It's BAD NEWS! Or is it?

Most people are familiar with the story found in 2 Chronicles 20 about King Jehoshaphat who received the alarming news that the armies of Moab and Ammon, etc. wanted to wage war against his nation.

Most lessons from this passage focus on the power of praising God to turn a situation around. And it's a very true and valid lesson. But there is another lesson to gleaned from this account:

Things that appear scary, bad, negative, are not always what they seem.

The King and his people could have run away in fear, but they chose to turn to and trust in God.

And instead of fighting a war, they saw God fight the war for them AND they carried away so much loot it took them THREE days to carry it all back.

Wow, so we go from being scared of people coming to make war against a nation, to seeing them carrying away the loot of the attacking nation for 3 days long.

Who would have thought that would be the end, standing at the beginning?

Well, with God.... all things are possible.

Are you worried or grateful?

It's an important question!

How many times in the Bible does God say "Fear not!" or "Do not worry" or "Cast your anxious thoughts on me"? No, I haven't counted, but many times!

Well, why the emphasis on fear/worry/anxiety?

God gave us the gift of faith, but we can use it positively or negatively!

You can have faith in debt, in disease, in conflict, in poverty, in disappointments. And we do it more easily than having faith in health or prosperity or dreams or joy.

I've come to a point in my life after lots of studying and some faith building experiences, that has made me realise you have to look for the good that can come out of any situation and be grateful for all the good you already have. Have faith for good, not evil.

God has taught me lessons in trust since this year began like you wouldn't believe and yet, each time I have to stop myself from worrying and place my focus on gratitude and faith in God.

It's not easy to have faith that the sun will come up when it's dark all around you! But the more times the sun comes up, the more you trust that it WILL happen.

Well, God just proved himself to me again today..

I spent more on toiletries than I planned to which made the money available for our utilities bill (water & lights) less. It's not that I was spending wildly, it's that all the prices have gone up, up, up and I wanted to get everything at this particular store because they have excellent prices and I don't go there often. Then I got our utilities bill and it was even more than usual! What a bummer. What a downer. What a panic inducing situation! You betcha. But since God has been teaching me about trusting Him to provide if I'll just relax, have faith and wait on Him, that's what I did. I was a teeny little bit concerned, but I had faith that the money would come by 18 February.

Well, today I received an unexpected cheque deposit into my account that more than covered out utilities bill.

AWESOME God!

GRATITUDE, people. And lots of it. TRUST... FAITH.... Just do it!