Refreshment

It's early morning, I'm up...can't sleep,thinking, praying, thoughts about a hundred things, the ministry, our country, the world, God's work in my life, directions to go, relationships, priorities, people I care about....much of it, honestly, out of my control. It's clear that much of life is not in our control at all. I'm reading Job right now and I read his words of frustration and questions of "why?" as he interacts with his friends. We all do that as we go through our lives. Honestly my problems are nothing like Job, but I whine, worry and fret about them anyway. The thousand thoughts we all deal with on a daily basis can be overwhelming at times....I think that's why we try to stay busy...so we don't have to deal with our own thoughts. Left alone, without God in my life, I could easily see how despair, drugs and destruction could be the only solution. Life is hard. Situations difficult. Problems unresolved. Relationships broken....BUT GOD (I love it when I read those two words in the Bible) makes all the difference. His presence in my life, his presence alone, brings refreshment to me, peace to my confusion, comfort to my wounds, hope to my doubts. BUT GOD...for the Christian these are words of great comfort. For the world they are words of dread and bring anger and resentment. I've been reading an atheist web site and commenting on some of the posts. I'm surprised at how different they see things than I do. For the atheist there is no refreshment...no God to comfort, only the resolve that they are alone in the world and at least they are not deluded "like those Christians". For me, if it is delusion, then leave me to it....I have a God who loves me, a hope that encourages me, a book that guides me, a presence that teaches me, friends that love me and a God who comforts me....by all of this I'm refreshed, it's water to a weary soul, it's peace to a troubled heart, it's rest to a tired mind in the middle of the night.