How to seek God with your whole heart in trials
How can we seek God with our whole hearts when sometimes we can barely stand?
What if the truth is that God invites us into His Presence? That we don’t have to run Father down because He is actually already here. Closer than our very breath. Calling us closer. We see this modeled through the life of Our King, Jesus.
Who is like The Lord? My hope for us to see Gods goodness in love, here in this place of brokenness and hardship. Psalms 63.
As we lament before Father, He will call us closer. He is faithful.
I am praying as the psalmist, “Oh God let us be after only one thing, let us ask of you only this one thing, let us dwell in your house Lord, let us see your beauty forever.”
I am believing our hearts desire will be to cry out for God alone. To burn for His glory. To see His power and love made manifest in our lives, each and every single day. We need Him.
We all long for the one who breathed life into our very bones. The One who calls us to Himself is also able to lift us up from the pits we find ourselves in.
But sometimes, often times in my life, Father invites me to sit with Him in the dirt.
What I see as waste. He sees as beauty and renewing, rewiring, transforming from the inside out. He does not despise the work of refining.
In the hard moments of my life. He isn’t anxious to get me out of the trials I find myself in.
He is however ready to jump in the pit with us. To pull us up close. To remind us, we have not been forsaken. We have not disobeyed and this is why we find ourselves in this place of hardship.
I share sacred parts of our story here, the journey that led me to believe Him.
Jesus made it clear in His Word John 16:33, I have told you these things, so that in me you will have peace. In this world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world.
His peace is for us. It is a free gift He extends, each and every single day. Every moment.
I never want to assume it isn’t disobedience, so I ask, Holy Spirit, search me, know me, is there any grievous way within me? Psalms 139:24
I don’t brace myself, I hold my hands wide open. I have done this often enough to know whatever Father will reveal will be for my good, not my demise.
His love for us is great.
This week I stood in tears over the sink as the screaming ensued around me, a sink full of dishes and toys scattered all through out our home. Laundry piles in most of the rooms.
Hardships beyond my control in some of my children. It is a hard place.
Walking through the valley of the shadow of death.
I put on a podcast, and as I listened I knew, I am believing something that is not true.
Father I can feel it, but I do not know what it is, Father, what do you want me to know, and what do you want me to do?
Jamie Winship, a former police officer, is a precious human being whose heart desire is to draw us closer to Father, to bring His Kingdom here on earth as it is in Heaven. For us to walk in the truth of who God says we are. Please find encouragement and hope in his video here. I pray it blesses you as it blessed me.
God is faithful, He will answer
I waited for Father to answer. I had no idea what He would show me, nor how long He would take to answer, but within a few minutes of asking I began to say out loud,
“I am alone. Alone. Alone. I am alone.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I began to sob. How could this be true?
How could this be what I was believing in this moment?
I allowed Father to minister to my heart. I asked Him to swallow up my loneliness. He began to show me why I was feeling this way, my husband working long hours, having to travel for work, some of my children dealing with very painful situations in their lives, me feeling like it’s just too much.
But I’m not giving voice to any of it. But Father does.
He knows that what is hidden in the shadows can be empowered.
We tell ourselves stories, we build narratives that match with the thoughts that plague our minds and tell ourselves, this must be true because “see, the evidence is all there.”
But God. He invites us in. In His infinite love and kindness He doesn’t want us to believe lies. He dismantles them right before us if we will have the courage to ask.
Oh I pray, sister, I pray you will have the courage to ask. In Jesus Name, Amen.
God is the kindest I have ever known. We often do not ask because we are afraid of what He will reveal, please, sit with Him and ask Him. I promise He is more beautiful than we could ever imagine and He is for you!
Replacing the lies with the truth.
The lies have to be replaced with the truth. So I ask, through tears, Father now that you’ve taken the loneliness, what is true? What do you want me to know, I heard this word,
“Gatherer.
You are a gatherer. You gather. You are not alone.”
