His Encouragement #33
Thursday Encouragement

His Encouragement #33

Nicole Santana

CollageMaker_20180228_162151023.jpgGood morning, and welcome to His Encouragement Thursday! I don’t know about you, but Thursdays are my struggle day of the week. By Thursday, I have already been working hard at school and at home, and I just wish it would hurry up and be Friday already. LOL! I definitely need a little extra Jesus time on Thursdays.

Trisha, my blogger friend at Joy of Reading, and I decided on calling this post “His Encouragement” because our real source of peace, strength, and security can only come from Jesus Christ. He, and He alone, is our constant! We pray and hope that these Thursday posts become a real encouragement to you and help you end your week strong in God’s love and purpose for you. God bless!

Today’s Thursday Encouragement comes from:

Psalm 66: 16-20 (ESV)

“Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what He has done for my soul. I cried to Him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But truly God has listened; He has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, because He has not rejected my prayer or removed His steadfast love from me!”

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I’m emotionally wrecked right now. So much has changed, and is changing, in my life and I didn’t ask for any of it. I’m so scared and overwhelmed and shocked and dismayed that I genuinely don’t know what to say. I hate death. I hate cancer. I hate change caused by BIG, BAD, SCARY THINGS!

But that is not what this post is going to be about.

This post is a praise to God!

Let me tell you a short story…

The other day, I was in my kitchen and I was struggling. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. It was a Wednesday. Wednesday, June 6th to be exact. Saturday the 2nd, I found out about my friend, Tim, and his deadly accident. Monday the 4th, a few teachers and I put together a fabulous gathering at my school to honor Tim, but to also give us, his former students, and his family a place to grieve with one another. As far as events go, it was a smash! Tuesday the 5th, I took my BFF to another round of her cancer treatment, but then had to help check her into the ER because of a possible infection. By Wednesday the 6th, I was toast. So, when my husband said something to my daughter about Jesus coming soon to collect His bride, I lost it. Right there in the middle of my kitchen I broke down.

My husband and I have been talking about the Bride and Jesus coming for four years now. It’s not a new topic for us. For me and my family it is a well-know, beloved topic that we discuss with fervor regularly. But on this Wednesday morning, a little seed of doubt had niggled its way into my heart. You see, I have been praying for my best friend for over a year now, and things are not going my way. Add to that the death of my close friend, a brother really, and my defenses were down. Was God even hearing me? Have I been praying wrong? Is the rapture really real? How much longer do I have to wait with all this pain I am feeling?

I’m not proud, but I gave my husband what for right there, and I was a brat to Jesus. “Really?! He’s coming?! When?! And, what more BAD needs to happen before it will FINALLY be time to come get His totally broken Bride?!”

Yeah, not proud of those words…not even for one second. I immediately apologized to God, and to my husband and daughter. Then I burst into tears. I maybe cried for a good hour. Sometimes, things are too much. Sometimes, things are more than we can handle.

BUT, here’s the coolest part of this really awful story. I kid you not, for the rest of the day every time I turned around there was God talking to me. From my daily Bible reading, to almost every sermon I happened to listen to that day, to the songs that came on the radio in my car, EVERYTHING was about Jesus’s Bride and His imminent return. By the end of Wednesday, I felt GOD right next to me. I knew a peace that day that I had never known before, and I am convinced more now than ever that Jesus’s collection of His Bride is very, very real!!!

How does this all tie in to Psalm 66:16-20? Because God heard me that day. I do believe God hears me every day, but on Wednesday, June 6th, God totally heard the anguish within me and HE came to me. HE was not willing to lose me. It’s so hard to explain, but that’s what I felt all day long. HE didn’t want to lose me. HOW AMAZING IS THAT?! So today, I am proclaiming what God has done to my soul. I am SHOUTING His praises. GOD IS SO GOOD!!! Jesus’s words from John 10:28 are SO true: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” I may be totally sad right now, but no one is taking me from my Abba, my Savior, my Holy Spirit!

NOW, IT’S YOUR TURN!

WHAT BIBLICAL VERSE IS ENCOURAGING YOU TODAY?

