Adversity = Greatness

I can always spot someone who has been through great adversity a mile away. Almost immediately upon speaking with them, their tender soul oozes with kindness, gentleness, compassion and there is something special about their spirit that carefully exposes their battle scars. There is a special humility about them and an understanding as you begin to share your life with them that they know exactly the hell that you have been through but have been unable to explain to the common man, as he surely would never understand you. The blank stare and subtle lack of warmness becomes a wedge that could never allow a bridge to be built between you, the great warrior who has been through great adversity, and them, who has not felt the bitter pain of deepest pits of anguish, rejection, abuse or loss that you know all too well.

Our natural instinct as humans is to want to avoid great adversity. We want to go around the pain instead of through the pain. We want nothing more than for God to intervene and take it away. Now. For many years, I too was guilty of this...wanting to avoid the painful adversity that always seemed to be around the next corner. I questioned God, pleaded with God, prayed my heart out that God would quickly take me out of what I was facing and even found myself at times disappointed that God seemed so distant and unwilling to help ease my pain when I needed him most.

However, as I have matured in my faith, I have learned to pray through my adversity and ask God for peace, strength, joy and wisdom on what he wanted me to learn though this latest "crisis." I often have to remind myself that God never promised life would be easy, and though life seems so much harder for some people than others, God promised he would be with each one of us no matter what we go through. He also uses these times to give us great wisdom and strength to face the next difficulty down the road. Perhaps the greatest "benefit" to going through great adversity over and over again is that we become much more tender and compassionate to others who are walking through valleys of their own. Some people, myself included, are able to reach many people through encouragement and compassion because we too have been through a wide array of difficulties and can relate to many different trials that others are facing.

When I was in my 20s, I though my world would crumble beyond hope and I would surely shrivel up and die if anything came between me and the love of my life, my husband of 12 years. Never in a thousand years would I have believed I could handle him leaving and me being left to raise two boys completely alone without the aid of family close by. However, God prepared me in various ways before my husband left us that made the transition and the ability to handle each day much easier than had I been through very little adversity up prior to this event.

Going through childhood abuse, for example, taught me that I had the inner strength to get back up (literally and figuratively) and keep fighting. If that did not destroy me, then nothing would,  I found out. There was something inborn that kept me going head strong when I was knocked down and beat up over and over. At times, I even scolded myself for being "too stupid to know when to quit getting back up." This, however, is what has helped me keep going strong through multiple difficulties I have faced as a single parent. I also learned as a child how to figure things out myself and bandage my own wounds, as nobody in my home did so and it was up to me. I learned that I had to "do what I had to do" to survive, and this carried over into my single parenting years.

For those of you who are also great warriors and have been through the fires of adversity far more times than the average person, think back to how you changed a little through each adversity for the better and how you were better prepared for the next trial when it came up. Then think back five years, two years and one year ago and make notes of how you have changed for the better since then. After recalling these things, thank the Lord for bringing you through. He is still the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and he was with you through every one of those fiery furnaces. God's strength never fails and he has an overabundant supply he gladly gives you when you need it most. No matter how much you reach out to him to help you through these times, remember he will gladly supply all you need to keep you from getting burned up in this trial too. Not only that, but he will make you a better, stronger, kinder, more compassionate person, willing and able to help the broken souls around you.

Instead of praying to escape adversity for the sake of easiness and goodness, ask for God to give you what you need to endure adversity for the sake of greatness. You will be glad you did.

Angry at God, Part 2

When you continuously find yourself in the midst of one catastrophe after another, the easiest thing to do is give God the fist and let him know just how angry you are at him for letting you go through this mess. Sometimes, what we are facing is no fault of our own, but the result of bad decisions someone else made that happens to affect us. Other situations we are angry at God about are our own fault.

I know somebody who is mad at God because their marriage fell apart, though they did absolutely nothing to improve or revive the marriage before it was too far gone. Instead of taking responsibility and realizing that maybe they should have changed a few bad behaviors and attitudes or maybe even remained faithful and treated their spouse kindly, they found it far easier to shift the blame to God and quit going to church altogether or having anything to do with him, stating “it’s His fault.” Really? How so? Sometimes, we need to take a step back and see what we need to change that got us in that situation in the first place.  

For those times when we did absolutely nothing to bring something on ourselves, however, but we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and someone else took advantage of the perfect opportunity to attack us or rob us, for example (which happens often in the big city), we would be very wise to turn TO God even more so, realizing He can make good come out of these horrible situations (even though it is natural to be angry at first). Life is full of a lot of twists and turns, “unlucky” breaks and cause and effect scenarios.

The absolute beauty that I have found in turning TO God instead of AWAY from Him when these things happen is that the after-effects and consequences turn out much better and the process of coping much easier with His help! We have a strong tower to run to during these times, and instead of running away from that strong tower, we need to run towards it during these times. Only then will we have a deep down peace and joy to carry us through and only then will we be teachable enough to grow through that difficult situation that happened to us.

Because sin abounds in our society and is getting worse as the days go by, we cannot expect life to keep getting easier. We need to accept this fact and like I always say, “Do the best I can do with what I got and trust God for the outcome.” The only way we can even hope to thrive in this difficult world is to realize that God is ON our side and notice the good He does through those difficult things. We need to accept the good with the bad, as Job did when he faced the catastrophic loss of everything, including all of his children, when he said to his wife after she told him to curse God and die, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10)

Although I have come a very long way and have learned how to consistently turn TO God during my worst times and depend on Him even more, (and not become angry with him when bad things happen to me), I still have room for growth. Oh, how I long to have Job’s attitude every time that says, “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” (Job 1:21)

We all need to set out purposefully to seek the good in this life that God blesses us with every single day instead of becoming angry with him, which does nothing to benefit or strengthen us in any way. Instead of becoming angry with God when we see suffering in this world, how about we do something to help those who are suffering? We are the hands and feet of Jesus and He put us on earth to care for others and comfort them in their suffering (which we are able to do because of the Holy Spirit) as well as lead them to Him – the way, the truth and the life. We can all do something to help ease the suffering of others in a variety of ways.

If there was no poverty, no victims, no sadness, no illness and no loss of any kind there would be no need for us to show empathy or sympathy to other humans or to help to the less fortunate by blessing them in some way materially or financially. Have you noticed you feel twice as blessed when you bless someone else? Imagine if there was never a need for us to help anyone. We would probably be a bunch of selfish, lazy people who would never know the blessing of helping someone less fortunate. We would not know how to comfort others because nobody would need comforting. To change our perspective and realize the flip side of the coin is crucial if we are going to thrive in the midst of a sin-filled world.

