Monday, September 12, 2011

God repeats Himself a lot.

At least, when it comes to His messages to me, He does. I need that. I rarely get ideas the first time around. This summer it started with the book "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp.  This week it was in a verse that came from our pastor's message yesterday in reference to the tragedies of 9-11.
The message for me.... He bring the good and the bad, the light and the dark, the blessings and the disasters, ALL are GIFTS from Him.
How can I take only the good gifts? I must accept the "bad" ones as well. Accepting pain is not fun.  But He showed me a long time ago, my relationship to Jesus Christ is about acceptance of His will. Tragedy is, as pastor said yesterday, about a call to repentance and a right relationship with Him.
Now that I have gone through tough stuff, and still am going through tough stuff, I find that when I embrace Him and the difficulty He puts in my life,  the bond I gain with Him is like no other feeling in the world.  There is peace, and strength, and calm. The sadness does not disappear, the pain either, but the reward of that bond with Him is priceless.

I don't fear the tragedy anymore.  I don't fear. He is there.

Here is pastor's outline from yesterday, it is really a great outline:

"Revisiting Calamity and September 11"
1. Calamity is under God's sovereign control. Amos 3:6 and Isa. 14:24
2. Calamity is the natural and inevitable consequence of sin. Isaiah 45:7
3. Calamity is not a sign of the extreme sinfulness of its victims. Luke 13:1-5
4. Calamity is a reminder that everyone will die. Heb. 9:27
5. Calamity is always a call to repentance. Luke 13:1-5

No comments: