What You Can Bear

I heard a sermon once about the scripture used by almost everyone when someone is going though hard times. You know the one that's quoted... "God won't give you more than you can bear". Well, the pastor pointed out that what the scripture really says is, "And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear" I Cor 10: 13. The scripture speaks only to temptation, not to trials. In fact, even Paul says in II Cor 1:8-9 that they "...were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we dispared even of life". Why would God put them through something so bad that they wanted to die? So that God could be the only answer. The only one who could deliver them. I have known many times, situations and places in my life that were beyond my ability to endure. Yet I did. Not because I am anything special, but because He was there to take me through the refining fires.
I’d like to preface the blogs that follow with a few points. First, I do not intend to imply that any of my actions, reactions, feelings or beliefs recorded here are the right ones, the most Godly ones, or ones to be held up as examples. I know that I have been wrong so many more times than I have been right and that I continue to be wrong a great deal more times than I am right to this day. Second, I do not, nor would I ever, intend to hurt, shame, embarrass or blame anyone by writing this story. I hope that anyone who knows me would be willing to say that I cannot stand to hurt anyone. And I do not believe anyone is ultimately to blame. I know that our battle is not with flesh and blood but with principalities and powers of this dark world (Eph 6:12). Third, there are some details that will be recorded to the best of my ability to remember and may not be exactly as they occurred or exactly what happened. Primarily because the accounts I am recording have taken place over the span of the past fifty years but also because, as I have learned through the years, my mind has so many of the details of my past locked away from me. Finally, every trial, tribulation, horror and joy I will write about really did occur in my life. They are not compilations of other’s stories, though they are the stories of many. This is my story. Written because the God of all comfort comforted me in my troubles so that I could comfort those in any trouble with the comfort I myself received from Him (2 Corinthians 1:4).

What's In a Name?

My name is Lori, which means laurel-crowned or victorious. I can’t tell you how many times over the years I’ve wondered about that name. Since becoming a Christian, I have learned that God places a great deal of significance to a given name. In the Bible, God gives names and even re-names individuals as part of the fulfillment of His Word. Abram became Abraham; exalted father. God told Hagar to name her son Ishmael which means God hears and told Abraham to name the son he and Sarah would have Isaac; meaning he laughs. Not to mention the name of Jesus meaning the Lord saves. There are many other examples of the significance God places on names in His Word and I believe that the name itself is sometimes a part of the fulfillment of the plans He predestined for each of us. So, if I believe that, I have no choice but to believe that I was always going to come out the other end of each trial victorious. I know that now. I did not always know that.