how yah feeling?

therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. the rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. but everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. the rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." matthew: 7:24-27

do you know what amazes me about those verses above? both the person doing right and the person doing wrong experienced hard times...in both cases the rains came...the streams rose...and the wind blew and beat against the house...

just because we're christians living out God's principles for life...does not mean we won't face difficult circumstances...the difference being a christian makes is how the difficulties affect us...if we are hearing and heeding God through our prayer time and reading His word...then we will be able to stand strong in the storms of life...our faith will not be shaken and our identity will not be rattled...

have you ever felt as a friend, wife, mother, daughter...whatever your position in life is...that sometimes you feel only as good as your last interaction with someone close to you? a friend tells you that you hurt her feelings and suddenly you feel like a bad friend....you forget to take the cookies you signed up to bring to the church nursery and suddenly you feel unreliable and disorganized...or maybe you are looking for some important papers...and when you can't find the file...suddenly you feel like you can't be trusted with important paperwork...

what would your normal reaction be in this situation? would it be to get frustrated...short tempered...and beat yourself up while tearing the house apart looking for the missing papers?

how about this approach? going from defining yourself as a failure to being a praying woman (or man) who can face a hardship in a godly way...the frustration can be diffused and determined to look at any situation from God's perspective...

when hard times come and beat against our stability...we must be determined to hear God's words and put them into practice...then nothing can topple our peace...security...or true identity...