Weighed Down Or Lifted Up

Job 6:1
Then Job spoke again, "If my sadness could be weighed and my troubles be put on scales, they would be heavier than all the sands of the sea."

Sound familiar?
Sadness and troubles?
Weighed down and almost crushed under the relentless, always in your thoughts, situations and circumstances that you are facing.
I do believe that if you are drawing breath, and are walking around here on this planet, then troubles and sadness have come in and out of your life at some point. Don't get me wrong, there are days when we can truly enjoy life. We can catch our breath and not be walking around under a cloud of despair and depression. I always tell people that when you are having one of those extraordinary days of bliss.....drink it up....take some and put it in your pocket and save it for the day when it's not so sunny or enjoyable. 

One thing that helps us to get through the dark times is to remember verses that are actually promises given to us by God. Promises that will fuel us to keep plugging away and not give up. to keep pressing in and moving forward and not go back to our old ways.

I like how the apostle Paul puts it in II Corinthians 4:16-18:
That is why we  never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are quite small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever! So we don't look at the troubles we can see right now...rather we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.

You see, as I have turned will and life over to the care of God as I understand Him, I want to immerse myself in this relationship I now have with Jesus. I want to know Him better than I ever have. I want to hang out with like minded people and learn how to have real friends as well as community. I want to rid myself of anything and everything that would remind me of my old lifestyle and way of thinking. I want to learn how to live and move through this old sinful world without being tainted by the sin. I want to become the person God originally intended me to be, before sin warped my heart and identity (My behavior was evidence of this warping that sin brought to my life). Such is what drives me daily in my pursuit of God. To become everything I am not currently.To not give into the old desires and wants, but to push out and up toward the call that God has given to everyone who accepts His love and new life.

And all this growth....
All this change in me....
Takes place no matter what my day may hold.
It takes place no matter what problems I may be facing.
Even those that I don't have an answer or solution for.
I choose to lift my vision and heart higher than my problem so that I can hear God. Receive His instructions on how to navigate through my problem. And yes, Virginia, God does speak...You can hear Him...and You can follow His instruction. I gar-on-tee it!
Why not now?
Why not turn to this new life today?
Why wait?

God on you....
michael b.