Wise Words

"Wait on the Lord, be strong and of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart...wait on the Lord. Psalms 27:14

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Tuesday, October 17, 2006

In "Other" Words - Tuesdays at CWO



"It doesn't matter what is behind you as much as it matters who is beside you."
~ Ellen ~
"Laced with Grace"

To take that quote a step further, it also matters what is INSIDE you. The hounds of hell could be nipping at your feet in various ways from emotional, financial, personal or mental strife. You could be just plumb worn out from the battles you are fighting in your life, especially when they seem to come one right after the other. But, if you have the love of a good friend, family member or someone who cares about you – AND you have the personal assurance that God is beside you as well as inside of you, you will come through the battles of life stronger, better and victorious.

It is what is inside of us that defines how we will handle the times in our life where seemingly insurmountable situations not only seem to come at us from behind, surprising us often with their savagery and cruelty, but also those that are surrounding us on all sides that aren't really surprises – those things that we can see coming but are powerless to stop and prevent.

It is who is beside us during these times that determine if you are keeping the right company and very often determine how we come out on the other side after the storm(s) that batter and bruise us. Who we have right beside us – friend(s), family, God – keeps us from being crushed during the blows that we are dealt or the situations that shatter our composure and rock our world.

During the tough times, our character is tested and the mettle of it shows. Do we curse our situation or do we look for the support and counsel from those beside us as well as from the One who is inside of us? Do we throw tantrums or go into a corner and sulk when the tough times come and catch us unawares or do we reach out to others for help and understanding, putting our pride to the side and letting others in to share the burden that we can scarcely bear alone sometimes? If we have trustworthy, caring people of good character in our corner and God on our side, who really can come against us and take us down? What situations can rock our foundation? Nobody and nothing. Romans 8:31(b) states it so clearly: ...If God is for us, who can be against us? Friends, family and faith help us to persevere and push on when we want to give up and let go.

Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.
1 John 4:4

8 comments:

Amydeanne said...

Both of those verses (the bottom 2) were in my head when I went through this! For the life of me, I couldn't remember where they were lol. So thanks! And I agree, although.. not what's in me, but who is in me! *w*
btw, blogger was giving me a pain this morning too!

Camy Tang said...

This is a really good take on the quote! It's totally true--sometimes it doesn't matter who is beside us encouraging us if we ourselves don't feel the love and confidence of Christ.

Camy

Christine said...

You're so right about tough times proving the company we keep. And I kept thinking of the song (I'm a musician) that goes along with that final scripture!

Thanks for the reminders!

Miriam Pauline said...

Thank you for the reminders. Beautiful post.

Jean-Luc Picard said...

An excellent post, Nic; our character is built of whar is inside ourselves.

Anonymous said...

"...Do we reach out to others for help and understanding, putting our pride to the side and letting others in to share the burden that we can scarcely bear alone sometimes?"
I've gone through some of that lately. Very difficult but absolutely essential. Thanks! Wonderful post!

AubreyJ......... said...

Nice post, Nic.
Hope you and yours are doing well these days...
AubreyJ.........

Anonymous said...

Paul knew what he was talking about when he left us the writings of Romans. Thank you Nic for your thoughts on this week's quote...