Count it all joy

I am assuming that someone who is reading my blog is going through a trial and being encouraged, or that I have one coming in the near future and God is preparing me. Once again, God has been focusing on trials in my studies.

I am learning very quickly that the fear of the Lord and humility go hand in hand. And without these 2 things, you will have a very difficult time getting through a trial. Proverbs 8:13 says,"The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way..." I believe God uses trials and hard times for many reasons. I think God puts suffering in the lives of his children that are not obeying or fearing him. Read Jeremiah 24:5-7.

We can greatly benefit from the trials of the Lord. Hannah did. As discussed in the last blog, Hannah was suffering with not being able to conceive. But once she surrendered, gave her son to the Lord, the Lord granted her more children! And Job was blessed far above what he had before it was all taken away. Why? Each of them saw that God is still good even when things were difficult. Job praised God for his goodness. He had humility and fear.

Hannah, once she surrendered to God, had a peace. She rose up, and ate. She no more had a sorrowful countenance. She loved her husband. I am learning this in my life. I came to the realization that God is actually in control. I know, sounds simple. But it's hard to accept for someone like me who likes to be in complete control.

My struggle lately has been the subject of deployment. Being careful what I write, Peter could go anytime. He could get called up now, or 6-7 months from now. With only days notice... or weeks. And to top it off, he may not even go. It's been driving me crazy. I can deal with another deployment, but I need to know... NOW! Ha. I always had said that the military decides our future. Then, last week, I got this HUGE epiphany... GOD decides our future. Didn't I think that MAYBE God let's the military know if He wants Peter to go. I'm so silly sometimes.

Soooooo.... here I am. At peace. I still can't think about it too much, because my flesh gets in the way. I start to wonder, to worry. I have to give it to God daily. Along with some other areas in my life. But I am grateful that God has showed me this lesson.