Encouraging Message

Do you need peace in your life? Feel like you need to know God more than you do, but somehow you doubt...you fear...you can't let go of your own ideas. I have been there. I've done all those things, and trust me, nothing feels sweeter than letting go of my fears that are surrounding me and trusting that there's more to it all. Our loving Heavenly Father knows my life, and he is controlling the "Bigger Picture" that I so easily lose sight of.

Please read this...a message written by Pastor Rick Lawrenson of Nags Head Church, North Carolina. He is also the father-in-law of Tricia whom I posted about yesterday. What a great reminder that I needed to hear...

"Human nature is finite as is our natural comprehension of life and all that goes with it. When life throws us curves it is our natural tendency to react with anxiety and fear. That's normal.

This morning I'll sit at a table and peer out over the Atlantic Ocean. A relatively few miles away will be the extent of my ability to see. The horizon in my sight is the limit. But I know that the ocean goes much farther to my east - all the way to other lands in Europe and Africa. I just can't see them. It was that limited vision that brought our forefathers to the conclusion that the earth was flat, and that if you ever hit that edge of the world you would fall off.

How silly is that theory to us today? But it was a real, natural conclusion because of their limited sight and experience. Then one day a "new world" was discovered and the fear of falling from a flat earth was vanquished by new vision and the experience of standing on a previously unseen soil.

How is it that Nathan and Tricia can hear the words "cancer" and "lymphoma" and not have their spirits plummet into angst? When people ask me and I tell them and then say, "But this is just a bump in their road", they look at me like I'm nuts. It's the "C word for Pete's sake!".

That depends on the size of your picture; on whether or not you think the boundaries of your ability to see are the edge of your world or that there are new worlds to discover. Tricia and Nathan's picture has been greatly enlarged by two factors: faith and experience. They've gone over the horizon more than once, trusting in Someone whose vision is infinite to lead them. And they've discovered that however fearful that next step may be, there is a new world beyond what they can see.

Don't let the horizons in your sight fool you. Hoist the sails, take the risks and turn over the wheel to the Pilot who sees eternally.

The picture is bigger than you think."

*Copied with permission from the website of Rick Lawrenson (www.nagsheader.blogspot.com)