detour

I absolutely love running in my neighborhood!  I have routes from 1 to 6 miles mapped out in my head, and I can shift my brain into autopilot once I know how far I am going.  I know where every uneven spot in the sidewalk is...I have scars on my knees from my up close and personal encounters with them.  I love the predictability and security that I feel when I run close to home.  I'm a girl who loves routine.

This morning I wanted to add some distance to what I've been running, but the street and the sidewalk on my usual longer route are closed.  We've got new drainage and fiber optic cables going in around our neighborhood, so there is a lot of digging going on.  Roads are closed and detour signs are everywhere.

I was praying as I ran about the uncertain world I see around me.  My faith is being challenged every where I turn.  Nothing seems comfortable or secure.  Change seems to be the only constant.  It is so easy for me to grow discontent, discouraged, and doubtful in times like these.

As I reached the top of a hill and the end of a street, I realized I had nowhere to go.  The cross street was closed in both directions and the sidewalk was occupied by equipment and large concrete pipes.  I let out a sigh of disgust and turned around to retrace my steps and find a new route.  DETOUR!

As I started back down the hill, God started speaking to my spirit.  Yes, there are roadblocks and detours in life right now.  But, I'm working.  The old paths are being torn up, and the improvements will be worth it.  Trust Me in the DETOUR.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.

Romans 8:28

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him,who have been called according to His purpose.

    

fill me up

My friend, Brian Frable, wrote a song/prayer to God that says, "Fill me up, till I overflow.  I want to run over. I want to run over."  His words have become my own daily prayer to God in the last couple of months. 

God longs to be the One who fills us up, but we often think we need to do it ourselves.  Let me just say, me trying to fill me up never ends well.  In Galatians 5:19-23, the Apostle Paul made two lists; the fruits of our sinful nature and the fruits of the Spirit of God.  When I see the fruits of my sinful nature coming out, it is a wake up call to my spirit.  I'm empty of God and I'm filling up with me.  I need to spend time on my knees; repenting, praying, and listening. I need to allow the truth of God's word to fill me.  I often find myself whispering, "Jesus, fill me up."

How do I know that God wants to fill each one of us?  The Bible has so many verses that say so.  Here are some of my favorites:

And this hope will not lead to disappointment.  For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to FILL our hearts with His love.  Romans 5:5

I pray that God, the source of hope, will FILL you COMPLETELY with joy and peace because you trust in Him.  Then you will OVERFLOW with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Romans 15:13

And the church is His body; it is made FULL and COMPLETE by Christ who FILLS all things everywhere with Himself.  Ephesians 1:23

And my favorite...I read it and pray it every day...there is so much good truth here...

I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit.  Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him.  Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong.  And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is.  May you experience the love of Christ though it is too great to understand fully.  Then you will be made COMPLETE with all the FULLNESS of life and power that comes from God.  Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.  Ephesians 3:16-20

I'm so amazed by God!  He wants to fill us up completely, until He overflows out of us.  Not just a drop.  Not halfway.  COMPLETELY so we can share Him with the people around us.  God is enough to fill each one of us to overflowing.  He wants to fill us, we only need to ask. 

standing in the face of fear...again

We are living in crazy times.  We are isolated and fear is running rampant.  I am well acquainted with fear.  I spent much of my life being paralyzed and driven by it.  I know how the grip of fear feels when I am believing a barrage of lies carefully shot at the targets of my heart and mind by the enemy.  BUT, I want to tell you the end of the story before you hear about the struggle.  I've been set free from fear!  And so have you!  Jesus broke the power of fear when He became the final sacrifice for us.

It was only 5 years ago when I discovered the truth.  I was living like a prisoner to fear when I had already been set free.  Fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of abandonment were my ever present companions.  There was no trauma or abuse in life that caused it.  The devil knew God's calling on my life...to love people with God's perfect love...so he came at me with the opposite, fear.  And it worked for a long time.  Blinded by lies and paralyzed by fear, I was not making much of an impact for God on this world.

I started filling my mind and my heart with the truth, God's truth, knowing that my survival depended on it.  Knowing that Jesus promised, "And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free!"  (John 8:32)  Here are some of my favorite truths...

