In the midst of all of the special times I've been having these days...times with my kids, my family, my friends and my Jesus...I find that I'm rather taken aback by some things as well. I'm taken aback at how God chooses to show up when we least expect it. At how He really does know what He's doing
I've been standing back and just watching. Listening. Seeing. God has been the author of so many dialogues with my loved ones...some of these loved ones are new arrivals and some of them not so much. But regardless, these God-scripted dialogues have conjured up many different emotions within me. Hurt and sadness. Joy and hope. Ache. Healing. Pity. Excitement. I've watched people in various stages of the storms of their lives. Some of them just now entering. Some of them have been in that eye for quite some time. Some of them are coming out. Some of them have long since said goodbye to those storms and are simply enjoying the beautiful life that those rain waters have made a reality. I've noticed people embrace various viewpoints on these storms. Some of them buckling up and clinging to Jesus through their humility and faith. Some of them totally turning their back on Him and relying on their own faulty navigation skills. Some of them perhaps even choosing to stay there because somehow they find the turmoil all too familiar and even comforting, not realizing there is calm and safety on the other side even though it will take a lot of work to get there.
It's not my job (or my desire) to dismantle (or decide) all the ins and outs of anyone else's storms, but it captivates me. It intrigues me. It stretches me. It teaches me. And it drives me to my knees. I find myself thanking God for the way He has helped many people, including myself, weather their most recent storms. I find myself pleading on the behalf of those who send me a random S.O.S indicating they are about ready to sail into unknown and tumultuous seas. I find myself asking why people whom have done the work and made Godly choices and are right where God wants them to be are still having to bail water in order to stay afloat. And yes, I must also find myself checking my own spirit...making sure that I'm not sinking into a stagnant place that's all too easy to recognize in everybody else's life, but not my own.
As much as employers and therapists and steering committees and church boards want forward thinkers, God wants them even more. He dares us to face the storm and resolutely declare that we will "be back."
In the latest year and a half of this thing I have referred to as my journey, you've never heard me saying that I'll be back... Once again, for those of you with short term memory loss, I'm not Arnold. And frankly, there were days I even wondered if I really would be back. I sat on the couch with a dear friend the other day, unpacking some details from a day long ago, tears filling my eyes. Some of those tears were because I remembered the pain and the fear that caused my body to give out, my mind to freeze and my spirit to feel completely depleted. Yet many of those tears were actually because it dawned on me that it was over. That season has been closed. Restored. Healed. The storm has passed. New things are in play now...with much more to come. Sure, reminders and even damage from that storm still exist. And yes, the waves will pick up at various points in the future. I get it. But the release that I experienced as I finally admitted the fact that God's promise to bring me out as a stronger, better, more whole and absolutely crazier in love with Jesus person...well, it's happened. And He's taking care of me in ways that I truly NEVER thought I would see. In ways that I never would have guessed, all along using the people and the circumstances that He decided were the best for me because He said so. Never mind if they were predictable, simple or easy situations or relationships...or how badly I could have potentially messed it all up...but His best is His best. And I often have to pinch myself to realize just how quickly and thoroughly He has guided me through all of it.
H - I'm praying for you. Much is unknown. You are scared. Yet I know you are clinging to Jesus and I am so proud of you. You will make it. You are not alone.
L - I know that life doesn't always look the way you wish it would. But you must remember that God has promised you your heart's desires...and they will appear when and how He decided because He loves you just that much!
S - You astonish me. Your resolve, humility, compassion, obedience and ability to look beyond the here and now of the physical realm have touched me deeply. God will continue to be faithful to you on this new leg of your own journey.
D - You've been through more than I could ever imagine. But God is doing a new thing and He will give you back the years that the locusts have taken from you. You will be rewarded and blessed. Not because of anything you've done to earn it, but because God absolutely adores you and is going to take very good care of you. Your dreams are being imagined. You inspire me.
And there's many, many more of you. You are working hard and searching even harder to be in the center of God's will...even if that center is found in the eye of a storm.
On those days that the water bailing never seems to end and the sail rips and the darkness of the sky seems to be never-ending. Remember: You WILL be back. And I do not say that because I was once the governor of California. I say that because I know God is NOT done with you. In fact, He's only just started... And as long as you continue to embrace the things you must do to stay in alignment with Him, you will be absolutely flabbergasted at what the end result will be.
This I know full well, my friends.
My Jesus said so.
0 comments:
Post a Comment