"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." Isaiah 41:10

Struggling,
Jenn

I've been reading in 2 Kings, and the thing that keeps hitting me is personal responsibility: doing what's right, no matter what anyone else is doing. All the way through the book, the kings either "did that which was right" or "did that which was evil." There's no pattern to it. Just because John's dad did what was right didn't guarantee that John would; nor, if he was evil, did it guarantee that he'd learn the lesson and do what was right.

The other morning I read about Josiah; he was one of the kings who did what was right in God's sight. It says that "he turned not side to the right hand or to the left." He repaired the house of God; and while they were doing that, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law. Shaphan the scribe brought it before Josiah and read it to him. Upon hearing it, Josiah rent his clothes. He sent a group to Huldah the prophetess to enquire of God.

She prophesied that God would bring evil upon the nation, because they had forsaken Him. But then she says, "Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before Me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place."

My first thought, when I read the last part, was that it seemed a lot like Hezekiah: "Oh well, whatever; peace and truth will be in my days."

Then I got to thinking: Josiah was a righteous king, and he led the nation in the ways of God. And as he did so, people would follow God; some insincerely; but some would turn to God with all their hearts. In leading them towards God, he made a difference; for a short while, granted, but it would've changed many people's lives and eternal destinies.

The Point: One person can make a difference.

You wouldn't think so. After all, Josiah was just one king in a long, long line.

So what about today? It certainly doesn't feel like I can make a difference. I'm one vote, one lone voice, one insignificant person in a crowd. But what do we look like in God's sight? Josiah " did that which was right in the sight of the Lord." Where it counted.

If there had been just ten righteous people in Sodom, God would've saved the city. Supposing there had been some people in Sodom who knew that following God was right, but they looked around and said, "How can I possibly make a difference?", shrugged their shoulders, and got on with their lives. Supposing this scenario is true, they could've made a difference to an entire civilization. Just ten people.

One more thing: the darker it is, the brighter a tiny speck of light shines.

Challenged,
Jenn

I'm soooo thankful right now:

For good, hard, dirty, sweaty work that makes you feel the good kind of proud, gives you a sense of accomplishment, takes care of any steam building up inside, and makes you feel worthwhile.

For weedwackers--you want a power rush? Rev it up. :)

For iced capps after good, hard, dirty, sweaty work.

For long walks into the sunset ... and walking into the sunset means that you're the hero in the western!

For God's Word, and how it is helping my friends to do what's right and encourage other people--me included. Big-time.

For God Himself, and His awesome way of being in charge always, and trustworthy.

For Mark Harris' song "When We're Together." :)

Smiling,
Jenn

God, thanks for sending those special people along that do the perfect thing that makes my day amazing. (Sentence structure ...? Ah, never mind, I know what I'm talking about. :)

Smiling,
Jenn

One of my friends is very strong on knowing God's peace. For her, it's a big way of knowing whether a specific thing is God's will or not. Always kinda been jealous of her. I mean, I've only truly known God's peace once in my life; ironically, before the situation blew up in my face.

So we were talking about it, and it was bugging me. I asked myself, "Okay, what am I doing wrong? Why is God's peace so elusive to me? Is it because of my crazy, up-and-down personality?" (I'm not the peaceful, steady type. :)

Then God used my sis (thank You for her, again) when she quoted a verse to me, one of those that I know by heart, my mum quotes to me all the time, but apparently I didn't stop and think about what it actually says:

"Be careful for nothing," (i.e. don't worry about stuff)--

When a problem jumps out at me, I usually think it to death; chew it over until a solution comes to mind. But when my little human brain can't think up a solution ... then it turns into worrying. Chronically. Embarrassing; it's supposed to be for old people in rocking chairs who can't clamber onto their roofs to nail down a loose shingle before a bad storm.

--"but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." And then the awesome promise: "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Well, I did it--gave my humanly unsolvable problems to God in prayer, with thanksgiving. And not only that, but left them with Him, another hard thing to do.  And it worked! Wow, God's promise worked when I kept my part of the bargain. What a shock. lol

Only one problem: that was a month ago. Silly me already forgot the concept.

Right then, let's try it again today, shall we?

Shaking my head over my stupidity and thanking God for His patience,
Jenn

PS.
The Isaacs obession has struck again, so why not share the joy, eh? :)

"Stand Still"

"Thank You" 

"There will be grace--grace to make it through this trial.
There will be strength--strength to walk another mile.
There will be hope, when I've done all I can.
I'm glad to know it's in the Saviour's hands."

Trying to trust,
Jenn

This prayer ... scares me. God, give me the courage to pray it, and mean it with all my heart.

Challenged,
Jenn