The next time you see something terrible, help out. The next time you experience something terrible, turn your perspective to the strong tower in your life and ask Him to help you see something good in this. The next time you see a sunset or a sunrise, know that there is still good in this world and that God is still good. Focus on a child’s smiling face or the beautiful aroma of a rose or the air after a rainfall, and remember that God is still good. If you are a dog-lover, let your doggie give you kisses until you can’t help but smile so big it hurts. Then realize where all of this good comes from.

Find something that makes you smile, laugh or calm down and experience it to its fullest. Then when something difficult comes along, remember these things and instead of being angry at God, be thankful. If you want to remember these things, write them down in a journal to read when you need reminding of God’s goodness because it is amazing how quickly we forget the good when we need to remember it the most. Works for me. J

My dog

My children

Bubble baths

The aroma in the air after the rain

Autumn leaves

The sand and waves (beach)

My church family

The rainbow after a storm

Crisp, white snow

The beautiful array of colors in a sunset

Clouds shaped like objects

The feeling of sand between my toes

Laughter of a friend, family member

My rose bush in full bloom

The hug from a friend

 

Angry at God, Part 1

When we see countless suffering going on around us with no apparent relief, we sometimes question where God is. If He is such a good and loving God, why do people have to suffer so much? Why do innocent children get abused and innocent people get shot, stabbed, robbed or hit by drunk drivers and God does absolutely nothing to stop these things? Why did I have to grow up in an abusive home where I felt unwanted and unloved by my parents? Why did the husband I loved with all my heart have to cheat on me, only to leave me and the kids? Why do I have to work so much harder than everyone else, only to continue to have to struggle uphill both ways?

I have heard these questions posed by several people, just in the last year. These same people then say, “Well if God is like that, then I don’t want him.” If truth be told, I myself have asked these very same questions. The only difference is that I have chosen to STILL trust Him and STILL follow Him, no matter what.

I think if you are honest too, you would say that you have also been angry at God at one time or another. I think it is human nature to be angry when we do not understand why something bad happens and God seems to be nowhere in the midst of it. The important thing is that we get past that anger and get to a place where we can continue to trust God, no matter what. We need to work through that anger, even if it takes getting it all out of our system first. God is big. Actually, he is HUGE! He knows our hearts and what makes us hurt, what makes us tick and the fact that our minds are far too finite to sometimes comprehend the whys of life.

I have wrestled with God and I have been angry with God. I have felt at times that God did not love me and even caused some of the bad things to happen to me that I have been through. Again, the important thing was that I prayed through those periods and once again, came back to a place of complete faith and trust in Him. I had to make a full circle, realizing that God was on my side and He was never going to leave me in the middle of my doubts, fear, hurt and anger without bringing me back around to Him. Through the years, this has become a much easier, shorter process.

Truth is, we just need reminding of God’s promises and who He is. Nowhere does the Bible say that we will not have struggles and hardships in this life. God does promise us in His Word, however, that He will never leave or forsake us, that He is fighting for us (the battle is not ours to fight alone), that He is faithful and good and perfect in all of his ways. The 23^rd Psalm tells us that, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are (He is) with me…”

Through the bad things I have experienced in life, I have always seen small glimpses of God’s goodness, usually on the back end. I can always see how He got me through that particular difficulty and brought me through stronger than I was before. I can see how good things have come out of those situations when I calmed down, went to prayer and asked God to help me make sense of what happened. He has always given me deep down peace and joy through the situation, even if He did not ever reveal to me why this happened.

The easiest thing to do when faced with something tragic or when things continuously blow up in our face and leave us feeling defeated in a pile of ashes is to give up and turn away from God, shaking our fist at Him and saying, “Well, if that is how You are, then I don’t need or want You in my life!” I have learned through 45 years of life experience that the easy way is NEVER the best way. When something has to be fought for, it is well worth the fight!

A relationship with our creator is the most important, priceless treasure that all the money in the world could never buy! The more difficulties we have to face, the more precious this relationship becomes! Although I admit I have been angry at God, I worked through it, confessed my anger and asked for His grace to help me get through it. I realize every single day that I need Him in my life just to make it another day, month or year and without Him, life is very hopeless.

If you are at that point right now where you are angry at God and about to give up on Him, remember that he will never give up on you! He loves you and wants to help you. He wants you to be honest with Him about how you feel (He knows exactly how you feel anyway, even more so than you even know)! You are at a crossroads at this point…you can walk away for eternity in anger or you can move past your anger and ask Him to help you trust Him more in the midst of the terrible things that happen to you or in the world around you.

I personally make it a point to spend time meditating and praying about the difficulty I am facing or have recently faced and finding the small glimpses of anything good, no matter how small, and thanking God for that, realizing that He will make beauty from the ashes of this mess too. After all, He is still faithful and He is still good!

The bad things on earth are temporary. This is not our permanent home and before we know it, life will be over and eternity will await us. Where we spend it depends on what we did with this life and who we trusted in the midst of all the bad.

 

"Struck Down, But Not Destroyed" by Marie Rose (available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble & WestBow press, a division of Thomas Nelson, Zondervan)

http://www.christianbook.com/struck-down-but-not-destroyed/9781490896021/pd/896021?product_redirect=1&Ntt=896021&item_code=&Ntk=keywords&event=ESRCP 

Running TO Jesus

I grew up with exercise-induced asthma. Any amount of running, no matter how short the distance, set my lungs on fire and threw me into a wheezing cough. Through the years, I tried picking up jogging at a really slow pace, but after a while, the same thing would happen and it felt like I was going to cough up a lung. I chose instead to bicycle, take long walks and participate in one of my favorite activities, swimming. Although these activities were easier on my lungs, swimming made my lungs almost feel like they were fully inflated and almost as if pressurized. It was a strange feeling and it did not keep me from one of my favorite past-times.

When I turned 40 I developed chronic wheezing and an annoying though not too bothersome chronic cough 24 hours a day. I started asthma medication, which helped for about a year but then I started to develop a bad case of asthmatic bronchitis during the winter time (for three years in a row), which made my previously chronic low-grade asthma a more pronounced chronic asthma. When going up to twice a day on my medication no longer helped, I had to go to a twice a day inhaler along with the medication.

One of the things I often thought about when my asthma worsened was the day I would be in heaven and I could run without my lungs being on fire and without feeling like I was going to hack up a lung. I dreamed of running across a very large flower-covered field TO Jesus, and I was going to run fast and without pain for the first time ever into his loving arms. I was going to take advantage of it too. I often had that dream, even at night, and it made me smile. I could not even imagine how glorious that was going to feel.

