storms

A Good Reminder to Myself

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I talk to myself sometimes. Out loud. I tend to use a British accent so it’s more fun and less creepy.

Sometimes, I have to remind myself of certain things. Repeatedly.

1) You are not your job (or lack of one). You are not your salary. You are not a title or a profession. You are exactly who God made you to be. And He said you were good.

2) God’s in the past where you messed up and where you got hurt, healing your wounds so they no longer bleed into your present (thanks to Mike Glenn for that one. He’s right there with you in your present. And He’s already in your future, waiting on you with plans that will blow your mind.

3) It’s okay to feel scared and unsure. It’s okay to have doubts because faith by its very nature comes with doubting. If we knew with 100% certainty, we wouldn’t need faith.

4) If you are loved and if you have friends, you are not a failure. If God loves you and calls you friend, then you have already won.

5) Whatever happened today, be it good, bad, or ugly, tomorrow is a new day filled with fresh possibilities and a clean slate. You can start over.

Maybe you’re having a great day and you’re loving life and everything is going your way. That’s wonderful. Maybe not. But everybody will at times go through storms. Everyone will go through deserts where your faith seems dead. Everyone will go through dark nights where God seems impossible to find.

No matter what your feelings or senses tell you, no matter what your circumstances tell you, God is there. He has not left you. He has not forgotten you. And He never will.

By the way, this blog is best read with a British accent. It sounds so much more sophisticated that way.

Don’t Give Up

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This is a word for the faint-hearted and down-trodden. Don’t give up.

You may be close to giving up or throwing in the towel or calling it quits, but don’t.

You may think the storm will never abate and the sky will always be filled with dark and ominous clouds and the sun will never come out again, but it will.

Your marriage may be hanging on by the slimmest of threads. You may dread getting up each morning and going to your job. You may sometimes wonder how your life came to seem so hopeless.

But don’t give up.

You may not think anyone sees or cares, but God does. And He’s already at work.

Somedays, it feels like you’re swimming upstream and wearing yourself out while getting nowhere, but God is leading you to a place that you don’t yet know but once you get there, it will all have been worth it.

Just trust God and take the next step. That’s all.

Take it from someone who’s been there. It will get better.

 

The Titanic Mistake

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What makes the Titanic disaster so tragic is that it was all so very avoidable. It’s very easy for me to sit back as I watch the movie based on the actual events and look on in disbelief at how so many were convinced of the invincibility of the ship Titanic. As one said, “Not even God could sink her.”

It’s easy to be outraged at the lack of preparedness in the event of an emergency, to think that they only had lifeboats enough for half the ship’s passengers. 1,517 people lost their lives that day, mostly due to negligence and poor planning.

It would be so very easy for me to sit in judgment and look down on those who could have and should have done better. But it wouldn’t be honest.

How many times have I felt invincible and trusted in the security of my surroundings? How many times have I clung to relationships or possessions or titles like they were life-preservers?

Inevitably, both you and I will have times in our lives when we find out our own invincibility is a myth and those relationships and things can’t save us. Whether it’s tragedy or just an epiphany that sobers us to our own mortality and dependence on God, we all have to face the music that we can’t save ourselves.

One of my favorite verses says it best.

“But now, God’s Message, the God who made you in the first place, Jacob,
   the One who got you started, Israel:
“Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you.
   I’ve called your name. You’re mine.
When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you.
   When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down.
When you’re between a rock and a hard place,
   it won’t be a dead end—
Because I am God, your personal God,
   The Holy of Israel, your Savior” (Isaiah 43:1-3).

Only one Love is strong enough to save us. Only one God is strong enough to hold us together when we feel we’re falling apart. That God has revealed Himself in Jesus and invites you to place your security in Him.

Will you?