You find yourself becoming angry and worrying, losing sleep, walking the floor, unable to focus, with waves of depression sweeping over you and pulling you down into a deep dark hole. Light has completely extinguished itself from your presence. You want to scream out for help but instead you find yourself withdrawing and sinking deeper into a pit of despair.

Anger and worry are two very destructive emotions. When we dwell on our problems, we become anxious and angry and eventually develop stinken thinken, foolish feelings and awful actions. This of course reveals a lack of faith that our God loves us and that He is indeed in control.

Psalms 37:8-9 says, “Refrain from anger and trun from wrath; do not fret – it leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.” Therefore my beloved, concentrate on God and His goodness, and you will find a peace that passes all understanding.

The next thing I knew, I was sitting still in the middle of the road, and the front end of my car was gone. I was sitting behind the steering wheel in the wide-open space. I looked around to see if my daughter was okay, and could see she was slumped over in her car seat. Much to my surprise, there was a woman standing in the doorway praying over my sweet daughter. I couldn’t understand what she was praying but I knew God has sent her. After what seemed like a very long time, the woman left my daughter, came around to where I was sitting and whispered in my ear, “God said to tell you that you and your daughter will be fine.” She left and I never saw her again.

God protected me that day, not one scratch. Even my clothes were left in perfect condition. I do have one leg that is injured on the inside and needs some reconstructive surgery. My daughter was also injured and had a broken neck. The doctors said she would never be able to move her body in any way, shape, or form for the rest of her life.

To the doctor’s amazement, my little girl, after only two weeks, is beginning to move her arms and hands. The doctors are ordering a wheelchair for her and feel that with physical therapy she can learn to operate it herself. I feel if she never walks again, that will be okay. She is alive and we will be just fine.

This remarkable story was told to me by a friend who personally was involved with the mother and daughter. It is amazing how in God’s time, He speaks, to us to bring a word of encouragement and hope. In this case, maybe even through an angel.

It is interesting that God would place within this mother’s mind and heart such absolute hope for the future for both she and her daughter. And yet the doctors would paint such a grim and hopeless future for the precious daughter. Who would you have believed? How would this have affected your faith? Isn’t it true, that so many times, we have to know all the answers and the end result, before we will believe or trust God. In Psalm 139:23-24 it says, “Search me, O God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Let us take time today to lay our fears and doubts before the Living God and put our trust in Him. If you have not trusted Christ today as your personal Savior, then take a moment and pray this prayer.

Psalm 146:5 says, “Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God,” and Psalm 147:3, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”

Friends comes in many forms. We find those that look at our circumstances and try to help us figure out a better and more effective way of dealing with it. Many times, their help comes from their own grid of understanding, which many times compounds the situation even more, and produces more confusion. There are others, who look at our circumstances and feel that we are making way too much of it. Their idea is, if we could just stop worrying, and see that it is probably happening for a good reason, it will all turn out for our best.

Then there are others who are sure you brought this upon yourself and want nothing to do with you or what you are dealing with. You discover the damages and loss you are experiencing have now only increased, and your need for comfort and help has diminished considerably. Then to top it all off, you have others around you that seem to always be happy, fulfilled, and have a life of ease.

Let me ask you, how do you respond to situations, speculations and human reasoning? How has your “strange” situation affected your faith? Do you have a spirit that cannot be broken?

I remember what seemed like an eternity ago, but is as real as if it were yesterday. The day was cold but strikingly beautiful. The trees were covered sheets of ice, glimmering like diamonds, and the earth was covered with a thick blanket of snow, sparkling and glistening in the sunlight. The street was quite and still; so still it was deafening to my ears. My soul had become as cold and lifeless as the day itself

In my despair and desperation I began crying out to the Lord, “I am going to be 40 years old Lord, will I ever be happy? Will I ever experience love like your Word describes? Will I live in this prison of hopelessness for the rest of my life?” I felt as through my spirit was broken and it was never to me mended again.

God spoke to my heart that day with these words, “Miriam look outside again. Look deep. Do you see the trees and bushes?” I answered, “Yes Lord, but everything seems so dead.” Again, the Lord spoke to me in His still quite voice, “The roots go deep and Spring will come again Miriam.” As I looked long and hard into what the Lord was telling me, I could see within my spirit what He was saying to me and I responded with, “Yes Lord, I understand.”

