I have to share a story with you, one that I think will amuse you and one that perhaps you can identify. God speaks to us in so many ways, but if you are like me – hardheaded with many “duh” moments, it can be difficult to discern what it is He is saying. Truly I tell you I thank God for His abundant amount of patience with me as often He has to repeat what He is saying to me OVER and OVER again before I even realize He is speaking to me! 😉 Is that you too? If so, perhaps this message is not only for me but for you as well…
As many of you know, my husband went to be with the LORD two years ago after a courageous fight with a very rare form of cancer. My mother passed away three months after my husband, 2024 was a very difficult year for our family. But here is the good news – both my husband and my mother had made professions of faith, accepted Jesus’ gift of salvation and are now healed and more alive than EVER before in the presence of Love Himself, in Heaven.
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:8:
“To be absent from the body is to be present before the LORD.”
I have found great comfort in the midst of my sorrow in knowing that my husband and my mother are with the Lover of their souls. They are not “lost” I did not “lose” them – for I know where they are and that I will see them again when God calls me home. Yet that does not keep me from grieving or missing them. I am told that the level of grief you have is the same measure of love and they were two of the people I loved most in this world. So, Heaven’s gain has been my loss. That being said, the last two years have been a time where I have drawn even closer to the Lord, focused on my calling and trying to figure out this “new normal” – I honestly don’t know how people who are not followers of Christ cope. Jesus has been my strength, my source, Holy Spirit has been my Comforter, and I could NOT get through these two huge losses in my life without my faith in God. This is one reason why it is important to make Jesus the VERY center of your life. In the worst of times, He becomes your EVERYTHING. In the best of times, He becomes your companion. As a young widow after only 6 1/2 years of marriage to a man who captured my complete heart, it has been heart-breaking having to refigure my life without my husband – but God cares for widows and when I tell you He has drawn nearer to me during this time – It has been the ABSOLUTE truth.
JESUS HAS GOT TO BE YOUR FIRST LOVE ABOVE ANYONE AND ANYTHING
We were made to be in fellowship with our Creator. We were NOT meant to be independent of Him, nor can ANYTHING fill within our very being what was meant to be filled ONLY by Him. I cannot describe the love, the joy, the overflowing peace that passes ALL understanding from having God as the VERY center of your life. NOTHING can take His place. NOTHING can fill the void deep within you that was meant to be filled ONLY with the One Who created you IN love. The Bible says in Psalm 46:1:
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”
Romans 8:31 tells us:
“If God is for us, who can be against us?”
I don’t know what you are facing or have faced – but whatever it is – God wants you to TRUST Him. To know that if you let Him in (and don’t shut Him out) He WILL be there for you! He WILL protect you! He WILL comfort you! He WILL be your ever-present help in time of trouble! I personally can attest the truth of that! But here is the thing – He will NEVER force Himself upon you, you JUST have to call out to Him and He will come running! You don’t have to go through whatever you are going through by yourself!
HE LOVES YOU SO MUCH! DON’T LET YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES DEFINE WHO YOU ARE – YOUR IDENTITY IS FOUND IN THE ONE WHO CREATED YOU! LET HIM DEFINE YOU!
My husband always loved aquariums, so I thought I would create an outside small pond within my serenity garden – put one together myself… Can I tell you what a learning process that has been for me??? There is an actual art to having one of these – I simply thought you build it, you make it look pretty, you fill it with water, and you put fish in it and wallah! – you’ve got a beautiful, serene addition to your serenity garden!
BOY, WAS I WRONG! THE PROCESS WAS ANYTHING BUT SERENE!!!!
The first morning after I excitedly put fish into my beautiful little above ground pond I woke up to just about all my fish “belly up” – Can I share with you how devasted I was? Something that was SUPPOSED to be peaceful and beautiful became something that made me wrinkle up my nose in disgust and I had the uncomfortable responsibility of having to individually scoop out at least 12 dead fish from my beautiful pond. I felt so responsible for their sweet little lives. What had I done wrong? Dare I try again? I had to go speak with those more knowledgeable about how to successfully have a little pond, find out if I did something wrong, how to go forward with new knowledge to make it successful. Press forward even with the knowledge that I was on foreign ground and that if I wanted to succeed with a beautiful little above ground fishpond for my serenity garden it might mean more “belly up” moments, but it could also mean hard won success! Learning from my mistakes, refining my methods. Pressing forward to see the end results.
At first, I was really disheartened and discouraged, not knowing what to do. Cleaning out dead fish is NOT a fun, serene thing to do and I wasn’t sure I wanted to experience that again, but after speaking with the manager of a pet store, I came away with more knowledge, more tools and more determination to go forward – come what may.
It wasn’t until I brought all of my disappointment and discouragement about my efforts to the Lord that Holy Spirit made me realize that we have a lot of “belly up” moments in our lives and when they occur we have the choice to either stay stuck “belly up” or allow the Father to “right us” and move us forward in Him. It’s OUR choice… We live in a fallen world, and because of that we often face many discomforting moments, situations or events and we get to choose how we are going to respond. Will we just throw up our hands and give up and stay stuck or will we choose to press forward IN Christ, knowing our strength comes from Him and move on to experience moments of SUCH love and beauty and joy and peace that are found ONLY in living lives in HIM that those sorrowful moments grow us, draw us closer to Him or allow us to extend our right hand of fellowship behind us to help someone else?
The difficult times are going to come in life; it is inevitable in this fallen world we live in – yet through it ALL we HAVE the victory in Christ Jesus! The battle CAN be fierce but the victory – it has ALREADY been won!
God just wants you to LET Him love you! Have you ever seen a loved one hurting and you want SO bad to be there for them or comfort and protect them, but they won’t let you to close to them? They close you out. Some of you have been like that – you won’t LET God love you! He has given you free will and He will NEVER overstep that with you – but if you are to be honest with yourself, life is not working for you – it is feeling “belly up” and you can’t seem to “right-side up” yourself. And maybe you just need a helping hand – someone to pray alongside you. If that sounds like you, please let me pray with you right now:
“Father God, thank You so much for being an “ever present help in time of darkness.” Father, I think I have reached the “end” of me… I have no more answers, no more ideas, no more strength to get through life on my own. I am feeling “belly up” and I know that You alone are the Resurrection, the Truth and the Life… Please help me! Please forgive me for my sins and wash me in the precious blood of Jesus Christ. I’m so tired of trying to figure everything out on my own! I NEED you! Please come into my life and be LORD OVER my life! I accept You as my Savior. Father – please make me “right-side up” and be with me! Guide me! Speak to me! Direct me! Help me go forward in the way You created me to go! Holy Spirit, be my Teacher, my Comforter, my Guide through ALL life throws my Way. Help me to hear the voice of God clearer – direct my path! Thank You SO much for hearing my prayer! In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN.”
You are God’s beautiful workmanship in Christ Jesus – the more you grow in Christ, the more you will understand JUST how much you NEED Him. How much you DESIRE intimacy with Him. There is NO greater joy than growing in Him – side by side because it’s a personal thing between you and Him. He takes the “awful” moments in life and turns them into something beautiful. True Serenity ONLY comes from abiding in Him! He makes ALL things beautiful and that includes YOU. 😉
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