.... He often prepares you for it ahead of time.
Speaking of pauses, many times God calls me away (rather like the old 'away' in, "Calgon, take me away!"), before the hard times even arrive. He asks me to come away with Him while things appear hunky-dory at this moment, yet He sees the moments hurtling my way from days ahead of me:
The appliances or cars which will break down.
The unforeseen money problems.
The people-make-me-crazy times.
The hectic times. The tragic times.
He sees it all before I do and, over and over, He whispers to me to spend extra time with Him while things appear calm.
And the goal of those times? To strengthen my heart and even my skin (as opposed to being thin-skinned). To assure my soul of His presence. To pull down my roots of peace to deeper ground and give me memories of great times with Him which will sustain me in the soon-coming difficult days ahead.
It's life-changing when you 'get' what God is doing. It's frustrating when you don't.
Myriad times, I've sensed God calling me away before hard times arrive and I've also seen Him call away fellow-bloggers, too, before their hardships.
It's amazing these words, these diaries we are all recording. We're leaving a written record of our thoughts and our days and when I read that other bloggers are hearing God telling them to come away, if only for awhile, with Him--and then later I read that hard times came to them--I pray that they heeded that pre-hard-time call.
Because in heeding--in obedience and time spent with God--there is great reward and incredible peace.
Especially in hard times.
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"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will abide under the shadow of the Almighty." ... Psalm 91:1
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