Sit back and marvel

 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. (Romans 8:28)

There have been moments when I just didn't know what to say to God - unsure of what really was going on inside of my mind and emotions, just needing to get out those feelings, but really not sure how to put them into words. How about you? Do you ever experience those moments when there is an overwhelming sense of heaviness within, but you cannot really express it in words? I am so glad God can understand our sighs, groans, and even our silence. He knows our heart better than we do, but he also understands the mixed-up muddle of emotions that can occur at times. The more mixed-up we are about the things, the more we need to lean into God for his perspective and a fresh infilling of his peace.

Every detail is worked into our lives for some manner of good. I had a hard time understanding how 'bad stuff' could actually be turned into something I would benefit from in the long run. Yet, over the years, I have seen God take the various 'bad moments' and bring some element of growth within me that wasn't previously there. I guess this is what he means when he promises to bring good from the bad. It doesn't mean we won't face the hard stuff in life - it just means we don't face it alone and we don't face it without a purpose. We might be in a place of despair, but he remains in a place of control.

I live in a home that is over thirty years old now, so as each year passes, I try to do something 'big' to improve it and keep it in tip-top shape. One year I replaced the roof and central air. The Arizona sun means the outside needs painting from time to time. The inside needed a fresh coat of paint, so that was another year's project. The bathrooms needed a refresh and now the flooring is being redone. These projects come at a cost - financially, physically, and emotionally. I don't like to live in chaos - I like order (no...I am not OCD, I just like the comfort of things being settled). 

I think our minds are a little like these 'big projects' around the house. There is a cost that comes with all the emotional turmoil we face in those hard times. Our minds get all muddled-up, emotions riding high one day and down the next. Our thoughts can be carried away like a feather on the wind. Our bodies feeling the tension of the season we are in. There is no better time to take things to God than when we are experiencing those moments. We may not even have one clue what to ask for, but he knows exactly how to take the chaos of our present and create something so beautiful within us. Just like when the floors are all done, we will step back, sitting in peaceful repose, and marvel at what he has done. Just sayin!

Recharged?

We can get fatigued - it is natural for the body to run down, the mind following just about as quickly.  What gets us to the point of fatigue may be the day-to-day activities of life, or the totally unexpected event which happens in an instant and demands all of our energies to remedy.  After having undergone knee replacement this past week, I am feeling the fatigue of my body having to adjust to the new device, the influence of pain medications, and the pain associated with swelling from the tremendous manipulation of the knee to accomplish the procedure.  It is a physical fatigue, but it has taken a toll on my mind, as well.  I genuinely get to the point of needing to just "shut down" - a rarity for me as most will tell you! When fatigue gets to us, we all respond a little differently - my usual response is to just move a little slower, take a little longer to process, but not to totally "shut down" and nap.  I have a good friend who enjoys those afternoon naps while we vacation together, or over the weekend when the chores are all caught up.  It is a good thing - because that "down time" actually helps us to recharge for the tasks at hand.  Learning to recharge is important - especially as it applies to our spiritual energies.  No amount of physical or mental recharge will get us quite the same results if we neglect the spiritual recharge in the mix.  We need all three.  In turn, we also get the benefit of the emotional recharge - something thrown in kind of like a bonus from God!

So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.  (Galations 6:9-10 MSG)

Learning when to step back is an important part of recharging our energies, just as much as it helps us reframe our perception of the circumstances.  We grow weary many times because our perception becomes "tainted" by our mental, physical, or spiritual fatigue.  In turn, all we do takes on an air of being laborious and just not easy.  I cannot promise you all things will come out smelling like roses, or that the journey won't be riddled with a few stones along the way, but when we get this idea of recharge correct, we stand a much better chance of facing our difficult moments in better form and with firmer consistency.

Recharge involves connection - something you will have probably observed to be a continual theme in my writings.  I have a set of rechargeable batteries which power mom's hearing aides.  When they begin to get a little run-down, the signal received is weaker and the clarity by which the signal is received is distorted.  Later in the day, as the batteries begin to lose their charge, the signal weakens, meaning I have to speak louder, clearer, and closer to her in the same room as her.  At the beginning of the day though, the batteries are fully charged and she can make out my voice from a much further distance and with much better clarity.  The difference comes in the level of charge left in the battery.  The way to restore the charge is through connection - placing them in the charging station overnight usually accomplishes this quite well.

