The Mortal Man

Psalms 56:3-4 says, “When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?”

I’ve always had this belief about scripture and really anything you read that you hear or translate things differently based on your circumstances or current time of life. This verse, which I have on a post-it note on my monitor at work, is one that I read on a daily basis as a reminder to trust in the Lord regardless of life’s circumstances. But over the past week or so, this verse has revealed so much more emotion.

Last week, a dear friend of mine Paige Nair, lost her husband in a motorcycle accident. As if that isn’t traumatic enough, she is due any moment for her first baby, Liam. As my prayers have been constantly for her, I’ve been putting myself in her shoes and each time it so difficult to find understanding, trust, and comfort…

“What can mortal man do to me?” How strong are these words?

As humans, I strongly believe that we live life as though we are almost invincible, as if there will always be a tomorrow. I find myself believing without a doubt that I’m guaranteed to get married, have kids, and grow old because that’s what is suppose to happen…right? Well, I am learning these past few months that life is so incredibly fleeting. When we are here on earth, we become attached to our lives although the Bible clearly tells us not to. We become attached to people, lifestyles, relationships, or even just the plans that we have. Then, being caught off guard, these people, lifestyles, relationships, or plans that we had are ripped from our fingertips without any understanding, which most always leads to anger, hurt, pain, confusion, bitterness, or depression because those things we held dearly we believed belonged to us. But if we are never guaranteed tomorrow, how can we claim anything to be ours? I am so troubled by this idea of not holding onto the things of the world but I am finding comfort in one incredible fact: I may not have the power to guarantee my life or the lives of the ones I hold dear to me, but I can guarantee that if they share the same belief in the Father as I, HE does have the power to protect them here on earth and a plan for their arrival into our true home in Heaven. I’ll tell you what mortal man can do to me, he can cause me hurt, anger, depression, unhappiness, and make me forget that GOD is never surprised by the happenings of our life; He is NEVER caught off guard by our circumstances.

There are so many things in life that we are unable and completely incapable of understanding, one of these things is death, especially when it is sudden. I cannot begin to understand the feelings of those who have lost loved ones too soon without the chance to say goodbye. But I do understand the God I serve and He is GOOD, He is POWERFUL, He is LOVING, and He is our FATHER who guarantees His children an eternity after this life. So although we won’t ever be able to find understanding of the terrible happenings in this life, we can have peace that God knew it was going to happen and He has it all under control and holds us all so dearly and closely to His heart. It’s okay to be afraid, God calls us to be fearful, but we obey what we fear and we are called to trust and have faith.“When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?”

Lock and Key

         Windows, doors, cars, safes, lockers, and suitcases… what do these things all have in common? They all have locks on them. We have grown up in a world that has made us feel insecure with leaving our possessions unlocked or unprotected of some sorts. Haven’t we done the same with our very own hearts? We get hurt once or twice causing us to lose trust in someone or something and we lock away our hearts for safe keeping, separating them from a world of hurt and pain. When really, our hearts are never really safe or secure in our own hands or even the hands of anyone of worldly matter. Instead, they remain safe and secure in the hands of the Lord who although remains unseen in heaven, is never truly separated from us. It’s easy to say out loud and possibly even to believe that our hearts remain safe somewhere, somehow, but is it easy to do?

         As a child, we are told about Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, and many other unseen characters. So when we are young we are taught and we learn to trust what is unseen. Although we later grow and learn that these are all fictional characters, we learn that there is one that remains constant: Our Father in Heaven. We look back and see where he was, how he worked and tested us, and when he kept our hearts in safekeeping. I was reminded yesterday by my dear friend Meredith that we need to believe in our Lord the way we believed in Santa Claus, not just by saying it, but by believing it and being filled with the spirit of Christ. When you ask a young child about Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy, they believe in it with their whole heart, without a doubt. If only we could capture that and truly understand why we are called the children of the Lord, to not only have faith and innocence, but also the absence of doubt.  We need to believe in our Lord without a doubt and that once our hearts remain in him, how safe and secure we are and that nothing can prevent us from reaching our eternal destination.  We live in a world where everything is locked up and stored away, whether it be our possessions or our hearts. What we do not realize is that there are so many locks and not enough keys and that the true key lies within the Lord when we choose to believe in Him.

“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” {1 Corinthians 13:12}

“But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, ‘Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole’" {Luke 8:50}

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” {Psalm 73:26}

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows" {Proverbs 4:23}

“But I was sure of something, too: it's a lot easier to be lost than found. It's the reason we're always searching, and rarely discovered--so many locks, not enough keys” {Sarah Dessen}

The Path Less Traveled

"You are on the path of My choosing. There is no randomness about your life. Here and now comprise the coordinates of your daily life. Most people let their moments slip through their fingers, half-lived. They avoid the present by worrying about the future or longing for a better time and place. They forget that they are creatures who are subject to the limitations of time and space. They forget their Creator, who walks with them only in the present. Every moment is alive with My glorious Presence, to those whose hearts are intimately connected with Mine. As you give yourself more and more to a life of constant communion with Me, you will find that you simply have no time to worry. Thus, you are freed to let My Spirit direct your steps, enabling you to walk along the path of Peace." 

