Lifted

Over the last month I've been feeling like I'm stuck under a big rock. Bad things happening. Lots of conflict. Lots of things happening that I didn't understand. On November 16th, I blogged about holding on to promises.

I had a bunch of opportunities this weekend to talk with people and tonight I was walking back to my car from another meeting I realized that the rock is gone. On Friday night a friend who's very sensitive to these thing said that she thought I was "glowing" for the first time since I got back from England.

The interesting thing about this is that during the time when I was "stuck under a rock" I felt like I wasn't learning and I wasn't growing. I didn't understand what was happening or how this could be part of anything good.

The great thing about this weekend was that all of a sudden a whole bunch of things kept coming to me. Plans for things fully formed, like I had pondering them all month. New ideas springing up all over the place.

Turns out that while I was feeling that nothing was happening, a lot was happening. It's been good this weekend to see the results of that. Tonight when I got home I thought of that earlier blog that called upon the promise of Isaiah 40: 31 -

but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

All of a sudden I could feel the soaring. I'm excited about these new ideas and new directions that are coming in the new year. It's going to be another big adventure and I have a feeling this last month has been preparing me for that.

Holding on to Promises

Over the last month so much has been happening and I feel like I'm on a roller coaster without a seatbelt. I've been calling on many promises of the Bible to pull me through.

Isaiah 40 has really been speaking to me. There's so much in there. So many challenges and promises. My favorite has been the last piece of the chapter:

26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.

27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and complain, O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God"?

28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

I may grow tired and I certainly will make mistakes. God doesn't get tired and He never makes mistakes. And He promises to renew my strength. I'm definitely waiting for that! My hope is in the Lord. I'm looking forward to soaring on wings like eagles.