There are times I wonder where the miracles in my life are when I\u2019m literally seeing the miracles in others lives. I have to admit, sometimes I feel forgotten. Then, as I focus on this thought, I start doubting lots of things, like am I loved? Why has He turned His back on me? This self defeating behavior could go deeper to I\u2019m not worthy.<\/p>
This is a hard place to be.\u00a0 We, as children of a loving God, are never forgotten. \u00a0 We’re in the middle of our trial and that is what we see, feel, hear. The trial is bigger than life.<\/p>
It\u2019s like Peter, walking on the water towards Jesus. As long as he is focused on Jesus, he is successful. When he turns his eyes away, he sinks. <\/p>
Sometimes in the chaos, we CAN\u2019T see Him. It is only after the trial of our faith we can look back and clearly see the fingerprints of God throughout that time and, consequently, our faith increases.<\/p>
I\u2019m reminded of a cartoon\u00a0 that was popular when I was a kid.\u00a0 Tom and Jerry.\u00a0 In this episode, if I remember right, Tom had an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other.\u00a0 At all times, he was highly influenced by one or the other.\u00a0 He had to decide which way to turn.\u00a0 May I suggest it is the same with us.\u00a0 There is darkness in this world and as we lean into that darkness, frustration, worry, anger, and even self defeat, we are influenced even more by the dark.\u00a0 It’s the same with the light.\u00a0 If we can remember who we are, and, more importantly who our Father is, we invite goodness in, and see His hand in our lives.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
Either way, the choice is ours.<\/p>
This life is a journey. We\u2019re never going to be perfect, and, these thoughts will more than once cross our mind. <\/p>
Peter walked with Jesus. He knew Jesus. And yet, on his journey he sank. I love how fearless Peter is in asking for help. And, as soon as he does, Jesus is saving him.<\/p>
It\u2019s the same with us.\u00a0 Sometimes recognizing Him in our lives is hard.\u00a0 Sometimes we don\u2019t see Him in the details.\u00a0 I promise you, you will.\u00a0 Don\u2019t give up.\u00a0 Pick up your scriptures. Pray a little more.\u00a0 Follow Him a little closer.\u00a0 Reach your hand out to his children to lift them up.\u00a0 After the trial of your faith you will find Him once again, maybe knowing Him a little better than you did before.\u00a0 It\u2019s truly through our trials we grow to become who our Father in Heaven wants us to be.<\/p>
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There are times I wonder where the miracles in my life are when I\u2019m literally seeing the miracles in others lives. I have to admit, sometimes I feel forgotten. Then, as I focus on this thought, I start doubting lots of things, like am I loved? Why has He turned His back on me? This self defeating behavior could go deeper to I\u2019m not worthy. This is a hard place to be.\u00a0 We, as children of a loving God, are never forgotten. \u00a0 We’re in the middle of our trial and that is what we see, feel, hear. The trial is bigger than life. It\u2019s like Peter, walking on the water towards Jesus. As long as he is focused on Jesus, he is successful. When he turns his eyes away, he sinks. Sometimes in the chaos, we CAN\u2019T see Him. It is only after the trial of our faith we can look back and clearly see the fingerprints of God throughout that time and, consequently, our faith increases. I\u2019m reminded of a cartoon\u00a0 that was popular when I was a kid.\u00a0 Tom and Jerry.\u00a0 In this episode, if I remember right, Tom had an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other.\u00a0 At all times, he was highly influenced by one or the other.\u00a0 He had to decide which way to turn.\u00a0 May I suggest it is the same with us.\u00a0 There is darkness in this world and as we lean into that darkness, frustration, worry, anger, and even self defeat, we are influenced even more by the dark.\u00a0 It’s the same with the light.\u00a0 If we can remember who we are, and, more importantly who our Father is, we invite goodness in, and see His hand in our lives.\u00a0\u00a0 Either way, the choice is ours. This life is a journey. We\u2019re never going to be perfect, and, these thoughts will more than once cross our mind. Peter walked with Jesus. He knew Jesus. And yet, on his journey he sank. I love how fearless Peter is in asking for help. And, as soon as he does, Jesus is saving him. It\u2019s the same with us.\u00a0 Sometimes recognizing Him in our lives is hard.\u00a0 Sometimes we don\u2019t see Him in the details.\u00a0 I promise you, you will.\u00a0 Don\u2019t give up.\u00a0 Pick up your scriptures. Pray a little more.\u00a0 Follow Him a little closer.\u00a0 Reach your hand out to his children to lift them up.\u00a0 After the trial of your faith you will find Him once again, maybe knowing Him a little better than you did before.\u00a0 It\u2019s truly through our trials we grow to become who our Father in Heaven wants us to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[40],"class_list":["post-1312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thoughts","tag-hope"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebighopeletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebighopeletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebighopeletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebighopeletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebighopeletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1312"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thebighopeletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1323,"href":"https:\/\/thebighopeletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312\/revisions\/1323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebighopeletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebighopeletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebighopeletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebighopeletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}