Giving myself a stern talking to!

I have been reading Feminine Appeal, and am greatly enjoying it! If you have not read it yet, I highly recommend it, and look forward to posting a review once I am done.

One reminder from this fabulous book that was very timely was to not listen to my thoughts or feelings when they are telling me what I know to be contrary to the truth of scripture. Or to say it a different way - when I am thinking thoughts that I know are contrary to the truth of Scripture, or feeling emotions that are contrary to the truth of Scripture I MUST NOT INDULGE THEM! In fact, I must be as inhospitable to those feelings as possible!

There is a reason I needed this reminder - even though I know this!

Lately I have been feeling kind of forgotten. We are going through struggles, and while our family and friends were very good at first, they have their own lives, and it is not reasonable to expect them to be with us in this each step of the way when it is taking SO LONG in some cases, and when the crisis is basically over in others. But that is not what I am talking about. I am talking about feeling forgotten by God.

I understand what the Old Testament writers meant when they said that God remembered them:

Gen. 8:1 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.

Gen. 19:29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt.

Gen. 30:22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.

Ex. 2:24 So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

God had not forgotten them, but now it was time.

I have been praying for a number of big things for a long time, selling this home and moving, being able to afford a home in our new city, the healing from losing our child to miscarriage, the desire for a second child, being able to be a stay at home mom indefinitely - big things with no answers, all requiring a miracle.

And sometimes I feel like God is not hearing me, and that He has forgotten me.

But I know this is wrong thinking.

God will never look down on us and say, "Oh, yes, you, Mrs Pear, I had forgotten about you, or I had misplaced you, but there you are. Oh, yes, you had that problem, I had forgotten about that, but now that you have remind Me, I will do something about it." This will never happen. God does not forget us, forget where we are, forget what we are facing or lose us. There will never be a coup in Heaven, God is seated on His throne eternally.

Sometimes I feel that I know God can do these things, but not for me.

But I know this is wrong thinking.

Sometimes I think that God has given up on me, that I have finally disappointed Him one too many times.

But I know this is wrong thinking.

I want to live the abundant life God calls His people too, but this means not indulging in this wrong thinking, in this pity party, it means being committed to the truth I know about God.

And so I give myself a stern talking to, and repeat to myself the truth of who God is, the truth of Scripture. And if I don't know a passage to contradict my wrong thinking, I go looking in His Word.

"Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?
“And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Luke 12:22-32

God sees, He knows, He cares, He loves. He is my God, and I am His girl, eternally.