You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Genesis 50:20
Hi Friends,
As a nation, as a world, we have been experiencing some hard. Individually, we may be experiencing hard. Joseph knew hard. He knew a lot of it. But through it all, he trusted God. He knew God was using the hard for His purpose- and that purpose was good. That didn't necessarily make the hard easier, but it did give it purpose, God's purpose. The same is true for us. Our hard has a purpose. God is working in it. Nothing surprises Him. Covid didn't surprise Him. The unrest doesn't surprise Him. Our individual circumstances don't surprise Him. He knew. He knows. And He is working His purpose through it all.
My friend and owner of Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, Korin Sutherland, shared a post on FB originally written by Kimberly Henderson of Proverbs 31 Ministries. It really resonated with me and is what inspired this page. Here is what Kimberly wrote:
I would have pulled Joseph out. Out of that pit. Out of that prison. Out of that pain. And I would have cheated nations out of the one God would use to deliver them from famine.
I would have pulled David out. Out of Saul’s spear-throwing presence. Out of the caves he hid away in. Out of the pain of rejection. And I would have cheated Israel out of a God-hearted king.
I would have pulled Esther out. Out of being snatched from her only family. Out of being placed in a position she never asked for. Out of the path of a vicious, power hungry foe. And I would have cheated a people out of the woman God would use to save their very lives.
And I would have pulled Jesus off. Off of the cross. Off of the road that led to suffering and pain. Off of the path that would mean nakedness and beatings, nails and thorns. And I would have cheated the entire world out of a Savior. Out of salvation. Out of an eternity filled with no more suffering and no more pain.
And oh friend. I want to pull you out. I want to change your path. I want to stop your pain. But right now I know I would be wrong. I would be out of line. I would be cheating you and cheating the world out of so much good. Because God knows. He knows the good this pain will produce. He knows the beauty this hard will grow. He’s watching over you and keeping you even in the midst of this. And He’s promising you that you can trust Him. Even when it all feels like more than you can bear.
So instead of trying to pull you out, I’m lifting you up. I’m kneeling before the Father and I’m asking Him to give you strength. To give you hope. I’m asking Him to protect you and to move you when the time is right. I'm asking Him to help you stay prayerful and discerning. And I’m believing He’s going to use your life in powerful and beautiful ways. Ways that will leave your heart grateful and humbly thankful for this road you’ve been on.
He knows the beauty the hard will grow. He knows, friend. Let's lift our nation, our world, each other up to Him. He is our hope. He is working in this mess. And He is good.
Page Details: Do you ever work on a page and things just keep messing up? Well, I do! LOL I decided to do a background using acrylic paint and baby wipes. I just put some paint on the baby wipe, and spread it out on the page, blending when I started a new color. But, I dropped some paint on the Scripture. So, I tried to clean it off, and ended up rubbing the words a little too much so that they started to come up. OOOPS!
Then, when I went to stamp the words on the page, I started stamping the wrong word!
The great thing about acrylics is that if you mess up, you can just paint over it and start over! You can see that even after I painted over it, you can still see a little of the "HA", but once I stamped "WILL" over it, you can't see the mess up.
If I hadn't been using acrylics, I probably would have covered the "HA" with something- a word sticker, a torn hymnal page, scrapbook paper, something that would have camouflaged the mistake.
Trust Him, Friends. He knows the hard you are in and He's right there with you. Have a blessed week! Andrea
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