Now, take this into our spiritual lives and apply the same truths there.  We all might start with a full charge at the beginning of the journey, but as time goes on, the charge wears down and we begin to hear with less clarity, receiving distorted signals as a result of our lack of charge.  Spiritually, reconnection must be made to that which gives us our "recharge".  In the event you may not know how this occurs, it begins at the feet of Jesus.  We just need to stop long enough to have some "down time" with him.  Just as the hearing aides need to be put into the charger station and have some "down time" by which they will receive their fresh charge, we need to make this connection with Jesus by simply being in a place he can recharge us.

I learned that how well I get those hearing aides anchored into the recharger makes all the difference, though.  If I just haphazardly place them in there, putting the left into the right chamber, etc., I don't get a full charge.  They need to be in the right place, at the right depth, and for the right period of time in order to receive their full charge.  Same thing is true for us - we need to be in the right place (at the feet of Jesus), at the right depth (not just stopping at a simple "hey, how ya doing, Jesus?" kind of moment), and for the right period of time (long enough to connect and get renewed).  Just sayin!

Napping is bad for your health!

Ever feel like you have a "personal enemy" just lurking at your back?  You know, that eerie feeling that you just cannot escape some sense of doom and gloom that hangs heavy over your head?  Yep, we all go through that on occasion - no matter how "spiritual" we are!  Guess what - we DO have a personal enemy - he is called Satan.  His mission in life is to make our life miserable as much as possible - especially if we have committed to living by the principles laid out in scripture and entered into the grace God extends through the life of Christ.  He makes it his point to muster his forces to attempt to dissuade us from that pursuit.  Here's the good news - you'd not be the object of his attacks if you weren't living the way Jesus wants you to!

Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You’re not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It’s the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won’t last forever. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does.  (I Peter 5:8-11 MSG)

So, in the midst of realizing we have a personal enemy, here's what scripture tells us - keep a cool head!  Don't get overwhelmed by the attack - but see it for what it is!  It is a cleverly manipulated scheme designed to get us off track with Jesus - plain and simple!  Something you may not have considered is the attacks from our "personal enemy" will not stop!  They may lessen from time to time, but they don't stop.  Why?  He wants company in eternity!

Four things come to mind as excellent opportunities for our "personal enemy" to overwhelm us - those times or seasons in our lives when it makes it just a little easier for him to get an inroad into our lives.  What are they?  The times when we are hungry, lonely, angry, or tired.  

- Hungry for the wrong stuff.  Our "personal enemy" plays on our emotions - he wants us to develop wrong appetites in life.  Not so much for the foods we eat, but for the stuff which will whittle away our time, sap us of our energies, and the like.  He wants us to misdirect our attentions to those things which really don't amount to much in the end.  If he can get our eyes off of Jesus and onto ANYTHING or ANYONE else, he has succeeded in taking us from a place of being satisfied in Jesus and being hungry for something else instead.

- Lonely seasons are the toughest seasons to navigate through.  Why?  Isolated people make good targets.  If you have ever watched the nature shows, you know the lion doesn't hunt the herd, he hunts the one who stands apart, who wanders out into the open.  This is a hunting tactic used by those who take their prey from the beginning of time.  If you think Satan is any different in his "hunting" tactics, he isn't!  He looks for the isolated because they make easy prey.  The work of separating them from the herd is already done!  So, to counter this attack, we need to be aware of our surroundings - know when we are getting on the fringes of the "herd" and in danger of pulling away from those who actually act to keep us in a place of safety.

- Anger is probably one of our toughest struggles in life - it is an emotion which is hard to understand sometimes.  We don't always "break down" our anger to see what is at the root of it, so it keeps emerging when we least expect it.  The result of anger is further relationship breakdown, the result of the further breakdown is the chance for isolation, or at least being surrounded by a crowd who may not help you be hungry for the right things!  The sad part of anger is its destructiveness - not just of others - but of us.  It eats at us until it forms a cavernous "ulceration" which just bleeds and festers all the time.  So, if our enemy can get us focused on what we see as something we might just want to get a bit miffed about from time to time, he gets us working on the responses which lead us to form more frequent bouts of anger.  It is cyclic.  If he can get us angry with God - he scores extra points on that one!

