Sunday 23 November 2014

This Is The Day . . .

"This is the day that the Lord has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it."
Psalm 118:24


One of my favourite verses, but do I always live it? No, not really.
I could lay the blame at the changes in my life that have occurred. After twenty years of thinking that we were moving towards one destination, everything has taken an about face and I realise that they were only my plans all along, not my hubby's. 
And I am struggling with this. I am tending to wallow in misery. But I am trying not to.

Just because this is not my plan does not mean it is wrong. Because it is God's plan and therefore it is right. I have to remember that. In fact, I am hanging on to that like a life raft at the moment and I know it will get me through eventually.

Again, I have been reading The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace.

"Generally speaking, to have the happiness, joy and fulfillment you desire, you must put yourself aside and place God and others first. In regards to earthly relationships, you must put your husband first. In regards to your relationship with God, set your heart on glorifying God whether you ever have your way or not."
The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace pg 85

This passage really spoke to me as I realised I have been doing exactly that. I have not only be railing against my husband for changing my life plans, but also against God. How could God do this to me when he knows it isn't what I wanted? I have to understand though, that it is what God wanted. And that is the important thing.


I will try my hardest to choose happiness every day.

Linking today with Darling Downs Diaries for Good Morning Mondays.

P.S. I would appreciate some advice. How do you all do Bible study? So far, I have just been reading beginning to end and then starting again, plus reading a few devotional books. I would like to do some more in-depth, specific study. Could anyone point me in the direction of some Bible studies, preferably free, on-line ones as I am trying to eliminate stuff in our home and buying any new books would be a no-no? Particularly relating to submission and surrender to God's plans? Thank you so much, I would so appreciate your help.

8 comments:

  1. I just pulled The Excellent Wife off the shelf the other day to start re-reading it. Nice to see such a fitting quote here.

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  2. Thank you. It is a book I try to re-read every year or so - just as a bit of a reminder!

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  3. I do Bible Study by reading through and doing it again too. But the second time I try to identify the theme of the passage and pick out a few words that seem significant (eg: "Better" in Hebrews) and then I use a concordance to look up the greek/hebrew meanings of the theme words and look for links to other verses in scripture that may be related and significant through the shared word. Its not perfect and I'm no scholar but it gets me thinking at least and reading the bible and you would be surprised how often the English translation can be misleading!

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    1. Thanks for the reply. Yes, I will listening to a talk on the word 'love' in the Bible and all the different words there are for our one word. Fascinating. It makes me wonder just how much we are missing in an English translation.

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  4. It is really hard to rejoice when things aren't going our way. We all struggle with this, and there are always numerous things in our lives we can blame. I think really it is our desire to do what we want and not what God wants us to do. It is really easy to say that we should put our husbands first but when they aren't doing things the way we think they should it is hard to honour them. I suppose for me blogging about respecting my husband and putting him first really helps me to do this, looking up the relevant scriptures and taking them to heart also helps.
    For bible studies I suggest you have a look on the internet, I have just found a couple that look good. My daughter was telling me about an on line study for women and I will get her to find out what that is and let you know about it. Thanks Jayne for linking up with me at Good Morning Mondays. May God bless you as you go through tough stuff and may He continue to guide you so that you can rejoice in all things.

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    1. Thanks so much, Terri, for your kind words. I think, as you say, it is our fallen nature to want what we want first and foremost and it takes effort and thought to alter that in ourselves. Failure probably comes as much as success. It is a work in progress!
      I would love to hear about the study your daughter found - thanks.

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  5. Hey Jayne, how are things going?? I was reading one of the link ups on my blog and thought it might be helpful re online bible study. here is the link up http://mixwilliams.wordpress.com
    See what you think. Blessings

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  6. Thanks, Terri. I have been reading that blog just now and am going to join the Before Amen study group. It is a fabulous blog and very helpful - thanks for letting me know about it.

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