Be strong and courageous!  Do not be afraid or discouraged.  For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.  Joshua 1:9

Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you, I have called you by name; you are mine.  When you go through deep waters, I will be with you.  When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown.  When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.  For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.  (Isaiah 43:1-3)

I prayed to the Lord, and He answered me.  He freed me from all my fears.  Those who look to Him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces.  (Psalm 34:4-5)

All of Psalm 91 is so good, but I won't write it all here for you.  Check it out for yourself.  There are so many verses in the Bible telling us why we should not fear.  It is truth to hang on to, and fight with, and stand on.

I've been walking free of fear for a handful of years now.  But, the first time I went to the store after COVID-19 hit, I felt it rising up in me.  I remember walking thru the store whispering, "Jesus, I trust you."  And He has provided for us, and He isn't going to stop now!

Shortly after the stay at home order was in place, we had a fatal shooting across the street.  Our neighbor lost his life, and a bullet lodged in our garage wall.  That was a gripping fear like I had never experienced in my life.  Each night for the next week, I would struggle to sleep as my mind raced through the "what ifs" of that situation and others that might yet happen.  Finally, one night, I had enough.  I got out my Bible, read those truths about fear, and I stood (literally) and said "Fear, you don't belong in my house.  I'm not living this way anymore!"  And then I asked God to overwhelm me with His love and peace.  And He did.

Today, the fear hit me in a new way...the fear of being replaced.  It took me a while to catch on to the lie, but once I did, I renewed my mind with the truth.  It might look a little different, but fear is always the same thief in a different disguise.

A friend told me once that there are many forms of love.  I agree.  And there are many forms of fear.  But ALL of it is lies from the devil, and none of it is from God.  God is the God of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  (Galatians 5:22)  So I'm standing on what I know to be true, God's truth.  And I'm standing in the face of fear for as long as I must to win the battle.

no one fights alone or go to the other side

As evening came, Jesus said to His disciples, "Let us cross to the other side of the lake."  So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed).  But soon a fierce storm came up.  High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.  Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with His head on a cushion.  The disciples woke Him up, shouting, "Teacher, don't you care that we are going to drown?"  When Jesus woke up, He rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Silence!  Be still!"  Suddenly, the wind stopped, and there was a great calm.  Then He asked them, "Why are you afraid?  Do you still have no faith?"  Mark 4:35-40

Many years ago, I heard a pastor teach on this passage.  What stuck with me all this time was that Jesus said, "go to the other side" and He wouldn't have said go to the other side if going to the other side was impossible.

I am certain that this was one of many instances that Jesus used to build faith in the disciples, and I am certain the Jesus uses situations in our lives in the same way.  Each time we go through a hard situation, we come out on the other side with stronger faith.  Faith is like a muscle; it has to be exercised and challenged in order to become stronger.

God uses times of struggle and challenge to build our faith, and then He uses us to guide others to the other side of the same struggle.  When we become survivors, God calls us to come alongside others in the battle and help them survive.  You may have survived illness, cancer, depression, anxiety, infertility, addiction, abuse, or a myriad of other hard situations.  But now you are strong and you are equipped to shine a light and lead the way through the darkness to the other side. 

I love the cancer awareness motto, "no one fights alone".  As Christians, that should be our battle cry...NO ONE FIGHTS ALONE!  We should be the first to jump in beside someone fighting a hard battle.  Jesus is always with us, and He can calm the wind and the waves surrounding us. 

We are living in a time where fear and isolation are running amuck.  Let us not lose heart, my friends.  Jesus is with us.  Let us link arms, stand firm, and go to the other side!

do the right thing

I have to be honest...I've been stewing on this one for a LONG time.  Months at least, if not years. 

I made a list at the beginning of 2020.
Do the right thing...

• when there is no reward or recognition.
• when the cost seems too great.
• when no one else is.
• when it isn't popular.
• when it doesn't make sense.
• when no one is watching.
• when it is hard.

