Holding on Tightly

Sometimes we hold things so closely that we don’t see them change over time. Maybe it’s a painful childhood or a bitter divorce or angry words spoken at some distant place in the past. Maybe it’s how wonderful Christmas was as a child, despite the fact that you grew up pitifully poor. Or maybe even something as simple as how much greener the grass was or how much bluer the sky was when we were younger.

Holding on to something so tightly and holding them so close to your heart can hide the corners or the details of the memories of the event.

That’s how it is when we’re carrying a burden we need to forgive so we can let go of it. Even when the burden is something you need to forgive yourself for – as time passes, the burden gets heavier and becomes more destructive.

Today, are you able to take that bundle that you’re holding onto with a death grip and pull it away from our heart long enough to take a look at it? How clearly could you even see it, if you did?

Often, a mother will snuggle her newborn so closely – she’s used to that child being inside of her; now she holds them in her arms. What felt like a part of her for 40 weeks is now a more independent little person she can snuggle and love in a very different way. Eventually she pulls them up in front of her to admire and take delight in.

With treasures and burdens that we carry around like that, we don’t always make the time to pull them away from our heart long enough to look at them, whether to admire or to curse them.

We just carry them, never allowing them to evolve or change though feeling the weight grow heavier over time. Imagine the damage to both that mother and her child, if 10 years later she insisted on carrying them everywhere, all the time.

Today, if we sit down with God in prayer and ask Him to help us take a look at our burdens, we can discover great and wonderful things, and we may have to take a look at hard, painful things.

But knowing we’re not alone for that big reveal, and every time we dare to peek, will bring healing to us and lighten the burden. We may have to look at it little by little, or we may be able to take it in all at once. We’re all different, and every bundle we carry is different.

We may see that it’s uglier than we remember, or that it’s not nearly as scary as we remember. We may see that a beautiful memory is hiding something behind it that we’d rather not see, so we cling to that good thought – but it still becomes a burden; a hiding place.

My whole point today is to tell you that you don’t have to do it alone.

God is ALWAYS with you. He has ALWAYS been with you. He’ll walk through this with you. He’ll lighten the burden, He’ll heal the wounds, and He’ll bring His joy into your heart…if you let Him.

He will bring the right people at the right time to sit with you and pray with you and cry with you and laugh with you. And as crazy as it may sound to some, that person might not even be a Christian. God can and will use any of us.

And He’ll always forgive first. He won’t ask you to do what He won’t do.

Our first step is inviting Him into the situation. He’ll take the next step.

Pride may come before a fall, but humility comes before healing.

 

Legally Speaking....

 

“Satan is very legalistic. Once you believe that Jesus is your Savior, Satan legally has ZERO authority over our lives, but if he can gain one little inch (through sin, curses, witchcraft, or unforgiveness) he will use that to his advantage every single time.” – Amy Wadlington, “Into the Deep”

Our enemy is legalistic because he must be, he’s bound by spiritual laws. He cannot cross the bloodline of Jesus Christ. Where have we let down our guard and how do we force him back once he’s found an inroad; a crack in our shield of faith? Where have we come into agreement with him without even realizing it?

I recently discovered that I had given something over to the enemy decades ago and have been living with a chain around me, holding me back from freedom God has for me. I’m praying for God to reveal any more chains disguised as mere words I haven’t considered harmful.

“I just meant……” Satan doesn’t care what you meant by your words. You spewed them out and he’ll run with them as far and as fast as he can. God teaches us how powerful our words are. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue…” – Proverbs 18:21a

In Amy Wadlington’s book “Into the Deep” she points out several (of many) things we might have said that Satan snatched up and ran with, compromising the abundant life God promised us here and in Heaven. I’ll suggest:

·      “No one could love me…”

·      “I’ll never get a good job…”

·      “Obesity runs in my family…”

·      “I’ll never live in a nice house…”

·      “I don’t deserve good things in my life…”

I could give you a long list of my own. If you hang out with me much, you might catch me criticizing and condemning myself in ridiculous ways, concluding that I may have a poor self-image. What lies have I locked myself into?

You may ask yourself the same question. The good news is that God will reveal them to us if we ask Him to, and He’ll walk with us through breaking them off and forcing them out of our lives. I’d love to quote this whole chapter from Amy’s book here, but I’d rather you buy the book and grow through every single chapter she shares with us. I can’t tell you how powerful it’s been in my life.

