“My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.”

                                                            – Brennan Manning

I have been reading a book entitled “Blessed In the Darkness”, it was sent to me by my sister and it is really hitting home.  It is about finding peace in the dark places in your life and looking at the process of going through the valleys of life as a blessing, and a building of your character, or like I like to say it Spiritual Growing Pains!  These valleys only last a season at a time and are necessary to complete our maturity in a full reliance on Christ, dying to self, living for Christ.

Through my relationship with Christ over the years, I have learned when going through the dark valleys to recognize the battle, the war going on within.  And over time I have learned to use the tools found in the pages of God’s Word to get through these tough times.  I recently enjoyed this quote from Brennan Manning…

“The ragamuffin who sees his life as a voyage of discovery and runs the risk of failure has a better feel for faithfulness than the timid man who hides behind the law and never finds out who he is at all.” ― Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel

I have started to learn to accept the thorn in my side as Paul calls it, for over 25 years I have carried this thorn…As Paul says, I asked God to remove it three times, yet He does not.

So I am left with one deduction…God has a plan, and He wants me to go through this raging sea within me, and I know God will walk with me, and I will learn much along the way, but through the storm I go….step-by-step by faith…Head up, and eyes focused on Jesus!   The Goal, to die to self, and to live for Christ, sharing my testimony of God at work within and around me, blessing others along the way.

I will chronicle my walk  and the challenges each day, and last but not least, allow God to use me each day no matter how tough the day may be, and look for HIM at work, and keep my head up and eyes on Jesus.  Because through it all, I’ve learned to trust in Jesus, I’ve learned to depend on HIS Word…

It’s time to surrender all to Jesus…and embrace the Journey and let God do His work in us.