Strength That Endures

God made a woman

with a special kind of strength.

It is not a strength that overpowers,

but a strength that influences;

it is not a strength that overwhelms,

but a strength that perseveres;

it is not a strength that overbears,

but a strength that endures.

God wants you to be strong in Him.

Even when you may be tired or weak,

your spirit can remain strong.

He will give you strength to face trials, for the Lord is your refuge;

strength to walk through dark places,

for the Lord is your light;

strength to resist the enemy,

for the Lord is your mighty deliverer.¹

Isaiah 30:15 NIV  In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength

Psalm 73:26 NLT  My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.

Ephesians 6:10 AMP  . . . be strong in the Lord [be empowered through your union with Him]; draw your strength from Him [that strength which His boundless might provides].

¹Roy Lessin, The Beautiful Ways of a Woman’s Heart (Franklin, TN: Penman paper, 2005), 10-12.

It’s Always for Good

This post could easily be subtitled, Another Lesson from Sandy (for the first lesson, click here).  Following his annual visit to the vet a few years ago, Sandy developed hives in reaction to his vaccination.  He was a pathetic sight to behold, needless to say, with puffy eyes and cheeks, and beginning to itch all over, and had to receive a shot of Benadryl to counter the reaction.  Since that time, as a preventative, he gets a shot of Benadryl before he gets his vaccine.  As if that weren’t enough insult for the dog (added to the poking and probing they do while we’re at the vet!), I have to follow that up with a couple of Benadryl pills two more times, to make sure he is protected from an allergic reaction.

Sandy doesn’t understand any of this, of course.  All he knows is that he gets poked, probed, and stuck, and is pretty loopy.  I mean, you can look in his eyes and see that the lights are on, but nobody is home.    About the time he is coming back to normal, I give him more pills, and he returns to loopy land.

So, how is this a lesson?  As I pet him in his drugged state, I kept reassuring him that I hadn’t done any of this to hurt him intentionally, even though that was all he could feel.  The vet and I had done this to protect him from something worse.  We had done this for his good, for that’s truly what we all have in mind for him.  I even told him he just needed to trust me on this.  He didn’t get it, of course, but I did.

I am to trust God completely, no matter how things look or feel at the moment.  He truly does have good for me, even as He helps me through painful things (valley of the shadow of death comes to mind) en route to what I consider good.  In this tougher time my flesh so dislikes, I might actually be protected from something that would be my complete undoing.  God is good, period.  God can be trusted, period.  He really does know best for me and for you and for each one of us.  No matter what you are facing, my sisters in other lands, find your peace in the midst of the storm by trusting Him.  He will never fail you.

Proverbs 3:5-6 AMP  ⁵ Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.  ⁶ In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.

Psalm 34:8 AMP  O taste and see that the Lord [our God] is good! Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who trusts and takes refuge in Him.