I recently read a really good book, Mistaken Identity by the Van Ryn and Cerak families. It is a true story about two college students who were in a horrific car accident and their identities were switched. One girl survived the crash. One did not.
Both families had incredible faith that carried them through this tragedy. Because of their willingness to share their grief process and how they coped with a child in a coma, they brought many to Christ.
Life is hard, God never promised it would be easy, (in fact He tells us life will be more difficult because we believe in Him), and for many it is incredibly difficult. God allows much heart ache. If we are able to give it to God, have Him carry us through it, then others truly see we have something amazing living inside of us...Christ.
Dear God,
You give us wonderful promises of eternal life because of our belief in Jesus, and you promise life here will be hard. Through our rough patches, may we glorify You and press on, as our lifetimes will only be a blink in the grand eternity You have prepared for us. Lord, I thank you for the role models that are, and have been in my life who have shown that relying on You will lighten the burden. My mom; my husbands mom, who is now with you dancing, the MS completely forgotten; my grandmother, who longs to come home to You, her best friend, and to see my grandfather again. Please give me the courage to say, "I will praise you in the storm" when the storms come. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Ecclesiastes 11:5 "As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. "
1 Peter 4:12 "Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed."
John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
Click on the link below to hear the song, Praise You in This Storm, by Casting Crowns
http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=409dd854ebeaea7db546
1 comment:
It's in these times when you are introduced to some new definitions of 'praise.' It's not always lifing holy hands and screaming "Hallelujah!" Sometimes, it's just being able to come to Him in a moment of prayer....tears and no words. But just recognizing that He is the only awesome God--that's praise!
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