Words Of Encouragement To STart The Day ( Tuesday 11/18/08)

Emotional Intensive Care

2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (Amplified Bible)
8) Three times I called upon the Lord and besought [Him] about this and begged that it might depart from me;
9) But He said to me, My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me!
10) So for the sake of Christ, I am well pleased and take pleasure in infirmities, insults, hardships, persecutions, perplexities and distresses; for when I am weak in human strength], then am I [truly] strong (able, powerful in divine strength).

So many of us have suffered abuse and discontentment at the hands of those whom we placed our confidence in. We have found ourselves much like the prophet Hosea loving and married to a prostitute. We often find ourselves entangled, involved with or in covenant with one who prostituted our love, our loyalty, our faith, our heart, our willingness to do, or any other thing that we have been blessed and gifted with. I have had occasion to remember being used for my relationship with God, my ability to cook, my resources, my strength, my knowledge, and the tenderness, goodness and willingness of my heart to stand when everything and everybody around me was giving way. I can truly say, that I have experienced days when my heart was broken, my soul was shattered and my spirits crushed at the hand of those who claimed love, understanding and commitment. But talk turned cheap, when things got tough, the tough got going when they had gotten the best out of me. Where does that leave the one left for dead? What happens to the ones trying to survive the days and nights of hurt, disappointment and annihilation, It will only take God alone to intensively care for one like this.

You see God is not man. He is not one that takes us and uses us without filling us a new. He is a source of strength and peace when the world goes crazy. God is the one that we can count on. He is the one who can and will guide us through the darkest time and when we are at a lose for words He still hears our hearts and brings us unto Himself. When we are broken He rebuilds us a new, when we are tattered He stitches us with the finest of threads by His spirit. When we are dirty He cleanses us through the water of His word and when we are at deaths door He breathes the breath of life into us. He knows all that we need to restore us when we have been ripped apart by the cares and the people in this life. He can brush away every tear and provide us beauty for ashes, faith for fears, gladness for our mourning. Through the testing of our faith He can give us strength that carries us come what may, hurdles us to a better day, and a new way!

Many of us are in critical condition and we are on life support. We are barely breathing because of what we have allowed people to do to us, take from us, and instill in us. It is time to check into God's Intensive Care Unit and receive the intense attention needed to undo the wrongs and heal the rights, and give us new life without the strife. Take it from me, God can do anything but fail us!