Gods truth will always swallow our lies whole. After He has swept the house clean He will refill us with the truth. His truth will always set us free.
Where can I go from Your Presence the psalmist, King David, cries out, if I ascend into the heights you are there, if I make my bed in sheol, you are there. He is here. There.
Wherever you find yourself, He is here.
Sometimes the devastation of what we are dealing with is so great we feel as though all that is left of us are ashes. Broken down into fine powder, back to our dust state. Barren before Him. Our King.
“LORD show me your glory! And He said my face you cannot see but I will CAUSE all of my goodness to go BEFORE YOU. All of who He is goes before us. Comforting us. Drawing us close.
Christ, alive in us. The HOPE of glory! Goes before us! To set the crooked places straight!
“The [a]breaker [the Messiah, who opens the way] shall go up before them [liberating them].
They will break out, pass through the gate and go out;
So their King goes on before them,
The Lord at their head.” Malachi 2:13
Keep believing. He will meet us here. In our deep need, when we barely have the strength to call out, He is already here.
O’ God, be close, that our faith would not fail.
That our Faith would not fail.
“Simon, Simon, satan has asked to sift you like wheat but I have prayed for you Simon, that your faith would not fail”…
He has prayed sister, that our faith would not fail.
His FAITH in us will not fail! He will prevail! This is how we rise! By falling! Falling forward into His arms, into His love! Into His Sovereignty that I do not yet fully understand, for I am weak and lowly.
Papa, I call out, “Show me, show me your glory! Let me see you here in this dead and dry and weary land.
Lord, we are crying out to you, take these ashes Lord, this dust that is sometimes our lives and mold for yourself vessels for righteousness.” & He will do it.
Sister, I cannot emphasis this enough. It is God who does the healing! Yes, we work alongside Him, but sometimes we can barely hold our heads up.
When we are weary, and feel broken beyond repair and beat down. He will meet us. Because it is who He is, the wonderful counselor, Almighty God. His Name is Jesus. It is who He is. Our Faithful King.
For doesn’t He say,
“He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”
Psalm 23:3 ESV
Healing is in His hands.
He will heal us. He will do it, for the sake of His name, don’t miss it, He so lavishly desires for us to be brought into His Kingdom. Into His presence. His peace.
Grafted into His promise! He loves us. He truly does. Right here, in the middle of this trial, He is with us.
Please don’t miss it, this single simple act of faith, giving thanks in the midst of the hardest battles, looking up, knowing He will come. He will see us through.
Like the breaking of bread and the giving of thanks over fish, a need met, Christ Our Savior King, looks up! Looks up to give thanks to Father who never leaves.
When life is hard and painful and all we see and hear and feel is pain, look up, can you hear Him calling, calling you closer.
yessi argabright
Psalm 121
A song of ascents.
1″ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.”
When my brain is especially overwhelmed I like to completely unplug. You can find me outside in the garden, talking to the trees, the roses, reminding myself of what I know to be true.
Asking The Lord to remind me of His nearness. Giving thanks for His nearness, even when I cannot feel it.
When God speaks through dreams.
I was just days from delivering my darling baby girl, the one I fought so hard for, prayed for with everything within me.
I awoke wondering what this dream could mean:
“I was in utter darkness, the depths of the sea. I was being pulled under, deep waves enveloped me, further and further I went into the darkness, darker still, as I circled my way down, being sucked into an endless vortex, I heard Him say, I am here.”
I could see nothing but darkness. I could hear nothing. My face pressed against His bosom. He was holding me close! He would see us through, as He had before.”
He has orchestrated beauty and glory! Beyond the depths of what we have seen.
BEHOLD He says, “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
Isaiah 43:19 ESV
We get CHRIST! The chosen one! Is ours. In our utter devastation, the news that grips our hearts and leaves us shattered. It is Christ Himself who comes to meet us in our despair. It is Christ. Enthroned upon the praises of His people.
