No Escape

One of my favorite memories of my children when they were little was when they put their hands over their faces and peeked through their little fingers just enough so they could see me. When I asked them, “Where did you go? Where are you?” they giggled like crazy and pulled their hands away from their faces, thinking I had really thought they disappeared. I would then act surprised, as if I had really just then been able to see them. Small children enjoy hiding from their parents, only to laugh from behind their “hiding place” which immediately gives away their location. However, they think you have no idea where they are until they actually see you.

The odd thing is, many adults play this game too but with God. They think He won’t find them out if they are sneaky enough or if nobody else sees or hears them. “Surely God did not hear that little white lie I told or that tiny bit of gossip I told about one of my friends,” or, “It is just a little piece of candy I stole out of the bulk candy bin. Nobody was around and I am sure God would not care about a little piece of candy that nobody will even notice is gone.”

The difference between the two above scenarios is that the first one is done in pure innocence and fun. Tragically, some people actually believe that this carries into adulthood and use this “game” to try to continue fooling others, even God (so they think). However, just like I could see my little boy when he thought he was hidden (by merely covering his eyes with his hands), so God can see us when we think absolutely nobody notices or even cares. This can be scary for some people to come to this realization, but for those who really know and love the Lord, this is a great comfort!

Psalm 139:8-10 says, “If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. 9If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.…” Just think of it! The God of the universe who created the entire solar system, the billions of stars within it (and names each one) and created everything from nothing sees each one of us at all times, whether we are on the mountain top riding the wings of eagles and feel like we can overcome the world or when we just received the most tragic news we ever imagined possible and are spiraling into the depths of depression.

Those moments when we ask God out of desperation, “Where are you??! I need you now!!” he continues to be right there, even though we cannot physically see him and even when we cannot sense his presence at that moment and we think that surely he stepped out on a coffee break. I have been there more than a few times when I hit a very low dark point in my journey (of life), during a crisis or in the middle of a highly stressful situation and cried out to God in desperation, only to hear silence. However, during those times, I remind myself of the plethora of scriptures throughout the Bible that promise me God will never leave me or forsake me and that no matter where I am at on this planet, I cannot possibly even try to hide from God, even if I wanted to!

No matter what you are facing in this season of life, remember that you are never hidden from God’s view, even when you believe you have fallen through the cracks and are invisible to God...even if you feel invisible to everyone else. Our dark moments are like the little hands of a child that temporarily obscure our vision and make us think we are invisible until the hands (or dark situations) are pulled away and all is visible again. We, as parents, can still see the little one from behind their hands just as God, our heavenly Father, can see us through the darkness. Only, instead of God playing along by asking, “Where are you? Where did you go?” he simply says with perfect strength and confidence, “I already see you and everything is going to be okay. Things may look dark temporarily and you may not see me, but I still see you. No matter what.”

Thank you, Father.

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The Accuser

Not only does Satan, aka "the accuser," come to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10), he also delights greatly in accusing us! Not only does Satan remind God often of why we don't measure up and are not worthy of the grace of God and salvation that Jesus gives, but he also reminds us of our sin. He beats us up over our mistakes and sins, even after we have asked God for forgiveness and repented of those sins. Then we go down the "why bother because I will never measure up to what God wants and expects of me" road.

Satan is very patient. He will not stop there. First, we will start believing what Satan tells us about ourselves and then we sometimes will find ourselves blaming and accusing others for what we do to not make ourselves feel so guilty. "Well, if my parents hadn't..." "If my best buddy had just not bought me that last drink before I drove home..." Humans find it much easier to shift the blame, especially when caught in a pickle. That is nothing new; it happened in the garden of Eden too. Adam said, "...the woman you put here with me gave it to me (the fruit)..."

Then Satan goes a step further. While we are busy accusing others, sometimes even God is brought into the picture too. I have heard of countless people who have, (and know some personally who,)  when things went really bad for them, turned their backs on God and accused Him, saying "A loving God would not have allowed this to happen to me! It's God's fault this happened! He did not stop something He could have stopped and now look where I am!" Then in their anger, they turn away from God, disbelieving the truth they had formerly held on to when things were going more smoothly in their lives.

