He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold. ~ Job 23:10

The path of faith is one of sorrow and joy, suffering and healing comfort, tears and smiles, trials and victories, conflicts and triumphs, and also hardships, dangers, beatings, persecutions, misunderstanding, trouble, and distress.  Yes “in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

Yes, “in all these” – even during storms, when the winds are the most intense – “we are more than conquerors.”  You may be tempted to run from the ordeal of a fierce storm of testing, but head straight for it!  God is there to meet you in the center of each trial.  And He will whisper to you His secrets, which will bring you out with a radiant face and such an invincible faith that all the demons of hell will never be able to shake it.

~ E.A. Kilbourne

~ from Streams in the Desert, July 12

They will soar on wings like eagles. ~ Isaiah 40:31

There is a fable about the way birds first got their wings. The story goes that initially they were made without them. Then God made the wings, set them down before the wingless birds, and said to them, “Take up these burdens and carry them.”

The birds had sweet voices for singing, and lovely feathers that glistened in the sunshine, but they could not soar in the air. When ask to pick up the burden that lay at their feet, they hesitated at first. Yet soon they obeyed, picked up the wings with their beaks and set them on their shoulders to carry them.

For a short time the load seemed heavy and difficult to bear, but soon, as they continued to carry the burden and to fold the wings over their hearts, the wings grew attached to their little bodies. They quickly discovered how to use them and were lifted by the wings high into the air. The weights had become wings.

This is a parable for us. We are the wingless birds, and our duties and tasks are the wings God uses to lift us up and carry us heavenward. We look at our burdens and heavy loads, and try to run from them, but if we will carry them and tie them to our hearts, they will become wings. And on them we can then rise and soar toward God.

There is no burden so heavy that when lifted cheerfully with love in our hearts will not become a blessing to us. God intends for our tasks to be our helps; to refuse to bend our shoulders to carry a load is to miss a new opportunity for growth. (J.R. Miller)

~ Streams in the Desert, July 8

May you see your burdens as blessings this weekend and allow them to carry you to the throne of grace, my friends.

For His Glory ~
~ Sara