Why Me, LORD?

Why Me, LORD?

Sometimes in life, we face difficulties and trials.  Truth is we all have stories of heartache and pain.  Many times we ask God: “Why, Why me Lord?”  Sometimes the only answer we receive from the Lord is simply this: “Just Trust me.”  In our human heart, we cannot understand why God would allow these things to happen to us or to others around us.  The pain that enshrouds our heart seems to choke out any understanding or peace that we so long to have.  The statement “Trust the Lord,” seems to be easy to say but harder to do.  People that say this to us sometimes can make us feel like they have no idea what we are facing.  They could not possibly understand our situation.  God’s grace seems so far and distant.  We can feel alone and rejected.  We just don’t see what the Lord is doing.  If our eyes could be open to the spiritual realm, we would see that God has turned up the furnace of trials in our life to work out the dross that has been building up.  We would see that every time we cry, God gently works on us and cries with us.  God says: “Trust me, dear heart, I have everything under control.”  He hears our distant reply: “No, Lord!  I don’t know what you are doing and the pain is too much for me to bear.”  God has not truly left us; he is ever present with us.  However, we still yell out: “Why me, Lord? ... Why?”

The Lord is in control.  He is the Great Potter molding us into vessels of honor.  He is the Great Gardener pulling out the weeds that don’t belong in our lives.  “What a privilege it is to know that … I am a field under heavenly cultivation ~ not a wilderness but a garden of the Lord, walled by grace, planted according to a divine plan, worked by love, weeded by heavenly discipline, and constantly protected by divine power.”  ~ Charles Spurgeon.  We might think something like this: “Sure this sounds all good and easy, but this thing that I am going through no one understand.”  It’s true that I might not have gone through the trial that you are going through and you might not have gone through the trial that I am going through, but God knows our pain.  He suffers with us.  He bears our burdens.  1 Peter 5:7 states, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”  This means that he takes our pain upon Himself.  He removes it from our heart, and places it on His; and in return He replaces our fears with peace.  Just as a loving father protects his child, so the Lord protects us.  “Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the day time, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.”  ~ Psalms 42:8.  In times of adversity and heartache, we need to continue to remind ourselves that God is in control and that He loves us and cares for His children.  Remember God always gives us the strength we need when we tap into it.  2 Corinthians 12:9 states: “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Practical Application:

Ø  Just Breath

Ø  Take one day at a time

Ø  Lift up your eyes - Remember God prays for you when you don’t have the words.

Ø  Get alone with the Lord, even when you don’t feel like it.

Ø  Keep key verses with you.  Verses like Isaiah 43:2.

Ø  Ask God to use this trial to reach the lost around you.

Ø Don’t quit on God! 

Excellent Spirit - Extreme Success!

For several weeks, I have struggled with writing a poem for our school theme.  I wrote draft upon draft, but still, it didn’t flow.  This morning, as I was driving to work, I thought about Daniel.  Yes, he had an Excellent Spirit and it brought him Extreme Success, but can you imagine the rejection he faced?  His own co-workers plotted to kill him.  They hated him, but he probably loved them and prayed for them. Can you imagine how heavy his heart must have been as he stood before the king and saw the smug faces of his peers? 

In life, we are going to face times of rejection.  We are going to have friends let us down.  We are going to get hurt.  It’s life.  A spouse may let down a spouse, a friend may let down a friend, a brother may let down a brother, a father, a daughter, a sister a brother, a mother, a son… and the list goes on and on.  Daniel set his spirit high, what I mean by that is he purposed that no matter what he faced he would look to the LORD and have a sweet spirit.  He always seemed to rise above what the world threw at him.  He wasn’t dealt a good hand by human perspective.  By the time, Daniel 6 takes place, Daniel is an old man.  His life experiences could have made him bitter, but instead, Daniel 6:3 says, “Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.”  He saw kings come and go, kingdoms rise and fall, through it all his attitude set him above all others.  My friend, you may be feeling rejected or hurt, can I encourage you to purpose to have an excellent spirit through it all?  And may I do the same.

People – they smile and pretend,

They say they’re your friend,

In the end, you’re in the Lion’s den,

Oh, Friend! Hope not in men!

Set your spirit high!

To the LORD draw nigh!

Day by day and Every day the same,

His promises we can claim!

No matter the rejection, no matter the pain.

When all is against you, do not wane!

Be like Daniel, who at his window knelt,

To do what was right, no worry he felt.

His spirit was of sweet Excellence,

And through it all, he had Extreme Success.