Sometimes, if Satan does not succeed in making us feel worthless and shameful for our mistakes and sins (that were already covered under the blood of Jesus), then he will get us to accuse God for letting the things happen in the first place that made us hurt or angry. It is natural to lash out in anger and accuse someone in the process, but we must be very careful and realize that this is one of many tricks up Satan's sleeve to deceive us, get us off track and shift our focus off of God as our friend, advocate and ally and instead see Him as One who wants to harm us or pull us down. This may not happen as easily to someone who has had a fairly smooth ride throughout life, but to one who has been in the depths of the deepest, darkest hell on earth and faced several great trials throughout life, this is a common "demon" that must be overcome.

The blood of the Lamb is the most powerful defense against ALL the wiles of Satan, including the temptation to take on the accusation that Satan is doling out to us as and becoming accusers of others or even God. We must stick "closer than a brother" to the Lord and remain in Him at all cost if we are to overcome the many strategies that Satan uses against us. And if you are thinking you could never fall for this, anyone could fall into this trap when the circumstances are right and you become tired, weary, facing physical illness, great loss, financial pressures or great discouragement!

This is why daily reading of the Word, prayer and meditation as well as maintaining a spirit of thankfulness for  all of the things God does for us daily is of utmost importance! It is also very helpful to keep a list of things you are praying for and when that prayer is answered, put a check by it with the date. I also enjoy writing down what I am thankful for and those things that God has done for me; for example, when He protects me in a sticky situation or when He provided something I really needed in an unexpected way. It is amazing how quickly we forget these blessings when things "go South" (turn badly) and just as quickly our focus goes to what we see that God has NOT done for us as we are facing difficulties.

We spend too much time beating ourselves up for our mistakes and failures, and those thoughts come from our accuser. Do not let Satan beat you up and accuse you, making you feel even more helpless and hopeless! Remember who is on the throne and who your advocate is! Do not accuse God, who blesses you! Remember that you are forgiven by the blood of the Lamb, which is much more powerful than anything Satan has to offer you! Use your weapons to fight against the Enemy, and he will NOT prosper and overtake you!

When you have been forgiven and redeemed and remain in Him and know whose you are, none of those accusations will stick, because you are an overcomer!

2016: Trust

 

Since 2013, I have chosen a word of the year. This word describes something positive I want to focus on for that new year and has to do with some area I need to grow in and currently have difficulty maintaining in my life. When I choose my special word, I draw a little poster and put it on my bathroom mirror where I can be reminded every morning and evening what my word  as well as glean encouragement from it.

For example, my word for both 2013 and 2014 was "rest." As a single mom of two active boys with three jobs at that time, God was asking me to rest, which was something I struggled with because I had no time to rest nor did I want to "waste time" laying around. I was raised that you never sit down but you work from sun up to sun down, so this was hard to re-train my brain to do. But in obedience to God and for my health, sanity and well-being, I focused on making time to rest. I needed two years to complete this very arduous task. Today, I am happy to say I have a much easier time resting and do not feel guilty about it either! I have been through a lot physically since 2013 but God has also healed a lot of physical problems too, which I attribute in part to resting.

My word last year was "peace." I tend to freak out when I am down to the wire (at the last minute) when things seem to be going in the wrong direction or if things do not seem to be working out when I have deadlines to meet. I am the type of person to "get 'er done" and it is very stressful for me to have loose ends or not get something done way ahead of time so business is taken care of before things get stressful. I was going to choose shalom (peace) and say NO to doubt, worry and stress, knowing that God is the ULTIMATE peace. On my little poster, I wrote the following verses to encourage me to remain in peace: Isaiah 30:15, "In quietness and trust is your strength," I Peter 5:7, "Cast ALL your anxiety on him because he cares for you," and Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the thoughts/plans I have for you...for welfare and peace and not for evil but to give you hope..." I had to continuously commit myself to being persistent and remaining in peace when things got hairy. In 2015, I did improve in having peace in the midst of stress and hope to become even better.

This year (2016), my word is "trust." The verses I wrote on my little poster were Psalm 56:3, "When I am afraid, I put my trust in you," Isaiah 30:15, "In quietness and trust is your strength," and Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God." I am going to choose to say NO to fear and doubt. Because I have been through so many very difficult circumstances in life, some of which were traumatic, I tend to question God as to why...a lot. I am a very inquisitive person by nature and I absolutely love learning new things and I have always wondered how everything works and why it works the way it does. Because of this, I find myself even asking God, "Why?" Why have those who have abused me for years and years gotten away with it? Why does everything I put so much time, effort and prayer into STILL fail? Why have so many people rejected me when I have always been extremely kind, loving, gentle, merciful and forgiven people and everyone says I have such a sweet, gentle spirit? Why do I still struggle financially when I live frugally, work hard, tithe faithfully, save a little aside every chance I can and pray too? Lord...do you see? Do you even care?

