My Impressionistic Life: January 2015

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

It's Going to be a Good Year!

Here it is in late January 2015. And God has finally broken through the funk that I’ve

been in. It’s not that everything in my life is just the way I want it. In fact, all of the things that discouraged me are still there. Nothing has really changed. Nothing except my heart and outlook. I know that I’ll always have to deal with these funky times while I live in a fallen world. But I am learning to take it a step at a time. To embrace the season that I am in and to find God there.

I have a picture of a winter’s scene in my kitchen. It is dusk in that picture and there is a quiet little stream running down the middle with banks piled high with snow. It is calm and peaceful and beautiful. And to this picture I attached a phrase from the movie “God’s Not Dead”:

“God is good . . . all the time

And all the time . . . God is good!”

I love the way this phrase goes with the picture. I love it that even in the cold, dark, lonely, “winter nights” of the soul, God is still good. Isn’t this when we need to be reminded of that most?

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Winning the Battle

I have been in a “funk” lately. I get in them often, comes with being a child from a broken home. (This is a repost of something I wrote years ago, but it still strongly applies.) Prayer has felt futile. I’ve been wanting to pull back from people. I am struggling to accept certain “life problems” that I wish I didn’t have. And I constantly deal with feelings of failure and not mattering.

I know it’s not proper for a Christian to expose the fact that they are dealing with depression and frustration with God and disappointment with prayer and unhappiness with life. I know we are supposed to plaster on that “good, happy, Christian smile” and act like we are full of joy and peace and contentment. (Or are we?) But this is the truth about how I feel. And if I can’t be real with God and other Christians (even anonymously on this blog), then who can I be real with?

FYI:

2013 posts:

Includes the "Welcome" and "First Things First: Do You Know Jesus?"

And two series from my other blog:

"Understanding God's Will" (UGW) and

"Through the Refining Fire: Your 'Sweetly Broken' Journey."

Remember, though, that the first posts are at the bottom of the list, so read these series from the bottom up.

2014 posts:

Mostly random posts, generally about faith and emotional struggles, especially with depression, loneliness, and my fears of failure and abandonment.

February is the garden series.

June has my condensed life story, numbered 1-15. Start at #1.

August has lessons that I have learned from Scripture and specific Bible verses.

September covers what I think are some of the hardest spiritual lessons to learn.

December includes my "250 Questions to Ask God" and "Questions for Getting to Know Yourself and Others Better" posts.

2015 posts and up:

Back to random posts about life, faith, struggles, motherhood, etc.

May 2015 includes the "Iron Sharpens Iron Bible Study," which I hope people will do with some close friends. You can even post some of your answers in the comment section.

And January 2016 has some "Life/Mom's Advice" (start at #1 and go up) and my "Don't Be Such a Chicken" Challenge, which presents something new to do every day for a year: a new task or challenge, a question to ask yourself or God, or a "thankfulness prompt." It is my prayer that it helps you grow in God's love and healing and that it helps strengthen your faith and your relationship with God.