Set your spirit high!

To the LORD draw nigh!

Day by day and Every day the same,

His promises we can claim!

No matter the rejection, no matter the pain.

When all is against you, do not wane!

Faithful was he, no matter the accusation.

His spirit was sweet, he had the right foundation.

When all others turned on him,

His Excellent Spirit did not dim!

In that,he had great faithfulness,

Which brought him Extreme Success!

Set your spirit high!

To the LORD draw nigh!

Day by day and Every day the same,

His promises we can claim!

No matter the rejection, no matter the pain.

When all is against you, do not wane!

10 Weeks

10 weeks is all I had with you,

Ten weeks and how my heart is blue.

Saddened that I'll never hold your hand,

Your little feet will never touch the sand.

10 weeks is all you had little one,

And how my heart aches for my daughter or my son.

I miss you little one,

I feel so empty without you, Hun.

I've shed many a tear,

Oh how long to hold you near.

The Lord had a different plan,

One I don't understand.

But I know He loves us both

I'll see you again.

I have this hope.

I love you baby bug.

April 13, 2015

My Times are in His Hand.

Psalms 31:15 "My times are in Thy hand".  The first time I saw this verse was in a room Thousands of miles away from Pennsylvania. ... across the ocean in the Czech republic. .. I had just spent 3 months living in Europe. .. and I wasn't ready to come back home. .. so I was busy trying to change my flight... I did everything in my power to open the doors for me to continue to stay in Prague Czech Republic.    After all I was serving the Lord on a mission field... this had to be God's will for my life.  After realizing that I would not be able to stay... I opened my bible in frustration looking for a "sign" that God would do a miracle and allow me to continue in Prague.    My eyes fell on this verse "My times are in Thy hand"... at that moment I knew I had to stop trying because staying was going against what God had for me.   You see had I stayed in Prague i wouldn't have been where I was most needed.  I thought I was needed most in Prague. .. but I was needed the most at home.  You see after I returned home I learned my older sister had taken a turn for the worst.  She had been fighting kidney disease for years and dialysis had stopped being effective. .. two weeks after i came home she went home to heaven.   When I moved out here to Illinois I knew it was where God wanted me.  I struggled at first because it wasn't home.... but Psalms 3115 has guided me along the way... and now by Gods grace I can call Rockford home and Berean all family.  Never under estimate where God will take you.  Its always better than your will!  So maybe today you are struggling with where you are at in life.  Maybe it's not what you thought it would be or maybe it's not where you want to be.  Just let go of your desires and trust God.  Had I not waited on the Lord's timing, I would not be here.  But here is exactly where I need to be and where I want to be.  The Lord is Amazing and wants to give us His best.  Let go, dear friend and trust Him... the possibilities God has for you are endless!

The day that stood still...

Sometimes in life there are moments... Glints of days that seem to stand still. All around there are people moving, going from place to place, their day continues on..... into another and another. However, for some their day maybe standing still. Unbeknownst to those of us rushing on through life; we look to them nothing but a blur. Inside they feel like screaming... "Stop, stop, slow down! This life is just a vapor... It WILL quickly fade away."

On one such day, I awoke, dressed and headed off to work. Just a normal day in April. Yet my thoughts were filled with heaviness. Would this be the day? A phone call... The truth... Rising to my feet... Trying not to sob... I told what I needed to tell and headed out the door before anymore questions could be throw my way.

I don't know how I got there, but somehow I made it to the school were my siblings were. With our Pastor looking on, I told them the awful truth. While we hugged, we allowed the tears to freely flow.

We retuned home. Sitting in our living room, we talked of memories past. Overwhelmed by grief, out the door I went. The world was spinning, and yet at that moment all was still. The blue sky was fading into dusk, a single star rose into the night. The breeze rippled over the grass, the crickets started to chirp and a whisper echoed in my heart. "It's OK lil' sis... I'm not in anymore pain... I love you. You'll be alright."

Life goes on, yet life has become so precious to me.
It's not worth fighting with your siblings or rushing through a day.
Life will pass quickly enough without us wishing it away.
Cherish every moment, hold your love ones near.
There will come a day when you'll shed a tear.
You'll want to hear their voice just one time more.
Or see their face and hold them to your very core.
So love them today for this life is short you see.

In loving memory of Brandi Jeanne Byerly ... My sister, my friend
Whom I will see again in heaven!