Though many of you may not be able to relate to having asthma or the feeling of your lungs burning and feeling like you are about to hack up your lungs, there may be other things that will prevent you from running (literally or figuratively) toward God someday in heaven. Maybe something bad happened in your life and you decided you no longer believe in God if this is how things are going to be. Maybe you are beginning to have doubts about God as a loving, caring God who wants to save you because of all the evil in this world. How could so many bad things happen when there is supposed to be a God who sees all things and we are told he still loves us and cares for us? When my husband (or wife) walked out and abandoned me and our children, saying he/she no longer loved us after many years in a seemingly happy marriage, where was God?

The key here is to realize that as long as we live in this sin-filled earth, things will continue to get worse until Jesus returns again, as the Bible said it would. Sin will continue to spiral further down and things will get harder. This, however, changes nothing about God’s character. This says a lot about man’s character and how, when left to our own devices and desires, things spiral out of control and bad things happen at an increasingly alarming rate.

Instead of running towards Jesus, the world is running away from him, and we see the results every day throughout our world. God does not cause the bad things to happen in this world, sin does. God gives us free will to choose how we are going to live and unfortunately, the majority of people chase other things besides a relationship with Christ.

Many people will die not knowing how it will feel to run to Jesus for the first time without pain and all the other earthly miseries that tie earthly bodies down. They will sadly choose to continue living in unending pain for eternity and not knowing the joy that will come from running at top-notch speed towards the one who came and died for them, even while they were yet living in sin. He wants that all of us choose him and life on this earth that will last through eternity. This earth is temporary but life after death is permanent. Although people have hundreds of excuses why they “don’t believe” in God or in heaven, or why they are angry at God and choose to turn away from him, they will one day find out the real truth, that heaven and eternity are for real and that our decision on earth to run towards Christ or away from him has eternal consequences.

On a side note, God completely touched and healed my chronic, worsening asthma! Right before he healed my asthma, even the inhaler had begun to lose its effectiveness. Things did not look good from that point of view, which was discouraging, but I still kept my eyes on the fact that at least one day, even if it meant waiting until I got to heaven, it would be healed. I went to bed one night after a special healing service at church and being prayed for and anointed for healing and woke up the very next morning with no more chronic cough and the wheezing was completely gone! I have not touched the inhaler or medication since that day!

If you have pictured yourself running to Jesus (if you are saved and heaven-bound), what things do you see that tie you down now that would be gone in heaven? Despite those things that limit you on earth, do you still believe or have those things turned you away from Christ?

In order to run to Christ in heaven, we must run to him now…while still on earth.

CHAPTER 14, "The Lord Who Heals You," in Struck Down, But Not Destroyed (Marie Rose). Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Thomas Nelson/Zondervan

Soul Healer

Occasionally, I find myself overwhelmed with extreme gratitude for what God has brought me out of and healed me from! I went from an abusive childhood to being married (after college) to a man who ended up being unfaithful and became physically abusive at the very end of our marriage. My spirit was literally broken twice from both abusive environments. Both situations left me feeling hopeless, worthless and broken. I even questioned at times why I was even created in the first place if those who were supposed to love me the most ended up hurting me the worst. I felt that if these people who were closest to me and were family were unloving, then God must not love me either.

However, no matter how bad it got God held his mighty, gracious hand on me all those years and kept me from becoming destroyed as a result. He kept me from turning to bad things to numb my pain, such as drugs, alcohol or the streets. This is a miracle considering that the majority of people who go through what I went through turned to at least one very destructive behavior, which just made things a lot worse for themselves. He also saved me from myself when I wanted nothing more than to end it all.

He had a purpose and a plan for my life when I thought there was no purpose for me even being here. I felt like a mistake. My parents obviously did not want me and neither did my husband. Like Job, I cursed the day I was born and even felt angry at times because I felt that God sat back as I suffered so much while he did nothing to stop what I went through. He could have easily stopped these things from happening and I did not deserve to go through those things, especially when I tried so hard to live right and do the right thing, no matter how hard it was. However, he gave me great strength and endurance to make it through those things intact and stronger than ever before. My walk with the Lord would not be as strong as it is today nor would my faith be what it is today had I not been through those things.

The first thing I always do when I start praying is thank God and praise Him for who he is and what he has done in my life! I also thank him for the blessings he has given me. Then I go into my regular prayer time. Sometimes, I get “stuck” in this time of praise and thankfulness, as I did earlier this week when I became overwhelmed with gratitude for how God healed my broken spirit…twice. It truly is miraculous to think how things turned out in spite of what I have been through and how God is finally using what I went through to help others!

Everything I went through in life was like a bunch of broken pieces of jagged glass that were put together by God and handcrafted into a beautiful mosaic, or as an old piece of cloth sewed together with other old pieces of cloth to form a beautiful quilt. If your life seems like nothing good has come out of it, remember that God sees the big picture. He will fit all the jagged pieces of your life into a beautiful mosaic that will astound you. He promises to finish the good work that he started in you, if you remain faithful to him and place your trust in him.

When I had that moment earlier this week where I was overwhelmed with thankfulness for God healing my broken spirit in the way that he did, he suddenly brought to my mind that in the 23^rd Psalm, it says that “…he restoreth my soul.” Indeed, he does. He will restore your soul too, no matter how broken it is.

Praise God! He is the ultimate Soul Healer! J

The Time is Now!

Not one of us is guaranteed tomorrow. In high school, I lost a friend in a car accident. A young life was snuffed out totally unexpectedly. You hear similar stories every day about somebody who dies unexpectedly from a freak accident or dropping over dead without any warning signs. One of my previous bosses from just a few years ago was found dead last year at age 52 in his car, slumped over. He was a runner and in fairly  good shape. It was shocking, to say the least.

So when I hear someone say, “I want to live life and have fun first” when referring to turning their lives around and “getting right with God,” I have to sadly shake my head. My question to them would be, “Do you want to take that chance, knowing that you may die unexpectedly and go into eternity without God?” That is just like playing Russian roulette.

The critical thing that these people do not know is that there are no second chances after death. Your eternal destination cannot be changed once you die, and that is a very long time to pay the consequences of a bad decision. Many of those who end up eternally in hell will remember with deep regret and sorrow all the times someone witnessed to them and they still decided to reject the truth.

I believe that the Christian life is a LOT of fun! Just because we are committed to Christ and walk the narrow way and according to the Word of the living God does not mean we live a boring, unfulfilled life! Quite the contrary!! When the Lord is in your life, you will experience more peace and joy than you ever imagined, especially when the really difficult storms come along! You will no longer have to fear death because you will know without a doubt where you are headed afterwards.

