Joy

Job's one request...what he hoped for...was that God would crush him and cut him off. Why? So that his consolation----his joy in unrelenting pain---would be that he had not denied the words of the Holy One. WOW! When have I ever had that as my goal? How many times have I denied the whispered words of the Holy One to do something and I have walked away and ignored them? I have sooooo much to learn. Worship in pain.....Joy in pain...... Jesus please help me to truly make You my all in all, to worship you even through my greatest trials and be joyful when I have kept Your words no matter how difficult that might be...even with "friends" being so judgmental and discouraging.

Advice VS. Compassion

As I read these verses of Job, like everyone else I feel an overwhelming sense of "why?"...Job had it right..."why?" So after that initial thought, I wondered what else God might be trying to tell me. Job had friends that came to him but they didn't necessarily know what to do to help him. So many times when I am struggling, I just want somebody to fix it and make it all better. Or, when I have a friend who is dealt a seemingly unfair blow, I want to tell him/her what to do to make it all better. But, that may not be what God intends. HE wants us to know that HE is in control and no matter what happens, it will be okay because "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28) So the next time it is "me," I just want someone to hug me and say "it is going to be okay!" And the next time it is "you," I hope I will just give you compassion and tell you "it is going to be okay"

Desires and Fears

Reading about Job scares me! It’s easier to read about God’s punishment for wrong, but Job didn’t do anything wrong! He was found righteous in God’s eyes! To have the faith of Job!! His life was in God, not his family or possessions. My favorite Bible verse that I have claimed over and over is Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” I have never applied that verse to Job, but His desire HAD to be in God, that is the only way he could survive all that happened to him.
Job 3:25 is one of the saddest verses in the Bible to me: “What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.” Since I became a mother almost 9 years ago, my worst fear is losing ONE of my children – not to mention ALL of them. I think that is every mother’s worst fear. I was looking up Psalm 37:4 and typed in 34:4 instead. This is what I found: “I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears”. How wonderful that we have the promises of Psalm 34:4 I pray my desire will always be found in God ALONE and that He will deliver me “from all my fears”!!

Completely Confused!!!

I am completely confused!!! Instead of buying another new Bible (my current one is only about a year old) I decided to use the One Year Bible Online. I didn't realize until I started reading your blogs about JOB that I am off! That reading schedule doesn't match what Tina posted. AHHHHH!!! Guess I'm going to be getting a new Bible ;). Sorry my posts probably have not made any sense -- I wasn't reading the same thing the rest of you were.

I'm expanding our little blog idea....

So I went to visit a friend's house this past Saturday and told her about this blogging community and how as a bunch of ladies we are reading through the Bible together. She really liked the idea and wanted to read too (I live in a small town in Mexico, people here generally do not use the internet and reading is limited usually). So that night I printed off the One Year Chronological Bible schedule and gave it to her with translations of the English books of the Bible into Spanish. I also gave her an easier version of the Bible to read since they tend to use their version of KJV, which no one understands. I haven't checked back with her, but she was excited to have something that told her what to read everyday instead of just opening up and reading something random.

As I was talking with her, it made me wonder if other ladies in our small church would like to do this too. I went to talk to the leader of the church and he liked the idea, but leadership had just changed for the year and I had to go talk to another dear friend about it (leadership in our church does not equal pastor, it's a long, complicated story- just ignore what you don't understand and go with it). She liked the idea, but had to talk with the other lady leaders about it. After church on Sunday they asked if they could get the daily Scriptures copied down in Spanish and I told them I would try to find it for them. I also showed them the One Year Bible in Spanish and this Saturday when I'm in the city I have to price it for everyone and try to find easier versions to read than their 'KJV'.

So it's a little bit of a process, but reading through the whole Bible would be great for our church where knowledge is small and needs to grow. Hopefully they'll like it too and want to keep doing it in years to come. They won't be joining our blog, but I'll let you know how things develop and proceed.

May the name of the Lord be praised!!

This mornings Bible reading in Job 1:1-3:26. Really makes you think differently ( or at least I do) about problems and struggles in life. Job had it all, money, great family, friends and he was happy. Times of testing did come for Job, when everything seemed to come crashing down all at the same time. I've had days where everything that could go wrong did, and more!

I think sometimes we think to ourselves: I did something wrong and God is punishing me, but maybe you have done everything right and God is just testing you. We half to trust God in the hard times in life and with the things we do not understand ( this is sooooo easy to write, but hard to walk out at times).A passage that stuck out to me from Job was " The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised". I mean really with all that Job had gone through he said " may the name of the Lord be praised"!! I pray for a heart like Job's!! Even in the hardest of hardest times, I want to say not just with my mouth but really with my heart MAY THE NAME OF THE LORD STILL BE PRAISED!!

In Worship

I can not imagine the pain and anguish that Job felt at this time in his life. I can only relate on such a very small level.
This is what caught my heart this morning. The bible says that Job fell to the ground......in worship. In worship! I can tell you that my first response to pain and struggles is not to worship. What a lesson. I need to be more like Job.