Doing the right thing is rarely the easy thing.  It is the path of great resistance.  Doing the right thing doesn't lead to popularity, recognition, or an easy life.  I've wrestled with this idea of doing the right thing for much of my life, and somewhere along the way, I settled on doing the right thing because it would make people happy.  

As an adult, I've asked myself, "Why should I do the right thing when others don't and it doesn't seem to matter?  Why should I do the right thing when there seems to be no benefit in it for me?"  If you know me, you are probably thinking, "What?!  That doesn't sound like the Dawn I know."  I'm sorry.  I'm being transparent with my struggle and my imperfections, but I would be surprised if I am the only person who has ever felt this way. 

I went to my Bible, looking for a reason to do the right thing, and here is what I found.

Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.  James 4:17

So let's not get tired of doing what is good.  At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we do not give up.  Galatians 6:9

Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.  Colossians 3:23

For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you.  He is your example, and you must follow in His steps.  1 Peter 3:21

I finally found my motivation for doing the right thing...love.  Love for the God who loved me first and sent His only son to die for me.  I choose to be content knowing that He sees me making the right choice and acting on it.  Even if no one else ever knows, I will do the right thing, because that is who God wants me to be and I love Him. 

when I am weak, then I am strong

Each time He said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness."  So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ can works through me.  That's why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.  2 Corinthians 12:9-10

I have a plethora of weaknesses.  The worst (in my mind at least) is that I often allow my emotions to rule me.  I've been lost in that place recently, completely overwhelmed by the depth of the feelings that I feel, and unwilling or unable to let them go.  I don't do anything superficially.  I'm an all or nothing girl.  There is no half way for me...and that definitely includes my emotions. 

My lifelong coping skills have been to stuff my emotions until they erupt, to walk away from situations where my emotions threaten to come out, to build a wall around my heart, and to push the people who mean the most to me away from me.  Here's the spoiler...none of my methods work!

I hit my breaking point this past week.  But, the beautiful thing was that God turned it into my breakthrough point.  (And again, God worked in ALL things for the good of those who love Him!)  Quietly, the Holy Spirit whispered to me, "My grace is all you need.  My power works best in weakness." 

What a relief!  I don't have to control my emotions on my own.  God gave me my emotions and He intricately created me.  He made me this crazy combo of deep feeling and all or nothing.  I'm praying that He would teach me His way to live with my emotions.  I fully believe that God can use them for His glory and my good. And, He already promised that when I am weak, He would be strong. 

freedom

Free at last, free at last!  Thank God Almighty, we're free at last!  -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

It seems appropriate for me to write about freedom, my word for 2020, on the day set aside to remember and celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

I've been thinking about and studying the word "freedom" since my pastor said to me one night at a prayer meeting, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty".  (2 Corinthians 3:17)  And then he added, "No matter what is going on around you, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty!"  I like to read the New Living Translation Bible and it uses the word freedom instead of liberty, so that became my word. 

I went straight to my Bible to look up freedom scriptures.  Here are just a few of them...

For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  2 Corinthians 3:17

He [God] is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son [Jesus] and forgave our sins.  Ephesians 1:7

God sent Him [Jesus] to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that He could adopt us as His very own children.  Galatians 4;5

For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters.  But don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature.  Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.  Galatians 5:13

And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.  So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.  John 8:32. 36

Freedom comes with a cost, and choices, and responsibility.  As Christians, Jesus sets us free the instant we receive Him into our hearts.  Our freedom was bought by the blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross for us.  The choice is ours.  I chose Jesus when I was 9 years old, but I lived in bondage for many years after.

It was only 5 years ago that I realized that I had learned to live with fear, and I was sick of it!  That was just the beginning of my freedom journey.  Freedom is a daily choice, and I fight not to return to the "comfort" and familiarity of my captivity habits.  I started 2 lists in my journal this year: "freedom from" and "freedom to", and I go back to them often to remind myself and add to them. 

I take my freedom and the responsibility that it brings very seriously.  Now, it is my turn to help others find freedom by leading the way...speaking God's truth, because THE Truth will set us free.  I am not Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but I will declare along with him, "Free at last, free at last!  Thank God Almighty, we're free at last!"