Although we are saved solely by grace by believing that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died for our sins, paying the penalty of death that we deserved and that he rose again, we live by the standard that God set forth in his Holy Word.  We do not live this way because we “have to live by all the do’s and don’ts in order to go to heaven.” We live by God’s standards because we love the Lord and desire to please him. We are also thankful for all he has done for us. Not only this, but we know that God’s ways are the best ways to live and will actually protect us from a lot of heartache and difficulty we could avoid. We are being made holy, as he is Holy. He desires for us to have a fun, fulfilling, prosperous life and he knows the way to do this is to strive for always doing the right thing.

Sin will get us nowhere. It may be fun for the moment, but the long-term consequences are usually too high a price to pay for a few minutes or hours of pleasure and excitement. Twice in my early 20s, I got really drunk when I went out celebrating with a few friends. Stupid thing to do, I know. The first time, I made a fool of myself in front of my new husband by walking in a stupor and then I threw up out in the parking lot. The second time, I was confined to bed for over 24 hours because I literally could not stand up without being horribly dizzy and throwing up. Needless to say, that was the very last time I drank alcohol!

I found that the deeper my walk with the Lord has become over the years, the better my life has actually gotten and the more fun I have had! This is hard to explain to the world who only sees Christianity as a “boring religion of a bunch of sticks in the mud.” I find it much more fun living in freedom and getting together with my brothers and sisters in Christ with whom I have that common ground of faith, knowing that someday we will spend eternity together in heaven. I will also finally get to meet in person those people whom I have “met” on different social media sites whom I only hear of their God stories and see their pictures for now. I am encouraged by their walk, just as they are encouraged by mine. It will be wonderful to give a hug to and thank in person those brothers and sisters I only got to “know” through cyberspace on this side of heaven.

All of this being said, if you are waiting until later when it most likely will be too late to get saved (become right with God), your later may be too late. Do not let fear or anything else hold you back from coming to know the Lord as your personal savior NOW. I cannot promise it will be an easy road, but it will be MUCH better and a lighter load with the Lord’s help and the help of your brothers and sisters who will lift you up in prayer when you need it.

What are you waiting for? The time is NOW.

Remove the Plank!

Have you noticed that even toddlers know when someone wrongs them? It is human nature to notice when someone else “steals our toy” and then we throw a tantrum, but when we want something we have no problems grabbing a toy from the other kid. Because selfishness is human nature, it comes far easier to overlook when we do something wrong but notice immediately when someone else does something wrong.

If we are not careful, this attitude can carry over into adulthood. This is characterized by pointing out everyone else’s flaws yet failing to recognize our own. I have noticed over time that the ones who are so busy pointing out how everyone around them is prideful, for example, are the ones who think the world revolves around THEM and they are just angry because someone else is getting recognition for something, which takes the spotlight off of THEM.

Matthew 7:5 states, “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.” There are few things worse than when someone close to you points out with great magnitude how (they thought you did something) wrong but then cannot admit when they are wrong.

Whenever somebody says or does something out of line, it is sometimes far more effective to pray for them instead of obsessing over the speck in their eye. For one thing, intensions can be mistaken and what we perceive is far different than the intensions they had. It is also possible that maybe there is some jealousy at play on our part, so we just need to keep quiet. There are other times, however, when it is in everyone’s best interest to point out something that was said or done wrong and should be made right.

Soon after I got divorced, a co-worker told me very firmly and with an attitude of self-righteousness, “You sinned because you got divorced!” She did not know the whole story or the fact that an unfaithful, abusive spouse who no longer wanted me but anyone else younger and prettier was the main reason behind the divorce. She jumped to conclusions. Several years later, we had come across each other’s path again and started catching up with each other’s lives when she brought up the fact that her husband had just about crossed that line of unfaithfulness and how she said to him, “Oh, no you don’t! I am out of here if you go there!” Hmmm…I found it ironic that when she was placed in a similar situation, she was more than ready to give her husband the boot, even though a few years earlier she had faulted me for getting out of a marriage where that line had already been crossed!

I am very careful whenever I pray for someone else’s issue (whether it be with pride, not picking up the slack at work, etc.) because I too have areas that need improvement. When I do pray for the Holy Spirit’s conviction over someone, I am also deliberate about asking for the Holy Spirit to convict me when I do something I should not do too or if I were ever do the same thing, because not a single one of us is immune from doing something that we hate to see other people do. We are just as guilty although our wrongdoings are just in different areas. This was not something that came easily or automatic but it was something I had to learn how to do deliberately and then it became second-nature.

Just remember, when we are pointing one finger at someone else, four fingers are pointing back at ourselves. J

The Least of These

Truly serving the Lord is not glamorous, clean, comfortable or easy business. We must learn to step out of our squeaky clean parameters and physically go to the hurting where they are at. Although it is true that there are hurting people everywhere including churches and it is very important to help and comfort them as well, we also need to help and comfort those who are in the hospital, the homeless wandering the streets and the prisoner. Of course, we need to use common sense and not put ourselves in imminent danger, but there are a vast number of people out there in these three predicaments just wishing someone would notice. If only the friends of some of these people had not left them when in these situations, life would be more tolerable. If only more people would turn to the hurting instead of turning away when they needed someone the most…

I never remember one verse in scripture where Jesus was living in luxury, stayed out of the seedy parts of town and purposely avoided those in dire need. We often see him hanging out with and ministering to the sinners, the unclean and others who were considered the “least of these.” He walked for days on end and consequently most likely had dirty feet, uncombed hair and wore plain clothes. The Bible describes Him as ordinary-looking and having no beauty or majesty to attract us to him. (Isaiah 53:2b) He went in, rolled up his sleeves and got dirty with “the least of these.” Shouldn’t we be doing the same? After all, we are now His hands and feet to a hurting world. If we don’t show love to those in the most need around us, they may die in their suffering never seeing the hands and feet of Jesus reaching out to show them that someone cares.

Seven years ago, I started working with a dear lady with whom I ended up working with for four years and we became good friends. Right before I met her, her only son had been arrested and had to serve 7-8 years. I saw a picture of him on her desk and asked about him. He looked a little familiar to me and so I asked about him. When I asked further questions, thinking I had surely met him before, she started to cry, saying that he was in jail and would be there for a long time. It broke my heart to see a broken mother who missed her son. I had two choices right then and there. I could have brushed it off and said, “Oh well, he messed up and has to live with the consequences now,” or I could have supported my new friend, a fellow mother in a state that I could not even imagine being in nor would I want to be. I will confess that this was the first time I had ever seen what the family of an incarcerated person goes through and my eyes were opened. We don’t usually get to see the whole picture.

Over the course of months, she and I talked about the type of child he was growing up and the things she loved about him. She never once made excuses for him or said he was innocent, ever. She knew he had done something wrong and was now facing the consequences. She also told me that all of his friends but one cut him out of their lives because of this, so I offered to write him. I almost felt like I knew him from the many conversations we had about him. I was moved by compassion to act and do something for someone who was abandoned by his friends. I have been there too. Not incarcerated, but when I have needed people the most, many of my “friends” left me high and dry.

