Divine Downloads

In the Face of Unrelenting Circumstances

“At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb,and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” Job 1:20-21

How do you have faith when everything around you seems to crumble? How do you have and hold on to faith when sickness, illness, disease and death try to unravel the very thing you stand on? I had to wait a while to finish this one. You see, sometimes the devil will go so hard on you that he will use anything and any willing person to break you down. He will try so hard to get you to give up on God that some people do. Some people cease to believe in His very existence because they could not deal with the pressure placed on them. I don’t claim to be superwoman–because only through God’s favor, guidance, direction, power, and sustainment am I even able to stand in the face of all the troubles in my life sometimes.

I often think about the book of Job and how he faced all of these things. How when all of his children, livestock, and even his own body were destroyed, he maintained his belief in God. He maintained that He had done no wrong. Its hard to stay faithful when those around you do nothing but discourage you. They call you names, lie on you, lie to you, and make the journey of life hard to walk. But the thing about faith is that when you believe, I mean deeply believe and trust in God, it makes it impossible for you to doubt what He can do. Just trust and confess the truth–God’s word–over your situation! He delivered Job didn’t He? And He is no respecter of persons so you can receive the same thing. Don’t settle in defeat, do not live in disaster without hope and faith that God can change things.

“After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before.” Job 42:12

“The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first…” Job 42:12

Find the Source of Your Anxiety

 

“Anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down, But a good word makes it glad.”  Proverbs 12:25

 

I have been a faithful knuckle-cracker since the tender age of 8 years old.  Today I read that knuckle-cracking is a nervous behavior, a sign of anxiety. We all suffer from anxiety at some point or another, but we should not let it cripple us, we should try to do everything we can to remove it. I bet you wonder, what could I have been anxious or nervous about at 8, right?  I think I had just moved to a new school, with new people, and I did not know anyone.  In fact, it was in eighth grade that I met my best friend, Courtney.  I was always a sensitive girl, very sensitive to others thoughts and feelings about me.  I went to that new school because I had tested into the AAP program and it wasn’t at the school near my house.  So I figure now that the source of all that knuckle-cracking was the need to be accepted, making friends, being different, going somewhere new—a whole lot of stress for an 8 year old!  Do you realize how much pressure it is to go into a new environment where you don't know anyone!!!  That's almost as bad as public speaking…I'm getting better at that as well!

 

I randomly decided today that I wanted to stop.  Not because of all the unproven literature about arthritis, but because I just decided I want to stop.  Maybe it was my mentee telling me that it was bad, and me telling her that I’ve been cracking them for that long.  Cracking your knuckles for nearly 20 years for no apparent reason other than it being a bad habit does something to you.  Philippians 4:6 says “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”  Obviously now I recognize the need to get to the source of my problem, and to deal with any and all of my nervous habits; the best way to do this is to bring it to God so that He can reveal the way to get rid of it.  Anxiety causes stress and stress can “make you dead”, lol.  I don’t want to shorten my life span by being a knuckle-cracker, harboring pinned-up anxiety!  Are you anxious about something?  Do you recognize it?  What are you gonna do to get rid of it?  PRAY!