Seeking Wisdom In A Trial

Seeking wisdom during trials in life is something I wished I had known about a long time ago. I wish someone would have let me in this little secret if they knew about it.

This insight is in the Bible, in James, or Jacob depending on what translation you have. I’ll refer to it as Jacob because of my translation.

“But if any of you lacks wisdom let him ask God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for her who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed. For that man shouldn’t think that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” – Jacob 1:5-8

How can we gain wisdom for our trials?

Jacob encourages believers to ask for wisdom from God. Wisdom was not an intellectual thing, it was a spiritual thing. In Proverbs 9:10 it says “The beginning of wisdom is to fear the Lord.” And Psalm 14:1,

“ A fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They sin and do evil deeds. None of them does what is right.”

To be wise in this context essentially refers to being in obedience to God in our trials and even more. Allowing the trial we are in to mature us and make us into the image of Jesus.

Why do we seek wisdom when we are going through trials? Why not ask for strength, grace, or even deliverance?

We need wisdom so we will not waste the opportunities God is giving to us to mature. Wisdom helps us understand how to use our circumstances for our good and God’s glory.

The world and satan will have us to believe that we should go through trials based on our feelings. The emotional rollercoaster that most people get on when trials come into their lives. But God has a purpose for our trials.

In 1 Corinthians 10:13, God promises this:

“No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way to escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

God will not remove the trial, but he will provide a way out if we seek His wisdom.

It’s good to remember that it is possible to miss God’s purpose for our trials. It is possible to fail trials and to get further away from God instead of being more mature. Anyone can have anxiety instead of peace, or even become bitter instead of forgiving. But it’s important to strengthen ourselves during trials and not become maimed in them,

For years I kept going through what seemed like the same trials over and over. Because I kept failing to focus on their purpose and what God was trying to do to help me grow.

God’s purpose as we face trials is always to help us grow in Him and to make us humble, and stronger warriors for Him.

To gain wisdom in any trial we must pray through it

We are all so ready to go to people, or self-help books, but never ready to go to God. It’s doesn’t say “Let him ask books or other people, it says “Let him ask God.”

Some of us are prone to rely on our own wisdom or the wisdom of others than God’s wisdom. We are fast to search the Internet. Only God can give us guidance and complete peace in our hearts.

Removing Words

If you had to give up one word that you use regularly, what would it be?

Words are by far the most powerful tool we have at our disposal as human beings. The ability we have to communicate complex ideas through words.

If I could give up one word it would be “but.” using the word ‘but” negates what you said before it. -” I want to call a friend but I’m too tired.”

Holding Grudges

Are you holding a grudge? About?

Holding onto a grudge can destroy your life. I learned this the hard way.

In held on to grudges for years and it cost me my health, physical as well as mental.

Holding onto a grudge only hurt you, not the other person. It’s like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

Living in a chronic state of tension affects your body’s repair mechanisms. It increases inflammation and affects the stress hormone called cortisol. Unforgiveness affects the nervous system.

Think about it this way:

Your brain doesn’t know what is real and what’s imagined. When you replay in your mind an experience you had years or months ago your body reacts as if you’re having the same experience over and over again.

People tend to hold onto grudges because it gives them a of control -that if we don’t forget an offense, it won’t ever happen again.

Our ego wants to sink its teeth into blaming negativity and tension, but holding a grudge won’t give you any control over the situation.

I held a grudge against my mother for years, do you think she cared at all about what she did? Nope not one care. I was only hurting myself by doing it.

Faith In A World Of Despair

What do you turn to when you see the world in despair? When your faith is in despair by listening to the news or hearing someone talk about the evil all around us. Its hard not to join in the fear everyone is feeling.

We all process the tragedy of the world – the footprints of evil differently. I choose to filter it through faith because without faith in God, there is little or no hope.

Choosing faith and hope over despair doesn’t answer the hard questions, but it brings some peace to our troubled hearts.

The Lord is faithful and does not change. This is the rock we need to hold onto when the world seems upside down. God is our refuge where our grief-stricken souls can find comfort.

“The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, in whom I take refuge” – Psalm 18:2

“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadows of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust” – Psalm 91:1-2

We must maintain a positive focus instead of a troubled heart of worry, The Bible points us to have faith and hold onto hope. Even in despair.

Real hope looks to God believing that He will never abandon us. God’s presence through the Holy Spirit brings comfort. Faith and hope keep us from drifting into despair.

We may not be capable of understanding the big questions of “why are things happening,” but during the upheaval, we can lean into the Lord and hold onto hope.

When we despair over the tragedies of the world, the Lord can help us find rest and peace.

Furthest From Home

Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home.

The furthest I’ve ever traveled from home was San Antonio Texas. It was for a trip for a veteran organization I was volunteering for.

For the most part it was meetings, but a 5 day road trip turned into 10 because one of the people I went with got sick.

The Alamo

Faith-Fueled Miracles

“If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you would tell this sycamore tree, Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it will obey you – Luke 17:6 (Messianic).

Faith is simply believing and acting on the words and integrity of another. Faith in God is to believe and act on what He says in His Word, the Bible.

