Stormy Weather
In 1943 Lena Horne sang the soulful song, Stormy Weather, in the classic movie by the same title. Unfortunately, there are seasons in our lives when these sad lyrics can be the song of our hearts.
My life is bare,
Gloom and misery everywhere.
Stormy weather.
Just can’t get my po’ self together,
I’m weary all the time.
The time.
… All I do is pray,
That the Lord above will let me,
Walk in the sun once more.
Girlfriends, if you are experiencing a stormy season and are anxious to see the sun once more, take heart that the Lord is a sun and shield who bestows favor and honor. He withholds no good thing from those whose walk is blameless. This does not necessarily mean that your rain clouds are caused by sin, but it is always prudent to ask your heavenly Father if iniquity in your heart could be the reason for what you are going through. If you have iniquity—repent. If not, it is important to understand that the enemy wants you to feel dreary and hopeless.
If you are weary of your stormy weather, look for sunshine in the Word of God—it is all right there for you to find. Do not allow the dark whispers of the enemy to depress you. They are lies and the only thing he is capable of speaking. Your heavenly Father’s words are where the light of truth can be found.
Dearest girlfriends, I pray that when the storm clouds roll in we would walk in the sunshine found in His living truth.
Letting Go
by Victoria Robinson
As we travel through this life it becomes so easy to hold onto the wrong things. Our priorities can become skewed as we focus only on what surrounds us here on this temporary place called earth. King Solomon imparted these words of wisdom to us when he said, “As a man comes, so he departs, and what does he gain, since he toils for the wind?”
“If we labour in religion, the grace and comfort we get by that labour we may carry away in our hearts, and shall be the better for it to eternity; that is meat that endures. But if we labour only for the world, to fill our hands with that, we cannot take that away with us; we are born with our hands griping, but we die with them extended, letting go what we held fast. So that, upon the whole matter, he may well ask, What profit has he that has laboured for the wind?” — Matthew Henry
Dearest girlfriends, I pray we would let go of that which is temporary and focus on eternity.
Naked a man comes from his mother’s womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand. This too is a grievous evil: As a man comes, so he departs, and what does he gain, since he toils for the wind? ~ Ecclesiastes 5:15-16 NIV
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. ~ 2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. ~ Hebrews 11:8-10 NIV
Do Not Give Up!
When life presses in on you, do you give up? Are you sitting here reading this and groaning at the prospect of pushing on in some area of your life? It is so easy to throw your hands in the air and call it a day. However, that would be defeat and while our heavenly Father never said life would be easy, He did tell us to never give up.
The apostle Paul felt hard pressed many times and yet never gave up. He chose instead to believe what his heavenly Father instructed him to do, knowing he was never really alone in the task.
A paralytic man had faithful friends who refused to give up. When they could not get him to Jesus, they pushed through and found a way to get him the healing he so desperately needed. They accomplished this through an “”Extreme Home Makeover”. Healing was the reward of their faithful efforts.
Dearest girlfriends, I pray we would keep pushing through when we feel like giving up.