some point. I had been calling on God and asking for help, and here was His answer, telling me to keep calling on Him and assuring me that He is listening.

We can find peace in God's presence. As the congregation worshipped on Wednesday, the unhappiness I had entered with was just eclipsed. It felt good to worship God, to give Him everything that was on my heart, and to pray for big things to happen at my school. His presence filled the place, and my view was broadened. I realized that He has ideas for us which are way bigger than anything we are dealing with. We ask Him for healing and He just might answer with a call to something greater. By the time I left I was convinced that I was about to be less unhappy. I had also received a greater interest in doing things to serve God, when before I had been feeling like doing nothing at all. Now, every problem didn't fly away at once, but God gave me strength so that I am not overwhelmed, and so that I can keep moving closer to Him.

Isaiah 40:31 says "But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."
Isaiah 41:10 also, "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

I'm in a different place now than I was on Wednesday morning because He is giving me better things to think about than the things which make me sad. I want to do things. I want to show Christ's love to other people. I want to invite people to events and talk to people. And I definitely don't want to stop right where I am and not come closer to Jesus. I'm able to enjoy the amazing weather and the brilliant sunshine.

Yesterday I opened my blinds and saw that the world was more beautiful than it usually already appears to be. There was intense sunlight on the little blue flowers. I had to go outside and walk around. Lately there have been more butterflies than usual. Little orange ones and big blackand-yellow ones. Butterflies remind me of God because they often show up when I'm praying while I'm outside or looking out of a window. Somehow they remind me that He is listening. Because of the bright sunlight I see their shadows from above and I look up. A butterfly does a loop above my head, and I see the big smooth blue sky and the dancing shiny green leaves. The air is cool and the light is bright. I feel like God is still close, and I know that He is about to do some amazing things in my life, and with my life.

Psalm 32:8-9 "[8] I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. [9] Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you."

God has a very good plan. Our job is to seek His kingdom and His righteousness; to love, honor and obey Him. He has our whole lives figured out. Let's not fight Him.