Election Deliverance: Be Strong and Take Heart

I don't have magic words to say to take away the fear that this election has instilled.  I don't have explanations and I don't have a great understanding of how we've gotten to this point.  But I do know that this fear only leads to despair, and we can't let that happen.

Take hope, my friends, because our foundation is not in the President of the United States, but in the Creator of the Universe.  What good does fear and despair do now?  Can we change the results by being saddened?  We are only in this world, we are not of it.

Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death.  But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.  He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

-2 Corinthians 1:9-11

This entire election season has been a mess, and regardless of which candidate won there would be fear this morning, even from many of the same people who are afraid now.  Some feel that the results of last night are the death sentence that we can relate to this passage with, while others feel that this entire election was the death sentence.  Regardless of what camp you're in, regardless of who you voted for, we must draw our hope from the God who raises the dead and delivers us from evil.  Even if you are among those who are fully contented by this election, Donald Trump is not our savior, Christ is, and therefore we must still recognize that only He is in control.

Despairing in this election, losing hope, puts politics in a place that only God should hold.  It makes an idol of government.  Don't lose hope in God's deliverance.  Don't lose hope that God can and will work through all situations, good and bad.  Be disappointed, be saddened, but do not fear and do not lose hope.  Look to the Lord of all Creation for hope and know that through prayer and conversation with Him we can learn the hope He has given us, and trust His power and His will.

"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."

-Luke 22:42 

 

Trapped

It happened years ago, anyone else involved has forgotten, or at least gotten over it, but you just can't get beyond that past self of yours.  You're wracked with guilt every day, or at least fairly often, and you just can't believe that you were once that person who would do something like that.  Since then, you've found God.  He's taught you a lot, and you know that He loves you enough to absolve all of your sins.  That's so difficult to believe at times, though.  You just can't shake the guilt.

It can seem impossible to believe that God loves us just the same after we've sinned as He did before we sinned, but it's true.  God does more than just forgive our sins when we repent, He completely forgets them. 

Sometimes it can be difficult to realize that it isn't God binding us to our sins, but ourselves.  We cling to the mistakes that we've made, feeling almost guilty if we keep them from people, even if it doesn't matter anymore.  Our sins trap us, imprison us, and we cannot leave the past in the past.  This is exactly what Jesus died to save us from.  He died so that we didn't have to be trapped by our sins, but sometimes we still choose to be.

It's time to choose not to live our lives in chains anymore.  It's time to pray.  Even if you've already asked for forgiveness, it's time to ask for help in finding self-acceptance.  If God can forgive our sins, then surely, with His help, you can, too.

Our Amazing God: Time Goes On

Last year, right around this time, a lot of craziness started in my life, and it's difficult for me to believe that that was a whole year ago now, while at the time, I didn't think that it would ever end. Today I looked out of the window and saw a tree beginning to change colors in my back yard, full of bright reds and oranges and yellows, and was transported back to last year.

I had my computer staying on the dining room table during this era in my life, and I would do my homework, and work on National Novel Writing Month outlines and whatnot each afternoon in this room with this big window facing this big beautiful colored tree. I watched as it went up in flames in the oranges and reds of Fall, then as the leaves fell one by one to the ground, Winter approaching slowly. Then, as if to prove that there was still life under those mounds of snow, I watched this tree slowly bud into small flowers that quickly turned to healthy green leaves, the image of the reds and oranges from Fall stuck in my head for all of these months. Throughout all of the junk in my life during this time, it was the image of that tree that was running through my head constantly, and now I see why.

The tree began to change colors again just a day or so ago, and I am beginning to see the bright colors of Autumn once again, and I can not believe all that has happened in these twelve months. I think this is God's way of showing me that it was truly Him who got me through those trials, even when I thought I was alone, He never left me. Now I look at myself, and I'm a different person because of it, and a much better trust in God. If only I had stopped pushing against our Creator in my time of trouble, and trusted that time would move on and that He would bring me through it, I would have had a much happier year. Every Autumn when this tree begins to change, I will watch it, and take a few moments to praise our wonderful God.

I wasn't stuck in that time of troubles, and neither are you. I know it's difficult to look past the here and now when you're in those moments, believe me, I know, but God has your back in everything. Remember, time moves on, and with time, God brings healing. Let the fiery trees that will soon be surrounding us remind you that God's love for us burns brightly and fiercely, and that He will never let us go.

Stress Fractures

So I'm reading one of the things that one of my friends wrote on facebook. There was a question "Have you ever had your heart broken?" her answer was "cracked, but not broken" and that made me think a lot. How many of us are walking around with cracks in our hearts?

