More Familiar with Difficulty Than with God?

Sometimes we are more familiar with difficulty than we are with God. ~ Stephanie Ike Okafor

I heard this statement, and it hit me so hard. Why do I do this to myself? Why do I spend so much time looking at the problem instead of the One Who will take care of the problem?

So many verses tell us to focus on God, the good He does in our lives, His love for us, and His promises to strengthen and take care of us. God wants a relationship with us, and we know it's a relationship that we can always rely on.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. Philippians 4:8

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. ~ John 17:3

This is what the Lord says: "Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for these I delight," declares the Lord. ~ Jeremiah 9:23-24

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ~ Jeremiah 29:11-13

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you also. ~ Matthew 6:33

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. ~ 2 Timothy 1:7

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I didn't get many pictures at all today, but here are the few I got. We had so much fun playing with this gears building set. It's been awhile since I've gotten it out so it was like having new toys.

"Responsibility is not an easy sell. Parents have been striving forever to make their kids responsible. Society attempts the same thing, with its educational institutions, apprenticeships, volunteer organizations, and clubs. One might even consider the inculcation of responsibility the fundamental purpose of society. But something has gone wrong. We have committed an error or a series of errors. We have spent too much time, for example (much of the last 50 years), clamoring about rights, and we are no longer asking enough of the young people we are socializing. We have been telling them for decades to demand what they are owed by society. We have been implying that the important meanings of their lives will be given to them because of such demands when we should have been doing the opposite: letting them know that the meaning that sustains life in all its tragedy and disappointment is to be found in shouldering a noble burden. Because we have not been doing this, they have grown up looking in the wrong places. And this has left them vulnerable: vulnerable to easy answers and susceptible to the deadening force of resentment." Pgs 160-161