CP 224 When you're stuck...

CP 224 When you’re stuck…

Friends, this week’s CrossPurposes is something that came via email. I’m copying it back to you with some of my own amendments. Take courage… Be encouraged!

HOLDING PATTERN

Many times the Lord will allow a painful situation or a painful circumstance in our life to "swallow us up." This season in our spiritual growth is a holding pattern. We can't move to the left or the right. All we can do is sit, like Jonah sat in the belly of that great fish, so the Spirit of the Lord can have our undivided attention and speak to us. The Lord put Jonah in a holding pattern because He needed to speak to his heart. Jonah was all alone. There were no friends to call, no colleagues to drop by, no books to read, no food to eat, no interference, and no interruptions. (Can you begin to imagine? Not even his mobile phone, so no text, twitter or facebook. And no googling. OMG! lol!) He had plenty of time to sit, think, meditate, and pray. As the Anglican prayer has it, he had time to inwardly digest…

When we're ‘deep down’ in the midst of a difficult situation, the Lord can talk to us. When He has our undivided attention, He can show us things about ourselves that we might not otherwise have seen.

A few of the Lord's Holding Patterns:

1. When you are sick in your physical body and you have prayed but have not yet been healed, you are in a holding pattern.

2. When you are having problems with your children and you have put them on the altar, but the Lord has not yet delivered them, you are in a holding pattern.

3. When you have been praying for the salvation of a loved one and they have not been saved yet, you are in a holding pattern.

4. When you are in a broken relationship and you have given it over to your Lord, but it has not been restored yet, you are in a holding pattern.

5. When the doors slam shut before you can even knock on them, you are in a holding pattern.

I’ll say it again. When we are deep in the belly of a difficult situation, there are no interruptions. The Lord God has our undivided attention. All we can do is sit, think, meditate, digest and pray. We cannot run from the Holy One because there are no mountains that are high enough, valleys low enough, rooms that are dark enough, or places that are hidden enough from Him. It’s a good time to live by the Apostles Paul’s call to, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, Rejoice.” It’s just the right time to praise him. And while we're waiting let’s remember three things:

1. The pattern has a purpose.

2. The pattern has a plan.

3. The pattern has a process.

The challenge is to stop struggling, to 'be still before the Lord', to pay ‘listening-attention’, praying and trusting as we wait. He'll keep us right where we are until we can clearly hear Him say, "I love you, I’ll never desert you… I’m with you always."

Prayer:  Father, I believe, forgive my unbelief. I know you are for me and will work all things to your good, my good, and your glory. Whatever you have in store for me I am ready to receive regardless of how difficult the path.  Have mercy for the sake of Jesus the Messiah… your eternal Son, and my eternal Lord. Amen.

 Author Unknown

PS If you’d like a copy of this via attachment I’ll gladly send it to you. In Him. Fred