Ever have one of those days? Part 1

(This is a two part discussion, with the second part to be posted next week.)

Ever have one of those days (or maybe weeks, or fill in your own time frame!) where everything you touch goes wrong, that if it weren’t for bad luck, you’d have no luck at all?!? 

Born Under A Bad Sign by Booker T. Jones / William Bell

Hard luck and trouble is my only friend

I been on my own ever since I was ten

Born under a bad sign

I been down since I begin to crawl

If it wasn't for bad luck,

I wouldn't have no luck at all

And you wonder what you could have done to result in this turn?  Jesus understood that feeling. 

Mark 15:30-36 (New International Version, ©2010) http://www.biblegateway.com/

33 At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

Zac Brown Band, Highway 20 Ride Lyrics

So I drive and I think about my life
And wonder why that I slowly die inside

Sometimes, that is exactly how I feel.  There are days when it feels like “when your heart won't tell your mind to tell your mouth what it should say” (Zac Brown Band, As She’s Walking Away)  and so I just pray, Thy will be done.  Brings to mind the question, “where is God when I’m hurting and why was it allowed to happen?”

“God sometimes permits what he hates to accomplish what he loves” (Joni Erickson Tada).

I read a chapter in "In the Grip of Grace" by Max last night and this hit really home right now and this was the verse that started the chapter.

2 Corinthians 12:7-9 (New International Version, ©2010) http://www.biblegateway.com

7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. (underline mine)

Mercy Me "Grace Tells Another Story"

They say don't waste your time

You simply cannot find an ounce of good

within the heart of man they say

we've got to lay in the bed we've made

and live this life without a second chance

but I'm inclined to say there must be something more.

We are told to "ask God for everything you need”: (Phil 4:6). This was something that took me awhile to grasp, that there really isn’t a selfish prayer, if it is coming from the heart.  There is one song that, when I heard it, knocked me flat.  And it was just a prayer for what was needed.

T Graham Brown, “Wine into Water:”

You've hear a multitude of prayers on my behalf

I pray that one more is not too much to ask

I've tried to fight this battle by myself

But it's a war that I can't win without your help

Refrain

Tonight I'm as low as any man can go

I'm down and I can't fall much farther

And once upon a time you turned the water into wine

Now on my knees I'm turning to you father

Could you help me turn the wine back into water