Monday, March 28, 2011

Tough Choices

So often in life we have to make difficult decisions.  For example, in an infertile’s world… “When do I contact a reproductive endocrinologist?”, “What treatments am I willing to pursue and for how long?”, “What drugs am I willing to take?”,  “Do I pursue treatments this month or do I take time off”, “How many IUI’s are realistic?”, “When do we move on to IVF?”, “DO we move on to IVF?”, “When is enough enough and we move on to other options?”, …to the more mundane decisions like, “How long do I wait for my Dr. to call me back before I call THEM back?” or “How am I going to juggle my schedule to accommodate all of the doctor appointments, monitoring appointments and procedures?” 

OK, I could go on for pages and pages about the decisions that we have to make, but we all have to make difficult decisions in life, infertile or not.  And a lot of times there isn’t a right or wrong choice.  There are many good choices, but not a clear path to take. Sometimes there even is a logical path to take but…The question we must answer is, “What is the Lord’s will…what decision does the Lord want me to make?”  We need to be asking the Lord to guide us even in the mundane decisions.  We must pray for wisdom in making these choices so that we know we are walking along the path the Lord has for us.  Sometimes the path He leads us on might not make sense to others.  It might not even make sense in the eyes of the medical community.  But as long as we are earnestly seeking the Lord’s will and obeying, we can be confident that we are right where we need to be.  See the below excerpt from none other than Girlfriends in God.  :)

VERSE: 
“This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.”
   -- Philippians 1:9-10

THOUGHT: 
I don't know about you, but my most difficult decisions are not about choosing between good and bad. I usually know what is good and what is bad, especially when bad involves evil. My toughest choices are when I have to choose between good, better, and best. My love for God usually overcomes my weakness and I choose good over bad. But unless I've placed myself before God's word and surrendered my heart to him in prayer, I have a very tough time choosing between good and best. Yet I'm convinced that much of what God would love to do through us today goes lacking because we've settled for good when he longs to lead us to best!

PRAYER: 
Gracious and Almighty God, teach me your ways and give me your heart as I strive to not only love you, but to know your will and have insight into your ways. Help me to know the best things to do today and through the rest of my life. Give me wisdom to use my time in the best way possible to live out your will in my work, with my family, among my friends, and especially before those who do not know Christ as their Savior. In the name of Jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord I pray. Amen.

 

And a couple more verses on the topic…

“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” James 1:5

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."  Proverbs 3:5-6

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Abundant Life!

“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” John 10:10.

“Jesus lived and died so that we can experience abundant life. Jesus did not come so that we can merely survive life. Pagans can survive life. God’s plan is for us to experience joy and peace – no matter what life holds” (Girlfriends in God).

Isn’t that great?  Jesus came to this earth, suffered beyond our comprehension, died for us and rose again so that WE can have a relationship with Him and live life abundantly!  Live life full of joy!  We do not deserve our salvation, an abundant life nor joy…but through God’s grace we are given those things if we just accept His gift!  And how much better is living life joyfully and abundantly than merely surviving?!?

Joy does not equal happiness.  There are a lot of things that we will go through in life that do not produce happiness…but joy?  Joy is available to us through every storm in life…through Jesus!  Praise the Lord for joy!!  :)

What does that mean to live life more abundantly and full of joy?  To me, it means believing that everything that I face in life has passed through God’s hands BEFORE it reaches me.  Even when I don’t understand it, HE does and has allowed the trials I face. Therefore, if He has allowed the trials to happen then He has a plan through them.  And if He has a plan, then what good is worrying and stressing going to do for me?  Nada. It also means not letting the devil steal my joy.  Yes, I have sad days, I have angry days, but JOY is deeper.  It isn’t conditional or situational.  Joy cannot be taken away from you because true joy comes from the Lord.  Joy is a deep seeded contentment and appreciation that we have a true reason to hope.  It is praising the Lord in the storms of life because He will never leave you, it is thanking the Lord for our salvation when it feels like everything else is falling apart around us, it is trusting that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” Romans 8:28, it is accepting and living in the peace God has given you, it is recognizing all of the many many blessings in your life and realizing they all come from Him...

“The joy of the Lord is your strength” Nehemiah 8:10.

Here’s to living an abundant life full of joy!  :)

Thursday, March 3, 2011

“He Will Carry Me” by Mark Schultz

I have many songs in my blog drafts that have been building up for months and I have not been very good about posting them!  So here is one of the many that are waiting to be posted.  :)  Man how I love this chorus!  How many of us feel like we have been wounded in the battle of life?  I do…but He is ALL the strength that I will ever need.  He is all the strength that YOU will ever need.  He will carry us when we feel like we can’t do life for another second.  Love.it.

“He Will Carry Me”

I call, You hear me
I've lost it all
And it's more then I can bear
I feel so empty

You're strong, I'm weary
I'm holding on
But I feel like giving in
But still You're with me

And even though I'm walking
Through the valley of the shadow
I will hold tight to the hand of Him
Whose love will comfort me
And when all hope is gone
And I've been wounded in the battle
He is all the strength that I will ever need
He will carry me

I know I'm broken
But You alone
Can mend this heart of mine
You're always with me

And even though I'm walking
Through the valley of the shadow
I will hold tight to the hand of Him
Whose love will comfort me
And when all hope is gone
And I've been wounded in the battle
He is all the strength that I will ever need
He will carry me
He will carry me

And even though I feel so lonely
Like I have never been before
You never said it would be easy
But You said You'd see me through the storm

And even though I'm walking
Through the valley of the shadow
I will hold tight to the hand of Him
Whose love will comfort me
And when all hope is gone
And I've been wounded in the battle
He is all the strength that I will ever need
He will carry me
He will carry me
He will carry me

You can listen to the song here.