My Refuge and Strength......Always

Always by Kristian Stanfill

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God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.  We will not fear when the earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea.  Let the oceans roar and foam.  Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!
Psalm 46:1-3

What battle are you preparing for this day?  Really, who or what are you facing that makes you feel weak?  We all have something going on today that we aren't looking forward to, a person or situation we wish we could avoid.  You either woke up with a battle before you or through the course of this day one or more battles have developed right in front of your eyes.  The battle can range from saying no to that piece of pie at lunch, turning down that cigarette during break, fighting for a friend who is sick or grieving the loss of someone dear to you.  The battle may be personal, like standing your ground and holding firm to your  Christian belief while your boss and coworkers are trying to convince you to do otherwise, or you may be fighting satan's lies that try to condemn you for that sin you repented of last week.  Your battle may be for someone else who is lost and searching in all the wrong places, or for the oppressed who are being mistreated and need a voice in this very loud world.  The size and cause of our battles will differ greatly but the source of our strength, we all have in common.  And understanding that we all are in the same boat these days, fighting battles and roughing out storms, we can encourage one another to keep fighting.  We are brothers and sisters who need each other!  We are all fighting something, whether it be disease, mean people, poor values, our weight, and even ourselves, we all have something in which we cannot do alone.  Our victory will come when we put our trust in God.  We can win any battle with God on our side and even though the win may not look like a win from worldly eyes, God always wins!  Something good always comes out of our battle regardless of what our eyes can see.  Believe that!

I have several battles that I will face today that range from what I put into my mouth, what I watch on TV,  fighting for a friend's eyes to be open to God's truth, fighting for several people to find healing from disease, to fighting back my own feelings of inadequacy, jealousy and sadness.  There are even more that I don't yet know about and it can all seem very overwhelming!  But I can start my day knowing that what ever I face, my God is bigger!  Whatever comes my way I can be confident that my God will not delay and He will be my strength as I step back and let Him take over.  Friends, this fight.......these battles we face........they can ruin us.....stop us dead in our tracks.......or they can strengthen us.  Together we fight and together we encourage one another to trust in the Lord!  He will not delay......our help is on the way!!