These things, however, have changed me into a MUCH stronger person today and a lot of things that used to hurt me no longer affect me. I quit trying to gain everyone's approval and love and started walking away from those whom I had to "prove myself" to. Now my attitude is, "If you like me, great, if not, great." I will no longer let those people make me feel less than or once again rejected and unworthy. I am an amazing person created uniquely by God and by golly, I am one of the best friends you could ever have. So, if you reject me, that is your loss, not mine. What a freeing experience!

Back to my new word for 2016...trust. On New Year's Eve day (even before 2016 started!), I was hit by another car (rear-ended). I was stopped at a light and the driver behind me was not paying attention (actually looking at another accident that had just happened on the side of the road) when he hit me! I have had nothing but difficult decisions to make, stress and because the insurance company "totaled out" my car, declaring it a total loss, I have to get another vehicle. My car that was hit was paid off. Now I have to start over with a new vehicle, though my insurance money will help out some. However, just one more thing I do not need on a tight budget. So now my trust "muscles" are being used right away. Am I going to trust that God will bring me another good, reliable car again that I can afford? Did I make the right decisions with regards to what happened? Why does it seem like I am the one who lost out when I was an innocent bystander and happened to get hit from behind and the insurance company and repair facility seemed to have gotten the better end of the deal?

Well, those were questions in the back of my mind initially, but immediately afterwards I said to myself, "No, you are just going to wait on God to sort all of this out. He knows you need another good, reliable car and he knows the financial situation. He knew this accident was going to happen. He is already working behind the scenes to get the right car for you. Just be still and trust in him, knowing that he is God." Here we go...

Grace-full

I wrote this a few years ago and happened to come across it, so I thought I would pass it on to you! :)

Grace is defined as good will, favor or disposition to show mercy. Daily God shows us grace in multiple ways. The way we spoke to that salesperson on the phone wasn't showing our mark as a Christian, though when we had to make that difficult phone call, we were treated with kindness by the one on the other end of the phone. We cut a corner at work that we knew better than to do hoping to get done more quickly, but somehow things still worked out smoothly and we didn't get fired and nobody got hurt. We confessed to our boss and instead of getting yelled at or let go, we were met with kindness and grace. We were in such a hurry to get there and broke the speed limit, yet we still made it safely and without a ticket.

It was more than enough for Him to send his son to die for us while we were still sinners, but out of His love and compassion for us, He chooses to take his grace even further than that, as exemplified in the above situations. Nobody deserves God's grace nor are we entitled to it, but out of His love, mercy and compassion, He freely gives it to us anyway.

In order to be more like Him, we must be willing to extend grace to others as well. This is contradictory to human nature, which would rather be unmerciful to others, especially when they hurt us. All you have to do is look around and see how sue-happy our culture has become, for example. Car accident? Sue them! Somebody says something to hurt, anger or offend you? Hire an attorney and haul them to court! Our culture is so quick to be critical, unmerciful and unforgiving, which is very contradictory to how we as Christians are called to treat others, whether they deserve to be treated with mercy or not.

My friend Lucille, a lady much older in years than myself and a minister, has told me more than once that, "The same grace it takes for me to remain married to the same man for 40+ years is the same grace it takes for you to have gotten through your divorce." She reminded me during a very broken time of my life that it is God's grace that gets us through anything! His grace never runs out nor does it ever run dry! However, as it says in Romans 6:1-2, this does not give us a license to continue in our sin either ("What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?….")

We are very good at accepting the grace of God and other people, so why is it so easy to condemn others before even knowing their situation? Human nature, of course. Even back in Bible times, the Pharisees were known as great followers and practicers of the Law, but they were notorious for condemning others, even Jesus himself when he healed on the Sabbath, for example. The same is still true today!

I have seen God's grace in my life unfold multiple times, and for this I am beyond grateful! For this very reason, I am quick to remember the grace He has shown me in my time of need and I am more than willing to quickly give it to others! I find that the more I show grace to others, the more grace I receive in turn, not only from other people but also from God!

My prayer is that not only would I become more and more abundant in giving others grace (including myself, which is often harder to do), but that you would as well. We all do and say stupid things at one time or another and face it, we have all done things we regret. Therefore, give others the same grace (or even more than) you give yourselves, and if you have difficulty in extending grace to yourself remember that you are only human too. Learn from your mistakes and go to great lengths not to repeat them. And be careful to allow others to do the same for themselves.