-Jesus Calling {05.01.13}

There is just something about knowing that there is no randomness about my life. That no matter how much free will I have, there is a kind of order and plan the Lord has for me. All too often, I find myself with my own plan, allowing moments to simply slip through my fingers like thousands of grains of sands. And those moments are precious because time is the one thing we cannot get a hold on or get back. We are always worrying about what has happened in the past or what will happen in our future, whether it is a few minutes in the past or a few years in the future, thoughts stream through our minds consuming our time and our feelings in the present. Let me ask you a question, how often does your mind focus on what you have to do, or simply worry about what has just happened in your life? Our mind is trained to this, because of the fast paced world we live in there is simply too much going on to focus on the present. We think about how our past decisions will impact our future ones, when in reality it's what we do NOW that matters. Why are we so quick to forget that we are imprisoned by time? There's nothing we can do to get back the past or obtain what lies ahead of us in the future. Instead we are limited to 24 hours a day because plainly, we cannot handle any more than that. 

There is no peace found in this world, simply temporary fractions of it. But we do have eternal peace on the path we walk with our Lord. "A life of constant communion..." what does that even look like? Its constant surrender, ongoing recognition of the blood that was shed for this very time we call the present that we all too often take advantage of. The exceedingly undeserving act that freed us and allowed us to walk a path that leads to eternal life with our Lord and Creator. Take a look back at your life; do you see any evidence of God's workings in your past? I guarantee you that His hands molded worrisome situations you felt were out of your control. Now what would it look like if we recognized that He is always present, always beautifully molding our lives and moments as we walk with him? Of course seeing the final product puts things into perspective and pieces it all together, but do we have enough faith in Him to let Him do His work as we simply enjoy and recognize his presence?  That's what the path of Peace looks like to me... because how could I worry about life and the distractions it presents, when I know the Creator of the very life I am living walks beside me for encouragement, communication, guidance, love, and grace. In that kind of life, there is no time for worry and no time to focus on anything besides the present. Take the path of Peace less traveled by.

Cloudy days, Cloudy daze.

Most of the time, cloudy days bring happiness and contentment and the excitement of sipping on something warm and snuggling up close to my favorite person under a warm blanket. Today, was a cloudy day and although it was the same weather that usually brings me those warm feelings, today was a little different than normal. Today, I was feeling distracted.

There has been this feeling I've had lately that has been wearing down my happy, joyful, normal persona and I have struggled lately to figure out exactly what that feeling is. And then today, when the clouds covered the sky I also realized that it too was my mind that has been clouded. I've struggled lately with worrying and stressing about small details in my life, not knowing I was giving Satan an open door into the most dangerous place he could enter into: my mind. I'm learning as time goes on that life is all about the mindset and when we trap our thoughts in our minds, we imprison them, allowing Satan to work between the lines of our thoughts. And my thoughts as of late, have begun affecting me and bringing me down to a mindset that is completely negative and worrisome, keeping me from sharing my feelings. 

I've never been the best at communication. I can sit down and talk for a hours, giving advice, but a lot of the time, I'm trapping my deepest thoughts and worries in my mind, giving Satan something to work with to bring me down. How did I make it so easy for him? Well, that's just how he works, like a lion waiting to catch his prey. Before I knew it, my mind was clouded and so was my judgement, causing me to be distracted and my feelings to be altered. And then I remembered...

When the sky is covered with dark and gloomy clouds for a long period of time, we start to forget what clear skies look like. We bundle up in our coats and scarves and conform to the weather and it isn't until the smallest of light that shines through those clouds that we truly remember what sunshine feels like. And one day, we wake up to clear skies and the warm sun which always makes us feel refreshed and renewed. 

We don't get to control what days are sunny and what days are cloudy, but we do get to control the mindset we have on those days. I won't allow my mind to be clouded any longer, because I see the sun shining through the smallest of places to remind me that those clouds simply cover, not erase what lies behind them and sometimes, all it takes is a little faith that the sunshine will come streaming though. 

Conquered

George Mallory, who took part in the first three British expeditions to Mount Everest once said, "People ask me, 'What is the use of climbing Mount Everest?' and my answer must at once be, 'It is of no use.' There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever. Oh, we may learn a little about the behaviour of the human body at high altitudes, and possibly medical men may turn our observation to some account for the purposes of aviation. But otherwise nothing will come of it. We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver, not a gem, nor any coal or iron... If you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won't see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to live. That is what life means and what life is for.” Today, I got to experience a bit of an adventure myself and that was my first outdoor climb. Growing up, I've always done what is right and good in the eyes of others. I always obeyed the rules and tried to learn from others' mistakes. It was rare that I did the unordinary, that I stepped out of 

my comfort zone and really lived. And today, I did just that. 