- Weariness or being continuously tired is probably the hardest one of these to counter.  You see, our personal enemy begins with our focus.  If he gets us distracted, he can get us to wander a bit.  If he gets us wandering outside of protection in our lives, he can get us to feeling isolated and isolated people find it easier to get angry when things don't go their way in life.  Distracted, isolated, and angry people don't rest well!  In fact, we drive harder, trying to outdo ourselves and others - eventually succumbing to the fatigue which acts as a shadow or cloud over our lives.  The fatigue makes us vulnerable to attack!  See it for what it is - his tool to make it easier for him to take us down!

I don't know about you, but recognizing what it is our "personal enemy" may be up to in our lives seems like a good idea to me.  If you know the plan of attack ahead of time, you can counter the attack.  Just sayin!

Safe Harbor Anyone?

Safe Harbor:  Any place that offers protection in a storm or wartime.  I read that sailors are to be prepared for the storm - knowing in advance what the weather will bring.  They are to read the signs - being ever vigilant to the changes in the winds, skies, and the like.  In so doing, they are instructed to head immediately to safe harbor when they see the rapidly rising storm.  It is one thing to sail into a safe harbor - knowing you will shelter or refuge there. It is quite another to sail away or out of it.  One thing I see when sailing away from safe harbor is the "risk" associated in that movement.  We set sail into uncharted territory - uncertain about that which lies ahead.  The only thing we know is that we are leaving the place of safety.

My help and glory are in God—granite-strength and safe-harbor-God—so trust him absolutely, people; lay your lives on the line for him.  God is a safe place to be.  (Psalm 62:7-8 MSG)

One thing I know for sure - God is the one who provides the safety we need in the storm, but he is also the one who will guide us with security out of the place of safe harbor.  The key to leaving the place of safety and security, setting sail into uncharted territory is who pilots the ship we set sail in!  If God is the pilot (not the copilot), we know he has the expertise to sail us right past all the hazards that lie just beneath the surface of the waters we sail.  

Most of us want a place of safety and security.  We look for the "comfort zone" only because it is there we are kept from the ups and downs of actually being tossed about in the storms of life.  It is not a wrong thing to want a place of safe harbor - in fact, God wants to be that place.  Yet, if we always remain in that harbor, never sailing out of the place of comfort, we will never discover what God plans for our lives.

There are various kinds of safe harbors in our lives.  Some of us have the need for a safe harbor for our minds.  We get so muddled up in the storms of thoughts we cannot keep one from getting all mixed up with the other.  We are tossed to and fro by the storms of thought.  In finding a safe harbor for our minds, we are coming to a place where the frenzy is allowed to stop long enough to sort out the actions that match up with the thoughts.  In other words, we get a chance to settle down, think things through and really make choices based on facts, not emotions.  God provides these places of safe harbor for our mind - we just need to pull into them now and again to really get out of the storm that rages.  If we don't we get so tossed by the storms, we actually begin to take on water and drown in the mess of our own thoughts.  

Some of us need a safe harbor for our bodies.  We get physically beat up by the storms of life - physically exhausted by the demands placed upon us.  We run hither and yon, never really taking time to rest.  The problem with this type of constant activity is in the damages of the fatigue which we may not immediately see, but which are occurring nonetheless.  A sailor knows he can only stay in the intensity of the rough seas for so long - to stay longer will have an untold effect on his sails, his masts, and his ship's hull.  The constant beating of the waves and the ripping effect of the winds will leave his ship battered.  Safe harbor allows rest for his vessel.  He can weather the storm much better in a strong vessel.  

Others of us need a safe harbor for our spirit.  We are so inundated by the constant onslaught of the enemies attacks - we just need a place to "lay up" for a while.  We aren't taking ourselves out of the battle, but we are being wise in regrouping, getting the handle on what the enemy's doing, and then prepare our defenses against the attack.  In wartime, the ship pulls into safe harbor, not to "hide" from the enemy, but to "out maneuver" the enemy.  In that one move, the enemy is rendered a huge blow.  Some of us would do well to learn the safety of the harbor in out maneuvering our enemy.

Yes, we need safe harbors.  We also find ourselves called out into the seas once again - leaving the security and safety of the quiet harbor.  In actually leaving safe harbor, you face the uncertainty of the deep waters again.  But...don't lose sight of who sails the ship.  Safe harbor is often the very place where the "captaining" of our ship is handed over to the one who actually knows the uncharted waters of our voyage and can navigate them with both expertise and safety.  Just sayin!