I wanted him to know that at least ONE person outside of his family noticed and was going to show him God’s love as he was facing what would be some very difficult years ahead. I also wanted him to know that God would never leave him or forsake him, even after making the worst decision in his life, which got him there. I wrote him regularly, sharing encouraging scriptures, trying to lift his spirits and telling him about my life, what I have been through, how I turned to God every time and how He faithfully saw me through.

 Hebrews 13:3 says, “Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” Is this glamorous? No. Is it worth it? Yes. When we remember those who are suffering, even if it is by their own fault, we are blessed and we are being obedient to what God’s word says about how we are to treat “the least of these.”

Some of the best memories I have are of being there for someone who needed to know they were still important, a jewel in the eyes of God. From the young lady I prayed with who had just totaled her car in front of my house and was alone, afraid and begging me to hold her and pray with her to the homeless couple I was able to encourage through an outreach by really listening to their hearts, sharing words of life with them, hugging them and serving them lunch to the young man in prison who just needed to know someone cares about him too, I have learned that I would rather be doing nothing else than rolling up my sleeves and going in where most people turn away. 

Are you ready to roll up your sleeves, get dirty and minister to the down and out, like Jesus did? Or, will you continue to look the other way and stay in your comfort zone and play it safe? Remember, whatever we do to the least of these we do for HIM.

Expect the Unexpected!

I have found it very interesting that whenever I am praying about a big need to be filled, I tend to ask God to provide that need and then in excitement and anticipation, I mull over all the different possibilities of how God could intervene so that this particular need would be met. It is actually fun coming up with all the possible scenarios in this itty bitty finite mind of mine. I can just imagine that the Lord is thoroughly entertained by these very limited scenarios going through my mind with a smile on his face, shaking his head as if to say, “You are so far off.” The funniest thing of all is that every single time, he answers the prayer in a totally different way than I ever expected!

I used to think I was the only one who did this until I read in John 5 about the invalid who had laid by the pool of “healing water” which was believed (in their culture) to heal the first diseased person who got into the water after the angel stirred up the pool. This particular man had been in this terrible state for 38 years and every time he tried to get into the water first, someone else always beat him to it. When Jesus came up to this man having learned that he had been in this sad state for so long, he asked this man if he wanted to get well. The man then proceeded to tell Jesus that he had nobody to help him get into the pool so he could get in first and be healed. Logically, one would expect Jesus to give him a hand and help him into the pool at the appropriate time so he could be healed. Instead, however, Jesus did something far better and told him to get up, pick up his mat and walk! I can imagine this guy must have initially been shocked at the instruction, staring at him with his mouth gaping open.

Why would Jesus have gone about things in a totally unexpected way like this? For one, maybe the “power of the healing waters” was just a myth and Jesus did not want this man to believe that the power was in the water itself. Or maybe he was revealing himself as Jehovah Rapha, the one TRUE miraculous healer, to build this man’s faith in him alone to meet all of his needs. The reason Jesus went about the healing this way is not as important as the fact that Jesus met the need in a miraculous way, because he could and it grew this man’s faith in him.

Could it be that this is why God chooses to answer our prayers in a totally different way than we expect so that our faith in him grows as we see God do the impossible in unimaginable ways? The Bible says that his ways are far higher than our ways and his thoughts higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9). His power knows no bounds and he is not limited in resources or by time and space. We are so very limited in what we can do or think and for this reason, we tend to think of all the possibilities “inside the box.”

Every time, the Lord makes me smile when he answers these prayers by supplying my needs in a way that blows my socks off! The latest example is with my son’s college textbooks, which were going to be quite expensive. As I began to pray about it and even picked up some extra hours at work, I thought that God was going to answer my prayer through the extra work hours to pay for his books (pay back the debt owed on the book purchase). When the hours still came up too short to be able to pay for them, I remembered that my dad had told me at my son’s graduation to let him know how much my son’s college books were going to be and he would like to do something to help. Thinking that this was how God was going to provide, I called and let my dad know how much they were but he did not even respond or say anything more about it. This was very unlike my dad because whenever he says he will help with something, he always comes through.

It seemed I was running out of options at this point, but I continued praying for this need to be met. About three weeks after talking to my dad (and two months into the school year), an unexpected check came from the school financial office reimbursing me for about 90% of the cost of the books! I had no idea that his scholarship funds had enough to pay for the books and I was never informed it would cover the books at all. As a matter of fact, we were told to apply for a book scholarship (as his ACT score was quite high so he was eligible for free books) but we missed the deadline to due to a series of unavoidable circumstances.

There are several other examples I could share, but this one confirmed to me again to expect the unexpected from God and don’t try to figure out how it is going to work out in the end. Just pray and trust that he will meet the needs as they come up and leave the rest to him.

After all, he specializes in doing the unexpected.

Bloom Where You Are Planted

It is so easy to complain or become weary of being in a difficult situation we do not want to be in. We can think of all the reasons we “can’t wait to get out of this dead-end job,” for example. I have been there more than once, so I know how hard it is to see the light of day when in a job or a particular church, for example, where I don’t really want to be and I can list all the reasons why I would rather be anywhere else. When things get overwhelmingly difficult, we humans tend to want to escape to something better. “If only I could get a better paying job, if only I wasn’t an outcast at this school or if only I was married to a good man, then…”  Yes, then I would be happy, because in my mind, anything else has to be better than this situation. But then again, I have been on the flip side too and I have learned that no matter what difficult place we find ourselves at physically, there are places that could be (and are) even worse! The best story I can use to illustrate this is that of the frog who found himself in a frying pan with the stove turned on and it was very hot, so he jumped into the pot of water next to it which slowly boiled him to death. Because the frog’s surroundings seemed better temporarily he did not even realize this too was a dangerous predicament until it was too late.

How many people jump from one bad relationship to another or leave a good spouse for “something better” because they are not happy enough where they are? Or how about the guy I know who quit his job because he was miserable where he was working only to find himself unemployed for a few years afterwards. Sometimes, we fail to look at the blessings right where we are because the difficulties seem to outweigh the blessings.

About six years ago, I was in a job that I felt was a terrible fit for me. Every day I would go in, more and more stressed as the day went on, only to end up leaving in tears. One part of the job came very easy to me and I did quite well at, but the other part of the job was just not clicking with me and I felt like I was a square peg being forced into a round hole. Not only that, but I was transferred to another office that had a lot less traffic and was in a part of town less desirable than the one I was transferred from. Grumble, grumble was my new mantra. Now my commission would nose-dive and I would have to drive twice the distance to work! I found out quickly this office had less than half the traffic of the first location I worked, which meant “good bye, commission.” However, I tried hard to stick it out even though I left most days very frustrated!

