Emotional and Mental Health - The Center of God's Will

 

Most people are either on top of the world right now, or buried under the burden of frustration, discouragement and disappointment. Jesus Christ makes the difference in both of these instances.

Even if someone is totally successful and right where their goals led them over the last few years, they may be as unsatisfied and unfulfilled as they were when they started their journey to the top.

Many people give up at this point and opt for a simpler life, downgrading their salary and vocational expectations for a quieter and less stressful lifestyle.

For Believers, living in the center of God's will is the only place where we find complete contentment. He may continue to lead us in the vein in which we started - adding an altered mindset, or He may change our circumstances completely.

It all hinges on finding and fulfilling God's directives for our life (Proverbs 3:5-6). We completely surrender our will and plans to Him, and live by the direction of His Holy Spirit instead of our human desires.

Even if God leads us through some valley or trial, we find His purpose for us in it. We can witness of His mercy and grace to a fellow traveler, learn a needed lesson, view His provision for us in a whole new light, and grow in our intimacy with Him through it all (1 Peter 4:12).

We learn to depend on His Body during our trials, to grow closer to our spouse, family and church family; our faith grows in the fact that we can count on certain people to help us and that God never fails us.

Prayer:

Father God, some trials devastate us to our very core. They shake the foundations of our trust in You and our faith in humanity. Yet, we often survive these unhappy circumstances with enduring blessings that we never would have experienced without them. Remind us to focus on You in the good times and the bad, giving You praise for each instance as we focus on You - You never change (Hebrews 13:8).

Help us to see life from Your viewpoint rather than our limited, human perspective. Spur us to remain faithful to You in spite of them. We look at life now through Your unfailing love and comfort, according to Your promises and provision (Psalm 119:75-76). Demonstrate Yourself to us in all of Your power and majesty. 

Thought for the Day:

Prayerfully surrendering our trials to God allows us to gain His perspective on what seems like a turn of bad luck; we ask God's Spirit for His wisdom and direction; and we come through these times of testing with a deeper faith and stronger spiritual, mental and emotional fortitude than we ever experienced in our life in the past.

God Provides

 

 

When someone asks me how I feel, most of the time I am going to say, “GREAT!” I am well passed the prime of my life, I have flat feet and I have a spine that is so distorted that my chiro does not understand how I am living such a normal life.

I have to pace myself as I age, but I am like the energizer bunny. It is not due to a type A personality, because I do not have one! I am a melancholy and an introvert from birth.

However, I have learned that there is a seed for a miracle in each trial. For instance, while I learned to survive a divorce by my husband of 22 years, God revealed Satan’s lies that I was alone and abandoned. He taught me His truth that He is my husband and that He alone is my strength and my provider (Isaiah 54:5; Psalm 54:4).

Also, I was t-boned in a car accident in 1995 that broke 11 ribs on my left side, punctured my left lung, gave me a concussion, filled the left side of my face with glass and broke the pinky finger on my left hand.

Yet, I was discharged from the hospital the next day after the accident. I was back to work as a full-charge bookkeeper in one week, and I never took one pain pill. God provided for me above all expectations, amazing my doctors and everyone who suffered through even one broken rib.

The Spirit of God continually provides me with supernatural strength and wisdom to combat any physical impairments, and His joy and peace pervade every facet of my life.

Over the years, God taught me to live in the Spirit and not to dwell on the temporal aspects of life for very long, because every instance of tribulation is a new adventure in Christ and a spiritual phenomenon just waiting to happen.

Prayer:

Father God, I prefer peace, order and stability, but life has a way of throwing us curve balls when we least expect it. Even so, You always fill me with Your joy, which is my strength through any tribulation (Nehemiah 8:10). I despise change, but You taught me to handle it with flexibility and joyful acceptance as I witness Your provision for me.

I love the life You gave to me. I enjoy my family and I adore the husband You provided, because he is so adorable! I love people and I never meet a stranger. I enjoy my opportunities of service to You as a wife, mother, grandmother, homemaker, and in the ministry of Your Army as a spiritual mentor and a Pastor's wife. I give You all the praise, which is due to Your name.

Thought for the Day:

God leads us and guides us each moment of the day; and He keeps us on His straight and narrow path, because of the spiritual enemies of His Kingdom. - Psalm 23:3, 5

 

God Meets Our Needs

 

Life's challenges often isolate us and cause us to understand loneliness like we never experienced it before now. We feel abandoned, neglected and even ignored.

Our friends surround us during the funeral of our loved one; but then they forget to call, come over to visit, invite us to their home or on an outing in the ensuing weeks.

This loneliness causes us to look inward and we find a void there as well. God seems distant and we either panic or get angry with Him for forsaking us.

There is no Biblical evidence that God ever leaves His children. We leave Him, but He never leaves or forsakes us, and He always stays closer to us than a brother (Hebrews 13:5; Proverbs 18:24).

We often develop expectations and requirements, which we imagine God fulfilling. We have our own timetable and we are devastated when God does not meet our demands.

We seek blessings, which He knows are not for our good at this time in our life. He has other plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11), but we often have no patience to wait on God's timing to meet our needs.

God knows everything about our life from beginning to end (Proverbs 5:21). He promises to meet all of our needs through His glorious riches (Philippians 4:19).

Rather than stewing in the juices of our loneliness, we can take up a hobby, join a civic organization or exercise at the local health club. Getting more involved with our church family is the best use of our unscheduled time.

Prayer:

Father God, teach us that rather than focusing on our desires, we can view the needs of others around us and pray about You using us to meet their needs. Allow Your Spirit to guide us to the exact person You want us to help. Otherwise, we may not be in Your will and we may thwart the plans You have for that person.

Open our eyes and allow us to meet new people, which we can invite to join us at our church or our local Bible study. Remind us to look for people sitting alone, so we can greet them and allow them to see Your peace and joy in us to bring them a smile to encourage their day.

Thought for the Day:

Sometimes we accuse God of not caring; however, hindsight always reveals the effort of God's Spirit behind the scenes, working out all things for our eventual good.

- Romans 8:28; 1 Peter 5:7