First the Thorn then the Rose

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Romans 7:18-20

I know there is nothing good in my sinful nature. I want to do what is good, but I can’t. I don’t do the good things I want to do. I keep on doing the evil things I don’t want to do. I do what I don’t want to do.

Just like Paul, I struggle with a thorn. Now it is not a big thorn but it is a thorn, nonetheless. And by “thorn” I mean “something that I have asked forgiveness for in the past, but find myself doing again”. Some may think my thorn is silly, but still I get frustrated in having to deal with the same thing over and over. Why do we keep struggling with the same thing? You would think the first time the Lord dealt with it, it would be over and done with. Lesson learned. But no, I guess I have short term memory. Lord when will I learn? I know it is not by my strength that I am successful, but by Yours.

Oswald Chambers said, “God never gives strength for tomorrow, or for the next hour, but only for the strain of the minute.” As a woman that likes things planned out, organized, and written on the calendar, this is a difficult concept. And the Lord has been doing that to me…only giving me enough “insight” for the moment. He is stretching me.

I thank you Jesus that you are big enough to forgive me over and over. I thank you that you are there moment by moment.

Have any of you struggled with a thorn? (I am not asking for specifics) But what did you do to help you through?

I like this quote:

But Thou art making me, I thank Thee, sire. What Thou hast done and doest Thou knows’t well. And I will help Thee; gently in Thy fire I will lie burning; on Thy potter’s wheel I will whirl patient, though my brain should reel. Thy grace shall be enough the grief to quell, And growing strength perfect through weakness dire. –George MacDonald –Diary Of an Old Soul, October 2

3 thoughts on “First the Thorn then the Rose”

  1. I am going through a time of testing, I think. Things in our life have been (or seemed)so uncertain. Things that are not a big deal to others. But, I am a worrier. That is one of my strongholds-worry, you know the opposite of real faith. :>) So, I struggle with not worrying. Fortunately for me, God blessed me with a husband who is not a worrier. He simply sees things as problems that need solutions! God has taught me, through uncertainties, to lean on Him and I have grown from that.

  2. thanks for such wonderful words, and thanks for visiting my blog!

  3. The thorns are SO hard to deal with, but I figure that I won’t just throw in the towel (of frustration, because I keep failing again and again), as long as that thorn continues to prick my heart and cause me to ask for forgiveness, even if it’s over and over and over again.