We serve an amazing God!

We serve an amazing God! As a family, recently we have been ill. We spent a whole week in  our home, tucked up warmly, with blankets, T.V, and lots of sleep. We didnt feel well enough to eat much and so we just hid from the outside world for the week. Following this period we perked up a lot, but remained drained and tired from the previous week. James took time off work and the kids stayed home from school, so we had lots of time alone as a family. 

Today was Sunday and time for church, but I woke feeling achey and tired and in need of some quiet time alone, with my heavenly Father. So James and the girls dressed and head off to church and I stayed behind, keen to get some quality time, reading the word and praying.

I poured out my heart to God, telling him how I needed his strength and joy, how I longed to not be at sea. In the roughness of the darkened waves, tossing me to and fro. How I longed to have my feet firmly fixed on his rock & his firm foundations. As I prayed, I had an picture of a huge Eagle coming and opening her wings up around me, she scooped me under her wing and I was warm, safe and covered. 

I pondered on the fact that God says in his word, "I am."
 He is everything we need, when we need it! He is my Father, he is my protection, he is my strength when I am week, he is my light when it is dark. He is my Joy when I am down, he is my help when I am in trouble. He is everything I ever need.
 I suddenly thought about other so called Gods, carved out of wood or made of Gold. I saw in my mind a budda, with his arms crossed infront of him. He did not seem a welcoming idol to put my hope in and it seemed so silly to me that people serve a God who is not able to protect them, love them, feed them, comfort them. I was so blessed to serve and know my God! He is a God worth serving! 

I asked God to speak to me in his word as I prayed and I felt to turn to Isaiah 44. Within its text I smiled, as I read:

 “I am the First and the Last;
      there is no other God.
 7 Who is like me?
      Let him step forward and prove to you his power.
   Let him do as I have done since ancient times
      when I established a people and explained its future.
 8 Do not tremble; do not be afraid.
      Did I not proclaim my purposes for you long ago?
   You are my witnesses—is there any other God?
      No! There is no other Rock—not one!”

 9 How foolish are those who manufacture idols.
      These prized objects are really worthless.
   The people who worship idols don’t know this,
      so they are all put to shame.
 10 Who but a fool would make his own god—
      an idol that cannot help him one bit?
 11 All who worship idols will be disgraced
      along with all these craftsmen—mere humans—
      who claim they can make a god.
   They may all stand together,
      but they will stand in terror and shame.

 12 The blacksmith stands at his forge to make a sharp tool,
      pounding and shaping it with all his might.
   His work makes him hungry and weak.
      It makes him thirsty and faint.
 13 Then the wood-carver measures a block of wood
      and draws a pattern on it.
   He works with chisel and plane
      and carves it into a human figure.
   He gives it human beauty
      and puts it in a little shrine.
 14 He cuts down cedars;
      he selects the cypress and the oak;
   he plants the pine in the forest
      to be nourished by the rain.
 15 Then he uses part of the wood to make a fire.
      With it he warms himself and bakes his bread.
   Then—yes, it’s true—he takes the rest of it
      and makes himself a god to worship!
   He makes an idol
      and bows down in front of it!
 16 He burns part of the tree to roast his meat
      and to keep himself warm.
      He says, “Ah, that fire feels good.”
 17 Then he takes what’s left
      and makes his god: a carved idol!
   He falls down in front of it,
      worshiping and praying to it.
   “Rescue me!” he says.
      “You are my god!”

 18 Such stupidity and ignorance!
      Their eyes are closed, and they cannot see.
      Their minds are shut, and they cannot think.
 19 The person who made the idol never stops to reflect,
      “Why, it’s just a block of wood!
   I burned half of it for heat
      and used it to bake my bread and roast my meat.
   How can the rest of it be a god?
      Should I bow down to worship a piece of wood?”
 20 The poor, deluded fool feeds on ashes.
      He trusts something that can’t help him at all.
   Yet he cannot bring himself to ask,
      “Is this idol that I’m holding in my hand a lie?”

In contrast to the foolishness of serving Idols, We serve a God who not only made us, but knows us and longs to bless us!

 Isaiah 44:
 2 The Lord who made you and helps you says:
   Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant,
      O dear Israel, my chosen one.
 3 For I will pour out water to quench your thirst
      and to irrigate your parched fields.
   And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants,
      and my blessing on your children.
 4 They will thrive like watered grass,
      like willows on a riverbank.
 5 Some will proudly claim, ‘I belong to the Lord.’
      Others will say, ‘I am a descendant of Jacob.’
   Some will write the Lord’s name on their hands
      and will take the name of Israel as their own.”

Thanks God! xx