Are you struggling?

Welcome dear friend! Come on in for a time of reflection while we enjoy a cuppa & treat together.

Today I’m having coffee! I take mine at quarter strength, Café Latte style. How about you?

And we are enjoying a gf donut! Yes, they come in gluten free! Coffee & donuts always make a delicious treat…Don’t you agree!

As I mentioned in my post The Fruit of the Vine  recently, I have started a Book Club (reading group).

We had our first morning tea last week

I decided that a morning tea was more doable for me to host then lunch for eight in our first Book Club meet up.

It was such an enjoyable time together with an interesting mix of opinions & perceptions of the book we’re reading.

Some of our ladies have not been in a Book Club before which is rather exciting.

Lingering in the flavor, not just a quick taste

Some of our member’s found the book rather challenging, as it’s completely different to the genre they normally read.

While others found it thought provoking & there were those who found it rather interesting.

But what we all agreed upon was that we didn’t want to rush through this book.

As it has some delicious bites of wisdom upon its pages that we want to linger in the flavor, not just have a quick taste.

So instead of reading eight chapters per month we will be doing two.

This book is quite comprehensive in its theme, storyline & its multiple scriptural referencing throughout.

Although the author is from a western society she differs in many cultural aspects to us. Which is interesting in itself.

Some of the colloquialisms she uses need further research for us Aussies to be able to understand the context. 

Abiding

I thought I would share some tasty morsels from the next two chapters with you over a few posts, as I prepare to host our next Book Club. 

Sharing with you just how these tasty morsels have reminded me of hard learned lessons & truths that have flavored my own journey.

You may relate to them as well. We are in the chapter titled Abide Refer 2 . But first I think we need to look at the definition & meaning of abiding;

…not to depart,

 be held,

continually kept;

continue to be,

endure in the waiting.  Refer 2

Continue to Be

Those words to ‘continue to be’ really jumped out at me this morning. You see just before I began this journey of chronic health conditions, explained Here.

God kept bringing the following question & scripture to my attention, it seemed to pop up everywhere, even in advertisements of magazines!

‘Are you comfortable being?’

&

“Be still & know that I am God…”

Psalm 46: 10

Now that really was very thought provoking! However, at the time I didn’t realize just how profound living out the answer to those would become!

You see over my lifetime I have been a woman of action, never idle, always on the go…

Striving Lord?

In that year just before chronic health issues set in…

One morning a particular devotion really stood out in the following translation,

“Cease striving & know that I am God, I will be exalted amongst the nations…”

Psalm 46: 10 Refer 2

Cease striving? Really heavenly Father? Aren’t we supposed to be doing your will to the best of our ability?  

But there’s a difference between striving & abiding

You see striving entails struggling to attain a goal in our own strength.

Where abiding in Jesus entails being kept in God’s perfect will & purpose for our life.

For we don’t abide alone, we abide with Jesus, for Jesus says…

“Dwell in Me & I will dwell in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own without abiding in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me.”

John 15:5

To be held & continually kept

Over the years, I have come to realize that indeed I have not at all found it comfortable Being!

It has been a real struggle for me to just Be in this season of life!

I have found it extremely challenging to be still.

Because after all, I was that woman of action which is a legacy from many influences (but this is for a future post)!

Many years ago, I remember hearing a quote from a visiting lecturer at Bible College, whom I can’t recall their name now, stating;

“If you are too busy to be still with God, then you are far busier then God wants you to be!”

What I have learnt through the hard yards of living with chronic pain & illness that being still is being held in the arms of Jesus, who after all is the essence of God’s love.

I have also come to realise, as I continue to travel this journey that I have gradually ceased my striving & struggling. 

What about you dear friend, are you comfortable being still with God…

Or are you still struggling in your striving?

If the answer is yes, then it’s time to get still with God…don’t you think?

Until next time, 

Jennifer

You’re most welcome to join me in The Reading Nook

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