More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Read between
November 27 - December 9, 2019
It’s so much more freeing to simply show up and be a finder of the good. Break from the secret disappointments.
We are imperfect because we are unfinished.
God doesn’t expect perfection, so we shouldn’t expect it from ourselves and others.
And that’s what it is like to be so very human—hurting but still hoping. Hoping doesn’t mean I put myself in harm’s way. It doesn’t mean I ignore reality. No, hoping means I acknowledge reality in the very same breath that I acknowledge God’s sovereignty.
My hope isn’t tied to whether or not a circumstance or another person changes. My hope is tied to the unchanging promise of God. I hope for the good I know God will ultimately bring from this, whether the good turns out to match my desires or not.
I know I must walk through God’s process before I see His fulfilled promise.
I want the promised blessing of Psalm 40:4: “Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD.” I forget that this kind of trusting in God is often forged in the crucible of longsuffering. God isn’t picking on me. God is picking me to personally live out one of His promises.
It’s a high honor. But it doesn’t always feel that way. I’ve got to walk through the low places of the process before I’m perfectly equipped to live the promise.
God is in often overlooked places. We don’t have to find Him. God is not far from us.
We just have to make the choice to see Him and rightly attribute to Him the good that does exist.
Longsuffering is long because you can’t sprint through it. It’s one step. And then another that might be more treacherous than all the previous steps.
There is a purpose to the process, and it’s called preparation.
If God thought we could handle the promise today, He’d lift us up today. But if we aren’t standing on that firm rock, singing a glorious song, it’s because He loves us too much to lift us up there right now. This process isn’t a cruel way to keep you from the promise; it’s the exact preparation you’ll need to handle the promise.
God isn’t far off. He’s just far more interested in your being prepared than in your being comfortable.
To hope is to acknowledge reality in the very same breath that I acknowledge God’s sovereignty.
When I understood this, I saw that in all my circumstances God was keeping me moldable while adding even more strength and beauty in the process.
God doesn’t expect us to handle this. He wants us to hand this over to Him.
But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.
Weak moments don’t make weak faith. Weak moments make us even more aware of our need to press in to faith. A faith in God that helps us know that what we see isn’t all there is.
God isn’t causing this; He’s allowing it. God isn’t picking on us. He’s handpicked us to be a display of His good works here on earth.
What feels horrible this day will be so very honorable that day.”
What if the worst parts of your life are actually gateways to the very best parts you’d never want to do without?
Wallowing in my suffering produces nothing but red eyes, bedhead, and a heart full of despair. But walking out the good things God purposes from my suffering produces eyes of hope, clearheaded thoughts, and a heart full of real joy.
When we are afflicted, we are being made more effective!
Sin entangles and strangles our ability to run this race of life well.
