{"id":576,"date":"2011-10-07T19:00:38","date_gmt":"2011-10-07T23:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/smalltownamerica\/?p=576"},"modified":"2011-10-05T13:18:06","modified_gmt":"2011-10-05T17:18:06","slug":"the-merry-go-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2011\/10\/the-merry-go-round.html","title":{"rendered":"The Merry-Go-Round"},"content":{"rendered":"

Does your life ever feel like you are riding a merry-go-round?\u00a0 Your emotions go up and down like the horses on the poles of a carousel.\u00a0 Your spirit soars one day and you are in a valley the next.\u00a0 Your physical body feels great one day and the next day you don’t want to get out of bed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> To make matters worse, your world seems to be spinning out of control; round and round you go sometimes so fast your vision gets blurred and your mind gets confused.\u00a0 You just want to get off the merry-go-ground.<\/p>\n

Life can be that way.\u00a0 It doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you, life just happens to each of us.\u00a0 The secret is finding a stabilizing rod, like the ones on the carousel that hold the horses in place.\u00a0 Even though the horses are constantly moving up and down, the pole is stationary and secure.\u00a0 Even when the carousel is twirling round and round, the poles remain in place.<\/p>\n

Jesus is our “rod and our staff”,{ Psalm 23:4b}.\u00a0 He is our comfort.\u00a0 He is our security.\u00a0 He is our hiding place,our hope and our shield. {Psalm 119:114].\u00a0 He will preserve us from trouble and comfort us with songs of deliverance,{Psalm 32:7}.<\/p>\n

As we grow and mature in the Lord, our lives will become more stable.\u00a0 We will always have “Merry-go-round” moments, but they won’t be as traumatic or as often.\u00a0 The more we learn to trust in Jesus, the less we succumb to the stresses of life. Sometimes a carousel ride can be fun. It’s what makes life interesting.<\/p>\n

We won’t become dizzy and disoriented as our world spins,if we are dependant on Jesus.\u00a0 We can handle the ups and downs of life with peace and grace.\u00a0 God will show us how \u00a0to be victorious over all these things, if we allow Him to do so.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In a world that is out of control, people are looking for\u00a0 someone whose life is in control.\u00a0 They need to believe that there is an answer to their quandary.\u00a0 They need a little peace in their lives.\u00a0\u00a0 They need a little hope in their situations.\u00a0 We can offer them that by sharing our relationship with Jesus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Does your life ever feel like you are riding a merry-go-round?\u00a0 Your emotions go up and down like the horses on the poles of a carousel.\u00a0 Your spirit soars one day and you are in a valley the next.\u00a0 Your physical body feels great one day and the next day you don’t want to get…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":420,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,14],"tags":[19,20,7],"class_list":["post-576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-encouragement","category-inspiration","tag-faith","tag-strength","tag-testimony"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Merry-Go-Round - Small Town America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2011\/10\/the-merry-go-round.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Merry-Go-Round - Small Town America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Does your life ever feel like you are riding a merry-go-round?\u00a0 Your emotions go up and down like the horses on the poles of a carousel.\u00a0 Your spirit soars one day and you are in a valley the next.\u00a0 Your physical body feels great one day and the next day you don’t want to get…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2011\/10\/the-merry-go-round.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Small Town America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-07T23:00:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-10-05T17:18:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/smalltownamerica\/files\/2011\/10\/IMG_0379-300x212.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"dhanny\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Merry-Go-Round - 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