Monday, February 13, 2006

A Fork in the Road


Have you ever reached a turning point or a fork in the road and wondered which path to take? Of course you have, everyone must make life altering decisions at least once in their life. I am at such a fork. I've been here awhile (years) and still I wait. I know God will guide me but sometimes the waiting is almost unbearable. It isn't that I don't know the way, but it's that I don't know the time. The thing that gets me the most is that the longer I wait the more inconvenient circumstances seem to become. But perhaps the less suited I am for life’s task the more suited I am for Christ's purpose. How long must you wait at the fork in the road before His time reveals your path? Only God knows I suppose, and I see that patience is most certainly a virtue and it's a fruit of the Spirit that those who are in Christ must bear! Why is human nature so quick to give up! Why does it sometimes seek to stop seeking and yearn to stop yearning? Why are you in despair, O my soul and why have you become disturbed within me!?! Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.

O what grace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear… all because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer!

Godliness with contentment is great gain!

12 comments:

Keller said...

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not be one traveler and travel both long I stood ~ Robert Frost

Anonymous said...

Johnny I get it... and I will be praying for you.. if you do the same for me. I may be at a different fork, but I'm in that place too... you're not alone.
xx's

gospeloflove said...

Thanks for the comments you two, you're both like family to me. Probably because me and grace share the same mother and father and me and kyle share the same Father(God).
Oh and thanks grace prayer is always appeciated!

Bassmaster Fehr said...

mmmm, cheesecake!

Anonymous said...

You don't know me, but I have to ask "What are you waiting for." Often God doesn't reveal His purpose for us in our live until He knows we're good and ready to receive it. No know that Chinese Proverb "When the student is ready the teacher will appear.", well, it's likely that your teacher has been there all the time. You're just not ready yet. Get out into life and learn and DO!

gospeloflove said...

Thanks for the encouragement anonymous.
And if I can return the favour it would be to say this.
Seek Truth and you shall find it, seek "the way" and you will find it. Seek life and you will find the author of life has never left you. Jesus Christ is sure to save those who call on His name. He has been seeking for you after all. You're right, I don't know you, but He does. I pray you might know Him too.
Thanks again for the encouragement. I wrote this some time ago, but the relevence of your reply is still very helpful. It's hard to walk down paths unknown, but we need to make leaps of faith into the faithful hand of our loving Teacher and Father. I hope I am brave enough to follow Him with my everything. I feel I'm silly sometimes and I regret being so uncertain, and I am sure we need to encourage each other to have courage. I don't know what you believe anonymous but I hope to "Get out into life and learn and DO!" with my trust in my shepherd Jesus Christ my lord.
The sooner the better right!

Anonymous said...

thank you very much for your thoughts. my wife had a cardiac four years ago and has memory loss, constant fatigue, has been in the ER a dozen times and doesn't remember much about our marriage. it's extremely painful. i ask God why and get no response. it's torn me up a lot. this is a new normal and i don't like it. so i keep prodding on, asking God to help me through the struggles.

gospeloflove said...

WOW ANONYMOUS, I'll definitely pray for you! I don't know your name but Jesus does,
and I know that He loves you and cares about you more than you know!
This might be hard to believe but I know that in Christ you can and will find perfect peace.
I can't begin to know what you've been going through ,but I want you to know that you are not alone.
God never left you and although we can't always see His purpose or hear Him answering our calls, He knows
all your pain and He himself is no stranger to pain even though He is God. I want to encourage you
that God is doing something amazing in your life, I know that's easy for me to say, but I'm certain that
God doesn't allow this kind of suffering and heartache in someones life without cause. I'm not saying
heartache comes from God it is most certainly a work of the Enemy, but God is a miracle worker,
and has a perfect amazing plan for your life. I don't know whether you believe in Jesus, but I know and
believe that He is the way the truth and the life, no one can come to God the Father except through Him.
Those who seek Jesus shall never be disappointed. You may say that you are a believer and then I would
say praise God! because then for sure you are in good and eternal hands. His word says that for everything
there is a season and an appointed time. So take heart and trust Him, and if you have trouble trusting for your wife healing
, or even for a change in this heartbreaking situation, then just trust in Jesus. Trust in who He is read
through the Gospels. He is someone who heals not just some but all who came to Him. He brings hope to the outcast,
He destroys the work of Satan, He raises the dead and imparts eternal life, He gives His Spirit to comfort, teach,
encourage, and give life to our mortal bodies and freedom from sin. The enemy is a Lier and the father of lies, he will
try to destroy your hope so have faith because that will extinguish the flaming arrows of the enemy. And Ask Jesus the
Author and perfector of our faith to strengthen you. He truly hears the cry of your heart. He said in the gospel of John
"you believe in God believe also in me." God is going to do something amazing in your life and I pray that the Lord Jesus
opens your eyes so that you may see it. I have faith that God loves you sooooooo much!! And so in light of that, Lord willing
He will work out everything perfectly at the perfect time so that you'll say "Wow! Lord Jesus I had no idea
while I was enduring the heartache, but you certainly do make everything beautiful in you time"
I could share with you many stories about people in hard situations like yours but to be honest everyones different
and no one but God knows what your really going through, so all I can do is point you to Him. He WILL not disappoint!
I know I might be saying somethings you've heard before but maybe that is how God is speaking to you, with too good
to be true promises. Does your wife believe? If so share some of His promises and encourage her and whenever you can fix your eyes on Jesus.
Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it.Psalm 37:4-5

gospeloflove said...

I wanted to share some verse with you:
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
John 14:1-3(John 14 is a great chapter full of promises for God who never lies) "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
"If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
1 Peter 1:3-7 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
1 John 1:5-10 5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[b] sin.
8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you
James 5:13-20 13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
17Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. 19My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

gospeloflove said...

I want to end with this prayer for you,
Our heavenly Father Holy be Your name, please forgive us our sins because of Jesus and help us to forgive. Lord Jesus please help us to place you as lord of our lives and please do something amazing for this man and his wife,
may they know Your love and experience daily a peace that surpasses all understanding.
May they place their trust in you and may they see how much You truly love them. That you sent Jesus to suffer and die in our place, and that by Your wounds we are healed. You took our punishment so deliver them from the deceit of the enemy
May they love You and give their hearts to You. Because You are the one who gives our hearts peace and our souls rest. May they be full of Faith, hope, and love. I pray also that you'll bless their marriage according to your will. And may their friendships and relationships bring them blessing.
I pray this in Jesus Name. Thank you Lord! for I know you've heard my prayer may Your answer be according to the riches, mercy, and grace found in Your love!

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God.2 Corinthians 1:20

Anonymous said...

You see,...

gospeloflove said...

He does....and He is near you.