How to Really Have a Faith to Overcome Adversity

May 16, 2016 Effie Barba

Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.” And they launched out. ²³But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. ²⁴And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. ²⁵But He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, “Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!” Luke 8:22-26 (NKJV)

Where is your faith when everything seems to come crashing in around you? How do you hold on when facing cancer, loss, heartbreak, trials, and suffering in this world? We look around us and see the evil effects of sin surrounding us. We look within and see the effects of evil lurking there within our own hearts, always crouching near (selfishness, pride, anger, desires and our inability to love God as we should). Where can we find the faith to overcome adversity? How do we know hope, joy and peace in the midst of life’s storms?

We who might think ourselves skilled navigators upon this sea of life are taken by surprise by the raging waters and find ourselves drowning. We cry out for help to God. Jesus speaks. The raging storm stops as He asks, “Where is your faith?” Once more we tremble as we realize that we don’t even know, as we cry out concerning Jesus, “Who can this be?” We, the followers of Jesus, don’t know Him as the one who spoke the world into being nor the one whose very words hold the world’s existence in place.

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Christian Poetry

Joy Pours Over Me

May 15, 2016 Effie Barba

The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. Zephaniah 3:17

Out of the darkest valleys or sorrows that life can bring, God remains Sovereign and His Plan is always to bring us good. It all goes back to Faith is 1. Knowing that God is and 2. Believing that God richly blesses those who seek Him. My journey to discover the truth of love and joy took me down a lot of winding roads. Some of those roads seemed at the time very treacherous indeed; but, God had a plan for my good. That plan never depended on my figuring it out or my getting it “right.” It depended 100% on God’s Grace, Love and Sovereignty to complete the work He began in me. My life is filled with peace, joy, hope and love. Oh, don’t get me wrong; there are trials as well. The difference in my response is how I view the trials. I have learned to embrace each trial as a precious gift that once unwrapped will reveal to me some precious aspect of God’s Glory that I had not seen before. As I concluded the series, In Search of True Love; my prayer is that I have helped you to see the magnitude of God’s Grace and Love toward you. Tomorrow, we will begin a new series through Hebrews (at least that is my plan for now, unless God chooses otherwise). I wrote this poem today and hope it touches your heart with joy, peace and hope.

JOY POURS OVER ME

by Effie Darlene Barba

Every Step of my journey here

Through the darkest nights

That were filled with fear

Or the mountaintops

Clothed with laughter’s cheer

Your voice called to me

Your heart drew me near

Through pain and tears You taught me how

To seek your face Be-

Fore your throne to bow

Where You my heart would

Grace and Love endow

Your wondrous Strength to

Soar above the now

The scars from all the years gone by

Were healed because Your

Tears You chose to cry

As on a Cross You

Sent your son to die

And pay the price for

Someone such as I

And then I saw the value, worth

Of all the sorrows

Pains upon this earth

Travailing pains

That brought new birth

To life eternal

Filled with Joyous mirth

For purest gold to truly shine

It must endure the fire’s

Flames which do refine

Or pressed beneath the

Darkness in a mine

A diamond forms so

Precious, rare and fine

Your truth revealed this mystery

Pain is a gift that

Helps my heart to see

Glimpses of You

Spectrum of Glory

Dimensions of Love

Until

Joy pours over me

[tweetthis]Each trial is a gift; once unwrapped reveals a new aspect of God’s Glory [/tweetthis]

Please feel free to post a comment, share a story or just say Hi. Hope you can join us tomorrow as we start a new series.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Christian Blog

What Really Is the Most Amazing Truth About Love?

May 13, 2016 Effie Barba

The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. Psalm 34:18 (NKJV) The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore, with lovingkindness I have drawn you…You shall again be adorned with your tambourines, and shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice. Jeremiah 31:2-4 NKJV

After everything that God had done, I should have been overwhelmed by joy. God had amazingly worked out all the details of my life. I was filled with the awe and wonder of His Grace toward me. Yet, there was that dark hollow hole buried deep within my heart. A broken piece within my heart that longed for love. With everything in me, I wanted to bury that desire once and for all. I pleaded with God to make it go away to make me feel satisfied in Him. I stuffed the feeling away, trying to ignore it. Busily I filled each day with work, Bible study and prayer; hoping to make that ‘hole” disappear. Like Paul, I prayed over and over again to the only one who could take control of my heart and remove this darkness. I really wanted God to be the only treasure I did seek; but, there was that one longing I could not rid myself of. The sadness of which would haunt me at times when no one else was around. Never could I imagine what God was about to do next as He determined to show me the truth of love.

