Silver Linings

We went to see the movie Silver Linings last night. 

That movie was intense!  Probably the most intense movie I have ever seen! lol

There were so many similarities to our own life it was quite ironic and crazy. 

Except for all the yelling and craziness.  My goodness there was a lot of craziness and madness in that movie.

Thus life without God.  Very little peace and so much fighting. :(  I felt so sad for all the characters in that movie.  If I could have jumped through the screen and taken them to church I would have lol. 

I love the verse, "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

When people do not have the Spirit they are lost.  They are like islands floating around by themselves, very hurting and lonely.

But the Holy Spirit unites us who are saved.  Praise God!  Because we love Him and He loves us, we can love others.

I have noticed throughout my life the incredible bond I can feel with another Christian just upon meeting them.  It often seems as if we have known each other our entire lives.

Such was the case with Ben when we met.  I felt like I had known him my whole life right away, because we have the same Spirit inside of us.  Lightning struck. :)  And it struck both of us luckily. :)

God is so good to enable us who are saved to have peace and joy and unity!

That movie made me feel so sorry for the characters, that people live like that; lost, angry, depressed, always searching for something but never finding it.  Things seemed so incredibly hard for the two of them.

Ben and I have had things hard too but God has sustained us.  If it weren't for God I'm sure we both would have been in the state those two were in.

But, "Those who hope in the Lord will soar on wings like eagles."  Yes?  Yes.

Ever since I made Jesus/God Lord of my life instead of myself I have been soaring like an eagle, for the most part. lol :)

Tragedy hits me like getting fired or Roger's death but I still keep flying, sometimes even higher, thanks to my Savior.

After his death I kept thinking of the song, "You give and take away, you give and take away but still my heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be Your name." 

My mom, my brother and I were driving me home to California.  We passed a random sign that said, "A dream died here," and I remember thinking how ironic and how fitting that phrase was, for me.  Before his death we had been planning to start a family, just like the girl in the movie.  Things were finally looking up for us.  And then bam, out of no where, completely unexpected, he died.  And I was like wtf God?  lol

Later that song, blessed be your name, was playing and I was just crying in the back seat lifting my hands and praising God.  Acknowledging that even though he took away everything I cared about, I was still going to bless His name.  He was still worthy of my praise.

His death could have gone down like the situation with Job. 

God said to Satan, "Have you noticed how faithful my servant Job is?"  And Satan said, "That is just because you have blessed him so much.  Let me take things away from him and he will curse you."  So God allowed Satan to test Job and put him through trials to prove how faithful he was.

God may have done the same with me, who knows.  He knows how much we can handle.  Luckily I had my best friend, brother and mom to fall back on after the death.  I went to bible studies almost every day of the week after that with my mom and that helped me a lot.  I RAN into God's arms instead of running away from him, as most tend to.  And praise God that I did!

Because He was preparing me for my next adventure.  Praise God that he re-blessed me with Ben!  I could not have asked for more!  He is everything I had always hoped for in the man I would marry someday.  :)  And I can't believe it all worked out so easily!

There was a song on the radio a lot recently that went, "This is love and love is easy.  It's the easiest thing to do."  Love with Ben has been very easy.  It is very easy to love him and it seems easy for him to love me as well.  We just click.  Praise God! 

I always feel SO lucky to have met him and have him in my life.  God is so good and He gives such good gifts! :)

There was a sermon at the Cause about a month ago and the woman said, "You may be going through trials, but your life is NOT OVER!" 

Part of me felt like my life ended when Roger died.  When she said this it made me cry and I was like, "Ok God, what do you still have for me to do?  I am yours."

My grandma said to me after the death, "God only takes something away so He can give you something better."  That gave me a lot of hope.  And she was right. :)

In many ways my life now is so much better than it was before Roger died.  It is so much more simple, less complicated, less stressful, and more joyful.  Thanks be to God.

Joyce Meyer talks about God giving us a double recompense for our former trouble.  When Roger died I was so distraught.  I was crying out to God, "WHY have you made my life suck so much?!  I don't understand!" 

But He has his reasons for allowing certain things to happen to us.

And I know, and I have known all along, He works all things together for the good of those who love Him. 

That does not mean the thing itself was "good" but He can work it out for good.  Praise God! 

So whatever you are going through, have faith, God will make it ok in the end. :) Just believe and keep trusting Him that He has you and He loves you. 

You never know what He is working behind the scenes of what You see in your life.  He has great plans for you; plans to give you hope and a future.  So keep holing on.  It will get better.  This too shall pass.  Just trust Him.  :)

"Now to him who is able to do abundantly more than all that we ask or imagine, to him be glory, honor and praise both now and forever!"  Amen. :)