Surprised By God

Have you ever been surprised by God?

I have- a number of times and tonight He did it again. I have spent much of the week battling and at the same time as the battle being on I have been saying 'Lord please make me pliable in Your hands.' The more I have asked Him to be God to me, to work a miracle in my heart, to transform me, to soften the exterior of ok-ness and melt my heart, the more I have prayed the more He has spoken and as He has spoken I have written what He has said on a post-it note and stuck it on the wardrobe door which is right next to my bed!

I have been surprised in a week the stash of encouragements on my door so I thought that I would share them with you - they may just bless and encourage someone else as they have me this week!

I have already blogged about Sunday morning and the

'Not just to survive, not to strive but time to thrive'

but also on Sunday in my quiet time I read this by Billy Graham:-

"A victorious Christian is one who, in spite of worries, inner conflicts and

tensions is confident that God is in control and will be victorious in the end. Whatever our difficulties, whatever our circumstances, we must remember

as Corrie Ten Boom used to say 'Jesus is victor!'"

Then before the service I was in the Psalms and I read these verses 21-31 from Psalm 109:-

v22 "For I am poor and needy. And my heart is wounded within me"

v26 "Help me, O Lord my God! Oh save me according to Your mercy,

that they may know that this is Your hand - That You Lord have done it!

Let them curse, but You bless; when they arise, let them be ashamed,

but let Your servant rejoice. Let my accusers be clothed with shame,

and let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle.

I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth.

Yes I will praise Him among the multitude.

For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor,

to save him from those who condemn him."

Monday morning I was reading Billy Graham again and this is what he said:-

"Even when our way seems unclear, God gives us light.

He gives us His Word, the Bible, He also gives us wisdom

(sometimes through other people) to understand our situation,

and He gives the Holy Spirit to guide us."

Billy Graham

I have to say that I was so encouraged that God does use other people - yes He gives us His Word and His Holy Spirit but He also gives us one another. He knows what we are like!

Then also on Monday I read these precious words from Psalm 6v8-9

"Depart from me, all you workers of inquity;

for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping.

The Lord has heard my supplication.

The Lord will receive my prayer

Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled;

let them turn back and be ashamed suddenly."

Tuesday I read this verse in Isaiah 41v13 and it jumped out of the page and grabbed me:-

'I am the Lord your God, who holds your right hand,

and I tell you, "Don't be afraid. I will help you."'

And over the last two days - these verses have blessed my heart as I have read them:-

"The Lord will also be a refuge for the oppressed.

A refuge in times of trouble.

And those who know Your name will put their trust in You;

for You Lord have not forsaken those who seek You."

Psalm 9 v 9 & 10.

"Before they call, I will answer:

And while they are still speaking, I will hear."

Isaiah 65v24

"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal

but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds."

2 Corinthians 10 v 4 In fact I read this in the morning and

someone gave read it to me again this evening!

You see the thing is the battle this week has been different - different how? I hear you ask! Well the enemy has tried to whisper all kinds of lies but rather than being occupied with them I have been asking God to speak, to give me peace, to come and do something where the striving and just surviving mentality are cut off and the thriving can begin - this evening it happened! Something changed the weight of so many things that I don't even want to bore you with or even to spend a moment thinking on were replaced with a lightness in my spirit, in my mind - a transaction took place this evening and I am astounded afresh with the goodness of God, but challenged afresh even by the title of my blog - I want this to move from my head to my heart, to be thrilled again, to be romanced again by the Lover of My Soul. The timely post-it notes of this week have led up to God tangibly moving along with my yielding to Him and my request before Him to do something new................... and now I hunger more than ever for more of Him!