Devotional Highlights

"I must learn that the purpose of my life belongs to God, not me. God is using me from His great personal perspective, and all He asks of me is that I trust Him. I should never say, "Lord, this causes me such heartache." To talk that way makes me a stumbling block. When I stop telling God what I want, He can freely work His will in me without any hindrance. He can crush me, exalt me, or do anything else He chooses. He simply asks me to have absolute faith in Him and His goodness. Self-pity is of the devil, and if I wallow in it I cannot be used by God for His purpose in the world." ~ My Utmost for His Highest

"He commonly brings His help in our greatest extremity, that His finger may plainly appear in our deliverance. And this method He chooses that we may not trust upon anything that we see or feel, as we are always apt to do, but only upon His Word, which we may depend upon in every state.

Remember it is the very time for faith to work when sight ceases. The greater the difficulties, the easier for faith; as long as there remains certain natural prospects, faith does not get on even as easily as where natural prospects fail." ~ Streams in the Desert

Remember this, had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, divine love would have put you there. - Morning & Evening 

More Encouragement

I remember telling a friend (who, I admit, had the hardest circumstances & every reason to doubt) that the more humanly unlikely her chances were of having her desires granted, the more opportunity God had to show off His power and faithfulness. . .He specializes in impossible situations! That's what these quotes reminded me of.

Gratitude & Peace

"When prayer teams up with gratitude, when we open our eyes wide enough to see God's mercies even in the midst of our pain, and when when we exercise faith and give Him thanks even when we can't see those mercies, He meets us with his indescribable peace. It's a promise. . .Are you facing one or more chaotic, unsettled situations? Is your soul weary? There is peace, my friend, ~ God's peace ~ waiting for you just beyond the doors of deliberate gratitude." ~ Choosing Gratitude by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Is Anything Too Difficult for the Lord?

First, I came across these verses & they were too encouraging too keep to myself:

Then, I opened up my devo for today..."Is anything too hard for the Lord?" Genesis 18:14. Here is God's loving challenge to you & to me today. He wants us to think of the deepest, highest, worthiest desire and longing of our hearts, something which perhaps was our desire for ourselves or for someone dear to us, yet which has been so long unfulfilled that we have looked upon it as only a lost desire, that which might have been but now cannot be, and so have given up hope of seeing it fulfilled in this life. That thing, if it is in line with what we know to be His expressed will (as a son to Abraham and Sarah was), God intends to do for us, even if we know that it is of such utter impossibility that we only laugh at the absurdity of anyone's supposing it could ever now come to pass. That thing God intends to do for us, if we will let Him. "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" Not when we believe in Him enough to go forward and do His will, and let Him do the impossible for us. Nothing is too hard for Jehovah to do for them that trust Him. ~ Streams in the Desert. 

All this blessed me tonight in my fight for joy, so I just had to share. I pray that you're just as encouraged.