I receive these daily emails from Pastor Ed Young’s site. He calls them “evotionals”. (Doesn’t he have cute names for everything? LOL.) The one that came today really brought back this past week, and probably reflects one of the main themes of our blog.
We started out wanting to bring out the truth behind God’s plan for sex. That it is to be between one man and one woman, who are married to each other. Our marriage bed is our wedding present from God. He wants us to consummate our marriage and to enjoy this gift to the fullest during our lifetime with our spouse. Satan sneaks into our bedroom and tries his best to discourage us, to remind us of our past failures, or even to create new problems for us. It starts to discourage us.
Then, I got today’s evotional which reminded me of one of the purposes of this blog. For those of us who’s faith is in Christ Jesus to lift one another up and encourage one another. Listen to the verse that came into my email box today.
“I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” (Romans 1:11-12)
As I read this, it reminded me of the reader “Alone”, who truly thought she was alone in her suffering. Even though her husband went about it in a way that was probably distasteful to her at this point in her journey, it did bring her here to us. The authors of this blog have been there before. There are many readers who have also been there before. Those of us who have been where she has been, it is OUR job to share our faith, to share our stories, to uplift this young woman and to encourage her that by OUR faith, God answered our prayers. Let me borrow something from Ed Young’s evotional. (www.edyoung.com)
“There is something encouraging about looking to the example of someone who has been where you want to go or done what you want to do. As children, we look to our older siblings or friends to let us know that we’ll survive our freshman year. We look to couples who have children to help us feel a little more prepared for the difficulties of parenthood. And the same holds true in our spiritual walk. During difficult times, there will be periods of doubt in your journey with God. But during those times, look to those who have gone before you and be encouraged by their stories of faith. Because no matter what you are facing, God can use the faith of others to encourage you.” (emphasis mine)
This was such a wonderful reminder to me, and I hope it is a reminder to you, as well. When we are in the pits of despair and there seems no way out…look up. God is there. He will send just the right person (or people) to help you in your time of need. Look to them for encouragement. I hope that you can find your encouragement here.
Christian Nymphos 