"Believe Me, Child"

Another re-post of something from a few years ago tonight. I first posted this on November 22, 2009.

 

"Believe Me, Child," said the Father,
"Even when life seems hard
and the challenges overwhelm.
You must learn to trust Me;
to trust that I know best."

"Believe You?" asked the child.
"How do I do that,
when life doesn't seem to make sense?
It's just so hard to trust
in Someone I cannot see."

"Believe Me, Child," said the Father,
"Even when life seems hard
and the challenges overwhelm.
I will never change;
I will never leave You alone."

"Believe You?" asked the child.
"How do I do that,
when life doesn't seem to make sense?
How do I believe You,
when you feel so far away?"

"Believe Me, Child," said the Father.
"You must make a choices,
and place your trust in me.
I know it won't be easy,
but be assured I will never change.
I will always be here;
I will not forsake you."

"Help me to believe You!" cried the Child.
"Even when life seems hard
and the challenges overwhelm,
I will choose to believe You -
that You will never change;
That You are always there.
I believe; help my unbelief."

I wrote this poem during a time when I struggled to see how God was at work in every situation going on around me. It doesn't always make sense in life, but God is always there. And He is always calling us to believe - even when we're not sure about what is happening.

Hearing God Repeat the Same Message

Have you ever had one of those times when it seems like every where you turn the same thing keeps coming up?

Different sources - same message.

When that happens I find myself wondering what God may be trying to tell me. It causes me to stop and listen more carefully. To pay attention to what I'm hearing.

I've found that God often speaks this way. He gives the same message to me in multiple ways. I might read it in my Bible, hear it in a message at church, read it on a blog or in a book, or have it come up in conversation with a friend. When that happens multiple times, I become pretty sure it's God speaking.

God speaks to us, but we have to learn to listen. If we don't begin to pay attention to those times when God keeps saying the same thing to us, we miss what God is saying. And missing what God is saying, makes life more difficult to live the way we were created to live it.

Different sources.

The same message.

Are you listening?

Worth it to be a Work in Progress

I've been thinking more about the post I wrote a few days ago about being a work in progress.

While it's true I'd rather be a work in progress than an unfinished project the Artist has given up on, that doesn't mean being a work in progress is easy or pain free.

Being a work in progress means God is changing me in what He has for me. That might be hard sometimes. That might hurt sometimes.

Like a potter, God might sometimes need to go back to the beginning with us and reshape what we look like. Or He might need to paint over all that has been put on the canvas to create a new picture of us. Those times when God does that aren't easy.

They're hard and can be painful as God takes away the lies we've held so dearly, so He can tell us the truth.

They're hard and can be painful as God takes away the habits that fill our time, so He can give us new things to fill that time.

They're hard and can be painful as God takes away the thoughts that fill our minds, so He can replace them with the Holy Spirit filling us.

But the end is worth the pain and the hard road, because the end is the beautiful masterpiece of the Master Artist.

Being God's work in progress means the final result will always be better than we could ever imagine, because God is the Master Artist and His work is always perfect in the end.

"For we are God's masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus . . ." (Ephesians 2:10)