Wednesday, April 18, 2007

A Vastly Different Light

"Life is hard. Most of us have reasons to lie down on life and never get up...Christ got down next to us in the grave, stayed the better part of three days, and then got up...so we'd have permission to get up too. And start living life. Beloved, let this one sink in deeply: if God allowed you to be thrown into a pit, you weren't picked on; you were picked out. God entrusted that suffering to you because He has faith in you. Live up to it. All the way up."

~ Beth Moore



I've heard a lot about Beth Moore and her writings. I haven't had a chance to read anything she's written until last week. A while ago I was looking for online Bible studies, etc. and I had happened upon a book by Beth Moore entitled, "Get Out of That Pit: Straight Talk about God's Deliverance ". At the time, I kinda put it in my memory bank and continued on my way. Last Wednesday, while at the Christian book store to run an errand, I turned and saw this book with a sales tag on it. My inner voice prompted me hard to get it, so I did and since then, when I have time to sit and read, I can't pry myself from this book.

It's caused me to reflect even deeper about a lot of things in my life...the direction it's going and whether or not I've been sitting idle, driving in reverse, in the midst of a detour, simply under construction or a multitude of other things which could be the direction of a trip. I've been thinking about the fact that there's nothing really wrong with most of these things if God is at the realm, but if we are attempting to take control of the directing, then there's endless possibilities of what could potentially go wrong.

Another thing which has been relevant lately has been my health. Deep down, I think it's probably been an issue, as to why it can't be figured out what's going on. I know it's an issue for many around me and I'm realizing that no matter how hard I might try not to, I have been drinking those into my system and this has been causing a wide variety of emotions. It came to me last night, that maybe I'm simply not supposed to know what's causing the repeated infections...maybe that's not what He wants me to take from this experience in life. Deep down, I think the lesson I'm supposed to take away is one of complete and total surrender of all things. A surrendering which is not conditional on eventually knowing the outcome of what's going on, but one which is simply allowing me to be content where I am and learning to live a full life in spite of the obstacles around me. Maybe there will come a time when the cause is figured out and options are available to help rid the infection for good. But I can't stay in idle, because who knows how long that might be and if it will ever be.

You know, the only thing I can really do, is to take steps to be able to live in the most positive light for Him. In this book three steps are talked about: CRY OUT, CONFESS and CONSENT. I haven't read far enough to say what the book says these steps are, but simply by looking at them, I feel a lot of peace. I know in my heart, that by doing these steps daily, I will get to that level of unconditional and complete surrender that He wants me at. I know there's a lot of work ahead of me, but I truly believe that it will all be for the better...the best for me, for my relationship with God, for my marriage, for my family, for those relationships with people around me and so much more.

Life's not always easy...many times it is hard and I think we do wish we could just lay down...at least I know I feel that way a lot of times. I think when you make a commitment to change and work on the betterment, the obstacles will increase and that feeling will be very overwhelming some days. But He's with us always...He knows us and loves us in the midst of all things, regardless of whether we see something as a success of failure, I believe He sees it all as progression to where He knows we all can be. That's a huge comfort, especially in times when you can't see the light at the end of tunnel and things seem to be getting increasingly worse instead of better. Even when it feels like He's not there and doesn't care, He does and so much more than we really know. It's those times which bring us to a deeper level with Him and cause us to see who He is in a vastly different light and also to see what He sees in us each and every moment of our life.

2 comments:

audrey` said...

Hi Jay

How are you?
Take care =)

Cinder said...

Hi Audrey,

I'm sorry I've taken so long to get on here and comment! Life sometimes, hey? Thanks so much for checking in...take care ;D!