Finding Confidence in the Lord

Day one hundred sixty-eight

There is something special about waking up in the morning to sunshine filtering through the curtains! I think I woke up smiling! It's a great way to start my day and gives me a positive attitude, even when I don't feel good.  

My prayer this morning focused on a topic that I am learning to deal with, being a mom to my adult children.  It is a strange place to find oneself in after 18-19 years of taking care of someone. Some days they want you to tell them what to do and other days they barely want to include you in any decisions they make.  It's not a bad place to be, just different and sometimes a little frustrating.  So I asked the Lord to bless me with the wisdom to know how to get through this period of my life with grace. Transitions can be tough and cause some lasting rifts between parents and their children, I would like to avoid that as much as possible and I know that I can't do that without some help from above.  I also prayed for my boys, that they too would be blessed with those things they need to make this transition as pleasant as possible.  I hope we get it right today! 

Joshua 5:8

Preparing His Army - Step Two -Confidence in the Lord
At this point, Israel is camped in the heart of enemy territory. After they have been circumcised, every male in the nation of Israel is temporarily disabled and is rendered unable to fight. It took great faith for them to submit to the rite of circumcision. They had to be willing to trust the Lord to protect them until they healed. They were literally sitting ducks for the enemy. However, their faith was the secret to their success. These men had learned the valuable lesson that their battles would not be won by military might and by superior battlefield tactics. They knew that if they ever saw victory, it would be because God gave it to them. Theirs would be a victory based wholly in faith.

As we move through this life, we face times of testing just like these men in Israel did. They had just come from a great victory and often, that is the time when pride will rise up in us and we will think that we are unstoppable. When those times come in our lives, this is when the Lord will allow us to go through a time of testing. When we do, we must have faith in the Lord. We need to remember that God can and will take care of His children!

This spiritual truth is taught over and over again in the scriptures. When God's people aren't able to take care of themselves, He is more than able. Here are just a few instances where faith in God has paid off:

• Noah was protected in the Ark while the rest of humanity perished (Gen. 6-9)
• The firstborn of Israel were spared while the Egyptian children died (Ex. 12)
• Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were spared from the fire (Dan. 3)
• Daniel was spared from the hungry lion (Dan. 6)
• Elijah was fed by the ravens and the by a poor widow (1 Kings 17)

How has your faith in the Lord paid off in your life?  Most of us can come up with at least a few times in our lives where we recognize the Lord's hand in what has happened. The amazing thing about this is, that for every instance that you recognize that your faith has benefited you, there are many other instances that we are not even aware of!  Just because we haven't recognized the blessings, it doesn't mean that they aren't there!  Imagine what a great attitude adjustment it would be if we were able to recognize the Lord in our lives daily.  We would never have a reason to be anything less than grateful and happy! 

Today I am going to work on having more confidence that the Lord is working in my life and I am going to look for Him in the things around me.  Then, when I find Him, I think I will write it down in my journal so that I can go back and read the entries when I need an attitude adjustment!