God with His loving and caring way, renewed my spirit that day. I never was given any hope in my situation by any visual means but God had given me enough seasons to understand that Spring would come again. I took by faith, that at sometime in my life, I would be restored and see my heart blossom into a new song. (Joel 2:25) How much of your own faith experience is hampered by an unwillingness to believe God?

Life is that way, it doesn’t always appear to be what we think it should be. God has a plan and a purpose for our life (Jeremiah 28: 11-13) and He uses the mess in our life to make it a message for others. God has given me a spirit that cannot be broken, and He has fulfilled His promise in my life; and Spring did come with showers of blessings. Do the pain and losses continue? Do the struggles and sorrow follow? I have experienced both the trials and the triumphs. My life is filled with color, beauty, and continuous pruning, lopping off the old and bringing forth the new. Jesus says in John 15:1-8, that He will remove anything that does not bear much fruit in those He loves.

God says it so well in Isaiah 40:31, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” This beloved is A spirit that cannot be broken.

Do you have people in your life pointing out your sin over and over? Are you tried of hearing what they have to say about you and all the things you do wrong? Do you feel life is unfair, especially when God asks you to change but those around get to keep doing what they’re doing? We ask ourselves, “What’s wrong with this picture? Does God see some sins and not look at others?”

Self examination is painful and seeing sin as God sees sin is for our good. Getting others to do right and making our lives turn out the way we think they should be, is God’s job as well. Ask God if any of what others say is true. If it is then confess it to God and turn from it and begin doing what God is calling you to do. God is mindful of those around you and your circumstances but His desire is to start with you.

God says in Isaiah 51:8-9,” ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways’,”declares the Lord. As the heaven are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your way and my thoughts than your thoughts.” God also says in I John 1:9, “If we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

I don’t know about you but that is the kind of loving God I need in my life. He sees me as I am. He is willing to work with me until He completes His good work in me. And God is then able and willing to use my thinking, words and actions to glorify Him. Seeing sin as God sees sin can lead to great benefits if we are willing to yield all that we have and are to the Great I AM!

Fortunately for me, God brought a few select Christians to help me understand what it means to be in the new nature, and yet at the same time continue to fall back into the old nature with all its imperfections revealing itself in my thoughts, words and actions. The truth is even though I am born again, my old nature remains the same, with its stinken thinken, foolish feelings and awful actions. It is up to me to yield my body parts to my new nature with its holiness, the holiness of Jesus Christ. The old habits that are so embedded in me, are well developed and established. It is my job to identify each and everyone of them and replace them with the opposite, godly habits established and given to us in God’s Word. (Ephesians 4:22-24)

My beloved, I am sure you are saying to yourself, “Putting off my old nature is easier said that done Miriam!” I agree with you 100%, but on the other hand we are not in this alone. Our new nature equips you and I with the ability and strength to do what is necessary to glorify God. if we are willing to give the Holy Spirit the room He needs to work, He will manifest Himself in you and me, and those looking on will see Him, Jesus Christ by your words, and actions. (Romans 6:12-13)

You might be called to this task, so get prayed up, and get yourself ready. Esther, a Jewish girl, who had become a queen to King Ahasuerus had to take some huge risks in order to help the Israelites. (Esther 4:15-5:4)

Ester asked for prayer from Mordecai, the Jews in Susa, and her maids to pray and fast with her. So reach out to others to pray and fast with you. God tells us about the importance of team work and the mighty results it can produce. (Ecclesiastes 4:9,12)

Esther went before the king, dressed in her royal robe, entering the court of the palace, touching the king’s outstretched scepter. Beloved don’t walk with your head down, but dress with confidence and humility, when you are called to take action.

King Ahasuerus asked Esther what she wanted. Esther calmly and confidently proceeded with a plan of action that involved both the king and Haman at a banquet. After God had prepared the heart of the king Esther took courage and spoke boldly for the Jews and against Haman. God is ready to use your words to defend other’s in their time of need. Don’t worry about what other’s might think about what you have to say, God’s says you do your part and He will take care of the results.

