No Fishing Allowed

"Man's importunity is God's opportunity.  He uses our problems as building materials for His miracles." 

  This quote from Corrie ten Boom caught my eye this week, after sitting with the worship team and hearing people deeply discouraged and then later talking to my oldest son about his feelings after the quiz meet and how discouraged he was.  Funny how when it's not you hearing the whispers from the enemy, you can so easily see who it is that is speaking into the hearts of those you love.  Satan wants us to be discouraged, he wants us to hold onto the our sins and keep crucifying ourselves again and again.  But what I tried to help those I love see, a training that those closest to me helped me to realize through my deep saddness, is to recognize whose voice that is speaking into their heart and mind.  If the result is despair, then it is not God's voice.  If the result is conviction with love or an encouragement, then it is God's voice.  I liked another word picture from ten Boom's book, "Tramp for the Lord".   She wrote,  

"Maybe because the sea is never far from a Hollander's mind, I liked to think that that's where forgiven sins were thrown.  When we confess our sins, God casts them into the deepest ocean, gone forever.  And even though I cannot find a Scripture for it, I believe God then places a sign out there that says, NO FISHING ALLOWED."