My Utmost 4/14/19

“The burden that God places on us squeezes the grapes in our lives and produces the wine, but most of us see only the wine and not the burden. No power on earth or in hell can conquer the Spirit of God living within the human spirit; it creates an inner invincibility.
If your life is producing only a whine, instead of the wine, then ruthlessly kick it out. It is definitely a crime for a Christian to be weak in God’s strength.”

Man…this cuts to the quick. I definitely whined some last year. I searched for strength and found it at times while other times I was wallowing in despair. My mom dying over a years time was the hardest mental challenge I have ever faced. Looking back, I see just how many times I failed and I pray it was a learning experience and training.

I had prayed at New Years 2018 that the year would be about prepping me, the man, for whatever comes. Little did I know when we got the bad news in February that prepping me was exactly what was happening…

I had training in mind. Team movement and patrol, fire teams and hasty ambushes… what I got was even more valuable and harder to acquire.

We will be facing incredible circumstances soon enough and while planning and prayer are good things, mustering our courage to depend on God and trust in His providence is easy to say but hard to do…especially when we are faced with impossible decisions and hard times.

“I trust in you Lord”….do you really?

Or is it just words?