Welcome to God’s Workmanship. I’m Miriam Miller, and would like to speak to you on Make the Mess in Your Life a Message.

How does this fit into the Christian realm of one’s life? Wouldn’t you think that once we become a Christian, that we would understand that our sufficiency comes through Jesus Christ and that our allegiance and dependency is to be totally on God our Father through Jesus Christ our Lord. Yet, we find ourselves much like King David in II Samuel 12:1-14, covering our sin in hopes that the problems around us that we created, or help create, will go away.

Unfortunately, if we do not take the mess in our lives and make it a message for Jesus Christ, we use it for self-gratification. The consequences can be very severe but the love of God covers a multitude of sin, I Peter 4:8. God gives us each an opportunity to use the mess in our lives to be a blessing to those around us and to bring glory and honor to God. The question is, well we use what we have done to condemn others, or ourselves or be a blessing by helping others in their time of need.

King David of course had an opportunity to use the mess in his life to be a message for his children. In II Samuel 13-18:19-33, it tells us how one man’s sin and family secrets can affect and destroy the lives of many. King David’s response to what took place in his firstborn son Amnon, his daughter Tamar, and his son Absalom destroyed any positive message that God could have used to save the lives of many.

We must never forget what I Peter 5:8 says, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” This may come through the form of shame, guilt, blame or anything else that may cause us to conform to “Stinken Thinken,”, “Foolish Feelings” and eventually as in David’s case and his children “Awful Actions.”

Satan desires to paralyze you, in hopes that you will become ineffective and useless for God. Always remember my beloved, “You dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (I John 4:5)

With that in mind, we can accomplish acts of righteousness by, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to God.” (II Corinthians 10:5)

King David failed to do that. God had forgiven him and blessed him in spite of what he had done with Bathsheba, and Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband. II Samuel 13-14 says, “Then David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ Nathan replied, ‘The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt, the son born of you will die.” David still had consequences to face, but was cleansed from the penalty of his sin, and the separation of God Almighty.

My question to you is, how are you dealing with the mess in your life and are you making it a message for Jesus Christ. Don’t wait any longer to share with those you love, or with those you are involved with, of how God forgave you and He also forgives them. In closing my beloved, you Have a Message and Be One.

Welcome to God’s Workmanship. I’m Miriam Miller, and would like to speak to you on Tempted while Tested by the Disagreeable.

In every disagreeable situation, God is allowing you and me as His workmanship to build character, and a trusting relationship with Him. And the disagreeable person or situation we face, we do one of two things; we either exhibit whether we are manifesting the life of the Son of God, or living a life which is antagonistic to God Himself.

God tested Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, in a disagreeable situation. Nebuchadnezzar received word that the 3 young godly Jewish men, that the king had set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, were not submitting to his decree. He challenged Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego to make a decision to agree or disagree with his terms as stated in Daniel 3:14.

I don’t know about you, but that would have been tempting enough to make me stop, pause, and ask myself, Who do I really care about here, me or God? And do I really believe God can deliver me? What a temptation that would be to not live out my belief system, which is, to love God with all my heart and follow Him only.

To agree with a person like the king, the authority, to either save my life or dismiss it and then forfeit everything I have believed in, gave testimony to, just to save my life, is more than I can bear. And yet, I realize that all of us may have to experience decisions such as this. We all have heard the expression, walk the talk, and yet to put any of us in a disagreeable situation that is going to cost us all that we have lived for, and believed in, is a test that few have lived out.

How many times have you insisted that someone be loyal to you? Or how many times have you been put in a disagreeable situation where it could cost you your job, marriage, or family? We must remember that in every test that God allows for His workmanship, He also provides a way out as stated in 1 Corinthians 10:13.

On the other hand the devil offers a temptation for God’s workmanship as well. Unfortunately, he does not offer you anything but trouble, shame, and a damaged testimony. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, chose not to allow the devil to influence them when tested by their disagreeable situation. Instead, they announced what they believed, and what they were going to do, in Daniel 3:17-18.

God allows testing in our lives by disagreeable situations or people, to make us more like Him. And when that time comes, God will deliver us as well. God’s job is not to supply us with character but to equip and strengthen us along the way. God has given us the Holy Spirit, who is able to direct us, lead us, and equip us with all good things for when the day of testing arrives.

