4 WriteStuff

Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.” Deut 31:6
Oh, Lord, but I am NOT strong! And I am so often afraid! I am so small and weak, and the task before me is so BIG!
And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9
There are so many with greater skills and talents, I am so inadequate for this journey…
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God 2 Corinthians 3:5
When I look at the road ahead, the things I need to do this week… this month… this year… and in the years to come… it is overwhelming! But the calendar, the “to do list”… they are unending!
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:34
It sounds as though you are wanting me to live one day at time – trusting, relying, focusing on you… finding joy in today – the present, and not letting tomorrow’s tasks rob me of today’s joy. Planting seeds of gratitude, hope, promise, forgiveness that I may not harvest until due season … Wow… I thought my task was big before… God, I need help planting! What do I plant? Where? What if…. What if…
So many questions unanswered – I know WHAT you want us to do, but I don’t know HOW to do this! I am tired, overwhelmed… sometimes life is just plain hard.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4
One step at a time, one seed at a time… Keep planting? What if I don’t plant the right seeds or the right time or the right place?
7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 2 Corinthians 3:7
Really, God? You are saying that size doesn’t matter, does it? My small frame, inadequate strength and ability are irrelevant? Heart matters? You do not want me to spend hours focusing on the exterior things or what I don’t have and neglect what is eternal – my soul. I plant, but the results are YOURS. I don’t have to move mountains – that is what YOU do… I dig small holes and YOU produce the increase…
My heart needs healing – daily… God, I keep falling, I keep failing… I am bloody, battered and bruised from tripping and crashing against the rocks… from being trampled when I have fallen… I have crashed against this rock of adversity and I am broken…
22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah.[a]24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 So he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.
There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, 26 and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”
Exodus 15:22-26
Jehovah Rapha – the I AM who heals… (Jer 30:17; Jer 3:22; Isa 30:26; Isa 61:1; Psa 103:3)
the Lord who makes bitter waters sweet… heal me Lord, and let this place be a place of healing… hope… promise… restoration… Let this be a place where YOU are seen and glorified… and I am but a shadow that provides small rest and sustenance to those who are journeying nearer to You… a caretaker of Your ministry – YOU are Jehovah RAPHA, and all this is YOURS…
“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,
Because the LORD has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound Isaiah 61:1
Jehovah Rapha – Jesus, who heals our broken hearts and sets us free from our bondage…
Do NOT lose heart…
103 Bless the LORD, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Do NOT lose heart…
Jehovah Rapha… Rapha Oasis… this is YOUR ministry… We have faced much adversity laying the foundation… but YOU are the foundation. Provide the increase, renew our strength, heal the brokenhearted… here in this place.
4 Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. 5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Cast Down but Unconquered
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death is working in us, but life in you.
13 And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,”[a] we also believe and therefore speak, 14 knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. 15 For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
Seeing the Invisible
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4
Do not lose heart… Jesus, I need YOUR heart…