You may already recognize your own voice in your head, remembering negative things you’ve said about yourself or things others have said to you that you believed. They need to be dealt with. Satan doesn’t get to hold the upper hand. God has given us the keys to His kingdom and shares His glory with us. We are joint heirs with Jesus! Hallelujah!

Take a few minutes to ask God what you’ve said that lines up with what Satan wants you think – versus what God Himself wants you to know, His Truth – about you and about Him and everything else.

He’ll speak to your heart; He’ll reveal everything you need to know.

And as we heard in our childhood, “knowing is half the battle!”

As you pray, break off the chains those words created, let God (and the enemy) hear you declare out loud that you no longer agree with them. Let God show you a scripture that speaks His truth to the situation, agree with HIM and declare that!

Living in God’s freedom isn’t rocket science. But you need to be in His Word regularly to learn about your authority in the spirit realm.

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” – Hosea 4:6a

Seriously – life is an open book test. There’s no need to flounder or fail.

 

One-sided Conversations

 

One-sided conversations: we don’t usually find them pleasant unless we’re the ones doing all the talking. And for you non-talkers, they must be agony to endure.

While I’m confident God loves it when we come to Him chattering with excitement, or when we come to Him asking for help with a problem, I think He’s equally if not more excited when He sees us listening for His voice.

So, this post may be mostly for all the people out there that are members of the Chatty Club; those of us who talk more than we listen. I prefer to call myself loquacious instead of verbose, it just sounds sexier and more flattering. We’re a pretty big club. You’ve probably run into more of us than you thought you would.

We sometimes interrupt what you’re saying to get in our two cents. We sometimes let our minds wander while you’re talking so we’re prepared with something when it’s our turn, if you have a chance to interject at all. Yes, we can be incredibly rude. For that, I apologize in the pithiest way possible: Sorry.

We don’t mean to do it. We wish we could stop ourselves, and sometimes we can – till we hear our own voice again and realize, “Oops – no, I didn’t shut up yet”.

We need to quiet our mind long enough to adopt some method of listening.

Some suggestions include writing out all that’s on our mind first thing in the morning; a “morning dump” if you will.

Perhaps we could wait until evening for important conversations, because, surely by then we’ll be all talked out. (Ha! Can that even happen?)

Snap that rubberband on our wrist every time we hear our own voice?

Ah, we need a sidekick who can motion to us to shut-up when we’ve droned on for too long! Or someone who will pull us aside repeatedly to remind us that yes, we’re talking too much again.

Whether we like it or not, we chase away friendships (or potential friendships) because people will turn and walk the other way when they see us coming.

We can lose out on a lot of valuable information when we’re the one doing all the talking. Believe it or not, the other people in the conversation have valuable input, too! Maybe even more worthy of being spoken than what we’re spouting off about.

Listening. It’s not a hard concept. Some of us just seem genetically predisposed to find it difficult to process into something we routinely do.

I’m no psychologist, but I’d venture to guess that our constant chatter is attempting to fill some need in our lives.

Maybe as a child we were told that ‘children should be seen and not heard’, so now we’re making up for lost time.

All of that rambling to say ---- we need to practice listening. To become good at anything, it usually requires practice. This is no different. Even when talking with our heavenly Father.

Practice listening. God can work with a good listener.

The following verses bring up anger, too. We’ll get to that at another time.

“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak [and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires].” – James 1:19-20 NIV

Or – check out the wordier, more poetic version in the Message Bible: “Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, [and let anger straggle along in the rear. God’s righteousness doesn’t grow from human anger].”  – James 1:19-20 MSG

Untied Relationships

 

If I was the enemy of mankind, what might be one strategy I would use against them to bring about their defeat?

Satan uses many tactics against us, like fear and intimidation, lies about God, lies about us, our worth.…

But let’s face it, if he could take us out, he would have already.

Then this thought crossed my mind.

“I’d untie their relationships!”

When one enters a relationship with an abusive, controlling significant other, one thing they’ll do is try to cut off the other relationships in your life. They don’t want you to have someone else to turn to.

Though we don’t consider ourselves to be in a relationship with Satan, he’s constantly trying to forge his way into one with us. Those especially susceptible are those who don’t believe he’s real.

He must laugh at the way we think we’re the ones in control.

He’s been around longer than we have. He’s seen you grow up, he knows your likes and dislikes, your fears and insecurities, your areas of special pride. In short, he knows how to tempt and influence you and what snares to put in your path.