Rocks Revealed

A few days ago, I was thinking of a poem I wrote when I was a teenager.  I wrote it after we had been hiking through Rickets Glenn.  (Best place in Pennsylvania to see waterfalls.)  While walking the path, I had to keep looking at my feet so I didn't trip on the rocks in front of me.  And from that stemmed this poem Rocks Revealed. 

I use to wonder, as most girls do, about who I would marry and where would I live?  And that age old question:  "What would I be when I grew up?"  Now as I am in my thirties (scary thought) I know the answers to those questions.  Yet there is still a lot I do not know.  You know what... the LORD still continues to show me things through "Rocks Revealed."  Dear Friends, may the LORD continue to bless you as you walk on His path and as you see those "Rocks Revealed."

Rocks Revealed

I looked at the top of the hill,

So high it is, yet at the top is Glory.

To get there we must walk God’s will;

The path so full of rocks is our story.

Looking at the ground, near our feet,

We only see a small portion of our path.

In that small portion, many we will meet,

In love and joy, also in anger and wrath.

They all have their own part to play

In His great will that is so near us.

But we must not worry what people say,

We must only care that in God we trust.

One day, we will make it to the top,

For that day is definitely sealed.

Right now, we must never stop,

Looking down at the rocks revealed.

   (Original verse by Jennifer Byerly)

My Expectation Is From Him

"My expectation is from Him."—Psalm 62:5.

It is the believer's privilege to use this language. If he is looking for aught from the world, it is a poor "expectation" indeed. But if he looks to God for the supply of his wants, whether in temporal or spiritual blessings, his expectation" will not be a vain one. Constantly he may draw from the bank of faith, and get his need supplied out of the riches of God's lovingkindness. This I know, I had rather have God for my banker than all the Rothschilds. My Lord never fails to honour His promises; and when we bring them to His throne, He never sends them back unanswered. Therefore I will wait only at His door, for He ever opens it with the hand of munificent grace. At this hour I will try Him anew. But we have "expectations" beyond this life. We shall die soon; and then our "expectation is from Him." Do we not expect that when we lie upon the bed of sickness He will send angels to carry us to His bosom? We believe that when the pulse is faint, and the heart heaves heavily, some angelic messenger shall stand and look with loving eyes upon us, and whisper, "Sister spirit, come away!" As we approach the heavenly gate, we expect to hear the welcome invitation, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." We are expecting harps of gold and crowns of glory; we are hoping soon to be amongst the multitude of shining ones before the throne; we are looking forward and longing for the time when we shall be like our glorious Lord—for "We shall see Him as He is." Then if these be thine "expectations," O my soul, live for God; live with the desire and resolve to glorify Him from whom cometh all thy supplies, and of whose grace in thy election, redemption, and calling, it is that thou hast any "expectation" of coming glory. - Spurgeon's Morning and Evening

Sometimes, in life we get so bogged down with the cares of this world. At work, we might find ourselves acting like the lost world. The printers go out, the vending machine breaks, the computer keeps shutting down, people around you are miserable... and you find yourself being miserable right along with them. You’re in a funk and you don't know why. Our Expectation needs to be from the LORD. He has given us so much! We can have his Joy.

A few years ago, I went to a seminar called "How to communicate with tough people." Basically the class was a pep talk where the speaker's job was to pump us up so we can go out and face all those "horrible" people out there. He taught us to “Fake It Till We Make It.” At one point in the talk he said something that opened my eyes. He said, “When things get really bad and you think you can’t fake it, then I want you to think of the happiest moment in your life. Whether it is when you got married or held your baby in your arms… I want you to hold on to that memory. And when things are tough, just bring that memory back to mind. And that will help you get through the tough situations of life.” While I was listening to him say this, I heard a still small voice saying “Jen, I am your strength. Don’t you see, these people don’t have that, they can’t cling to me like you can.” Then my heart broke for those people sitting there. The speaker that was still talking about how you need to look in the mirror and tell yourself you can do it. He went on saying that no one else is going to pull you up by your boot straps only you can do that. “The joy of the Lord is my strength,” echoed in my heart. That course was an eye opener, oh not because the speaker said anything helpful, but rather it showed me just how much I take for granted. As Christians, we have this awesome power from the Lord. Why don’t I realize that I have all God’s resources at my fingertips! Oh, Dear Christian Friend, our expectation is from the LORD. Expect the Lord to keep His promises. And as Charles Spurgeon wisely said: “O my soul, live for God; live with the desire and resolve to glorify Him from whom cometh all thy supplies, and of whose grace in thy election, redemption, and calling, it is that thou hast any "expectation" of coming glory.”