I am a single parent, so I really depended on the income and commission. I was willing to do what it took to learn the job completely to no avail. I did my very best, which was still not enough. It was like telling a fish to walk in the shallow water like a duck. Impossible. Finally, the manager called me a few weeks into the job out at the new location and dropped the bomb, which was actually a relief, and told me that she did not think this job was a good fit for me (I totally agreed). I do not give up easily; I am very persistent and stubborn, which I have had to be because of all the great difficulties I have been through that would have destroyed almost any normal person with average strength and resiliency. Although most people see these traits as a negative (which they can be sometimes), I believe God gifted me with them so that I could survive all I have been through and I am thankful!

However, all of that being said, while I was at the undesirable job location I had time to minister to a young lady who had fallen far away from God and the church. Having just been through a divorce and all the struggles that come with that just a few years prior, I shared with her that without God and my church family and all that God has helped me through, I literally would have fallen apart after my divorce. We had many great conversations about that sort of thing and I just tried loving on her and showing her Jesus’ love. In that short time I was there, the Lord spoke to this young lady through me and my difficulties to bring her back to Him. She was very thankful and told me directly that, “I feel that God led you here specifically to help me see that I need to come back to him,” which she did as a result. I think she felt she had fallen too far away to come back with all the things she had done and the fact that she was very young and pregnant out of wedlock. That alone made EVERY difficult day there worth it! Sometimes we do not see the whole picture until the very end of a situation or maybe even months or years later, but every situation we are in is for a reason whether we see it or not at the time.

The two things I learned through that experience was: 1) Don’t complain about where the Lord has me because in some way He has a purpose for me being where I am, and 2) Bloom right where I am planted and make the best out of a difficult situation. I have carried those lessons with me ever since then. Another valuable lesson I learned was that I can find things to be happy about no matter where I am because I now realize that God has me placed there for someone or something and He is using me…right where I am planted.

No Condemnation

I grew up in a very condemning home as a child. For my first 18 years, all I heard was how everything I did was wrong. I could never mow the lawn “just so” and I never seemed to quite finish the job perfectly like I was expected to. When I worked very hard in school and did my very best by getting a “B,” I was asked why I didn’t do better. I was seen and treated as an adult in a child’s body and expected to “know better” (even though I didn’t), and not as a child who is learning and needed to be guided and taught how to do things the right way. My environment was not one of love, grace or acceptance nor did I ever hear, “good try” or “I am proud of you.” I did frequently hear “dummy,” however.

As a result, I set very unrealistic expectations on myself that were impossible to keep and when I did not live up to them, I condemned myself for being so “stupid, unworthy or not good enough.” I would find myself saying, “If only you were smarter, better, thinner or prettier.”

I constantly played the game of comparing myself to others who were smart, attractive and successful, which of course brought jealousy and sadness. That game will wear you down and tear you down more quickly than anything else I know of and I played it for years. Looking back on those years, I realize that what I was doing was saying “God, you made a mistake here! I am no good. Why is everyone else so much better?” For years, I felt that God had surely made a mistake when he created me. That is what condemnation does.

Condemnation is defined as the expression of very strong disapproval, synonymous with criticism, denunciation and vilification. It also means condemning someone to a punishment, sentencing. Because I grew up in an environment devoid of love, affection and encouragement and was always told how I never measured up nor would I ever, I fell for the lies that condemnation told me and it took years to undo. Every single thing I did as a child, even the good things done with my best attempts were met with very strong disapproval. Criticism abounded and broke my spirit. For several years afterwards, even when I did something well and put forward my best effort, I always found too many flaws in it. It did not matter how many people told me how good something looked or turned out, the voice of condemnation rang louder in my head, blocking out the praise.

Although I always had a strong faith in God even throughout my childhood, I still fought with feelings of not being good enough. I still struggled with feelings of inadequacy that told me I was not even good enough for God or heaven (though I really knew better). [Thank God that none of us are good enough and it is only by his grace that we are saved!] It took several years of being out of that childhood environment I was in, but God gradually replaced the feelings of condemnation with his loving presence. It took years of persistence and patience on God’s part but he set me free from the continuous “prison of condemnation” I was in!

Though I was saved as a child and even re-dedicated my life to the Lord when I was 16, I still had the “demons” from the past to wade through. Those who have been through very difficult childhoods or in very abusive relationships understand how difficult this cycle is to break. From my personal experience and in seeing those who have had to deal with pasts like this, it is very clear that ONLY by the power of the blood of Jesus can one be set free from living in the “prison” of condemnation! Even then, it sometimes takes months or years to re-train your brain to see the good in yourself and shake off the voice of condemnation when you make a mistake or something doesn’t turn out right.

Throughout the last 20 years, I have learned to go easy on myself and that it is indeed okay to be imperfect. I learned that even if my floors were not pristine enough to eat off of, it was okay. If my floor boards were not dusted and my kid’s face was dirty, the world would NOT end! I even learned that it was (and is) okay to laugh at myself and my imperfections! How amazing and freeing this has been after being stuck where I was for so long!

Romans 8:1 says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Although we may have grown up with very condemning parents or have lived with a very condemning spouse, we need to remember that God does not condemn those of us who are in Christ Jesus. Instead, he gently convicts us (shows us the answer to the problem). There is a vast difference between the two.

 

Condemnation would be God standing over us like a parent yelling, “Not good enough! What a failure you are!” However, the conviction of God is like a loving parent standing next to us when we make a mistake or commit a sin and in a gentle, loving way shows you how to do it the right way. Though he shows us what is wrong, he even more importantly shows us how to make it right (by the blood of Jesus, which washes away sin).

I still remember the first time in my life when someone chewed me out and instead of walking away ashamed with my head held low and feeling horrible about the situation, I left with a totally different feeling. I was able to walk away with my head held high and said, “This is still okay; it is not the end of the world. He will get over it. I know I did not do this intentionally and meant no harm.” My boss had called me in and with a smile on his face (which is the worst way to get chewed out) said that he did not appreciate the fact that me (and my co-worker) were not getting something done. This was completely out of our control, because he did not do the work required of him so that we could do our part.

That event happened within the past five years. My boss did not discuss these matters with kindness or grace and in years past this would have left me in tears. Instead, however, I walked away…perfectly fine with the situation and with myself, victorious!

Checkmate.