 

Words cannot really explain the feelings that flow through your mind and soul when you truly accomplish something you were afraid of and so hesitant about. But I did it. I put faith in myself and set my mind to doing something out of the box, out of my comfort zone, something challenging. The greatest part about the entire climb was reaching the top... not because it was over but because I accomplished something that I thought was out of reach. And in that very moment I realized what God wants for my life. He wants me to experience and live in his creation instead of worrying about what could happen. Matthew 6:27, "Can any one of you by worrying, add a single hour to your life?" Worry does nothing but allow ache and stress into the mind that God created to be free and passionate about his gift of creation and life. I am learning each & every day what it is like to truly be alive and most of the time it's doing something new and scary. With the right amount of caution and a good head on my shoulders I am learning that I can achieve what I put my mind to & today that is 

what I learned. Many people may think it's reckless or perhaps irresponsible... but it's so much more than what meets the eye.

A Symbol of God's Promise

Life is all about learning how to dance in the rain, its all about weathering the storm & taking what life throws at you... because most of the time, it's what God has placed directly in your path for you to overcome. What mountain did God place in your path to conquer? You are a conqueror & so am I. 

He sees the adventurer in me & so much more.

Tis the Season

Christmastime... it is always the same every year:

1. Get the Christmas Tree
2. Decorate it.
3. Drink Lots of Egg Nog.
4. Holiday Drinks
5. Sweaters, boots, & scarves.
6. Shopping
7. Christmas Parties
8. Ugly Christmas Sweaters
9. Christmas Movies
10. Christmas Music
11. The Christmas Story
12. Christmas Church Service
13. Christmas dinner
14. Candy & Cookies
15. Warm Fires

The list can go on and on about these annual events that are always exactly the same, and yet somehow, I never get tired of Christmas. Maybe the holiday music gets old after awhile and eventually I run out of red clothing and Christmas sweaters, but overall Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year. This year, I felt like it has been extra special though because I have been able to share it with someone so special to me. I think the thing I love most about the relationship I have with Cory is that we are both so different and yet we share so many things in common. It sounds ridiculous and may not make sense but if you have known Cory or myself for any length of time you are aware of how different our personalities are, but God designed us that way to perfectly fit together.
I am feeling immensely thankful this year for all that I have in my life: friends, family, church, and my relationship with God. Each day brings something new to be thankful for and each year around this time I find myself being extra grateful for this life and how I got this life which was all because God sent his son to be born in a manger by a Virgin. How grateful I am that I serve a sacraficial and graceful God.

Merry Christmas.

Life is a Climb

Lately, I have been realizing how much life is like a climb. You have to trust in your hands and feet, but most of all you need confidence in your mind and faith in every move you make. Sometimes, holding on is hard. It feels like you don’t have the strength to hold on or the power to make it past that one part. Whereas, sometimes you come across something you can really hold onto, something you can trust.

I have always had a hard time with trust. I’ve always allowed a pool of thoughts drown my mind in doubt. It wasn’t until I found Cory that I started to change this habit that I had adapted over many years. He has become that one part of my climb that I can hold onto with ease and trust that I won’t slip and fall.

And just like climbing, some routes are difficult and some of them are routine that can be done with ease. But the trick is to challenge yourself, push your limits, and face your fears. For a long time I’ve never known of doing these things, instead I placed myself in a mindset that I was unable or even worse…incapable.

This past week, I challenged myself in both my climbing and my life. After attempting one route for so long, I decided to try it one last time and I was determined to trust and have faith in my climbing. The higher I got, the more difficult it was to hold on and have faith that I wouldn’t lose strength. Finally, I reached for the final move and gripped the very top with both hands. “I did it” I said to myself quietly. I hung there for a second to see how far I had come then I let go and as I looked up to what I just accomplished I felt relief, success, and confidence.

In life, we have many routes, many trials. The further through these routes and trials we get, the more difficulty presents itself. It’s like the Devil is sitting there saying, “Just let go now. You don’t have the ability to finish this route or get through this trial.” Whereas, God stands at the top saying, “Just a few more moves, have faith, have confidence. Reach for my hand and I will get you to your destination safely. Trust in me. And when you get to the top and it’s time to fall, I will provide a safe landing.”

Jeremiah 7:8 says, “But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.” How often I was trusting in the words of my deceptive mind, when all I needed was to find hope in my Lord? Could it be that simple?

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”   -Romans 15:13

Life’s a climb and sometimes, all it requires is some hope and a little trust that we have what it takes to accomplish anything. Not because we have enough strength of our own, but because we have the strength of a God who is all-powerful.