Faith • Patience • Confidence

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer”

Romans 12:12

In Matthew chapter 5 we are encouraged by the gospel as it teaches us that blessed are those who mourn. In the past year or more we have all endured much, mourned much an suffered all sorts of losses. Loss of jobs, loss of a lot of our personal freedoms, loss of loved ones. During 2020/21 I personally lost four family members and just found out another has a body riddled with cancer. So much death was a lot to digest.

How do we on the daily handle the impact of loss, grief, pain? 

We take joy. 

What? That’s right. We take Joy.

We do not rejoice because we suffered. We do not rejoice because we lost. We do not rejoice because of the deep wounds and voids left from the loss of love—but we rejoice in the One who Loves and we trust that He will bring what we need to fill the voids we have suffered.

I don’t know how to explain how to obtain joy. It is an anointing. It is a mindset for sure, but it is so much more than that. It is faith, patience, and confidence. It is a super natural optimism that even when life isn’t so good, God is. God is better than good and we can place our focus on Him and allow Him to handle everything else one day at a time, one step at a time. He will be the lamp for your feet an the light to illuminate your path (Psalm 119:105). He’s got you always. Joy is a fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Joy often rises within us when we have the least reason to feel joyful. Joy is like warm honey running down from the crown of our head to the soul of our feet. It is exuberant. It is captivating. It is smile producing. It is the superpower of heaven and it came craddled as a baby. 

Faith • Patience • Confidence

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer”

Romans 12:12

Faith, that the Father above holds you close, hand in glove, He knows the perfect fit for your life and sent His son to die for you to have the purest love of all.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1

Patience, that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. I recently had a friend share with me that they knew God was bringing them through the worse for the better. That’s faith in God, patience and trust for His plan, and confidence.

“But we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” Romans 8:25

Confidence is knowing that when we don’t understand God does. We don’t have to do the math. We don’t have to have it all assessed and figured out. Analysing the situation and trying to mentally calibrate our circumstances dosn’t really work when we are living by faith. Jesus said to come to him like a little child. He wants us wide eyed, mystified, and compelled by a God who knows a lot about timing, healing an what’s best for us.

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.” 

Psalm 27:14

Has God made you some promises? Sure He has…a whole Book of them. But God also makes us promises in the recessed regions of our soul. It can come by a whisper, a leading, something highlighted in your heart and mind, so to speak, or by the prophetic anointing. God still speaks to people via the Holy Spirit. Be still, listen and wait for God. He will guide and direct your steps (Psalm 16:7) and tell you exactly what you need to do and He will handle your break through. He has decided His heart on you and wants to bless you with better. The Word says we sow in tears, but we reap in joy.
(Psalm 126:5-6) He will take your pain and turn it to gain as He gives beauty for ashes (Isaiah 61:3).

Perhaps He has sent me to help you through, encourage you, inspire you, and hold you by vehicle of my pen? My tongue is the pen of a ready writer (Psalm 45:1). Embrace it, you are not alone and everything happens for a reason. We may never know the reason, but this is where the awe, wonder and trust of heaven delivers something mysterious, magical and full of the chemistry of heaven. 

So take heart…

Nicole💕

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3     and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord
    for the display of his splendor."

Isaiah 61:1-3