Good morning! My <3 is filled with a thousand words (lol~) 2day, proclaiming God's provision! These words kept going through my mind yesterday afternoon as I got ready for, and sat through,the procedure:
God is creator, sustainer, beginner and finisher:God meets all of our needs.
Oh how these words, and the ability to come to God in prayer, comforted me as I lay there in the dentist's chair with him drilling and chipping away at my molar ~ or the tooth of evil I like to call it(instead of axis of evil,I know, lame... :)
I was so thankful when he said that it was beyond a root canal and needed to come out!... I know that sounds wierd but I hate root canals(I had have one done once before; I felt like I couldn't breathe the whole time: not fun at all!) and he went on and on about how there's no gaurantee that a root canal will end all pain...
but! pulling out the little bugger should end all pain!!! At least I hope so! So, today I go in at 4pm again to have them PULL the dreaded tooth out :)
( Now if I could just get someone to pull out whatevers bothering my ear..lol!)
How's that for resting in God's grace?(I know. I am pitiful.;P.)


Anyways~ lol~ I tried and tried to recall those words He gave me yesterday afternoon when the Novicaine was all worn off & I had chewed through the last Vicaden I had. The pain in my gumline and ear was alternately stabbing and throbbing,and it was worse than before in that area of my gums. They came, even in the midst of searing pain. I was comforted to know that God was with me through this valley, even if He wasn't taking the pain away. I felt that, at that moment, my tooth/ear pain was the thorn in my side to keep me from becoming too puffed up. I will continue to share about this journey of mine through pain, not to elicit sympathy from people or cry oh-woe-is-me for everyone to hear and take pity on me but because God is glorified through me telling about His provisions for me as I walk through this pain. I know other believers who have had similar pain, for much longer than I have. More spirit-filled than I, and yet, they suffer too. I cannot understand all of God's ways, they are too marvelous for me to know, but I can rest in these promises:



@@@I know that there will have pain in this life; that we can count on an absence of pain in Heaven :)These scriptures help me to not think in terms of just this life, but in terms of my eternity. God tells us that He doesn't make light of people's suffering in this life, but that He wants to give it perspective.
Also,Job 19:25-27: "I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth...and after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes-I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!"


@@@Hebrews 5:7-10: During the days of Jesus' life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek... Jesus was made perfect through His suffering.
God is perfect, so it had to be the human part of Jesus that was made perfect through suffering, right? Why did the human side or part of Jesus need to learn obedience and be made perfect? ....
Romans 5:1-5: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. 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.... this passage shows me that through suffering I will learn to persevere, and perseverance produces character, and character, hope. I won't tell you I like this particular passage,lol!, but I have to take God's word as a whole and not skip the parts that make me uncomfortable... this is what the word of God says. He also says to pray for our daily needs... not weekly not yearly,but day to day needs. He gives us the gift of daily, continual prayer! Thank You, God!!


I cannot tell in just words how much the gift of prayer has helped me through many situation in my life. I just wish that I would rely on it, and trust it, more often.
I can think of one situation where I have prayed and prayed and the answer has not come. Why does God leave some prayers unanswered for a period of time only know to Him? Or, forever? There are so many scriptures that tell me about possible reasons for unanswered prayer, yet I know that God's ways will remain too marvelous for me to understand no matter how much I meditate on them!... One could cite:

John 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”
And there is 1 John 3:22 “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.”
1 John 5:14-15 “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”
James 4:3 “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
1 Peter 3:12 “For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil.”
James 1:6-7 “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;”
Galatians 6:9 “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

With sadness, I must confess that I can definately see myself in many of those scriptures. I know that I cannot perfectly obey God, but that I must rest in Jesus'work to save me, but I also see that James and Galations tell me to not doubt and to not grow weary if I am doing good, because I will reap if I do not lose heart. In this situation of unanswered prayer, I am guilty of doubting and growing weary, even allowing myself to lose heart; over time I have allowed sadness to grow into anger and bitterness about the situation and no good fruit comes from a bad tree, just as no bad fruit comes from a good tree. I have been baring bad fruit in this stinking, sinful heart of mine because I have doubted and grow weary and I have also allowed bitterness to take root in a situation in which reconciliation/compromise is impossible,for the time being.
I have stopped praying for this person on several occasions over the past few weeks. I have allowed my sin to do this because I have become convinced by my own lack of faith that God will not work in this man's heart.


Yet, this is not what His word says I should do. His word says that I should refrain from all bitterness, forgiving as I have been forgiven, and having faith in God's goodness regardless of the situations I am in in life. If only I would obey God fully.... isn't that always what helps us avoid so many of the troubles in life? So many that we bring onto ourselves... so many situations,like this one,that could be walked through in a God-glorifying, unselfish way spoiled by stubborness and selfishness on my part :(

I know that God's word says that He has a “due season” when He will bring His answers to those fervent prayers to pass...
Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” I must dilegently seek....