I just finished a book where the author was telling a story about a hike she went on. She said the trail through thorn bushes, swamps, and mud was a difficult one, but it was all worth it when she reached the her destination. She ended up on a cliff overlooking her whole journey, and the view from the top was incredible.
That story hit me like a ton of bricks. Because that’s my life. My life before Christ was a journey through mud and thorns and swamps. But finally accepting Jesus as my savior, looking back over the long hike, it was all worth it.
At the time, those difficult situations seemed like swamps, looking back, they were stepping stones. Its funny how time can really change your perspective. Years back, in the midst of hardship I only felt despair, from where I am now I no longer feel shame or guilt.
Because I’m on the other side, I see how God has beautifully worked everything together and I feel hopeful.
Hosea 6:1
“Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
Because I know the ending point is beautiful, I can look back on the journey with peace. Now that I see Gods redemptive power in my life, the past no longer seems so daunting.
The darkness of the past no longer matters because the future is so much brighter than I ever could have imagined. Because of the brightness that surrounds me I can look back and laugh where I used to cringe.
Jeremiah 30:17
For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the Lord, because they have called you an outcast: ‘It is Zion, for whom no one cares!’
God is full of promises and He will never ever ever break a promise. My God is a God of restoration. What a beautiful promise.
Looking back is reassuring. You can say to yourself, “Look how faithful God has been to bring me this far. How could I doubt that He will carry me the rest of the way through?” He has been faithful before, He will be faithful again.
God has brought me so far, but there is still so much further for me to go! Sometimes its hard to see that I’m standing in victory, sometimes all I see is defeat. But I know that God wont leave me here.
Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
I no longer look back and see regret
Now I look back and see God creating beauty out of chaos.
I see God supplying love where there was none
I see God softening the hardest of hearts
I see God bringing strength where there used to only be fear
I see God bringing peace and driving out worry and anxiety.
But most of all…
I see God bringing healing where gaping wounds lie
I see God making whole what was shattered
And I see God restoring and redeeming all that had been lost
Out of the ashes we rise.
Song Recommendation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd9VEgsM2G4
I went to the boardwalk about a week ago with some friends to evangelize and just have conversations with people about Jesus. This was the first time I had ever done something like that and I was so nervous!
I thought, ‘I don’t have all the answers! I’m not smart enough to get the message across.’
I thought, ‘I’m not a good speaker! When I get nervous I stumble and fumble and look foolish.’
But out of obedience to God, I went to the boardwalk anyway.
And I’m glad I did.
When I started talking to people and they started asking hard questions, its true, I didn’t have all the answers. And I got a bit frustrated with the hypothetical scenarios thrown at me. I just wanted to make them see, but its hard to put into words something that you have experienced.
I just needed to share my story. To say, this is who I was, and this is how Jesus saved me.
I could sit and talk theology with you and dissect every line of the Bible but then we would be missing the point! The real living, breathing proof right in front of our eyes!
In John chapter 9 Jesus heals a man who was blind from birth and he is taken to the Pharisees. The man tells him that Jesus performed a miracle! The man tells them, he washed my eyes with mud and now I see.
Instead of rejoicing and giving thanks to God, these men debate and question the man about rules and regulations. They were missing the point!
Finally after continuing to be questioned, the man says, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
It doesn’t matter to the man what day it was that brought him healing, all he knows it that his eyesight has been restored!
Instead of trying to answer every hypothetical situation and loaded question, I just wanted to say,
“Don’t you get it? Don’t you see how wonderful Jesus is?
I was blind but now I see!
I was a prisoner but now I’m free!
I was broken but now I’m healed!
I was lost but now I’m found!
I was dead but now I’m alive!
I was hopeless but now I have found hope!”
Some people aren’t going to be satisfied unless you can answer every single question and reassure them on every single issue about God.
But I cant do that. I cant answer enough questions to get someone to put their trust in God.
All I can say is that I’m not who I once was, and because of Jesus Christ I have joy and hope and love and freedom and salvation.
Song recommendation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ4yNYY1hHM
Its been a rough week. I have stuffed my schedule so full of activity that I haven’t gotten a chance to sit and recharge and spend a lot of time with God. And the devil knows that! And he has just been attacking, hitting where it hurts, bringing up old wounds.
I’ve been going to a women’s bible study and really taking time to do the workbook that accompanies it and it has been like a breath of fresh air.
In the workbook I was reading a passage in Daniel, and noticed something that I never had before.
God did not immediately save Daniel. Lately I’ve noticed that I can be self focused and demanding of God. I want God to move in the way I think He should, WHEN I think He should.
But what I noticed when reading Daniel that…
DANIEL WENT INTO THE FURNACE.
And…
DANIEL WENT INTO THE LIONS DEN.
I love the way these three guys answer the king after he threatens them with a fiery furnace.
Daniel 3:16 Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
These three guys committed to serving God even if He chose not to save them! They trusted that no matter what the outcome, God was faithful and that His will (even if it be them dying in a furnace), was the best way to go.
When God doesn’t come through for me in the way that I think He should, I sometimes feel betrayed or rejected. But I want to be like Daniel, content no matter what the outcome, knowing that God’s plan is ALWAYS the best plan.
God does choose to save Daniel and his friends, but they are still thrown into the furnace!
In this story God chooses to deliver them THROUGH the trial, not FROM the trial.
In the story of Daniel in the lions den, Daniel heard that anyone worshiping anything other than the King would be thrown into the lions den.
So Daniel promptly goes home and gave thanks to God.
Daniel didn’t go home and plead for his life, he went home and gave God thanks! So many times I find myself grumbling and complaining. But I realize even in times of hardships, there is still so much to be thankful for!
So Daniel was thrown into the lions den and stayed there all night long. And in the morning not a single scratch was found on him.
Daniel trusted that God would pull him through unscathed, but he spent all night with lions!
I don’t like trials. Not a fan. I just want God to save me BEFORE I’m thrown into the furnace or the lions den. And sometimes He does.
But other times, He knows that its wiser to let me go through the fire and to save me at the end.
The waiting period in the middle makes me cling to the hand of God and search for Him with all my might. If God had saved me right away, I would have called out a quick, ‘thank you’ and have been on my way.
Going through the furnace reminds me how desperately in need of God I am. In times of distress and hardship and pain, I find God so much closer by my side than when I feel myself competent on my own.
I know that even when I’m going through trials that God never leaves my side, not even for a single moment.
Still sometimes when things don’t go my way and trials come I quickly forget this lesson. I’m praying God will soften my heart and mold me into someone who is content to ride out the storm while holding His hand.
1 Peter 1:7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold--though your faith is far more precious than mere gold.
Thank you Jesus for the refining fire which will take this lumpy piece of coal, tossed around by a sinful world, and mold it into something beautiful that will glorify Your name.
This is a quote from a book by Joni Eareckson called, “A place of healing.” It’s a great book that I would recommend and I love this quote.
He has chosen not to heal me, but to hold me. The more intense the pain, the closer His embrace.
Song Recommendation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHGU3z10fo0
