Jennie Allen in her book Anything says this, "Prayers like anything place us in the midst of stories ... even if they feel momentarily insignificant [at this time]."
What kind of story are you living right now? Do you feel you are living an insignificant life, changing diapers, taking the dog out, doing the dishes, paying the bills and all those mundane tasks that make up this thing we call "life"? What about hard times that we face? Are you living a difficult story?
Jennie and her interviewees said these thoughts in a video interview that I watched yesterday:
"It is a perspective change. It isn't about what we do, this life is short. (Jennie said) I could survive "x", not because it wouldn't be the most difficult thing, but because we trust in something bigger. He is better than all of it. At the end of the day it is, or should be, the Name of God we are building! We have to put aside our agendas and focus on eternity. We each have to play our parts in the Kingdom and do it WELL and love WELL! Changing diapers may help change the world one day by that little one you are loving at that moment when we do it with Jesus, putting Him first. Daily surrender. This is real freedom. Make it matter for the LORD! Stop striving and start serving."
She said I could survive and she went on to list about five or so things (if her spouse left, if one of her children died, if she got cancer, bankruptcy, foreclosure, etc.), HARD things, that none of us want to go through, but she said she could survive those things because:
1) this life is short and
2) she trusts in something bigger
The verses I read this morning came from Matthew 16:23-28. Jesus had just gotten through telling his disciples that He was going to die and be resurrected and Peter is like, "Ah, excuse me LORD, that wasn't in the five year plan!" Any Jesus doesn't miss a beat He replies to Peter and basically tells him, "You don't have any idea how God works" (the Message version) and then says "Get thee behind me Satan".
Peter wasn't in the driver's seat ... God was! (and is and evermore will be)
Do bad things happen to good people? All the time! Do hard times rock our world? Almost everyday! Does Christ tell us we are going to suffer? Oh yeah! He says in these verses, "Don't run from suffering, embrace it. Follow me and I can show you how."
We aren't in the driver's seat, God is!
So how do we deal with those HARD things? Those things that we never thought we would go through? Those things that honestly we had nothing to do with because someone else made a poor choice and now we are having to deal with the consequences as well.
Last summer my daughter made a poor decision to ride her bike across the road in our little subdivision. What she didn't know was a truck was coming down the same road and as she crossed back to our side the truck hit her tiny 4 year old body and threw her from her bike. God protected her and she literally got up and walked away and then laid down in the grass and cried and screamed from I'm sure some pain, but mostly terror. I have replayed that scene a million times in my head and so thankful it didn't end in a different way, crippling or worse, but what if it had?
We see it all around us, people making choices that potentially change our life for good. My parents chose divorce which changed the course of my life. My job ended, but they offered me a new one in a different state which changed the course of our life and where we live. My mother-in-law had a stroke after we were first married forcing us to change homes. My spouse made a decision before we were married that caused some ramifications for us in the early years of our marriage.
Too often people around us make decisions that we feel the consequences of, perhaps they cause suffering in our life or perhaps it just changes things and how or where we live.
In all these things though who am I going to let drive me through those circumstances? Who is going to be the driving force? Me? My emotions? My need for comfort and security?
Jesus said if we seek these things we potentially lose our eternity with Him. Whoever saves his life here, loses Christ, but whoever loses his life for the sake of Christ will find real and meaningful life.
This life and all it's "comforts" and disappointments is so very TEMPORAL. We (I) need to stop trying to be secure and comfortable here (face it, that's probably not going to happen anyway -- this world is not our own) but start taking the higher road. Forgive those that hurt you (Jesus prayed from the cross "forgive them" ... from the cross!) Stop looking to this world for joy, passion, love and peace. You aren't going to find it here. Joy, real joy, will only come when we give ourselves wholeheartedly to God. Then when the difficult times come, and they will come, we know who has got our backs, we know who we can trust to drive us through those circumstances.
Jennie writes this, "I've been so programmed to perform as a 'follower of Christ,' and all God ever wanted was for me to surrender, to set aside the agenda and to follow ... The greatest gift in surrender is that in letting go of everything you think will fix you and make you feel better, you find a person ... not a pat answer or a verse or a cause. After your head clears from the struggle of wrestling ... now you see HIM."
Set your minds therefore on the things of HaShem (God). Stop being or tripping over stumbling blocks in your life and cleave to Christ steadfastly. Forget your own interests and find out what God is interested in (forgiveness, unity, love, service, caring for others, etc., etc.) and put yourself in the passenger seat and let Christ be your driver because, friend, when you do that you will be in for the ride of your life!!
Are we there yet?
Blessings Abundant
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