There are two things I’ve been telling myself a lot lately…

* You’re stronger than you feel.
* You don’t have to have everything figured out right now.

I’ve never really had a mantra, but maybe now I do because I can tell you these two sentences have helped me breathe a little easier.

Not because of anything I’ve tried to do, but because of what I know God can do.

On those really rough days when I feel like everything might cave in on me, I remind myself that how I feel can’t always be trusted.

How I feel and what I know to be true don’t always line up.

I might feel weak, but I know God is strong.

When I feel defeated, I know God is never defeated.

“He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.” Isaiah 40:28b-29 NLT

I’m stronger than I feel because God’s strength never runs out.

How I feel depends on what I can see and what I know, but God knows what I don’t. He’s not surprised by events or taken off guard. He knows what’s coming next. He sees it all.

I’m stronger than I feel because God is in control. Every day. All the time. Which means I don’t have to have it all figured out. And what a relief that is because no matter how hard I try, I just can’t.

But God can. He is in the details. No matter how big or small, God knows every bit of His plans.

When I don’t see any possible way, God knows the way.

What looks impossible to me is never impossible for God.

He weaves all the details of life together in ways we can’t imagine or understand. But in ways that astound us and leave us in awe.

I don’t have to have everything figured out before I take the next step because God does have it figured out. He knows where He’s leading me. I just have to follow.

I’m stronger than I feel because God is stronger than I could ever be. And I don’t have to figure it all out because He already has it figured out. Down to the very last detail.

His plan. His way. And His peace that passes all understanding.

“The Lord gives his people strength.
The Lord blesses them with peace.”
Psalms 29:11 NLT

By Laura Rath
used by Permission

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The post God’s Strength God’s Plan appeared first on Thoughts About God.

Control. I hear this word too often in discussions as I sit in circles of chairs or sit around tables in Bible studies, and the other word I am hearing too often is perfection. Yet, from the same group, the same mouths, I hear these other words…anxiety, stress, fear, and exhaustion.

I don’t understand it. How can we ever think we have control? Why do we demand it and think we must have it? Why does it dominate our thinking when we absolutely do not control anything? Maybe we think we do—but we don’t. And if we think we do, it is only a matter of time until we find out, we certainly do not. Eventually a set of circumstances will occur in our lives that will have us throwing up our hands in helplessness and we will know only God can help us now.

Only God has control. He is a Sovereign God. He is perfection.

We can let go of what we have thought was control, and we can stop striving for unattainable perfection, and we can be free. When we let go and turn it all over to Him, we gain freedom in return. When we walk in freedom, which is a result of fully trusting Him—the anxiety and fear will not control us.

It is hard to live in freedom when we hold so tightly in our grip that which God wants us to release to Him. Why is it so hard to let go? God has a hold of it…far better than we do. Why not trust? Why not yield fully to Him?

Does all of that control bring anything besides control? Are we going to allow control to… control us?

Control, or freedom. We can’t have both, they will not co-exist.

Let’s choose freedom and fully trusting God and not ourselves.

Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.”

By Kathy Cheek
Used by Permission

FURTHER READING

God Is Always In Control

Learning to Give Control to God

Out of Control

The post Do You Want Control or Freedom? appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.”  Proverbs 27:1

Thought

Humility about the future! We don’t control tomorrow. At other times in our lives we may have taken tomorrow for granted; not so anymore. Tomorrow may not come. Tomorrow something horrible could happen. Tomorrow everything we possess could be gone. In the face of these discouraging possibilities, is there anything positive we can hold onto? Absolutely! We know that God holds tomorrow in his hands. We know that because our life is hidden with Christ in God (cf. Colossians 3:1-4) our tomorrow is secure. It might not be what we expect. It might not go as we planned. But, it will go as God determines and it will end up with us sharing in his comfort, victory, and glory.

Prayer

Father, my tomorrows all rest in your hands. I ask that I can be useful to you today; courageous enough not to worry about tomorrow, and loyal enough to not waver in my love for you and my commitment to you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

By Phil Ware
Used by Permission

From: Phil’s daily devotionals on https://www.verseoftheday.com

FURTHER READING

• Living One Day at a Time – by Palitha Jayasooriya
• Focus on Today – by John Grant
• God’s Plan or My Plan? – BY Don Myers

Homepage for  Devotionals

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