Category Archives: Trials

Sep10

Waiting Part 2: Giving Thanks…Seriously?

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To read Part One of Colleen’s story, please Visit: Waiting Part 1: Pray Big!

Thanks for allowing me to come back and share the second part of my story! My prayer is that through struggles, you will see God’s grace; through pain, you will see God’s comfort, and through this crazy adventure of life, you will see God’s goodness.

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Once God physically healed me, my husband and I were excited that our dreams of children would soon come true. Everyone around us had multiple children, and it was the desire of our heart to fill our apartment with these little monsters:)   But again, God had a much larger plan for us.To this day, I have not been able to get pregnant and I don’t know why.

More pain. More sadness. But this time, I had the reminder of God’s miracle when He healed me a few years ago. So I trusted, even though there were many nights and days of tears and anger. I chose to trust.

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Sep8

Waiting Part 1: Pray Big!

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Before I get started, I just want to say a huge “Thank You!” to Heather for allowing me to be a guest on her blog today. I have been blessed to be in a prayer group with Heather over the last year and a half. We have prayed through valleys together and rejoiced on the mountaintops. I am privileged to call her a sister and friend. Thank you for the invitation, Heather! :)

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It is such a blessing to be with you all today and share a message that God continues to grow me through and teach me about: faith during waiting periods.  In 2 Corinthians 12:7, Paul talks about a “thorn in {his} flesh” that was sent to him to keep him humble. I heard a speaker say once how wonderful it was that Paul’s thorn was never identified. It makes it relatable to us because it can be anything that we encounter! I have come to believe that seasons of waiting have been brought to me to keep me utterly dependent on the Lord. Two verses later in 2 Corinthians 12:9, God states to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” This verse has never meant more to me than it does today. For 10 years I have been in periods of waiting. Every time I come out of one, another one has been around the corner. Here is a bit of my story:

A little over 10 years ago, I was a naïve 26 year old sitting in my pastor’s office. My husband and I were in our last session of premarital counseling before our wedding in September, 2002. I remember saying to my pastor how I just couldn’t wait to cook and clean for my husband. (I laugh every time I think about this!) We will buy a house and then within 3 years we will start our family. My husband and I had the first 5 years of marriage all planned out. But, needless to say, God had other plans in mind for us. Our waiting began on our honeymoon.

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Sep3

Love your neighbor as yourself…

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Quick announcement! Congratulations to Kim Sexton who won the amazing prize bundle from last week’s mega giveaway! Now to today’s guest post from my dear Texas sister Stephanie Clayton!

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I am so excited and honored to be a guest on Heather Bleier’s blog today. I love to spend time in Heather’s online space because she challenges me towards discipline in my walk with God, and discipline is certainly something this free-spirited girl needs! Thank you Heather for having me, I am honored to say the least.

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Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these. Mark 12:30-31

There is something to be said for the hardest, most difficult, gut wrenching times in our life. While we are going through them, we may be numb to what is going on. Our minds have a way of protecting us and keeping us from what would otherwise be overwhelming. But when it comes to the surface, the pain is just as fresh as if it had happened that day. It is all still there. Time does not heal all wounds. Only God heals these kinds of wounds. Wounds of the heart. Wounds of the soul. Wounds of the spirit. Wounds that can only be healed by Jesus.

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Aug20

Bounty Through Obedience

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The following is a guest blog from Laurie Coombs. Laurie is a writer who encourages others to draw closer to the heart of Jesus. She lives in Reno, Nevada with her husband, Travis. They have two little girls and are in the process of adopting one or two more children from Ethiopia. Read more on her Blog and visit her on Twitter and Facebook.

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I knew something happened. Shaking my head, I adamantly whispered, “No. no. no. no…” But with tear-filled eyes they told me. “Laurie, your dad was murdered last night. He’s dead.”

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Aug14

The hardships You send

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I hear phrases like this often these days…

  • Man Satan has really been attacking lately.
  • I must be doing something right, because Satan keeps throwing obstacles in my way!
  • Satan just won’t quit today! It’s just one bad thing after another.

People continually describe their hardships as all coming from the evil one. Whether it’s unruly children, unavoidable hardships, losing a voice right before a presentation, even running out of gas on a busy day gets blamed on the work of Satan.

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Apr6

Jesus’ pain had a purpose…and so does ours…

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Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ~James 1:2-4

I once heard a story about a Florida man who owned an orange grove. This man would only give his trees what they needed to survive; at times he starved their roots for water. As the trees grew, their roots had to dig deeper in search of water, therefore it took longer for them to produce a crop. The other farmers laughed as they pulled in their harvest each year, but the man knew what he was doing. You see, Florida has these occasional natural disasters called hurricanes. Well, a particularly strong hurricane came through this man’s grove and the winds tore at the trees, stripping them of their leaves. The same was true for the groves in the surrounding area…with one major difference. Since the man’s trees had deep roots, they remained standing strong, maybe a broken branch or two, but as a whole, they were intact. As for the other groves, their trees had shallow roots; they had no reason to dig any deeper. Those trees were easily ripped from the ground and shattered into pieces, destroying the tree. The end result, the man who took the time to allow his trees to grow deeper roots, despite having to wait longer for his trees to mature, was able to pull in bountiful harvests for years while the others had to pick up the pieces and start fresh. Read the rest of this entry →

Nov11

The Temptation of Jesus

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One of the Bible studies I am doing right now is on the book of Hebrews written and lead by Wendy Blight.  We’re in the midst of Chapter 2 and the second section, verses 5-18, have been incredible to read.  As Wendy takes us through the verses, we dissect them one by one {I love that!}.  I answered number 11 and all I can think of is how Christ went through direct temptation from Satan; I’ll relate this to question 11 at the end!

First, have your Bible open to Matthew 4:1-11 or click on the link so that you can refer to this passage as we go along.

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