And, check out more Thursday Encouragement from my fellow blogger friends:

Trisha @ Joy of Reading

Jacquelyn @ A Heavenly Home

Jessica @ A Baker’s Perspective

Becca @ The Becca Files

If you would like to join us: please contact Trisha or Nicole

 

Published by Nicole Santana

I love Jesus, my husband, and my daughter. I love reading and reviewing Christian and Clean fiction. And, I am a high school English teacher trying to get kids to fall in love with reading every day!

18 thoughts on “His Encouragement #33”

  1. I am doing a Bible study with online with Shelia Walsh. It’s called IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MESS and that’s where I am right now. My father passed away in July, just before I was going for a visit. So I didn’t get to hug him one last time. Then in October my best friend got very ill from a staph infection on her spine and was hospitalized. Although she was over an hour away, my husband and I went weekly to visit and encourage her and her husband. When she passed away on March 16, I was desolate. That was followed by the death of a former school colleague on the 17th. I thought God had just decided to abandon me to tears and hopelessness. But my darling daughter encouraged me, calling me and talking to me for hours. When I found out about this Bible study, I knew in my heart that it is perfect for me. The verse that spoke to my heart yesterday was Joshua 1:9. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

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    1. Vickie, I am so honored you shared your heart with me today. I am very sorry for your recent losses. I’m personally struggling very hard right now, so I completely understand what you’re going through. I will definitely check out the Bible study you’re working on. It sounds like I could benefit from it. I will make sure to keep you in my prayers. 😊❤

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  2. I’m so thankful for God’s abundant grace!! That despite our lack of faith and our anger with God at times, that He still shows us his kindness and love and never hesitates to forgive. Thank you for sharing!

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  3. God is big enough to hold our hurts. He understands that sometimes we just need to break down and let it out. The important thing is not staying there, but allowing Him to refill us with His perfect love!
    This sinful world wasn’t what He wanted for us. But the good news is that His plan is perfect. He’s won the war! The delay that we see in His coming is hard for us to understand. His timing is perfect. He will come again!!! The pain and suffering will be no more!! I long for that day when I see Him coming to take us home!

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    1. Trisha, I love how strong you are in your faith. It’s a super great inspiration to me. I love your point about letting ourselves breakdown, but not staying there. Thank you for your wonderful words!!! 😊❤

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      1. We all struggle and stumble! I’m no better than any other sinner. We all fall short. But so thankful that Jesus bridges that gap for us with the cross! ((Hugs))

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  4. I love your site and the encouragement it gives readers. So, I’ve nominated you for a Liebster Award! Check out my post here to see how to accept your nomination! :)https://authorjennylynn.com/2018/06/14/nominated-for-a-liebster-award/

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you very much for nominating me. I really appreciate it. And, I appreciate that you like my blog. I’ll be honest, most of the time I’m not sure what I’m doing. I’ve only been at this for a year. LOL!

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  5. *hug* Sometimes it seems that bad things happen all at once, and it is alright to feel overwhelmed. I also believe it is alright to cry out to God in the midst of our hurt and anguish and confusion. Job did it! It is like the man who came to Jesus asking for a healing miracle for his young son and he said: “Lord I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:23-25, NKJV)

    Even in the darkest of times, I hold on to the promise that one day the Lord will come again and there will no longer be any pain, suffering, or death. (Rev. 21:1-4)

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  6. Thank you for this honest post. Oh my goodness. First and foremost I am praying for you my friend. **hugs** Isn’t God amazing? Even when we are mad and lash out, He still opens His arms wide to let us in and comfort us. It is so amazing what He did for you that day. It fills my heart with joy!

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    1. Thank you, Jessica! I so appreciate your prayers. They are greatly needed. God is amazing. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to have met you through this blogging universe. You have become a very dear friend. Oh! And, happy birthday. 😁❤

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  7. I wish I was closer than a gazillion miles away from you so I could give you a real-life hug instead of a cyber one, but know I would if I could ❤ I know things have been very difficult for you lately and I've been praying for you. I'm glad you were able to feel the Lord's presence so strongly the other day, and I pray you are able to continue to feel that presence as you grieve for Tim and hope for your BFF. *hugs and prayers*

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    1. Aw!!! Thanks Becca. I appreciate the cyber hug. If you were closer, I would totally take you up on that real hug though. And, thanks so much for your prayers. I truly appreciate them. It is so encouraging you’re doing that for me. ❤

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