Category: Trials

Step Into the River

As soon as the priests…set foot in the Jordan, its waters…will be cut off.

~ Joshua 3:13

The Israelites were not to wait in the camp until the Jordan was opened but to “walk by faith” (2 Cor. 5:7). They were to break camp, pack up their belongings, form a marching line, and actually step into the river before it would be opened.

If they had come down to the riverbank and then stopped, waiting for the water to divide before stepping into it, they would have waited in vain. They were told to “set foot in the Jordan” before “its waters…will be cut off.”

We must learn to take God at His word and walk straight ahead in obedience, even when we can see no way to go forward. The reason we are so often sidetracked by difficulties is that we expect to see barriers removed before we even try to pass through.

If we would only move straight ahead in faith, the path would be opened for us. But we stand still, waiting for the obstacle to be removed, when we ought to go forward as if there were no obstacles at all.

from Evening Thoughts

Photo Credit: Unknown

Be Still and Trust My Plan

My mind and emotions have been running around like crazy recently. I’ve had a few ideas, one of which is a direct-selling job. Another is the possibility of taking a three-month course at a local institute. The hardest part is not knowing. I toss the options around in my head, and do a crazy amount of research, but I just am not certain what to do.

I think another difficult aspect is letting go. My nature is to try to figure everything out, and to make sure what the right decision is. But God has been teaching me that I need to be still. To quiet my mind, calm my heart, and rest my body. What I DON’T want to do is to move ahead of Him, and to take on something that is not His will. That would be a road that I could not and would not want to travel.

“I do not believe we have even begun to understand the wonderful power there is in being still. We are in such a hurry, always doing, that we are in danger of not allowing God the opportunity to work. You may be sure that God will never say to us, ‘Stand still,’ ‘Sit still,’ or ‘Be still,’ unless He is going to do something. This is our problem regarding the Christian life: we want to do something to be Christians, instead of allowing Him to work in us.” ~ Crumbs

I’ve found that I’ve had to force myself to let go of these decisions. To take my meddling hands off of them. It’s amazing how God has already begun to lead me. Just little things, but I know that they are from Him. I believe that if I continue to quiet my heart and listen for His voice, He will show me the right way to go.

“Be still and trust My plan, I’m more than you think I am.” ~ Danny Gokey

Photo Credit: Alex Talmon

Gold in the Rubble

A flood once washed away a poor man’s home and mill, taking with it everything he owned in the world. He stood at the scene of his great loss, brokenhearted and discouraged. Yet after the waters had subsided, he saw something shining in the riverbanks that the flood had washed bare. “It looks like gold,” he said. And it was gold. The storm that had impoverished him had made him rich. So it is oftentimes in life.

Henry Clay Trumbull

Photo Credit: Unknown