Death To Weariness

Life is a long journey, or more accurately, a trek. Some days, we want nothing more than to give up when everything seems to be going in the wrong direction. We wake up refreshed, ready to bulldoze the world…and then life happens. We get cut off, not twice, but three times on our commute to work, almost get run over and end up punching in late, putting our already heavy workload that much further behind. Then, a co-worker comes to work with a rotten attitude and then our computer freezes up. After the computer gets back up finally, our printer goes out. At lunch time, you realized you forgot your lunch and don’t have any extra money to spend right now, so you decide you might as well work right through lunch, as you are behind anyway. The rest of the day is pretty uneventful, however, so you breathe a sigh of relief as you listen to uplifting worship music on the way home. Then you walk in the door, and the kids had a crisis or a meltdown and so it starts once again.

However, we must make a conscious choice every single day to not let people or things weigh us down. It is so easy to get caught up in the difficulties around us, especially when everything seems to be going against us. It feels like every waking moment is a battle sometimes and no matter how hard you push through the darkness, it seems overwhelming. It seems like all the good we strive to do is in vain sometimes. No matter how nice and pleasant we are or how great our attitude is, sometimes people are just plain ornery and things still do not work out.

I used to be naïve enough to think that if I always spread love, kindness and gentleness to everyone, they would reciprocate. I thought my positive attitude would rub off on them. I had a rude wakeup call one too many times, however, and I realized that people were going to behave the way they were going to behave, no matter how great of an attitude I had. I used to take this personally, having grown up in an abusive home where I was led to believe that everything was my fault or that I was so bad that I deserved getting treated badly. However, my breakthrough came years ago when I realized that this was not true (but a lie from the enemy).

Another breakthrough came when I quit placing expectations on how others should treat me (and that this was independent from how I treated them) and it lifted a huge burden off my shoulders! When I released people from this expectation, the kindness I showed them was solely because I desired to love others right where they were, whether they loved me back or not. I realize that everyone has a battle I know nothing about and when they carry a less-than-desirable attitude, it could be sheer weariness from the battle they are facing right at this moment.

When my focus gets off of the Lord and on the things around me, I notice that difficulties as well as those people who are being difficult seem to be much bigger than they actually are and I am downright weary. All that I do every day to try to make a difference in other’s lives seems to get lost in the shuffle, practically meaningless. However, when my focus is on the Lord and the blessings in my life, the difficulties in my life seem dim in comparison and I am spurred on to be a blessing to others even more.

Instead of trying so hard to love everyone and expecting to be loved by them too (which is very tiring), I started gauging the majority my focus on those around me who seem lonely or who appear to be going through a hard time. I still take a minute or two to show simple kindness, gentleness and love to everyone as Christ calls us to do, but I do so and then move on from there. If I want to really make a difference, I need to go where the difference needs to be made the most.

Doing too much for too many people is enough to make anyone weary, even the strongest of us! I have learned that when I spread myself too thin and try to be too much to too many people, I get too weary to do anything at all. All I want to do is go home, plug into the wall and recharge my battery, which never seems to fully recharge. Then instead of being out there making a difference, I am at home doing nothing at all.

Galatians 6:9 says, "Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart." Do not allow yourself to get overwhelmed and weary in doing things for others while completely neglecting yourself. I don’t know what it will take for you personally not to become too weary in doing good, but I know what works for me every time: Putting my focus back on God, remembering my purpose and taking regular time to do something good for myself or take a weekend away to relax.

One of the best things I have done in a very long time for myself was to take off on a road trip to the beach, just me. I had no agenda, no time restrictions and when I was not on the beach enjoying the waves and sand, I was looking for something different to enjoy in a nearby city. Although I was only gone for a long weekend, I left there feeling more energized and refreshed than I had in months if not years, and I did not feel the least bit guilty. I had the time of my life! And when I returned back to life again…I felt like Super girl!

So do not allow yourself to become weary in doing good…for in due time good will come, even if it takes a long time to see the fruits of your labor. Just don’t give up in the meantime and remember to be kind to yourself too. J

When She Died, He Was There

Two years ago, death lingered on our doorstep. Two full weeks before she passed, I has a strong premonition that death was going to touch our family in some way soon. I did not feel that it was going to be one of my kids, but I knew without a doubt that death was somehow going to touch our family and the feeling would not let go…until it happened.

One hot August week, she started showing signs of aging, walking around a little more slowly than usual. She was getting rather old, so I figured she was probably showing signs of arthritis. However, everything else seemed normal in her day-to-day activities so I was not overly concerned at that point. By the end of that week, she started going downhill a little more quickly. By Monday, she seemed a little worse and it was then that I got concerned, driving her to the country to her “favorite doctor.” Surely, this would be a quick fix, I assured myself. No need to panic quite yet.

Who is she, you might ask? Her name was Angel, a big part of our family…a Rottweiler lab mix who was adopted while I was separated from my husband. She was 30 pounds and full of wrinkles as a three-month-old pup. Cutest pup I ever laid eyes on up to that point. I knew she would grow into those wrinkles in time. This was her last chance at getting rescued. As I went up to her kennel, she timidly went up to the cage door and licked me through it, wagging her tail. She had a very sweet, tender spirit about her. Yes, it was love at first sight.

When she was two years old, she moved with us out-of-state to our new home. My husband left a few months later and she remained a comfort to us when we really needed her. I can’t recount how many times I squeezed her tight and cried all over her during those first few months, but it was a lot! Just having moved to a new state, away from our friends and further away from my family, she was our friend, our family. She was happy when I was happy and sad when I was sad. Although I knew that the Lord was with us during that very difficult, lonely time, she was almost like Jesus “with skin on.”

Fast forward almost ten years later, when she started falling ill. On a Monday in August, I took her to the country to her veterinarian’s office. Fully expecting her vet to say it was arthritis and writing her a script for medication, we left that day with totally unexpected news that I was not prepared for. After doing some blood work, she pointed out that her gums, ears and tongue were whitish color, not the usual pink, which I had not even noticed. A few minutes later, she came into the office and said that Angel was critically ill and that, “If she was a person, she would be put into the ICU.” Her red blood cells were very critically low and her white cell count was way off too. The vet said we could try some medications (along with a steroid) to hopefully reverse the damage. This was a far cry from the “arthritis” I thought she had!

After doing an ultrasound, the vet said she was bleeding internally and one of her organs was quite enlarged (if I remember correctly, it was either the liver or pancreas) but she could not tell where the bleeding was coming from. We were to come back in 48 hours to recheck her blood work after the medications had been started and see if it would begin to reverse itself. By then, she wasn’t eating or drinking and laid in one spot all day. I had to carry her (all 80 pounds of her) to the car. Unfortunately, her counts had not gotten better and we were told to come back the next day, Thursday, to recheck the blood count again. All of the rest of Wednesday, she did not move but laid in one spot. She went from being almost as active as she normally was the week before to this in less than a week.