The Words of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark advise us to have faith in God:

“Truly tell, you, if anyone says to this mountain, Go, throw yourself into the sea, and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them – Mark 11:22-23

Jesus is saying in essence, Have a God kind of faith. Don’t put your faith in your own faith, or the faith of other people, or the mountains, or in anything that you expect to happen because of your faith. Put your faith in God, because it’s your faith in Him that will accomplish the moving of mountains. You can’t speak to the mountain and expect it to move unless you are connected to God. Apart from Him, you don’t have the power to complete such monumental tasks.

Believing in God means believing in His Word. For faith to work, you believe, confess, and act upon what the Word of God says about your situation.

The Battle In Your Mind

When it comes to how you identify yourself, there are countless amounts of objectives you can use. When you look at the experiences you have lived through, what comes to mind for you? Do you see yourself as a survivor, warrior, victim, or fighter?

How you perceive and identify yourself will ultimately help you or deter you along your life journey. The way to answer that question is the quality of life you will live.

I was raised to have a victim mentality and lived that way for way too many years. I wasn’t until I decided I needed to change my mentality that my life began to change. It took a lot of self-love and nurturing to identify with my warrior identity today.

My life journey thus far has shown me there is a mind-body connection, and it is vital to remain healthy if you’ve had trauma in your life.

We may not have the same experiences, but the struggle I believe is the same.

When I identified as a victim, I had a sense of entitlement. Because I was broken everyone had to cater to me. What ever I was feeling was because It was someone else’s fault. I blamed everyone for everything. I have a complete lack of personal responsibility. Since life treated me wrong, I felt so deserved something almost like reparations for my misfortune. I was a complete mess as well as my life.

I’m sure we have all met a drama queen or king. They thrive on drama. It took meeting a drama queen to make me realize I was doing the same thing, only she was worse. To wake me up to the fact that I needed to change.

I had an immature outlook on life. Which was extreme black-and-white thinking. Black-and-white thinking doesn’t allow you to see life the way it really is. It keeps you from seeing life in a way it really is, complex, uncertain, and constantly changing. For example, if I didn’t do something perfect I was a failure. But I also see other people that way. My black-and-white thinking didn’t allow me to find the middle ground.

As a survivor, I learned to function and prosper despite opposition, hardship, or setbacks. As a survivor, I have the desire to live and carry on, despite adversity.

Everyone lives through adversity, and of course, the types, kinds, and severity of hardship vary for everyone. How a person reacts and copes is what is important.

Surviving means to move on, choosing to get through the day anyway you can and choosing to stay positive not matter what comes your way. Living and surviving each day is a win and a triumph. And that is an example of an absolute success.

My Ideal Home

What does your ideal home look like?

My Ideal home would entail full view of the beach, with plenty of comfy furniture, a screened in porch and a few roomy balconies for breathing in salty air. Plus a bunk room for guests. At least 3 large bedrooms, A huge kitchen for baking and serving guests. Along with at least 3 bathrooms with huge walk in showers and sunken meted tubs. With a small lap swim pool in the back yard are well as a hot tub and a place for barbecues, and an outside bar. And an out side shower for a quick place to wash for salty body’s, before they enter the house. Around the 159,000,000 price range.

If you’re going to dream big -dream huge.

Beach house

Tears Of Joy

What brings a tear of joy to your eye?

When we cry our bodies release endorphins and oxytocin. These hormones can help release pain, and boost our moods. Whether they are positive or negative they can be pretty intense.

Tears of joy happen when we experience emotions so intense they become unmanageable.

I cried tears of joy when I saw my babies when they were born. I cried tears of joy when I got my sweet puppy she was so small. Then she turned into this,

Seriously she was a great hiking buddy. She could go places you would never think a chihuahua would be able to go. As long as I kept her away from the water we were good.

Reserved For Fire

You are probably aware of the monumental fact that: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). But are you aware that one day God will destroy the heavens and the earth with fire?

Shocking? Absolutely. unbelievable? Not at all.

In 2 Peter 3:10, 12 Peter wrote with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and delivered this news to God’s people:

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the works that are in it will be burned up. Looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, which will cause the burning heavens to be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat.”

The heavens will be dissolved, and the earth will literally melt in the heat.

A few scriptures earlier Peter described how scoffers deliberately forget that long ago by God’s Word the heaven existed and the earth was formed out of water and with water. By water also the world of the time was flooded and destroyed. By the same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men (2 Peter 3:5-7).

The coming day of judgment is just as certain as God’s creation of the universe, and just as sure as the great flood in Noah’s day.

John was given a vision of what will happen after God burns up the earth in Revelation 21:1-5,

“I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea was no more. I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear in their eyes. Death will be no more, neither will there be mourning, not crying, not pain, any more. The first things have passed away. He who sits on the throne and said. behold, I am making all things new, He said, Write, for these Words of God are faithful and true.”

Every child of God will inhabit the New Heaven and New Earth with a perfect body that is incorruptible.

“The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body” – 1 Corinthians 15:42-44

What an upgrade we will receive.

If you could choose today between going to Heaven or going to Hell, you would certainly Heaven, right?