One of those times is when storms or trials hit our lives. All He has to do is withdraw from us for a tiny bit, for whatever reason, and we feel the loss. We start calling out to Him if we are close to Him, and we start seeking Him if we don't know Him. That brings me to Part II of the lesson that I did on Saturday for the ladies at Madison St. and their guests. As you can see from the graphic above, we dealt with the, "Why" of storms or trials. That is a question that we often utter when we run into trials or storms. So, let us talk about it.
- 1 Peter 1:6-7 New King James Version (NKJV) 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (As a child of God, we command the attention of the rest of the world, whether we realize it not. People watch us to see how we are going to react in certain situations. We will talk more about this in Part III on tomorrow. "Just remember that we are the light of the world, a city that cannot be hidden." {Matthew 5:14 NKJV})
- 1 Peter 4:12 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; (We are told here that we will suffer trials {storms} because we are living to be Christlike and as He suffered, so must we, all for the glory of God. We are told to expect it, and as long as we remember who holds the reins of control over what can ultimately happen to us, we can hold on and keep stepping for our God.)
2. Sometimes we are allowed to go through storms so that we can bless others with the success of our story. Isaiah 50:4 says, (and I am paraphrasing) that the "Lord created in His servant the tongue of an encourager so that the servant could have a word fitly spoken to his fellowman who may get weary from time to time." Look at it like this. If I had never suffered through any storms, then there would be no way that the remembrance of my storm and how bereft I felt before the Lord rescued me could benefit you in your storm because I would not have that memory to draw upon. But, oh now! I can tell you how I felt when the storm hit my life, how I felt during the storm and how I felt when the storm was over. That my friend is a story to tell. We will talk more about the results of the storm in the conclusion of the lesson on storms on Thursday. It will bless your life.
3. The last thing that I want to say to you with regards to the reason for storms is something that I have told you time and time again. If you are living your life trying to please the Lord, then the adversary is aware of your efforts. Remember in the book of Job how the Lord was bragging on Job to the adversary? And what was the adversary's response? "No wonder! You have blessed all that his hands have touched and have blessed his possessions throughout the land, that is why he fears you. But if you take all of that away, he will curse you to your face." Y'all, I paraphrased that conversation, but that is the gist of it. The Lord responded to the adversary and said, "All that he has is in your hand but upon him, do not put your hand. And so began the trials of Job.
Doing What I Can, While I Can Because I Care,
Alma L. Stepping On Jones
Yes, I am taking quite a while saying all of this to you, and that is because you were not there on Saturday to hear my different voice inflections and what-have-you to help the main points of the lesson stick. Therefore, I have to try to use enough words for you so that you can grasp the feel of the atmosphere that I created in the session. Better yet, you can always get your own copy of the book Chopping My Row, from Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble so that you can make notations in it with references to key points that speak to your particular storms that you have had or are enduring. Again, it will bless you. Until tomorrow, then when we will hit the meat of storms and I will give you an example of one of my storms and my reaction to it.
Oh, so you think that I talk a lot, do you? (tee hee) No, I am quiet... What?... That was the exact reaction I got when I said the same thing to the group on Saturday. They laughed out loud. Then I drove another one of my points home, with sweetness. I said to them, "Yes, I am quiet, and if you put me in a room where I don't know anybody, you will see me off in a corner someplace being quiet and observant. Then I told them, "But if you put me up in front of folks and expect me to represent my Father, then that is a horse of another color. What I have to do then is remember that it is not about Alma and Alma has to go on over in the corner somewhere and sit down. It is representation time for the Lord, and that means doing all I can to portray His love to my fellow ladies by the way I present my lesson. You know my motto, "Doing What I Can, While I Can Because I Care."
Understanding the, "Why" of things
Can make for easier acceptance of
Some of the changes that life brings.
However, it is not given to us to understand
Everything that comes to hand because if that
happened we would no longer be walking by faith
But by everything that happened in accordance
With the way we had our lives planned.
Having faith in Him is a necessary requirement
Of making it to that other land
And since I know that He already has a life plan
For me anyway, I will just lean on Him and
Trust Him to take care of me no matter what
Happens because the stories in the Bible and
Things that have occurred in my life reassure me that He can.
I do my best to whip out a poem for you along the subject that is being discussed because I know that some of you like my poetry that much. I do appreciate your readership of my blog. God bless.
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