Hi friends -
Happy Monday! This is your reminder that we fast and pray together during lunch today for 1) marriage for those who desire it, for 2) strength for men to walk forward into marriage, and for 3) us as women to keep “our hearts open and responsive to what God wants to change in us along this journey.
I like to think that God has a sense of humor, so it’s probably no coincidence that this is the week I am scheduled to send you email. I’ll give you a small window into my crazy head this weekend and some of the thoughts I had around this whole dating area…..”Where are the single men? Should I hire at dating coach? Should I move to Alaska or some other place with a better male: female ratio? Or maybe if I had SAM-and-MEG’d more guys in college instead of studying I wouldn’t be single?” (Translation: Smile At Men-and-Maintain Eye Gaze).
In the midst of these thoughts I asked God, “What is the answer? What should I tell myself? What do I say to friends who struggle with other issues… difficult marriages, inability to have children,
sick parents, unfulfilling jobs?“. I honestly felt that God put one simple word on my heart, TRUST.
This weekend, I grabbed 2 books to help encourage my heart in trusting God in the midst of circumstances where it seems like nothing is happening, and it feels like things might even be moving in the wrong direction; “Psalms” and Ruthless Trust by Brennan Manning. I’ll share with you a few of my favorite portions, and I’ll pray that as you read these, they might sink into your heart and encourage you, too.
”The way of trust is a movement into obscurity, into the undefined, into ambiguity, not into some predetermined, clearly delineated plan for the future. The next step discloses itself only out of a discernment of God acting in the desert of the present moment.”
“Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God I have put my trust; I will not fear.” Psalm 56:3-4
“But I have trusted in your mercy; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation”. Psalm 13:5
“Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!” Psalm 27:14
“Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust.” Psalm 40:4
And finally, my favorite line from Brennan Manning’s book: “Unwavering trust is a rare and precious thing because it often demands a degree of courage that borders on the heroic. When the shadow of Jesus’ cross falls across our lives in the form of failure, rejection, abandonment, betrayal, unemployment, loneliness, depression, the loss of a loved one; when we are deaf to everything but the shriek of our pain; when the world around us suddenly seems a hostile, menacing place – at those times we may cry out in anguish, “How could a loving God permit this to happen?” At such moments the seeds of distrust are sown. It requires heroic courage to trust in the love of God no matter what happens to us”.
Sweet friends, THANK YOU for your courage to join me in this sacrifice of prayer and fasting! As you pray today, may God deeply fill your hearts with the knowledge and assurance of His love as you boldly and heroically trust in Him.
Blessings,
Rachel
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