Sometimes you can almost see the handwriting on the wall.  You know what I mean, when God speaks so clearly to your heart that it’s almost as if you can hear His audible voice, or see His written message on the wall.

Early this year, 2015, as I began my Bible reading plan for the new year and continued reading through several books I was in the middle of, I began having the desire for a “word of the year” that expressed what my hopes and goals would be for this year.  I’ve never had a word of the year, though I had tried to decide on one in previous years.  I prayed about it and spent time thinking of all the words I came across in my reading but no word ever seemed to capture what was in  my heart. Until…..when I wasn’t even thinking about it God gave me my word, and not just one word but 3, and not just words for this year but words for my life.  Isn’t it sweet to see how He has His eye on us and is working out every detail in our lives even when we least expect to see His hand.

The first word He gave me is the word entrusted.  It’s a verb and it’s dictionary definition is “to put something into someone’s care or protection; to assign the responsibility for doing something.”  Life gets hard, we have difficult circumstances, difficult relationships, heart aches and disappointments.  At the time, I was struggling with some of those hard things in life and was reading Lysa Terkeurst’s book, The Best Yes.  I highly recommend this book.  The cover indicates it is encouragement for making wise decisions in prioritizing our schedules, but the book is so much more than that.  It refreshed and convicted me on so many levels of my spiritual life and when I got to Chapter 18…..life change!  What happens when things don’t turn out the way we hoped or expected? Life is complicated, relationships are hard, disappointments seem to be around every corner.  My thoughts always focused on my weaknesses, failures, regrets, but Chapter 18 changed all that.  What if God allowed those heartaches and disappointments in my life because He knew I had the strength in Him to endure those painful times?  What if He entrusted me with difficult days, hard relationships, and the unexpected dark night of the soul, and then magnified my strength through His word working in my heart and piercing through my self-focus,  people~pleasing mess that I was and changed me so that I could not only endure tough times, but trust Him and praise Him during those times. I was entrusted. What a work in progress I am, still a mess, but stronger in Christ than ever before because Christ has revealed Himself to me and is changing me little by little.

A few days after the Chapter 18 life change, our pastor read 1 Peter 4:19 during his Sunday sermon.  “Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.”  There was that word again.  My soul was entrusted to my faithful Creator, and He had entrusted me with some difficult things in life.  Was I going to be faithful to “do good” and live a life that reflected Him to those around me?  Was I going to be faithful in my daily walk with Him? That is my prayer and desire.  I stumble daily, I take my eyes off Christ and put them on my circumstances, I get discouraged and sometimes feel hopeless, but I have a faithful Father who reminds me of who He is and whose I am.  I belong to Him, I am sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13), I am entrusted (1Peter 4:19), and I am engraved on the palm of His hand (Isaiah 49:16.)  I am entrusted.

As I continued in my daily Bible readings over the next week, God gave me my next life word, engraved.  Feeling very encouraged as I realized the truth about being entrusted, God reminded me that I am also engraved on the palms of His hands.  Engraving is permanent, it doesn’t fade away.  My name is written, no, it’s engraved, on the palm of the Almighty God, the creator and sustainer of this universe.  I am His and He is mine.  He strengthens me, encourages me, corrects me, and sanctifies me.  Really!?!?   Yes!!  Really!! I am engraved. 

So what about the pain, heartaches, sadness in this life?  Does He just give us those and give us the strength to make it through?  As I continued with my daily Bible reading, He answered that question through scripture. The answer?  Unequivocally, NO.  He doesn’t just set things in motion and let us suffer on our own.  He knows our pain, He knows and feels our heartache, He feels our suffering.  That same week I was reading in Exodus.  In Exodus 2:23-25, God gave me my third life word, but this time it was a phrase.  Exodus 2:23-25 says, “During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help.  Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.  And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.  God saw the people of Israel ~ and God knew.”   There it was.  God heard, God remembered, and God knew.  He knew their suffering.  It didn’t go unnoticed by our heavenly Father.  And in case we miss the verse in Exodus, there are so many more in scripture.  Psalm 56:8 says, “You have kept count of my tossing, put my tears in your bottle.  Are they not in your book?”   Psalm 147:3 says, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”  Isaiah 25:8 says, “He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of His people He will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.”   Lamentations 3:21-25 says, “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:  The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  ‘The Lord is my portion’ says my soul, therefore I will hope in Him.  The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.”    God is faithful and He knows our pain, He weeps with us, He stores up our tears, and His steadfast love never ceases.  No matter how dark the days may seem, how hard life’s circumstances may get, how heavy our hearts may feel, if we are His child called by Him, He will never leave us.  We must diligently walk with Him in faith, doing all that He has called us to do.  ~And God Knew.

So there it is in a nutshell, large nutshell thought it may be, a recounting of how my life words came to be:  Engraved, Entrusted, And God Knew

If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and want to talk about who He is, comment here or message me.  I’d love to talk more with you.

Blessings!