Be Encouraged..

Wow! Sometimes you can really feel the Lord speaking to you in different ways and today was one of those days. The message at church was Be Encouraged and it was just what I needed to hear so I thought I would share a little. It even went hand in hand with my bible study lesson for the week and was taken right from John. I think the Lord was really speaking to me... twice! Pastor Buddy made 3 key points in his lesson today that I thought were really great:

1. Joy overcomes sorrow - "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. " John 16:20

2. Love overcomes seperation- "For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God." John 16:27
God is with us and will give us strength. His strength is all we need.

3. Peace overcomes struggle- "Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But, take heart, I have overcome the world." John 16: 33
Jesus is our peace who has overcome the world. It all comes back to these three things:
joy, love and peace that are only found in Him.

What an amazing God we serve knowing that He always has our best interests at heart. Even when it is hard to see or understand and we are constantly asking, "Why?" At times we may think God is mean for not giving us what we are begging for, but we don't realize that He has a higher mercy. As Beth Moore would say, " We want a Holy Enabler. God wants to be our Healer."

God is not going to give you anything that He can't handle! I just love this.
I have definitely been encouraged this week and new things lie ahead this week for us in our infertility journey. I go back to the doctor and Wednesday and we will go from there. Please keep me in your prayers on Wednesday. =) But for now, I am encouraged and reminded of these powerful verses in Scripture.

Psalm 46:10: "Be still and know that I am God."
Romans 5:3-5 " And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;perseverance, character, and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."

I hope you all have a great week and will be encouraged! =)

On another note..I am ready to run for Race for the Cure next weekend. I finally got me some new shoes and I am loving them. They have motivated me to get outside in this beautiful
weather and run! What a great stress reliever too.

I also had a fun date night with my best bud from college, Shelly. We had a great time shopping, and eating and catching up. I truly believe that good friends are like rare stones. They are just hard to find and I am lucky to have some of the best ones. This girl just gets me from the inside out and I just love her!

Friends are precious gifts from God. Love you friend!