Promises

This post is a little late.  In fact, it's about one week late.  I should have wrote it up, but then I got lazy (I know... make it count), and I had quite a few laborious work days and pretty much passed out at 8:30 every night.

Anyways, last Sunday I went to my first worship service since I can't remember when, and boy, was it a good message.  The subject was promises, and the purpose was to go along with the theme of new years resolution and such.  Like many resolutions, they are usually not kept.  Promises we make to ourselves and to each other are often broken.  Because of this, life can be sad and at lost.  Therefore, we can't depend on ourselves or others on promises, because we're weak and incompetent.  However, all the promises God made to us will be kept, and they are all a 'yes' through Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20).  The concluding statement was

"When did Jesus become not enough?"

Oh wow!  Worldly promises of love, wealth, security, success, etc. often drive me: need to work on marriage to make it last, need to work harder at work to get that bigger bonus, need to put away more money for retirement.  Need need need.  All of these things I do alone and often lead to failure.  Failure leads to disappointment and worthlessness.  Broken promises.  Worldly promises.  I really enjoyed the message.  It was a slap in the face from the Boss, "Hey, remember Me?  Forget all that stuff, remember Me.  I am Your Promise that will always be.  Remember."

Today I went back for another service.  The message was not as personal, but good nonetheless.  I am looking forward to more of this.

Psalms 91:14-16 and Psalms 16:2

Again, I like to do my devotions late at night (I really should start doing them a little earlier). Last night - or VERY early this morning (1 am), I was continuing my reading in Psalms. As I mentioned, earlier yesterday, I got my interview email and I was overly excited. I thanked God right away and I thanked Him again at night. Then He told me this:

""Because he loves me," says the Lord, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy hima nd show him my salvation."" ~ Psalms 91:14-16

Isn't He wonderful? I've been somewhat putting Him aside for a while. Although I love Him and say I trust Him, it wasn't until recently I really started to seek Him and call out to Him. After all I have done, God still loves me and still listens. A while back, I read another passage in Psalms that I now hold very close to me:

"I said to the Lord, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing." ~ Psalms 16:2

I still worry everyday about my career, my relationship, and my future. However, I always remember this, those things are nothing compare to my Father. He is the only good thing I have. With that in mind, everything seems like things that help time go by easier and quicker on Earth. And then, I feel much better.

Encouragement from The Man above!

I'm a Christian. I can't say I'm intensely religious or spiritual, but my Faith is quite important to me. It doesn't matter what I do, I can't give it up entirely.
I always trusted that the Lord is around me. He may not show Himself in obvious ways, but I know He's "around". I know that throughout my Struggles, He was the one I trusted who will pulled me through it.
During these hard times, I surrendered and finally prayed and read His Word, the Bible. Before, whenever I read, it's somewhat irrelevant or maybe I just don't have the heart to 'listen'. However, this time I could actually hear Him telling me something. Since I don't have a regular schedule, I just flipped to the Book of Psalms, one of my few favorites. Randomly, I read Psalms 54 to 56. Here are some things that I 'heard':

"Strangers are attacking me; ruthless men seek my life - men without regard for God. Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me." ~Psalms 54:3-4

"Cast your cares on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall."
~Psalms 55:22

"When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?" ~Psalms 56:3-4

For those who are reading this (although I don't think a lot of people read my blog) and are not religious, may scoff at these passages. I totally understand. I'm not preaching (for I hate that myself). However, I just want to say, WOW, can I say encouragement or what?! So I guess from this day, no matter what happens - job/no job, friends/no friends, relationship/no relationship, God will take care of it all. Although I always trusted He would anyways, it's good to have reassurance!