It was late in the fall of 2014 that God was to begin a journey to teach me what it was to love with a pure heart. Entering into my life would be the return of a casual friend. Oh, I had known him in the past—lost contact, then in 2010 by a miraculous work of God; this friend had answered a prayer. He had the manuscript of one of my first writings. In a frantic search for my copy, I had prayed for God to help me find it. Out of nowhere within 24 hours, this man had sent me a message on Facebook to say, “Did you ever publish that book?” He sent me a copy. Our friendship and correspondence was very distant and casual after that; maybe a “Hi, how are you?” Then once more in 2014, God would send this man to answer a prayer and to teach me the ultimate truth about love.

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Christian Blog

How Is Patience a Wonderful Demonstration of Love?

May 11, 2016 Effie Barba

They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isaiah 40:30) Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord. (Psalm 27:14) Love is patient; love is kind (I Corinthians 13:4 NIV)

So, often in our Christian walk, God bids us to wait upon Him. There are promises throughout scripture for strength, victory, peace and even joy as we learn to wait upon God in the midst of any circumstance. There was a time that I would have said, “God, please let me just skip this lesson on patience. It is not one that I am going to ever learn, so can we move on to something else?” Yet, God knew that this was a lesson which is vital to both my faith and my ability to love Him as I should. Patience while waiting is both an act of faith and an act of love toward God.

As I wrote in the last post, I arrived into Columbia with great anticipation of all that God was going to do. He had moved rapidly in preparing my move. Mountains were flattened and laid at my feet. After I arrived, there was the bitterest cold winter with snow fall after snow fall. Each day I would carefully, cautiously make my way safely to work in my car not made for snow. The short sale on my house in Florida had come to a standstill. The applications for a second job only ended in closed doors. For the first time in all of my career, I was being turned down for a job. Financially it was tough on a part time job. Certainly God knew this. So, I opted to have no cable, kept my house at the bare minimum of heating while wearing layers of clothes to keep warm, and did everything I could to survive financially. At the end of each month I rejoiced that I made it. I never failed to tithe and God would stretch the remainder of the money.

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Christian Blog

Can I Truly Love Before I Know How to Be Loved?

May 9, 2016 Effie Barba

I will love them freely (Hosea 14:4) Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee. (Jeremiah 31:3)

Where is the faith to sustain us when the bitter cold of winter strikes again deep into our valleys of life? We want so much to believe that because we obeyed God’s command that we deserve some great reward for our feeble act of valor! We so quickly lose sight of the truth that we are incapable of any act of faith had it not been for God’s great mercy and grace reaching down to enlighten our hearts to seek Him. At the end of so many heartbreaks, so many health struggles, so many surgeries, financial ruin, and so many trials; I kept waiting for my life to suddenly become restored like Job’s was. Hadn’t I been faithful to follow after God through many devastating trials? I had obeyed when He commanded I stay with Pete. I had obeyed when He bid me to go to Florida. I had obeyed when He asked me to leave Florida and return to Missouri. I knew that God had orchestrated it all; so now, I awaited His next command which I was certain would suddenly flourish me in all.

When I pulled into Columbia with my big U-Haul truck and my car hitched onto the trailer behind, I rejoiced. God had been faithful to get me safely here through some areas of snow and ice. Alberto and several friends came to unload my truck and place all the boxes inside the new home Alberto had bought for me. That, in itself had been a humbling experience. Certainly I would be paying the mortgage; but along with the move, I had lost my home. I had markedly downsized my possessions. There was some sadness in the loss. Yet, they were only material possessions and mattered little in the scheme of eternity. It wasn’t the first time I had laid aside my home and possessions; yet, a part of me hoped it was the last. As a parent, I wanted to be the one who always gave to my children. This time, I was receiving. Emotionally that was very hard for me. Maybe, just maybe; that was what God knew about me. It was even hard for me to receive His gifts, His love, and His joy. A part of me needed to feel that I was the one giving to God—through sacrifice, through sorrow and through whatever feeble act of obedience.

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