Do we believe?

 

 

 



 

I don't even know where to start this post. My heart is heavy for so many reasons and I have spent a few days trying to sort out just exactly what has me so burdened. It all boils down to our inability to let the past stay in the past.  This is a favorite tool in Satan's tool box. In fact, he could keep most of us in bondage with this one tool alone. I have been slapped in the face with this from both sides this week. First, by someone who has accepted Christ's Salvation and moved on to a much better life, only to be shunned by the church because she wears her testimony in ink. Second, by someone who I had NO idea was in complete bondage- who cried out to me that she is held captive by her past.

 

Why do we not believe God's Word? The old has passed away, the new has come!

 

So, if you are a church member, please welcome all in with open arms and let God work in their lives as HE sees fit. Don't try and "fix" them so that they fit into your idea of what a church member looks like. If we all had our pre-Christ lives out in the open for all to see, we would all be very much the same. Remember that. My goodness, it is only by the GRACE of God that I am not in a gutter somewhere myself. The same goes for you. Jesus is in the saving business. Do we believe in the power of His blood or not?

 

Finally, if you are held captive by your past, please consider this...it is bad enough that it happened, but it is a complete travesty that Satan is keeping you in bondage to it. Take your eyes off of your past and off of yourself and look to Jesus. Take your eyes off of the person who hurt you and look to Jesus. Take that beaten, battered, bruised, and otherwise wounded heart that you are protecting so fiercely and offer it to Christ, for He is TRULY the lover of your soul. He is trustworthy. Every time Satan whispers his lies in your ear, look to Christ who is restoring you. Search God's word for His promises of restoration. HE will deliver you and HE will restore you. 

 

Joel 2:25 says that the Lord will restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten.

Exodus 14:14 says that the Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still.

Revelation 21:5 says that the Lord seated on His throne says "Behold, I am making all things new"

 

Don't judge me by my past. I don't live there anymore.

And neither do you.

 

I so easily forget

 

 

 

I so easily forget that God is real, that HE is present in my life, that He hears my prayers, knows my thoughts, understands my feelings, hopes, and fears.

 

Its crazy because He has done so much for me. It is absurd that I would forget the power He has displayed in my life personally...I will use healing me of cancer not once, but twice, as a decent example. You'd think that I would have the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart every day of my life. You'd think that, as a pastor's wife, I would be solidly connected to my Savior and in constant amazement of all the things He does every moment of every day.

 

But I so easily forget.

 

I don't forget the "big stuff". I don't forget that He changed my heart. I don't forget that He healed my body. I don't forget that He saved my children's souls. I don't forget that He gave me a godly husband.

 

Instead, I forget the "little things".

 

I believe that I forget the "little things" because the "Devil is in the Details". He knows that he cannot compete with the "big things" God has done in my life, so Satan slips in and whispers hopelessness in my ear. Satan slips in and gradually crushes my spirit. Satan slips in and slowly steals my joy. Satan slips in and calmly drains my strength. Satan slips into all the little things and leaves me weary, broken, and beaten up by life. Somewhere between lunches and laundry and dinner and dishes and homework and housework and church-work and work-work and family and friends and teaching and preaching....I forget.

 

I forget that He hears me....even when I can't find words to pray.

I forget that He knows I am overwhelmed...by parenting and wife-ing and teaching and laundry and housework.

I forget that He knows the longing of my heart...that I want to feel cherished and protected and safe.

I forget that He knows that I am afraid...of not being good enough, of letting Him (and everyone else) down, of missing the mark, of not meeting expectations....of failing.

I forget that He can heal my marriage, my damaged friendships, and my wounded heart.

I forget that He can change people.

I forget that He can change me.

 

It is in the little things that God strengthens me moment by moment. It is in the little things that God restores my hope, my joy, my passion, and my faith each and every day. I so easily forget that He is in control, that He has a plan and a purpose, and that His will WILL be accomplished. I so easily forget the power of the One I serve.

 

Today I am thankful. I am thankful that I serve a God who loves me enough to remind me that He is here. I am thankful that He hears my prayers, be they timid, bold, spoken, or unspoken.  

 

And I am so very thankful that He cares enough to remind me that He is present in the little things....because I so easily forget.