The Daniel Fast Day 9: The Gift of Trials

We have all had trials.

It is part of the human experience.

If you live very long,

you will have trial.  

In the book of James,

James tells us that we are to consider them pure joy.

Trials.

Pure Joy.

Hmmm....

I can remember when I first came across this verse.

I was ill at the time and my life was a mess.

I remember thinking,

Really LORD?

Pure Joy?

These trials,

the ones I have lived through

up to this point...

all pure joy?

Then I felt a rush come over my heart.

I recognize it now as faith welling in my heart

to believe exactly what James was saying here.

So I did. 

I just believed that I was to consider the illness

I was facing,

the divorce I was going through,

and the loss of so much in my life,

pure joy,

because it was producing perseverance in my life,

and when that was complete,

I would be full, complete,

lacking nothing.

But what I have come to see through the years 

is that it is a process.

I didn't get there over night.

God was and is teaching me so much.

In 1986, on April 10,

my sister Dana was killed in a motorcycle accident.

She was 18.

Just 5 weeks from graduating high school.

It was, to say the least, devastating.

Three months later on July 8th,

my husband was electrocuted on the job.

We had been married almost 8 months.

I was 19.

He was 22.

It was the biggest trial I had ever been through

in my young years, and I had NO idea how to cope

or deal with it.  

Unfortunately, I did not turn to God,

I ran away from Him.

I was so angry.

I was so hurt.

I was devastated.

It would be many, many years,

before I would truly grieve their loss.

I stuffed it, for the most part.

Yes, there is a certain amount of grieving that 

has to be done right away,

but the part of if that needs to be dealt

with day by day,

I stuffed, suppressed, didn't want to deal with,

and as a result, I no longer trusted.

anyone.

I thought if I got close to anyone

they would leave me.

It was very hard.

When I came back to the LORD,

ten years after that happened,

He helped me to understand so much more than

I ever could have then.

There are things I will never understand

this side of heaven,

but I don't question them anymore. 

I trust God.

I know that the trials of that time,

and all the ones since that time,

God has worked for good in my life.

He has helped me to be able to consider them pure joy 

in the midst of raw pain.

He has taken that which should have destroyed me,

and turned it for my good,

because He is good.

Always good.

And that is what He does.

Whatever trial you are facing, 

take heart.

God is with you.

He will NEVER leave you 

nor forsake you.

Go to Him child.

Let Him heal your hurting soul.

He is your ever-present help.

Let Him lift you up.

He wants to do a deep work in your soul.

As you fast, give Him that permission.

Take the time.

Let Him help you.

It is hard.

Very hard.

But what God has done in my life 

in the twenty years since I came back to Him

is nothing short of miraculous.

I am not at all the same person.

Don't feel the same,

act the same,

or even look the same.

He has taken a very broken girl,

and given her the courage to dream again,

BIG DREAMS!

Things that will only be done in her life

as she trusts Him.

It is simply amazing!

He truly makes all things new.

I love you so!

In Christ alone,

dawn

Daniel Fast: Slow Sunday

I hope you take time to slow today.

To rest.

To be in God's Presence and let Him refresh you.

Sundays will be a slow day on the blog.

A day of rest here to.

Praise Jesus.

Worship Him.

Thank Him.

And rest.

"Spirit lead me where my trust
is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
wherever you would call me.
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander,
and my faith will be made stronger
in the Presence of my Savior."

This is my favorite version of "Oceans".

Praise Him.

In Christ Alone,

dawn

The Daniel Fast: Believing for the Impossible

Do you have a big dream?

Something you KNOW God is calling you to do?

Will you believe Him for it?

I have a big dream.

Something I KNOW God has called me to.

I am making it a matter of prayer.

I desperately want to see God work and move

in it, and I know for it to come to fruition,

it will take God moving in this situation.

What is God working in you?

What work is He calling you to do?

Step out.

Believe Him for it.

Dream BIG!!

God is able to do exceedingly,

abundantly more than all you could ask or imagine.

And He wants to do that for you!

So make that BIG dream a matter of prayer.

Step out in faith and believe Him for it,

and watch Him work in your situation.

I will keep you posted on my BIG dream.

SO EXCITED to see God do what only He can,

because that is the thing about BIG dreams you know.

It is something you can't do on your own.

It is something that can only be done

as God works and moves in you.

Trust Him.

Step out in faith.

He will be with you!

In Christ Alone,

dawn

The Daniel Fast: Day 5 - Praying for the Lost

During the Fast

I am praying for a very close family member

that doesn't know the LORD.

God laid him on my heart

to be praying daily for during the Fast.

I am believing God for Big things in his life.

As I have been thinking about how to pray for him,

I came across this on Pinterest.

This is so good!

I am also praying for other lost

family and friends on Wednesday's,

and will be using this as a guide.

Remember to pray for your lost loved ones,

and be real to them.

Be Jesus' hand and heart extended to them,

even when they are difficult.

Love them in spite of them.

Love them to Jesus.

In Christ alone,

dawn

Daniel Fast: Day 4 - Spiritual Thirst

When you are doing something like the Daniel Fast

water is very very important.

(Well, water is ALWAYS very important,

but definitely during a fast).

It not only hydrates your body,

but it also fills your tummy 

and helps you to not feel so hungry.

It is my go to on the Fast.

I always have it near me.

In fact, my glass is sitting within reach

right now.

It is never far when I Fast.

Several years ago, my husband and I 

went on a hike and got turned around and lost.

We ended up in the words in a treacherous place after dark,

with no water.

We had to call a ranger to get us out.

We were in dire straights.

We were SO dehydrated,

well past the point of thirsty.

And that is what happens when you go extended periods of time

without water.  

You are dehydrated and your body starts suffering to a huge degree.

In the Spiritual, the same thing happens without Jesus.

But when you come to Him and believe in Him 

out of your heart flows rivers of living water.  

Your Spiritual thirst is satisfied in Jesus alone.

Come to Him.

Spend time in the Presence of Living Water.

The only One that truly satisfies the thirsty soul.

What are you trying to use to quench your Spiritual thirst?

The Living Water is the Only Way to quench it.

Trust Him today.

He is with you.

In Christ alone,

dawn