Since the day sin entered the garden, we have commenced to fabricate and weave people and situations into scenes of Eden along with moments of heaven. A constant searching for the scents, sights and the inner peace Adam and Eve once had with God the Father. Adam and Eve lived in uncontaminated perfection and continual fellowship with God until their sin entered the scene. Isn’t that what we have been doing…searching for perfection on earth, manipulating people, places and things for an inner peace only God can give? If this person would act this way, then all will be well. If I had that job, that house, that size 2 figure, that home life and well, you get the picture. Looking for anyone, anything to soothe the inner scars, fractures and secret longings of our hearts. We are searching for a feeling…a filling. As we learn to lean into grace, I pray that the past hurts, failures, regrets and future expectations would not be thrown into anything or anyone but the hands of Immanuel-God with us, El Roi-the God who sees and Jehovah Rapha-the God who heals.
Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in time of need. KJB
Numbers 6:24-26 The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
2 Chronicles 30:9b For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him. KJB
Psalms 25:6-7 Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindesses; for they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O Lord. KJB
Psalms 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. KJB
Life used to seem so simple. Every once and a while I get a glimpse of the carefree little girl that I used to be, before bills, jobs, responsibilities, illness, surgeries and earth shattering disappointment. She was so fearless! She would ride a ten speed bike..with no hands while the wind screamed through her hair and blew it into a tangled mess. (no hair spray, if you can believe that). She made clover necklaces for hours while lying in the front yard under the shade tree (I can still smell the aroma of fresh cut grass, my dad kept our yard looking like a golf course. Our yard was the envy of the neighbors). She made shapes out of the clouds; how was there always a dinosaur? That same little girl inside of me still loves sailing her hand up and down out of the car window as if to glide right along with the wind and the waves of life. As a child and even now I will point my face toward the sun and pause allowing the warmth of the rays to penetrate my soul. There are certain sights, smells and moments that seem to seep right into our beings, branded forever in the deepest caverns of our hearts. Baby powder is one of those smells for me. I can close my eyes even today and remember holding my children close while kissing their precious bald heads and inhaling their powder fresh goodness right into my existence. Then of course, there is music. I have always felt music so deeply that I lose my space in time and my surroundings just fade. If life could only be as simple as the things that move us and capture our hearts.
We do long for simple, for easy, and those porch swing moments when all is well. When my Mother was a child the porch was everything. She can recall Sunday afternoons when the whole family would gather on the porch conversing and laughing until their sides split, telling tales of the good ole days. Women on one side, men on the other and children running and playing. There was community. People had a place to belong. Those moments are rare and almost impossible in our day and age. Our lives are always moving… and fast for that matter. It seems like the moments of reflection and the pure joy of just being together are fleeting. Technology alone has replaced those porch moments and we have allowed it to. We were actually made for community and technology is a threadbare substitute for human interaction.
So much of the pain, sorrow and discontentment that we have simply comes from being disconnected and alone. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 KJB states, “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him.” I know pain and hurt can also be thrust upon us by others in which we had no say. Life is hard and change can be even harder. We like to know what is coming next. How the movie will end? Where this is all going? There seems at times to be no rhyme or reason to it all. It is so hard to imagine that God could possibly work it all out for good. Romans 8:28 says ,”And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.” I am sure that if we could plan out our lives to a perfected story we would or at least give it the old college try. Perfection though, is relative, isn’t it? I know for me, in my thinking, I fall so short of all that God has planned for me. All my precise and strategic planning would still have me coming up deficient. My plan would involve no hurt, pain, sorrow or death which sounds like how it all should be. When God created Adam and Eve, it was exactly that until their sin forever changed perfection on earth. I know for myself, I forget and often that I am most certainly not in control. It can feel like our plans and lives have failed and we will never have it easy or without peril. In all actuality, “God didn’t promise a life without pain, struggles, and hardships. He did promise that his strength would be sufficient,” unknown author. In 2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV Paul writes, “And He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness,” Praise God for his strength, for without it who could stand.
J.R.R. Tolkien writes in his book, THE FELLOWHIP OF THE RINGS (THE LORD OF THE RINGS) “I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given us.” Our purpose on earth is not to live a picture-perfect life and certainly not to pretend that we do. Our purpose is to be made in the likeness of the one who created us. To love God and love people. As the potter spins the wheel and with every rotation God is molding, mending, healing, growing, and sanctifying us. Our hard, our pain, and our sorrow is not for loss. Jeremiah 29:11 NKJB says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you a future and a hope.” We can rest assured that the God of the universe and the lover of our souls is still on the throne. He is not on vacation, unaware of our pain, thoughts, or situations. Isaiah 26:3KJB says, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” Remember, if we have believed on Jesus, that he came to seek and save the lost, that he died, was buried and rose three days later, we have new life in him, we have Immanuel GOD WITH US. We are not alone or left to our own devices. Philippians 4:5 says, “Let your gentleness be known to all men, The Lord is at hand.” He is with us! He is with us in our pain, our sorrow, aloneness, anxiety, depression, abandonment, and our troubles. Our God is big enough for our doubts our questions and our weakness.
Billie Letts writes in WHERE THE HEART IS, “Tell them that our lives can change with every breath we take.” If you have lived anytime at all you know that to be true. Life changes, seasons change, heck, it all changes. Our hope, our God, does not change. Hebrews 13:8 KJB says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Malachi 3:6a KJB says, “For I am the Lord, I change not.” Isaiah 40:8 NKJB, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” Rest in Him, you are so loved and so cared for. 1 Peter 5:7 NKJB says, Casting all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.” Stay strong in the Lord. Things around us may be falling apart as we speak BUT GOD!!!! With every change, every heartache and every loss, we are safe in the hands of the potter. Safe in the arms of the LORD. So, “what do we do with the time that has been given us?” as Gandalf asked. I am going to cast all my cares upon the Lord. My shoulders were never meant to carry it all anyway. I am going to love God and love people and by laying all my pain, sorrows and disappointments at his feet…I’ll actually have time to do just that. I pray you find peace in His everlasting arms. Don’t be shy… run to Him, He sees you coming, already knows you, and already loves you!