We haven't been completely broken, we haven't been kicked and left behind in the dirt, but we've been hurt. A friend has turned out to be someone we didn't know, a short-term relationship has ended, the truth of a lie surfaces, life moves on, right? Of course it does. But that doesn't mean that we're okay.

I find that a lot of times, it's even more difficult to get over small aches like that. Things that hurt, but that don't completely cause an earthquake in your life, because we don't take the time that we need to heal. We aren't focused on it for a very long time, so months, or even years, later it resurfaces, and we realize that it is still causing us pain. This little, minor detail in our lives can bring us to our knees, weeping, so long afterwards. Okay, so maybe I'm being a little dramatic, even a lot dramatic, but you get my point.

Perhaps you are like me, when something bad happens, something that hurts just enough to affect your life, but not enough to bring you to a stand still, you start working on auto-pilot, speed up, and don't stop for long enough to reflect and heal. Or maybe you are walking around in this life full of small little aches and pains from small bad experiences, added together making you feel miserable. Maybe you are totally different. But no matter what, you haven't taken the time to make yourself feel better.

When these pains resurface months later, we try to push it away again, convincing ourselves that we should have been over this long ago, that we can't possibly still be being affected by it now. But guess what, if you've never dealt with a certain experience, it's not leaving your side until you have, and it's only going to grow into a bigger pain.

These little experiences are like getting a stress fracture in your foot from running too much. If you take the time to allow it to heal, you'll be back up and running in no time at all. But if you don't stop to let your body heal itself, and you keep running, that stress fracture is going to get bigger and bigger, and soon enough it's going to be a full blown broken bone. Your foot is going to hurt a lot more than with just a small stress fracture, and it's going to take a much longer time to heal. Plus, there's no ignoring it this time.

So I have two pieces of advice for you, and for myself. The first one is to those of us who have been bottling our pains up for too long, and now we must deal with a lot more hurt than we thought. Always remember Psalm 34:18 "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit". Give your troubles to God. He loves you, and He wants to always be there for you. And guess what. It is okay to hurt, even after all of this time. There isn't a time limit to brokenheartedness or crushed spirits. So let it all go, and give it all to God.

And the second advice is to those of us who are in the middle of a little ache right now. Deal with it now. Ask God to help you heal right now, don't hold it all in for months and months, only for it to resurface even worse. Even if it doesn't necessarily seem major, God doesn't care. Like I said in my earlier post, He loves you, and He wants to always be there for you. A crisis is a crisis if it's a crisis to you. Don't feel like what you're going through is too small to hurt over. Hurt and heal now, before it gets even worse.

Everyone who is walking around with a cracked heart, take the time to let it heal and let God help you. Don't let your heart break into a million pieces before you turn to God.

Today, I am Alive

There have been whispers of Judgement Day coming this Saturday, and as I walked up from the bus stop today with my brother and another boy who might as well be my brother too we were kind of joking about it. Out of the three of us, none of us doubt that we'll wake up on Sunday morning, none of us doubt that our families will wake up, and none of us doubt that our friends will wake up. For a moment I had a flash of what it would be like if Saturday really is it. Don't you think we'd all be living our lives a little bit differently?

I know that I take my life for granted. To me, there are no questions about it, I will wake up safe, taken care of, and relatively happy tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that, and days and days, and years and years to come. But tomorrow could be it. Tomorrow could be the last page of my story. The last page of my story could be in just one second for all I know. Yet I take my life for granted.

So with these thoughts passing through my mind, my walk up from the bus stop took on a whole new meaning to me. That could have been the last time I ever walk up that hill, the last time I ever kick the wet leaves from the road. I set my mind differently, and I smiled with each step that I took, grinned as I took the mail out of the mailbox, and added an extra bounce in my step.

There's so much that I would do if I knew that tomorrow would be my last day. So many words I would say, so many people I would want to be with, and so many smiles I would give. I wouldn't want to leave this world without leaving my mark, and there are times when I know that I most definitely haven't done that yet. God gave me this life on earth to do something specific, to do His work, to live for Him, before the glorious eternal life I will have in Heaven. There is nothing that we can take for granted, because God had the power to give everything we have to us, and He has the power to take it all away.

So I'm going to start thinking before speaking, smiling before thinking, and listening before saying. I'm not going to regret, and I'm not going to watch life fly by without living it. If we all live like this, we'd all be so much happier, not to mention the wonders of the world that we'd all be living in. So join me in living each day as though it was our last!

Proud to be Imperfect

Okay, so I know that I'm about to write a major contradiction to one of my earlier posts, but just stick with me, and you'll understand what I mean.

I'm proud to be imperfect. I know that earlier I said that we are all perfect, and we are, in God's eyes. That doesn't necessarily mean that all other human beings see us as perfect, but honestly, I'm proud of my imperfections. I'm happy that I make mistakes.

