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Need You Now - Encouragement Café - October 16, 2017

Need You Now
By Paris Renae

Monday, October 16, 2017

“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”  John 16:33 NIV

An old friend and I caught up with each other for about ten minutes after church. We had known each other well for a few years while our girls were growing up. So much had happened in the years between.

 What we shared wasn’t all the changes, but the lessons learned. We needed to remember we’re not alone in the hard.

Last night I went to bed calling out to God. I wanted to cry, but I was coming off of being sick and was afraid all those tears would make me sicker.

So I must have said a dozen times: ‘Lord, I just want to be the way I was three weeks ago. I need you to fix me now. I can’t go on.’ Finally I let silence take over.

In that quiet moment came the still, small voice. Holy Spirit words breaking through my demands. ‘What did your friend say to you this morning?’ It came to me clear as a bell, she had said: “I find that when I’m operating from fear, or crisis, or anger nothing right happens. I just spiral deeper.”

That’s where I was. I was operating from fear. Not seeing the improvement I had so hoped for as I woke each morning. Disappointed each time things were the same or only minimally improved. Fearful, that it was the new normal.

In the absence of my pleas, I could tell His message was: rest, trust. Amazingly, sleep took over. A deep sleep like I hadn’t had in quite a while.

I would love to report when I awoke the next morning that all was right with the world. It wasn’t. But I no longer felt the fear creeping over. The ‘I can’t’ was replaced with: of course, I can’t, I don’t have to, He will. Whatever that looks like, I can trust Him.

I don’t think we realize the priceless worth of Jesus-believing friends. We may not see them for years, but just when we need Jesus with skin on, He speaks to us through that bond.

Someday you and I will be on the other side of whatever it is we’re dealing with. In this world we will have trouble, oh how important to remember His promise to be with us through it all.

Are you facing something that you fear is the new normal? Seek out those friends who love Jesus and listen to wisdom they won’t even realize they’re sharing.

Father, our Healer, our Renewal - we cry out to You. When we are worn out from doing it on our own, speak to us showing the way. Maybe the way is to rest and trust when we most want to do and fix. Maybe the answer is years in the coming. Help us, oh sweet Lord, to remember You’re in the midst of it all. We are not alone and in all this You have gone before us. Thank You that You are bigger than all our stuff. In Jesus’ Name, Amen

© 2017 by Paris Renae,  All rights reserved.

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