the long road leads to peace

Someone told me a long time ago that living for God is hard...

I remember thinking at the time "what could be so hard about that???"

If you have walked with the Lord a couple days or many years you will be able to relate to what my friend said.

Walking behind His footsteps sometimes requires so much of us...
It seems to be so unfair at times.

He calls us to forgive someone when they have wounded us deeply...
He calls us to love all people regardless if they love us...
He calls us to get our of our comfort zones and serve people who are broken and dying...
He calls us to sacrifice everything that we have in order to follow Him....
Even though we say we believe in His sovereign will for our lives, we can't help but struggle against what He is asking of us.

Let's be honest...when He requires things of us- it hurts!

BUT..... (yay! So glad there is always a "but" with Jesus)

The most precious and beautiful thing about our Jesus is that He paid the ultimate sacrifice for our joy!
He came down to this earth to suffer more pain than we could ever imagine so that we could be forgiven and have the opportunity to be with Him forever!
He knows that we will hurt and sacrifice things in this life as we seek Him; but He knows that by following Him we will eventually see His plan for us-which will lead us to true joy!

Living for the Lord is not always easy; but living for the Lord will allow you to walk through the hard times with confidence that He will restore you!
As you pour into Him you will find that in the midst of struggle He will sustain you.

Are you in a season of hardship?
Are you struggling with releasing your grip on something that He wants you to trust Him with?

Pretend for a moment that whatever you are struggling with is in the palm of your hand...
Now close your hand tightly around that thing you are thinking of....
You will see that you have made a fist and wrapped that thing you are holding on to so tightly in your hand that you are not able to openly receive anything new into that hand!
The Lord wants to bless you...but you have to have open hands to receive it! ( I am speaking from experience)

Open your hands...
Open your heart....
and watch in amazement as He pours out His love to sustain you in the hard times!

Oh how He loves you and me!