As God’s workmanship, be ready to stand, be firm, and immovable (I Corinthians 15:58); as the devil is waiting for you to yield to the temptation he sets before you (I Peter5:8). Your job beloved, is to resist him, and stand strong knowing that God is ever present, ready to protect you, and to give you the strength to have victory in any, and all disagreeable situations and people.

Welcome to God’s Workmanship. I’m Miriam Miller, and would like to speak to you on Spiritual Undertow.

We know an undertow is the undercurrent which flows in a different direction from the water’s surface. We also have heard that many deaths have occurred from people drowning as a result of this undercurrent. Swimmers have learned, that you never plunge into an undercurrent, but a fool will. The Spiritual undertow that swished away this mother’s son, was the fleshly desires in his life, the world and its pleasures, and the devil’s lies. The hidden danger in this case, is called alcoholism. It appeared innocent enough, and for some time brought him worldly acceptance, false security, and a foolish sense of significance. But again under the surface, there was the Spiritual undertow that pulled him down and swallowed him up.

Like all of God’s Workmanship, He is taking each of us out into the current of the liberty of freedom, which Jesus Christ offers us on a daily basis. The scripture expresses an exhortation for each of us in Galatians 5:7. Our God, who is full of Grace, is taking each one of us straight out into the ocean. Our job is to be mindful of the undercurrent, which comes in the form of the world’s attractions, our fleshly desires, and the devil’s lies as these have the power to pull us from obeying the truth.

God has designed each us to be dependent on Him, and has given us the Holy Spirit to see that we are successful in this endeavor. Our job as God’s workmanship is to do our part, and to rely on the Holy Spirit to be our Helper, Galatians 5:24-25. And like this man, who by his own choice, rejected the Holy Spirit’s help and got caught up in the hidden undercurrent. Praise the Lord, that he is now looking for answers of how to obtain this, peaceful and happy life. God has given us one another so that we might become interdependent and help each another in our time of need.

As God’s precious children, be alert and aware of the Spiritual undertow that can pull you back. Remember, God through His Son Jesus Christ, has set you free and given you the acceptance, security and significance, that you have been searching for all your life. Take time today to thank Him for the work He has done on your behalf, and flow out to sea, into the glorious liberty that only He can give you. And there, you will find the peace, and happiness that comes through an obedient life.

Leave me your comment today as I welcome your thoughts and appreciate your time.  May you be blessed today.

Welcome to God’s Workmanship. I’m Miriam Miller, and would like to speak to you on Failing At A Relationship Is No Reason to Quit.

When I think of King David’s life, and how much he loved the Lord God, and yet failed in his relationship with God. David, while in his Kingship experienced great accomplishments and was greatly blessed by God. David becomes lax in his relationship with God, relies on his own strength and wisdom, satisfies his fleshly desires, enjoys the pleasures of the world, believes the devils lies, commits adultery and then to cover his sin, kills Uriah the Hittite.

Wow, King David was a man after God’s own heart. How in the world could someone so blessed, and loved by God, be such a failure. It is amazing to me that King David did not want to kill himself with the shame and punishment that was before him. And yet, failing at a relationship is no reason to quit. It is apparent to me that God takes His relationship with each of us seriously. And He is really interested in teaching us that we can do nothing in this life without total reliance on Him. Even if it means that we lose people or things that are near and dear to our hearts. God will save no expense in order to bring us into a holy relationship with Him.

God demonstrated His love relationship for us in Romans 5:8-11. King David had this kind of relationship with His Heavenly Father. He knew that failing at a relationship with God was no reason to quit. He had experienced God’s unconditional love, mercy and grace throughout his life. And He knew that His God was not finished with him and was willing to hang in there and let God do what He needed to do to make David more like His Father.

A love such as this, gives me hope, helps me persevere, and gives me a reason to continue my spiritual journey with Jesus Christ. I have failed my Heavenly Father many times over but He has never failed me. I am not quitting, but like King David, I too will confess my sins and He is faithful and just to forgive me my sins. My relationship with Jesus Christ is the most important relationship I will ever have and the only one that remain throughout eternity.