For so long I did everything in my power, and then some, to try and be perfect. I was always responsible, always on time, always doing my best not to make mistakes. I never took risks, I was always staying within my comfort zone. But that weighs a person down. The constant making sure that I've done everything right, the constant self-scrutiny, the constant pressure to be perfect. Making sure not to hurt anyone's feelings, making sure that I keep myself protected from anyone who could hurt me. And I don't mean physically hurt me, because that is a GOOD thing to do. I'm talking about mentally or emotionally. I hid from everything, but not anymore.

We're teenagers. We are supposed to make mistakes. This is the time to be reckless and carefree, and do something crazy now and then. Trying to be perfect is too tiring, and no fun at all. It isn't a way to live, because it isn't really living at all. There is no possible way to learn all of life's lessons without making mistakes, there is just no way. We've got to be comfortable enough in our own skin to be able to pick ourselves back up after making a mistake, and saying, alright, it didn't work out right that time, so let's try this a little bit differently. So smile a little bit wider, laugh a little bit louder, flirt a little bit more, sing a little bit off key, and dance a little bit crazier.

Perfection

Constantly, I put so much pressure on myself to be perfect. I need to have perfect grades, perfect organization, I can't have fights with my friends, I need to be a good friend to every one of my friends equally. And when I mess up it drives me insane. It's extremely difficult for me take a step back and take a deep breath most of the time, but it's something that really needs to be done.
For a while, I thought that I had everything under control, all of my ducks in a row, but then a lot changed. Suddenly I couldn't stop the wall of perfection that I had built around myself from crashing down, and it was terrible. I used to be the person who when hanging out in a large group of friends and something went wrong, everyone instantly put me in charge, trusting that I knew what to do.
Then, I felt as though everyone was walking on eggshells around me, carefully watching what they said, being cautious so not as to crack the calm facade that we all knew I wore. It was only in the past month or two that I began to fix things. Not necessarily gain the "perfection" that I thought I used to have, but pick up the pieces and start to put them back together. One night, I prayed the same prayer to God that I had been praying for so many weeks, maybe even months.

Why can't I be "That Girl" again? "That Girl" who always had everything together, who was always happy, who could always handle any crisis carefully? Lord, what happened to me? That's the person who you created. Not this.

It was as I sat on my bed that night, that God spoke to me again. He gave an exasperated sigh, and finally the message that He had been sending me throughout my difficulties (as well as my happiness, but it wasn't until life became difficult that I stopped hearing the message) came through loud and clear. It was as if God was saying, "Don't you see, Abby? I love you. There isn't anything that can be done to change that. I love you. I love you just the way you are. Why can't you see yourself clearly?"
And then I did. God opened my eyes up to the girl He sees when He looks at me. God doesn't see that breakout, God doesn't see that my hair isn't sitting exactly right. God doesn't see that mean thought I had anymore, God doesn't see the mistakes that I've made any longer. What God does see, is Perfection.
True Perfection, is not the perfect grades, great friendships, and the ability to know what to do in tough situations that I was striving for. True Perfection is trusting in God, and living for Him. True Perfection cannot be achieved in any other way than through God. God loves us so, so much, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life" John 3:16. You are loved. I am loved. We are loved.
God made each and everyone of us special, just the way He wants us. We need to remember that God does not make junk. During those times when we no longer believe in ourselves, when we no longer love who we are, we must realize that there is absolutely nothing that can pull us away from God's love.
Absolutely nothing.

We All Bleed Red

Think back to the last time that someone has hurt you or wronged you, maybe it was years ago, maybe it was moments ago, but it has happened to all of us. We just want to hold that grudge against that person forever, we want to hold back our forgiveness. Now, think back to that phrase that you've heard all your life, "put yourself in the other person's shoes". You don't want to, there's no point, you think, it wouldn't change anything. But you know that's not true. You know that if you really changed your perspective on the situation, you would want forgiveness. You would want to know that you can begin to stop feeling so badly about what had happened, because most people do feel badly about hurting someone else, even if it's sometimes hard to see.
Fighting about petty matters won't help anyone. It's only hurting both people. We all make mistakes, we all hurt other people, we all love, and we all laugh. We are who we are, imperfections and all.
Next time that somebody has hurt you, next time that somebody wrongs you, remember, we all bleed red. Don't hold back the forgiveness that you yourself would want, that you know that person deserves.Remember, we all are imperfect, none of us are without blame, so give the forgiveness that you've been holding back on.

So here's to all of the people who I've been holding back forgiveness from. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for my unwillingness to let go, to forgive. I'm releasing my anger. I'm forgiving.