From Woodstock up: The Journey

When you were growing up did your parents ever tell you to Toughen up, Or Grow a Spine, or Get a little Backbone, when times were tough? And speaking of back bones how many times have you been to the chiropractor to get yours straightened out a bit? They do seem to weaken and get out of alignment all too often. What is it we really need then to get through these times in which we live?

God and God alone can give me the backbone to stand in His truth when necessary. His word assures me

“He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day” Psalm 9:4-5.

God has taught me in retrospect how to think through and emotionally process every tragic thing that has happened in my life. He is the master Trauma therapist. He heals my emotional wounds and shows me how He was with me through it all. I have tried to share this with family and friends in my writing, but some who experienced those same events cannot wrap their minds around His guidance and reassurance. The fact that bad things had happened to ‘good people’ inevitably causes many to assume there is no God protecting them or showing mercy and compassion.  I have to stand on His truth, however. In Psalm 91 He reminds me that it is His faithfulness and therefore His will to guide and protect me in all circumstances. It is my responsibility to seek him and seriously consider these truths. In every hard situation my perspective is to assert the eventuality that God will elicit growth, wisdom and spiritual maturity from those circumstances. And sometimes He opens the door to something obviously better,under His wings.

Ezekiel 36 reminds us over and over that He sent us our Savior and created the new covenant for His own sake. Can you imagine a God who will do anything necessary to help His chosen people get it right, just because He wants to? It serves His purposes and enables us to worship Him, which is our chief aim.  I receive that precious gift and submit to my Lord, for His sake. Ezekiel 36:22: says

”I Will Put My Spirit Within You “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came”.

Then follows His amazing promises to cleanse us and give us new hearts when He moves to align us with His will for His sake. This is how I rest in the Lord and walk confidently in the truth no matter how difficult.