By Wednesday, I knew she was not going to pull through. The boys were in Florida with the church youth group and when they had left that Saturday morning before, she was still pretty normal but just walking slowly. The boys called every day to check on her. By Tuesday, I said it did not look good and the vet thought it was cancer. By Wednesday, I told them she may not be around when they got back, though I was hoping she would be so they could say good-bye to her. At first, I prayed she would hang in there long enough for the boys to come home (the next Saturday). However, I could not bear seeing her suffer like this for much longer. I also prayed that I would not have to make the decision to put her down because she had literally been part of our family for over eleven years. My prayer soon turned to asking God to take her very soon and quickly because it tore my heart up to see her go downhill so fast, though part of me was still hanging on to that very last shred of hope that she would make a miraculous recovery.

She had an appointment with the vet that Thursday afternoon, but did not quite make it that long. I called into work knowing that she probably would not last the day and I could not stand the fact that she might have to die alone and the last thing I wanted to do was to walk in to seeing her body on the living room floor. Right before noon on that Thursday, she had two seizures that threw her across the floor. I went over to her, rubbing her side and saying it was okay to let go. I know without a doubt she was holding out until the boys came home, but she could not do it any longer. I put my arms around her, saying through my tears, “Its ok, you can go now sweet Angel. I don’t want you to suffer anymore,” and that was it.

I was not prepared for the intensity of the pain and loneliness I faced, especially at night, when she usually jumped on my bed and went to sleep with me. I did not know my heart would break that much over a dog. Actually, she was more than a dog to me because she was there when I was going through the hardest years of my adult life. God prepared me over two weeks before she even got sick that death was going to touch our family in some way. He was there comforting me in Angel’s final moments as I was all alone, just me and the shell of what was the best thing that came into my life after my husband left.

If God went to this much trouble to prepare me, comfort me, answer my prayers of desperation and quench my aching heart at this loss (of an animal), how much more would he do so for you, who have lost or are losing a loved one? His Word says he will NEVER leave us nor forsake us…even when a beloved pet dies.

When she died…He was there. He is there for you too.

War of the Mind

Any one of us who have been truly devoted Christians for any length of time knows without a doubt that Satan attacks our mind, and he is very good at it! The Bible says that Satan (the thief) “comes to steal and kill and destroy.” (John 10:10) He usually does not hit hard all at once but starts small like with dissatisfaction in life and with God, a doubt about something you read in scripture, something that someone said to you that hurt you, etc. Then he blows these things way out of proportion and gets you thinking about all kinds of things that are not true. On top of that, he gets you to doubt your own value to God and others.

Because this thief comes not only to steal but also to KILL and DESTROY, he goes to great lengths to hit us at every single area, no matter how small, that is an area of weakness in our lives. Just like a robber (thief), he quietly slithers through a barely cracked open window or easily break through a door that doesn’t quite close all the way. If all else fails, he kicks the door in or smashes a window. He will not stop until he gets in somewhere! He will go to great lengths to get into your mind. If discouragement doesn’t work, he will try doubts. If doubts don’t work, he will try temptations. If these don’t work, then he will even go as low as to get you to minimize your sinful attitudes and actions. “Well, it’s not that bad. Everyone is doing it,” or “At least you are not as bad as him/her…” he says slyly. (Does this tactic sound familiar, Eve?)

Believe me, I could write a book solely on how Satan has discouraged me and filled me with doubts, everywhere from doubting my own value to the truth of a few scriptures that have not seemed to be playing out the way the Bible says it is supposed to (i.e. struggling financially when I faithfully tithe and am a good steward). The great news is that God has given me some very specific promises through the past ten years that I have written down and often refer to! Some have already been fulfilled and some have yet to be fulfilled.

Because I know without a doubt that God spoke these promises to me very specifically, Satan cannot even put a shred of doubt in my mind about them because I stand firm on God’s promises that WILL come to me one day. Because of that, Satan resorts to using other verses I have come across that don’t seem to apply to me because my life has been one very difficult valley after another! However, because I stand on the word of God and refuse to believe some of scripture and not other parts of it, I have to keep fighting back with the promises that God has already given to me.  

God has given us his Word (the sword of the Spirit) to combat the enemy when it comes to our mind. The mind is a very powerful tool and can either overcome great obstacles (with the power of Jesus) or become destroyed (by the thief). My life in particular has just been one of those that has been extremely difficult at every turn and like the saying goes, “I can’t win for losing,” and “If it wasn’t for bad luck, I’d have no ‘luck’ at all” rings very true in my life (though I don’t tend to believe in luck). Some of us have just been dealt a very difficult deck in life. I cannot explain why, although there have been many times I have asked God why and if there was something I did to deserve all of this, which has been much more than the average person has had to endure.

I wish I could give some of you an answer; in particular, those who are faithful followers of Christ, seek him, love him and have committed yourselves at all costs and still struggle greatly with a very hard life, but I can’t. I think that is a journey we must take with our heavenly father. He is always teaching, molding and using us in ways we cannot see because the changes are subtle. However, I can say that God has always prepared me for the next big challenge by using a previous challenge to learn from and build on. He has never left me out in the cold to “figure it out on my own.” He has given me wisdom and even warns me of (as well as prepares me for) the next big difficulty right before it hits.

God never said one time in the scripture that our lives would be easy. Maybe some people seem to have it easier and better than we do, but again, Satan can use this to breed discouragement, jealousy and even anger if we are not careful. Then before you know it, we are focused so much on their easier life and more on our difficulties that we cannot even see the goodness that God has put in our lives. The second part of John 10:10 states, “…I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” That means something different to different people. I too have to be careful not to compare my life to someone else’s life that seems so much better than mine, because then I cannot see the fullness in my life.  

However, we can combat this if we are vigilant:  

I am very mindful every single day to thank God for all the blessings he has given me and I name them one by one. There are small glimpses of fullness in my journey of difficulty…my kids, our sweet adopted dog, living in a good, safe neighborhood (as a single mom on my tight budget, this is a miracle), the beautiful cool, crisp weather, my closest friends, food in the pantry, the beauty of nature, etc. Find the beauty around you and the basic needs that God has provided for you. Write them down and thank God every day for them, adding to the list as you remember more things.

Rebuke the enemy and his mind games (War of your mind) each and every time in the name of Jesus’ blood! This is a very under-utilized tool, but very powerful! The scripture says that Jesus’ name is so powerful (as is his blood) that even demons flee at his name! There is great, great power in the name of Jesus that no other power can overcome, not even death! If you have not tried this, I encourage you to do so! I have experienced immeasurable peace in the midst of the battle of my mind by doing this and wished I had done so sooner. Luke 10:17 says, “The seventy two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”

The Lord has given us the tools for victory…will you use them to overcome the enemy?