I Am & I Will

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.

Isaiah 41: 10, 13

I think the first time that I ever read those two verses was the day of my very first job interview. I was 15 years old, didn't know what to expect, and I was terrified. I can remember reading them in my Bible that morning and feeling so excited because I realized that the Lord saw my need for His help and strength. He directly spoke to me through His Word and promised me that that was exactly what He would give me for my interview. I hid that verse in my heart that day, and just very recently, God pulled it out of the place that it had been tucked away in for so long, and made the promise of that scripture very real and personal to me once again. 

A few weeks ago, I had "one of those days." Emotions were running high, feelings of insecurity and anxiousness were rising up in my heart, and I just felt physically and emotionally spent. Sounds like I was pretty pleasant to be around, right? ;) I had just come back from visiting my family in Kansas and was trying to adjust back to my school and work schedule again. I was just...tired. And I felt overwhelmed. And the tears flowed freely right in my office at my desk. That night, I was still feeling stuck in the same emotional slump so I tried to read and pray for awhile. The Lord led me to read in Isaiah, and the same verses He used to help me as a 15 year old girl, scared for her first job interview, were the same verses that He used to help me as a 20 year old woman, trying to juggle a busy schedule and understand why I was feeling the way I was feeling. But this time, something different stuck out to me about these verses. 

Seven different times in those two verses, God uses the words, "I Am" & "I will." There are no if's, maybe's, or might's about it. It's a solid promise that I can depend heavily upon. 

In those moments, He gently whispered these truths to my aching heart:

Amie, 
I AM with you when you miss the people that you love most and feel a little lonely. I WILL strengthen you when you get weary while you try to complete the tasks that are before you. I WILL help you with your school classes when they intimidate you, or on those mornings when you feel like you are too tired to get up and go to work. I WILL uphold you when you have those days that you feel like you might fall apart. And I WILL hold your hand and walk with you on these paths I've placed before you. 

Those are promises that I can fully and completely depend upon. He will come through for me, every single time, right on time. His Word IS TRUTH. I repeated that verse to myself over and over again the next day, and I felt His presence with me so strong and real. Meditating on His truths drove away Satan's lies, and I faced the next day with peace in my heart. I can have that peace every day and so can you. 

Just remember, in the middle of your "I'm not" and "I can't" days, Jesus says, "I Am and I will." 

And that's a promise you can depend on. 

I Will Remember... A Reflection on Psalm 77

The Lord gave me alot of help through this Psalm as I read it last night and I thought I would use the blog that I never use to share my reflections about it ;) 

First thing that I noticed is what the Psalmist (Asaph) stated in verse 2a:

2a... In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord...

In the day of his happiness he sought the Lord? No. In the day of his trouble. Truth is,  it is much easier for me to cry unto God (vs.1) in my time of trouble than in my time of happiness. And I know i'm not the only one. When life seems to be going my way and the sky is blue in my own little world, I often forget how much I need the Lord. It's in those daily troubles and irritating situations that the Lord uses to get my attention and bring me back to the reality that I desperately need Him every second of the day! 

3b ...I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed...

The result of complaining is an overwhelmed spirit. As I read that last night, I recalled a few specific times that day at work or school that I complained about something. And complaining really does bring about an overwhelmed spirit! I asked the Lord to guard my tongue and turn my complaining into praise!  

Verse 4-6

4 Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

5 I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.

6 I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search. 

He is so troubled that he can't sleep or speak? (vs.4) It seems like he is in a heavy discouragement and pit of despair. I think we have all been there at one time or another! What really struck me was the questions the Psalmist asked in the next 3 verses...

7 Will the Lord cast off forever? And will he be favorable no more?

8 Is his mercy clean gone forever? Doth his promise fail forevermore? 

9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?

Whatever situation that he was facing greatly troubled him, which caused him to complain, which caused his spirit to be overwhelmed. His overwhelmed spirit caused him to not be able to sleep or speak, which caused him to think deeply about what was troubling him. All of those negative thoughts and emotions consumed him and brought him to the place that he is at in verse 7-9. Every question that he was asking went completely against the truth of God's Word and God's character. Look at the dangerous place where our negative thoughts and emotions can lead us to? This is where it gets good. I really like the next part. The Psalmist says:

10 And I said, This is my infirmity: BUT I will remember...

(He made a CHOICE)

... the years of the right hand of the Most High.

11 I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.

12 I will meditate also of thy work, and talk of thy doings. 

He chose to remember what the Lord had done for him and how good He had been to him! Not only did he choose to those things remember but he meditated on them. Not only did he meditate, but he talked about what God had done for him. He made a choice to shift his whole thought process regardless of  how he felt. He thought about the goodness of the Lord instead of what troubled him, and that brought him out of his pit of despair! 

13 Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?

14 Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou has declared thy strength among the people....

Look at the difference in his attitude and words? All because he made the choice to think right and meditate on what the Lord had done for Him in the past. His complaining was turned into praise. The Lord really touched me with this because it's so easy for me to get caught up in my own thoughts and emotions and I sometimes get myself discouraged.  It's easy to get discouraged from things that happen in our personal lives and from the things that are happening around us because we don't live in a trouble free world. We are all living in some very tough times. This Psalm encouraged my heart to keep my thoughts on Jesus and my eyes fixed on Him. Whenever I am tempted to get a little discouraged, I will remember...

And I hope you will, too :)