KEEP TRYING

Song - Don't Give Up by: Island Inspirational Allstars (Hezekiah, Karen Clark, Donald, Kirk & Family)


It is so easy to judge someone whose shoes you have not been in.  You can hear people saying "If that were me I'd....." or "Why don't they just....".  Looking from the outside of people's lives one can only assume what they should do.

If you have told me 5 years ago that I would struggle with Fibromyalgia, I wouldn't believe you.  I never would have dreamed that I would loose my job, car and walk through some of the darkest times of my life.  I  got to the point that walking was so hard for me.  It hurt, and I couldn't hardly move without extreme pain.  Things have gotten alot better and I am slowly little by little regaining health, but from the outside I know it looked so differently.

I remember sitting in Church and looking over at someone that was going through a divorce and thinking...that is so sad.  I felt bad for them but had no idea what they were walking through or felt.  It wasn't until I went through my divorce that I found out what it was all about.  The pain and brokenness I had never felt before.  

That is why when we see our brother and sister fall, down, hurt, sick, lonely....don't even bother to think you can judge or know what they are walking through.  Just love them, pray with them, encourage them.

It isn't about so much advice as it is knowing that people care that you are walking through it.  That they are there to help you keep getting back up.

Many times I wanted to hang my hat and call it a day, but God placed people in my life to keep whispering...."It's gonna get better, try again". 

I pray that everyone facing something difficult today, will be surrounded by the Holy Spirit and that God will send people to encourage you.  People to hold your arms up when you are tired and worn.  

THE POTTER'S HAND

Song - The Potter's Hand by: Darlene Zschech


"Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker-- An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth! Will the clay say to the potter, 'What are you doing?' Or the thing you are making say, 'He has no hands'? Isaiah 45:9

Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, "Who sees us? Who will know?" You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, "He did not make me"? Can the pot say of the potter, "He knows nothing"?

Isaiah 29:15-16

“O Lord, You are our Father. We are the clay, You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand” (Isaiah 64:8) 

“Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you My message” (Jeremiah 18:2).

About Potters

Perhaps most famously are these words from the classic hymn, “Have Thine Own Way” which serves as a our message title....

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Here are four truths concerning the Master Potter:

1) The Master Potter is always in control.
2) The Master Potter is “hands on” (genuine pottery products are not mass-produced).
3) The Master Potter takes time and changes His work a number of times in ways that can be mysterious to the observer as he works on the finished product. As living pottery, changes in our lives can be mysterious to us also!
4) The Master Potter has the ultimate good in mind for His work.

Song -Have Thine Own Way by:Pastor E.Dewey Smith Jr

LEARNING

Song - Use me Lord by:Jotta A

Tonight I guess if there is anything I want to share it is that, just when you think you have gained knowledge, you realize you have so much to learn.  I don't regret this insight.  For it will make me seek after more.

I am a strong believer in "Never stop Learning".  As long as there is breath in your lungs you have the ability to learn something new every day.  It is only when we cease to believe that we need to learn or have the ability to learn that we no longer can.

Everyone is unique, and have different ways of learning.  Some it is by hearing.  Others, like myself, I learn greatly with visuals.  Some it takes both.  Others hands on.  However you learn best, your heavenly Father knows that.  He will put you in situations that will try you to the core.  You will wonder why in the world you had to walk through it, but in the end you will see what God was trying to teach you.

I can't say I would walk through everything I have walked through again, but I will say this....it has molded me and made me the Woman I am today.  It made me wiser, stronger, more caring, more forgiving, and much more aware of who God is in my life.

I love to learn things.  I love Encyclopedia's and Biographies and things that deal with self help and such.  I love reading.  Because I have opened my heart to learn, God pours things in me.  He places the right books and information I need to face whatever is ahead of me.  It is best to not wait till the storm comes to prepare for it.  You need to do things in advance.  So if you are wanting to date.  Then read about marriage, and good christian counseling books.  Prepare yourself for what is ahead.

Even though I have gained much knowledge of life's trials and tests, there is yet so much that is not tapped into. I hunger for more.  I long to have the wisdom, knowledge and understanding to help point people in trouble in the right direction.  I can't fix anyone, but I know who can and I have learned ways to find the keys to ones solutions.  I am believing God to unveil that part of me, and use me to guide people.  I am checking into online classes for Christian Counseling and Pastoral Care.  This will be a big step but I know it is the direction I need to go in.

Whatever you faced.  Whatever you have gone through....often these are things God will use to be a ministry to help others.  So you do have skill.  If you have suffered the loss of a loved one, divorce, break up.  Then you know grieving.  If you have done drugs, porn, alcoholic, then you about addiction.

I challenge you to pray and then sit done and write the things you have walked through and learned about it.  You will be surprised at how God can use that part of you to help someone else who is or has gone through it.  If you need to, do more research on it.  Study and prepare yourself to help someone else.