{"id":12897,"date":"2020-08-04T05:19:25","date_gmt":"2020-08-04T10:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=12897"},"modified":"2020-08-04T05:19:34","modified_gmt":"2020-08-04T10:19:34","slug":"its-okay-to-call-out-for-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=12897","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Okay to Call Out for Help"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I was inquisitive enough to read \u201cThe Pilgrim\u2019s Progress\u201d over the last couple of days. Allegories aren\u2019t my forte, but I did understand \u201cChristian\u201d was looking for the Celestial City throughout. I\u2019m so visual that I needed technicolor and visual characters to help me grasp it. So, I rented the 2019 animated version on Amazon Prime. Aha! The lights in my brain flickered and brightened as I watched it. I was blessed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had heard others refer to the book by John Bunyan time and again. It was his greatest work and now, it has been a source of spiritual inspiration and help to countless readers. Translated into over 200 languages, it has never been out of print since the day it was first published in 1678. John Bunyan was arrested for preaching the gospel. His wife died leaving him with four children, one who was blind. Yet he refused to give up telling people the good news about Jesus. Certainly, out of his greatest tragedies, and while in prison, came a victory that still captures the hearts of millions \u2013 and better yet, many have come to see the Celestial City themselves \u2013 particularly by the way they live this life on this side of the Celestial City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Pilgrim\u2019s Progress\u201d tells the story of a person called \u2018Christian\u2019 on a journey from his hometown to the Celestial City. On the way, he faces many strangers \u2013 some good for him and his faith and others that do their best to steal his faith and his life. He encounters incredible difficulties, challenges and obstacles, yet he perseveres faithfully to the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honestly, as I read this book and saw the movie come to life, I was taken by the parallels of the times we are in today. We don\u2019t need a book or movie to reveal that a Christian life is not always a piece-of-cake. I say a big “Amen!” to that! I\u2019m so thankful that I was tight with Jesus and He guided and held me through some major tumultuous times. My life has been exciting AND perplexing enough that a book and movie could be written right alongside \u201cThe Pilgrim\u2019s Progress\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truth is we all face many difficulties along life\u2019s way. But, they don\u2019t have to derail us. As I saw in this book\/movie, if we go through difficult times while staying close to Jesus, we will emerge stronger, wiser, and even more Christ-like because of the trials, temptations, the tough times\u2026..that don\u2019t last, but tough people do. In fact they outlast all others, because if there\u2019s one thing we know for sure \u2013 we live not just this life on earth\u2026.but those of us who follow the \u201cGood Shepherd\u201d and His paths, we\u2019ll live forever and ever with Him. It\u2019s a guarantee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the Bible and in particular, the Psalm, we hear how David and others cried out to God for help. Have you ever poured out your complaints? I have. And, you know what? It\u2019s okay. God has big shoulders. The truth is the sweet relationship we have with God isn\u2019t always sweet. Sometimes we cry out for help and sometimes comfort just doesn\u2019t come right away. I\u2019ve been there and had some sleepless nights. \u201cChristian\u201d felt like God had rejected him and that he would never experience God\u2019s favor again. So, it was with the psalmist. So, it was with John Bunyan. So, it was with Donna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here\u2019s what I know. God is always there for us, telling us \u201cLay your burdens down at the feet of your King. Not one of the hairs on your head go unnoticed.\u201d (That\u2019s a line from the book, as well as scriptures in the Bible.) These photos show the heavy burden Christian carried until the closer he came to the cross \u2013 the more he was set free from his burden. Here is our consolation and assurance — no matter how we feel and no matter what we say, when we are crying for help \u2013 we can be assured that God wants us to be real with Him. He doesn’t want us to pretend that all is well. An earthly dad would want our truth. For sure, God wants to hear the cries of our heart. That draws us close to Him even in times of great distress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you, Lord, that you hear our cries for help. Thank you for not rejecting us, but holding us, taking our burdens from us and leading us closer to the cross where we are set free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.” (Psalm 23:4)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was inquisitive enough to read \u201cThe Pilgrim\u2019s Progress\u201d over the last couple of days. Allegories aren\u2019t my forte, but I did understand \u201cChristian\u201d was looking for the Celestial City throughout. I\u2019m so visual that I needed technicolor and visual characters to help me grasp it. So, I rented the 2019 animated version on Amazon…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18196,18195,18194],"tags":[1210,3074,18192,18188,1738,1769,2517,40,18193,1812,8592,6248,2846,18189,18191,5427,18190],"class_list":["post-12897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celestial-city","category-john-bunyan","category-the-pilgrims-progress","tag-blog","tag-book","tag-burden","tag-celestial-city","tag-challenges","tag-christian","tag-faithful","tag-inspiration","tag-john-bunyan","tag-journey","tag-movie","tag-obstacles","tag-psalm-23","tag-technicolor","tag-the-pilgrims-progress","tag-tragedy","tag-visual"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12897"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12902,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12897\/revisions\/12902"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}