Categories: uncategorized
Date: 05 February 2006 19:38:38
Isaiah 40:31
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
This morning the preacher at our church was nervous. She prayed that God would use her words to speak to one person in the congregation as she didn't feel that her sermon was very inspirational. Her prayer was answered.
This morning I finally managed to get to my own church, relatively stress free apart from a last minute sock hunt. As I drove there, I prayed that I'd be able to close my mind to the worries and concerns of the day, the miriad of thoughts that keep bombarding my mind just lately, and focus on the message. My prayer was answered.
God spoke strongly this morning. He spoke through the readings, He spoke through the prayers, He spoke through the hymns (apart from the last one which I always find really quite corny!) - and amazingly He spoke using specific words that are personally significant to me and to the Smudgelets. The service was based on the words of Isaiah, on Pilgrim's Progress, on the Footsteps poem. I felt the strength of God rushing into me for the challenge I'm facing and which is to come. I felt comfort for myself and also hope for the future for Dad... and yet again I heard those whispered words "Just trust me". For the Smudgelets I was moved to hear the preacher reiterating the words I'd used with them just last night. We talk a lot, Smudgelet and I, about the bags of sadness and troubles which everyone carries on their journey through life, and the way that how much they weigh you down depends on two things - how you carry them, and whether you let anyone share the load. How it's easier to carry them on your back and look forward than it is to carry them in your arms and focus on them. How sometimes you need to take the bag off your back and sort through it - discarding some sorrows as no longer needed and having a cry over others before putting them back in the bag.. but that then you put them into the bag and put it behind you once again to carry it more comfortably. And that another pair of hands can make the burden lighter, whether those hands be God's or Mummy's. And wow - the preacher described it just the same way, showing a picture of Pilgrim carrying his burden.
Praise God for that still small voice of calm.