{"id":13322,"date":"2013-07-16T01:00:19","date_gmt":"2013-07-16T05:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=13322"},"modified":"2013-07-16T00:06:43","modified_gmt":"2013-07-16T04:06:43","slug":"i-am-chapter-2-day-2-seeing-god-in-the-tough-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/07\/16\/i-am-chapter-2-day-2-seeing-god-in-the-tough-times\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI Am\u201d Chapter 2 \u2013 Day 2: Seeing God in the Tough Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

We see God in the good times. \u00a0We see the blessings He gives us. \u00a0We see the provisions He makes<\/span> for us, and we see all<\/em> He does for us. He doesn’t have to reveal Himself in the good times, we see Him in abundance. But those bad times, the bad days, during the stormy seasons, He is not as visible. Not because He isn’t there, but because we allow the circumstances to block our view of God<\/em>. We allow the situation to overshadow His promises. We<\/strong> try to fix our problems.<\/p>\n

When I face tough times, I feel far away from God. I\u2019m not implying that God has abandoned me or that He is leaving me to figure out my problems for myself, but I don\u2019t feel as close or connected as I normally do. When I face tough times I have to intentionally<\/strong><\/em> seek out\u00a0my\u00a0Heavenly Father. In those tough times I need Him to reveal Himself to me. I need to see Him.<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0\u201cGod\u00a0 wants\u00a0 us\u00a0 to\u00a0 rely \u00a0on\u00a0 Him\u00a0 and\u00a0 only\u00a0 Him\u00a0 to\u00a0 make \u00a0it\u00a0 through our days\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This sentence stood out to me and made me look at how I handle my life in tough times. I will be the first to admit that when the tough times roll my way I do not always lean on God; sometimes my initial reaction is to lean on myself. \u00a0I try to figure a way out of the situation I\u2019m in. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>But thankfully, like with the Israelites, God does not get tired of repeating Himself. \u00a0 He doesn’t lose His patience. \u00a0He doesn’t give up on me when I keep repeating the cycle over and over. He loves me through my good and my bad. My good behavior and my bad behavior.\u00a0 My good times and my bad times.<\/p>\n

God does not<\/strong> make bad things happen to us, but He does allow<\/strong> us to go through trials. \u00a0These trials bring us back to Him<\/em>. \u00a0They cause us to seek Him for guidance and support. These times cause us to intentionally look for Him. \u00a0They remind us that we can not do it alone. \u00a0He uses these times to remind us that He is there and that we need to lean on Him.<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0<\/span>Ezekiel 20:7<\/span>\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

Then I said to them, \u2018Each of you, throw away the abominations which are before His eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I\u00a0<\/b>am<\/i>\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0your God<\/b>.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n

Ezekiel 20:42<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then you shall know that I\u00a0<\/b>am<\/i>\u00a0the\u00a0Lord<\/b>, when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the country\u00a0for<\/i>\u00a0which I raised My hand in an oath to give to your fathers.<\/p>\n

\n

Ezekiel 20:19<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u00a0am<\/i>\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0your God<\/b>: walk\u00a0in My statutes, keep My judgments,\u00a0and do them.<\/p>\n

\n<\/blockquote>\n

I love this following reminder:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we look at the character of God in the Old Testament, we see a God who wants a personal relationship with us<\/em>.\u201d When we, when I, don\u2019t give Him my good and<\/em> bad times, I am limiting His power in my life; I am not trusting that He can handle the easy and tough seasons I will go through.<\/p>\n

I want to make this one of my go-to verses:<\/p>\n

\u00a0Psalm 34:8<\/b><\/p>\n

Oh, taste and see that the<\/b>\u00a0<\/b>Lord<\/b>\u00a0<\/b>is<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/b>good;<\/b>
\nBlessed\u00a0is<\/i>\u00a0the man\u00a0who<\/i>\u00a0trusts in Him.<\/b><\/p>\n

We need to be intentional about trusting God in my tough times. We need to be intentional about seeing God in our tough times.<\/p>\n

___________________________________<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s Pray:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dear Heavenly Father,<\/p>\n

Thank You for not tiring of reminding us of Your love. \u00a0Thank You for not losing Your patience with us when we don\u2019t seek You in our tough times. \u201cYou are the Lord our God.\u201d \u00a0You desire a personal relationship with us. You desire for us to seek You when life is good and when life isn\u2019t so good. Lord please help us to stand on Your word. \u00a0You are good, and we will be blessed when we seek refuge in You, in good times and<\/em> in bad times. \u00a0Thank You for Your love. \u00a0In Jesus’ Name we pray.<\/p>\n

Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We see God in the good times. \u00a0We see the blessings He gives us. \u00a0We see the provisions He makes for us, and we see all He does for us. He doesn’t have to reveal Himself in the good times, we see Him in abundance. But those bad times, the bad days, during the stormy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":13324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[144,218,2931,2932,2930,425,436,2881,2808,2879,2883,724,2936,2380,2934,2880,1052,1075,2933,2830,1135],"class_list":["post-13322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-womens","tag-bible","tag-christianity","tag-ezekiel-2019","tag-ezekiel-2042","tag-ezekiel-207","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-god","tag-god-of-today","tag-i-am","tag-old-testament","tag-old-testament-god","tag-online-bible-study","tag-personal-relationship-with-god","tag-psalm-348","tag-refuge","tag-reminder","tag-teresa-bolme","tag-tonya-ellison","tag-tough-times","tag-who-i-am","tag-womens-bible-studies","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/RelyOnHim.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-3sS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13322"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13328,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13322\/revisions\/13328"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}