When Looking For Answers

I was reading over some blog posts I had missed over the weekend and came across Ann Voskamp's post from Thursday entitled The 1 Thing You Have Got to Know ... When You Are Looking For Answers.  Here are some of her statements that stuck out to me as I read:

My lips may have said yes to God’s grace of the Messiah – but my life has said No to God’s gift of this moment

I may want Christ – but to be crucified?

I may want to be in Christ – but to be inconvenienced?

I may want to be rescued – but to be refined?

My word to God, it has been a divided word– Yes and No.

And heart divided against Him cannot stand. And she who lives with fork tongue to God, she pierces her own heart.

I have known storms – and haven’t let peace birth in my heart.

The wind has blown hard. And I have not moved.

But every moment my inner heart is saying No to the God of the universe – I am say saying Yes to the enemy of my soul. We are always saying yes to Someone.

She went on to say:

Peace isn’t the absence of the dark. Peace is the assurance of God’s presence in the midst of the dark. And when we want peace – we only need to say yes to God’s purposes.

How often do we get upset when we feel inconvenienced or the refining begins and it is uncomfortable or painful.  We begin to question God and wonder where He's at.  We forget that He's El Elyon, The God Most High, the Sovereign God.  We forget that His Word says,

"Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I planned so it will stand... For the Lord of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it?  And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?" Isaiah 14:24, 27

I love knowing that whatever happens in my life God has a plan.  Nothing surprises Him or catches Him off guard.  He planned it out so I can completely trust in Him.

If you click here or on the link above you may read the rest of her post.