{"id":2926,"date":"2016-08-10T20:37:24","date_gmt":"2016-08-10T18:37:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/?p=2926"},"modified":"2016-08-10T20:37:24","modified_gmt":"2016-08-10T18:37:24","slug":"the-fight-of-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/the-fight-of-my-life\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fight of My Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

I wrote this short article for our G42 newsletter, the topic of the issue this quarter was “Trust”<\/em><\/p>\n

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5<\/strong><\/p>\n

These past 12 months have been the toughest of my life. <\/h3>\n

After the highs of moving to a new country, and talking to hundreds about the vision of Global Adventure and the value of \u201cThe Church of the Kitchen Table,\u201d it seemed like everything was falling apart. Promises gone undelivered, huge opportunities coming to nothing, closed doors in our faces\u2014and most of this was from our “Brothers” in the church! <\/p>\n

I waved my fist to God — \u201cWhy have you brought us here<\/em>?!?\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"fightofmylife\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. Psalm 56:3
\n<\/strong>
\nOn top of the year of disappointments, recently there was a span of about ten days where it felt like I could do nothing right. Every decision I made, wrong. The paths I chose, dead ends. The chances I took didn\u2019t pan out. The limbs I stepped out on, all broke under my weight. Murphy\u2019s Law was in full effect: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.<\/em> <\/p>\n

I rubbed the tears of frustration from my eyes, the dust from my shoulders, and sucked the blood from my raw knuckles. I had nowhere to turn. I had to make some drastic changes.<\/p>\n

The next Sunday was a rarity in England: sunshine. The girls were out with friends and Bec took Ben to a play date, so I had the sunshine to myself. I poured a cup of coffee, grabbed my Bible held together with duct tape, and got outside. I opened to Psalm 22. You know, the one that starts with \u201cMy God, my God why have you forsaken me?!\u201d It was exactly the cry of my soul. <\/p>\n

But of course it\u2019s followed by Psalm 23: \u201c\u2026 even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

I kept reading\u2026 Psalm 24. \u201c\u2026lift up your heads, you gates, be lifted up, you ancient doors\u2026 Who is this King of Glory? — The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was getting good now. I read on to Psalm 25: \u201cIn you, Lord my God, I put my trust\u2026 do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. \u2026 Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wow. Thank goodness for that well-worn path back to the Tree of Life. My junk is not all fixed, but boy did that smack me out of it. The sun burned brighter. My future seemed secure, if not clear\u2014but at least secure. I had my wife, my kids, and those men I could turn to when life seemed the worst. I just simply needed to trust Him.
\n
\nHave I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wrote this short article for our G42 newsletter, the topic of the issue this quarter was “Trust” Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5 These past 12 months have been the toughest of my life. After the highs of moving to a new country, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,45],"tags":[261,318,384,385],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2926"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2926"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2929,"href":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2926\/revisions\/2929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}