Our little yellow gold finches are back and eating sunflower seeds.  I love to watch them as they hang from the top and filch the seeds from the flowers.  They seem to be little characters who will go to whatever means is necessary to acquire the seeds.

And they sing.  It is a joyful, pleasant and encouraging song as they go about their day.  It is just uplifting to listen to and hear their voices, happily proclaiming their excitement – and I always think their thanksgiving to the Creator - for the bounty before them.

The garden is full of sunflowers.  We haven’t planted any for years – there is always enough seeds falling to the ground to handle that.  We try and leave as many standing as possible taking out those that interfere with the other plants.  We will be enjoying the finches and other birds as they come to eat, for several weeks.

We are still getting a lot of activity at our humming bird feeders.  This year they seem to be a little more tolerant of the other birds.  Where in the past one would take over all of the feeders and try and chase off every bird, this year we see two and even three birds eating at the same time on the same feeder.

Wanda ate the chicken I gave her this morning – as well as the rest of her breakfast.  Funny dog.

Blaze, of course, had no difficulty either day, he gobbled it right up.

Both dogs get treats in addition to their food and cookies.  As I put Wanda in her crate for the night I tell her it is time for her treats and she heads to the kennel.  Last night Blaze jumped in front of her into the crate and turned around as if to ask, ‘where’s mine?’  I told him to get out of there, it wasn’t his bed, he obliged.  Wanda couldn’t have care less – I was afraid she might get upset with him.

He gets his after he finishes his business for the night and is ready to go to bed.

He also gets one in the morning after he does his business.  Sometimes we will open the door so he can go out when he pleases while we go back to bed.  However, if I haven’t given him his treat by around 0700 he lets me know about it!

Psalm 13:1-2  How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?

² How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?

Ever feel like you are just lost and even though you believe in God, you have given Him your heart but your mind suddenly challenges your belief?

I do.  Most of the time, when that happens, it is but for a short period and I am reminded that God is God and while I may have my doubts at times, He knows that and sends His Holy Spirit to comfort me, and counsel me, and encourage me and points me to His Word.

We can feel guilty when we have those kinds of ideas.  We can feel unworthy of His Love.  We are conflicted, we want to believe in Him, but at that moment we have doubts.

We are not alone.  There are tens of thousands of fellow Christians, in far more dire circumstances, that are sensing they are lost and without hope.  They don’t ‘feel’ the presence of God and satan uses their circumstances to make their mind question God’s very existence.

If there is a God, where is He in my time of trouble, why, does He hide His face from me, why does He not deal with my emotions and pain and make them go away? 

The Scriptures share not only the victories of living for God, but the challenges and the trials.  Writers of the Scriptures wrote of their struggles, fears and doubts.

It was written for our benefit.  God wanted us to know that we are not alone in our struggles with this world.  It has been going on since Adam ate the forbidden fruit.

As the Psalmist laments his condition it makes us aware that we too may have those feelings AND it is okay to express our complaint to God. 

We are not perfect and little things – not to mention life altering things – can strive to come between us and God; but, only when we let them.

Faith is an active, not passive, state of being.  We have faith because we believe that God is God and He cares for us, what He says in His Word He will do.  We act on that Faith.

We see in His Word where He chastised those that turned from Him; where He allowed others to conquer them as a nation and enslave them because they refused to honor Him.

But His Word also tells us that when the people – and particularly individuals – turned back to Him He forgave them.  Sometimes it was decades or even hundreds of years later before He lifted their burdens; but He always did.

We also learned that sometimes the challenges set before us are to prove and strengthen us – just ask Job.

When we start questioning who God is and even if He cares at all for us, it is okay.  What is not okay is continuing in that state of mind.  Allowing those thoughts to remain - to assault us is to go into a depression and even a denial of God.  We can become self-centered with the ‘why me?’ syndrome and pull farther away from Him.

The Psalmist recognized that.  He understood that He could not remain in doubt, remain discouraged.  He believed in God and He proclaimed that belief at the end of this Psalm.

Psalm 13:5-6 But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.

⁶ I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.

It is a lesson for us.  When we have those feelings of doubt and discouragement we should remind ourselves of His mercy, we should praise Him for who He is and all He has done on our behalf.

It is an act of will.  It is the same act that allowed us to accept Christ as our Savior.

It is Faith in God, that no matter what, He has our interests at heart and whatever we may be going through He will not let us go from His Hand; we are not alone.  That Faith in Him will allow us to move forward and no matter what happens, serve Him.

2 Timothy 3:10-12 But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,

¹¹ Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.

¹² Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

We read Paul’s statement of what he did with his life and the many persecutions he endured.  It is not a boast, but a means to encourage - not only Timothy, but the rest of us.  Paul had Faith in God – and he acted on that faith.

I always think of persecutions coming at us from the outside.  However, our mind – filled with lies of satan from all kinds of sources, can also accuse and persecute us if we let it.

Rather than focusing on the lies of satan, no matter where they come from, we need to focus on the Word of God, having Faith that He will do what He has promised.

Psalm 119:147-149  I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in thy word.

¹⁴⁸ Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word.

¹⁴⁹ Hear my voice according unto thy lovingkindness: O Lord, quicken me according to thy judgment.

We can choose to be miserable and strike our chest asking, ‘Why?’  Or, we can choose to meditate on His Word and allow His Holy Spirit to lift us up as we pray to God and praise Him.

The choice is ours.

Later, Art :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again