The "P" Words

My "P" Words-One afternoon, I was lying in bed and idly wondering what I
world write in my next blog. Two words popped into my mind. Peace and
praise,. Two important components of my life right now. That started me
thinking of other "p" words that are part of my life at the moment.

Peace is, or should be, a constant part of my life right now. God's peace. A
inner serenity because, no matter what is going on, God is in control and He
will work things out for my best interests. Sometimes, though, I lose that
peace and start to feel agitated and unsettled. When I start to feel like
that, I know my focus has gotten off of God and it time for me to refocus .
The good news is that, when I do, the peace comes back.

Praise, oh how I need to praise God right now. Not because He has made my
circumstances so wonderful, for the most part the opposite is true, but
because He deserves it ALL the time and it is for my own good. If I stop
praising God, I find myself, more and more, getting depressed and starting
to feel sorry for myself.

Prayer is a major part of my life every day. Not so much formal prayer,
though I do set aside a specific time everyday to pray for different people
and situations. However, I mostly just talk to God, in my mind, all day
long. It is a habit that I have gotten into and is something that I can do
anytime, anywhere.

I am clinging to the promises of God right now. The only way I know the
promises that God made is by knowing what the Bible says. So I spend lots of
time reading and studying the Bible. Over the years, I have pretty much
memorized all the healing promises and, now that I have been diagnosed with
cancer, I am using them  to stand against that as well. The Bible has many
other promises from God but I must admit that I have concentrated primarily
on the healing promises because that is what I need most right now. Primarily, but not exclusively.

I love tangible presence of God. Yes, I know that He is with me all the time, whether I can feel Him or not. But it is still nice to feel to His presence. I often feel it when I am at church where the focus is on God. And I quite often feel it I am just lying in bed and listening to Christian music. Again,when my focus is solely on God. But there are also times that I am crying and upset and not at all focused on God. I even feel the presence of God at those times. Kind of like a Holy hug!

However, there are also some "p" words in my life that I am not so crazy about. In our busy, want it now world, patience is not a popular word. But God seems to think that, if we want something badly enough, we will be willing to wait for it. With patience. Over the years, I have had to develop patience as there is a whole lot of waiting in my life.

Another word that I am not crazy about is pruning. I have never been a gardener but I understand that pruning is when they cut the plant to make it grow better. Similarly, God prunes us. He asks us to give up things or attitudes to make us more like Him. And that doesn't feel too good.

My final "p" word is plod. When I was first saved, I expected a miracle to happen at any minute and I would be the same as before the stroke. Instantaneous miracles do happen but not always. And not for me. Instead, I have had to plod through years of discomfort and frustration while still not giving up hope.

And so I am still plodding along. And still believing. As I was writing this, I realized how important these "p" words, even the ones I don't really like, have been in keeping me going and not giving up.