~ "Good grief!!! I would have been right in the middle of that!!!"

He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. (John 4:3)

Jesus knew that the Jews wanted to take His life. He wasn't ready for that to happen, so He moved on. He still had more work to do. When the time was right, He would submit to the authority given them by the Father, to fulfill the prophecy.

When we look at the short span of His teaching life, the amount of time He spent on earth doing what He was born to do, we expect our answers to come within a short window of time as well. Somehow we gage all that should occur on a three-year calendar. If you look back to the Israelites, they wandered the desert for 40 years. They were exiled to Babylon for 70 years. Our "instant" society seems to think that the Lord's hand should be swifter than it is, and we forget that there are reasons why our answers to prayers may take decades.

Sometimes God's plan for us and His allowing so much time to pass can be frustrating (to say the very least), yet all the while He continues to watch over us. Sometimes the events that occur in our lives that we think are punishment or "unfortunate occurrences" can be the largest blessings - we only need to be patient and wait on Him to reveal the whole picture. A minor injury which can take you out of the game may just be the one thing that saves you from the life altering one you'd have received had you continued to "play". I learned that yesterday! God often moves us away without a reason or an explanation. He knows what we don't and sees the long end of things, where we can only see what it right in front of us.

Sometimes we never know why circumstances change, why we are "moved away" from certain things. God knows why - that's all that matters. In His time, He may reveal those reasons to you, then again, He may not. Sometimes He allows us to know why in order for us to be drawn back into His presence and realize that the whole time we were under His protection - generally from a worse situation than we were in originally.

Take heart! God has a good plan for you to follow. His motives are pure and worthy of praise. His reasons may not be clear at first, but most of the time, in HIS time, He will let you know why that particular part of your life was surrendered. Just accept what He's given you - there is a reason! Don't question it - just do it! Continue to live the life He's designed for you and all will be fine. Don't give the enemy room to stand, let alone take up residence. All things do work for the good for those who believe in His power and love!

~ "All promises yet unseen..."

Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. (Rev 22:14)

The only promises that are worth believing in are the ones that come from the Father. People will promise you anything to get their way and when you do your share, they inevitably renege once they've gotten what the wanted from you. The words of men are not bound by men, but the Word of God is firm.

The enemy uses these tools to bring you to his level. What seems too good to be true (in this life, and this does not apply to the Word of God), usually is. All the beautiful schemes and plans laid out to you by those around you are done to gain power over you. You become their property (and whoever said slavery is no more, has yet to walk in the shoes of those who are not "well to do" and have been left with no choices - only demands). Sometimes the saddest moment of their lives is to wake up in the morning and find that God has not yet decided to bring them home to His kingdom. They walk through life alone and struggle to maintain their composure, only to be brought, once again, to the bottom of the barrel that has nothing in it but their lost dreams and failed attempts at success. They wake up to find that their nightmare continues on into the day and that although the Lord is with them, they are alone and there is no one but Him who understands or even cares about what they are experiencing and the desperation they are feeling is often overwhelming. They have run out of options.

Pray for them. Pray that the Lord will end their suffering one way or another. Pray that the Lord will allow them to walk into the light and rejoice with Him. Those who make the honest effort at keeping His word, at doing His work, who live for Him, are in His hands. He provides for them because they are faithful; but their isolation becomes their prison, and like Paul, they know that their reward will be great, when it finally comes.

So pray that the Lord will send them the strength they need to continue to do His work, that they will undoubtedly find comfort and joy through knowing they are in His care, that He will continue to provide for them and that they will not lose hope. Ask Him to continue to have His blessings fall on them so that they can continue to live a life that is pleasing to Him and do so without the constraints of those who yield control over them. Ask Him to lighten their load a little and light their path a little more. Ask Him to comfort them. Ask Him to fulfill His promises to them. Ask Him for a miracle!