Words Of Encouragement For Your Day (Thursday 01/19/2012)

What Happens After This

Jeremiah 50:19-20 Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹⁹And I will bring Israel [home] again to his fold and pasturage, and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan [in the most fertile districts both west and east], and his soul will be satisfied upon the hills of Ephraim and Gilead. ²⁰In those days and at that time, says the Lord, the iniquity of Israel will be sought, but there will be none, and the sins of Judah [will be sought], but none will be found, for I will pardon those whom I cause to remain as a remnant (the preserved ones who come forth after a long tribulation).

            We all go through periods of time where we are in tribulation, trial, test and or transition.  It has been said the only constant is change.  Many times we have been in a place of dysfunction, discord and disillusionment so long that when things change we sit with our face in our hands in utter disbelief and almost confusion asking the question, “What happens now, what happens after this?” Sometimes we have lived a long time a certain way or in a certain status and then suddenly things change, and we are looking around asking the question, “What now?”  I can only saying I am learning that what happens next depends upon whose confidence we rely upon and who is it that we trust and who has the final say in our life.

          My mother and I were talking yesterday evening and she said something that made me to know that she understood that even after almost 52 years of marriage her life was still worth living; she said “looks like there are some things that have to change.” My mom has buried herself in the Will and the Word of God for her “what’s next.”  Although that is the way she lived prior to, she is seeking direction and the will of God all the more.  She is letting God lead her even in her blessing and giving of herself.  You see what is in us, will dictate where we go and what we do as a result of what is going on around us, and even when we are in the midst of radical change.  Many of us, become shaken, moved and turned upside down when things go amiss in our lives because we depend on people, things and even ourselves more than we rely on the Lord and His direction.  We like to say when things are good, look at all that I have done, and when tribulation and test hit we are quick to ask why me, or what did I do?  But living a life in Christ we understand that in our going in and our coming out God is the author of our story.  He is the one that can cause our disaster to be a blessing; He can cause our lack, to become our abundance.  He can cause and even make our enemies to be at peace with us and to bless us.  Even in my wrestling with God, I understood that whether I liked it or not He was the one orchestrating our family and good, bad or indifferent I needed to find a way to trust that.

          So what is next, what will happen after, that divorce, the end of a friendship, the loss of a job, the loss of a loved one, a change in your financial status? That all depends on where your faith lies and who your confidence is in.  God can bring you into a place of peace and understanding if your allow Him to and you begin to understand that all our works and accomplishments are nothing without Him and they are of little consequence if they are not in His will and about what He desires for your life.  What happens next depends on God and us acknowledging that He causes us to move, live and have our being. That He is the one who can place us and take us where He desires and wishes us to be; the one who can keep us when we cannot be kept and heal us when heal is not possible.