12 Aug, 2010
The Holy Spirit Uses Our Sorrows to Deepen Our Desire for Christ
I am going through a particular dry time in my life right now. I am preparing to go back to teach high school and life feels very bland. I feel depressed, unworthy, lonely, and inadequate.
Why? I don't know for sure really. The pressures of keeping up with the fast pace of life. Not having enough money to take care of basic needs. Thinking about all the unfulfilled dreams.
While all these are true, I also feel down because I want Christ to be my sense of joy and the reality is that many other distractions take the place of Him. I seek happiness in this life but I think what I really want is joy. Can you relate? I stumbled upon some quotes from Dr. Larry Crabb that have been helpful to me and I want to pass them along to you. His premise is that God must take us through shattered dreams to give us what we really want: a relationship with Christ.
Read: John 14:1 (NIV)
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.
“Perhaps we can better hear what our Lord means when He tells us to live now with untroubled hearts….
‘I know things are not now as you want them. I know many of your dreams are not coming true. I want you to understand that things are not as I will one day make them. I like neither the distance between us nor the pain you suffer. Until I come to bring you to My Father’s house, I am devoting myself to only one thing: I am preparing a place for you. And My Spirit, on My behalf, is devoting Himself to only one thing—preparing you to enjoy Me and all that I will provide.
I have called you not to the secular journey where you must make everything in your life now as pleasant as possible. I have called you to the spiritual journey, to a process of enlarging your heart to desire Me above everything else.
Do not be troubled by all the dreams that will shatter while you remain on earth. You will feel deep pain. But every sorrow you experience will be used by My Spirit to deepen your desire for Me. He will speak to you about Me. Listen for the voice. You will hear Him most clearly when suffering humbles you enough to want to hear Him, to know you cannot go on without hearing Him.
-Dr. Larry Crabb
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Do you feel down and depressed today? Why?
What is it that you think you want that is not being fulfilled?
Spend some time in prayer giving everything to God and asking the Holy Spirit to strengthen you in your weakness.
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