God Alone Sustains Us

I can tell I have changed. Changed for the better. Just simple everyday chores or how I react to circumstances in my life on a daily basis. Bruce and I have just arrived home after a hectic 3 weeks away “doing Ministry”. The last few days travelling were long hours, lots of delays in departure times of aeroplanes, extended flying times due to weather, winds and turbulence. YUK!

It was only in the final hour or so after 19 hours of flying from one side of America to the other where I felt I had hit my wall.  And that was just on one of the days. We still had one more day in LA of meetings then the long flight home to Australia. We were both so tired, that we were laughing at the simplest, silliest of things. That’s what happens to me when I get tired.

I know it was God who sustained us. We did not lash out in frustration or anger or impatience. Not like I may have in the past. God is transforming me.

I do understand more though the terminology – “I had hit my wall” and “I felt like climbing up the wall.” It was not just the tiredness but also the pain that was shooting through my legs from being cramped up for so long. The weather and hence the turbulence did not allow for much stretching of the legs.

I had to dig deep within myself but truly dig deep into God to give me the strength to not cry out. I kept saying over and over under my breath, “God is with me. I can do this.”

Our human bodies and spirits can only go so far by ourselves. Yes, you can grow in stamina and perseverance but spiritually, given from on high, extra, above and beyond what we can put up with humanly, we can cope with so much more.

The one down day we thought we had in LA before flying home did not quite eventuate. Bruce had a flair up of kidney stones and spent 5 hours in hospital. After giving him an injection for pain relief and the scans to take home to his doctor, he slept another 5 hours while I sat by his side worrying. Silly me. Bruce even told me so later. Why did I not sleep but I just could not.

Flying back to Australia on a 14-hour flight, then a 5-hour stop over before another 5-hour flight the next day felt like it took forever.

Again, it was God who sustained us.

Truly knowing that God was with us the whole way, with me in my tiredness and worry. Actually, making me feel calmer than I would normally be.

I truly desire to encourage all of you who go through stuff, tragedies, unforeseen circumstances, cancer, illnesses……… whatever it may be that you turn to the ONLY ONE who can sustain us.

Under your breath keep telling yourself the words of Christ found in Matthew’s Gospel.

And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Matthew 28:20b NRSV

“Jesus is with me.”

Oh, what solace it brings. Oh, what strength it brings. Oh, what peace it brings. Oh, what delight it brings. Jesus is with me!

May these jottings from my journal inspire you to believe in and fall in love with Christ- the hope of the world, as stated in Jeremiah 17:7, ‘Blessed is the man who believes and trusts in and relies on the Lord and whose hope and confident expectation is the Lord!’

Love

Rosemary

Every week groups of ladies meet together to chat about the things I raise in my weekly blog post and to chat about life in general. We call these ‘Heart Connect’ groups.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

List some of the times in your life where you have “hit your wall.” How were you able to keep going? Were you able to rely on God to sustain you?

For those times that you did not rely on God, how did you feel?

Compare it to the times that you have relied on God. How did you feel differently?