We get Jesus, He is the promise. Himself.
Oh Lord, please don’t let us miss YOU! In our sorrow Lord, lift up our faces and let us see that YOU are the REWARD that can never be taken!
I pour out and know that it is a fragrant offering onto The Lord. For whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, it is all for the glory of God. He is the reason we will not be swept away. Even in this difficult place.
We have been entrusted into His loving hands, His tender care, and Our Shepherd King will leave the 99, that He might come for you, for me.
3″Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob,
all the remnant of the people of Israel,
you whom I have upheld since your birth,
and have carried since you were born.
4 Even to your old age and gray hairs
I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
I will sustain you and I will rescue you. Isaiah 46:3,4
He sees our tears and hears our fears. All of it He sees and knows.
HE is not recoiled by our pain, and our pleads for help. He will meet us here. We need only to be still and He will fight for us.
yessi argabright, gather your sisters
This is how we seek Him with our whole hearts
Sister, we don’t hold all of the answers, but we can humbly submit our lives into His loving care and trust that as we do He will draw us ever closer than we knew was possible.
What could God be inviting you into this year?
As I have sat with The Lord, sharing all of these bits of our lives, one of my very dear friends is recovering from brain surgery, a shunt placed, to help relieve the hydrocephalus that has developed. At fifty years old.
Even in our despair. The wrestling with the unknowns. It is not lost on me, that the very comfort God gave me over nine years ago, the compassion and deep brokenness that occurred is still here with me today.
The baby girl whose eyes I get to look into because of what God did in her little life through a vp shunt, she rejoicing because this life saving device is available for my friend too. The Lord is kind, sister.
We are never the same when we encounter God. His love changes us.
Even when life doesn’t turn out the way we hoped it would, we learn to trust in The Holy One who never leaves our side.
It is my sincerest hope and prayer you will find hope and healing, a soothing balm over your heart in the pages of His Word. In this blog. I pray to always point you to Him.
It is my sincerest hope your love for Christ will grow, even in this hard and difficult place you find yourself in.
Remember, it is within the realm of possibility that God will speak to you through a dream, don’t discount it sister. He is God, we are not.
He can choose to reveal Himself however He knows we need it. Father knows exactly how to draw us close, confirm His love.
He is speaking, through children’s smiles, the fragrance of a rose, the leading of His Spirit in your spirit, in the song of the birds, and mostly through the pages of His Word.
Practical:
Sit with Him.
Talk to The Lord. Tell Him how you’re feeling. If He feels near, thank Him. If He feels distant, thank Him and ask Him to help you persevere, to increase your faith.
Listen to worship music. There is something so beautiful about music that draws our hearts right back to Him. Maybe because His Word say’s “Yet you are Holy, enthroned upon the praises of Israel” psalms 22:3
In closing:
I am so thankful you’re here. Thank you for coming back every week, it means so much. Thank you for sharing with your people. Thank you for praying. Thank you.
I pray these words are a help to you, as they are to me.
I need Him sister. I need Christ. Every single day.
I will never outgrow my need for Him, and neither will you. He is not the A-C of Christianity. He is the A-Z, sister, this is good news.
He is all that we need, and He gives Himself to us freely. I pray His love holds you close and that your love for Him will increase all the more, especially as you read these bits and parts of our lives, I willingly, sometimes in wrestling, share with you.
Never because I don’t want to be obedient, but because I value and respect my people, and I want to make sure I offer honor and dignity and protection to them too.
To dig deeper into His Word: Psalms 22,23,24,25, John 16:33, psalms 63, Matthew 12:43-45, Luke 11:24-26
Jon Guerras song “Tightrope” has blessed my heart tremendously, here is to falling forward into King Jesus’ arms.
I would love for you to subscribe. I am currently working on my home series. It will be a sweet series, on loving our homes. You can find me on Facebook and coming soon my Youtube channel.
Thank you for being here. We are in good hands sister.