Look at all the broken relationships around you. There’s brokenness between parents and their children or grandchildren, between husbands and wives, between childhood friends, between business associates who could’ve done great things together.

When walking and holding hands with a small child who cannot yet appreciate the dangers of this world, we can guide them around the potholes of life, tugging them gently (or wildly if necessary) away from the shifting ground.

But Satan doesn’t want that child to hold your hand. He doesn’t want them to be safely guided by someone who knows the ropes.

He doesn’t want you to hold on to your heavenly Father’s hand, either.

He wants you to fall into the pitfalls and traps he’s set for you.

He wants you to listen to his lies and to hear his voice above the others in your life.

He wants to sabotage and untie the relationships in your life.

You may think you self-sabotage; but who planted the lies in front of you to affect your thinking and influence your choices?

I’m not saying we should blame the enemy for all the failures in our lives. At some point, we need to take responsibility for our decisions and suffer the consequences.

But there are reasons we chose the choices we’ve made; not excuses, but reasons.

Satan loves to dip his finger into every pot of soup we make. And his fingers are DIRTY! He’s coated them with the poison of his lies.

God created us. He created us to need Him – and to need each other.

Satan seeks to untie your good relationships, especially your relationship with God.

Once the knot is untied, where does that leave you? What does it leave you thinking and believing about yourself and others? Does it make you trust yourself and others less? Does it make you trust God less? Might it even make you angry with God?

That’s his goal.

If Satan leaves your relationships alone, perhaps they’re unhealthy relationships that he can use to your destruction.

Jesus Himself said, Satan, our common enemy, comes to steal, kill and destroy. While He [Jesus] comes that you may have life and live it to the fullest! (John 10:10)

What good relationships in your life have been unraveled?

Even if you think they can’t be restored, God’s thoughts are greater than ours. (Isaiah 55:9)

Align yourself with God’s ways of thinking, with His written Word.

It’s time to forge new, strong, healthy relationships with the people we love – and new people God is bringing into our lives. This might require a lot of forgiveness toward others, and even toward ourselves. We’ll ponder forgiveness another day…

 

Love Handles

 

The Assist Grip or Grab Handle – that’s the proper name for the handle above the window you might grab onto while riding on the passenger side of the car when things get a little shaky.

Maybe you’re riding with a new driver, or traffic just got crazy or maybe it’s just become a habit, a convenient place to put your hand.

The internet had some more colorful nicknames for it, too. But you get the general idea that when you panic, that might be what you grab for.

While riding on a rollercoaster, you might grab at the lock bar that secures you in your seat.

When not feeling well, we might reach for a grab bar on the side of our shower.

While in the midst of various adventures in your lifetime, you’ve probably reached for something in hopes it would bring you a sense of security. You may have been safe all along, but grabbing onto something stable can generally make us feel more secure.

Stick with me here as I diverge briefly. If you’re as old as I am, you’ll recall that back in the 70s we had a term for the skin at your waist that didn’t bring you joy. Whether you could “pinch an inch” or “grab a slab” it was generously called your love handles. I’ve coined a new meaning for that phrase.

Getting back to the subject at hand, what do you reach out for when things go awry?

While no, I don’t envision God as a chubby guy, when I reach out to Him in prayer, (especially when my heart wants to panic about something) I grab for my “love handle” – that being the hand of God that connects me to His heart.

In a world that can appear to have no certainty it’s important to have something that can stabilize your heart.

Some reach for colorful metaphors (as Spock so cleverly put it), even shouting them out for the world to hear.

But some of us call on the God Who created us and placed us in this world – the God that already has the plan for our lives written out in a book, the God Who knows how it all ends. (Jeremiah 29:11 and Psalm 139)

Lifting my voice to the God of heaven connects me to the God Who now lives in my heart, I lay hold of that love handle that brings me peace and security, my ‘assist grip’ – my ‘grab handle’, or whatever YOU call it.

There’s an old phrase/song that comes to mind now, “He’s as close as the mention of His Name – Jesus.”

Prayer is conversation with God, it’s communion with His Holy Spirit, it’s a melding of our hearts. Of course, it brings us peace and stabilization, it centers our focus on the Problem Solver, instead of the problem itself.

When the road is rocky and the ride is bumpy, reach out for His hand.

When life feels good and right, snuggle into the palm of His hand and rest easy, my friend.

It’s become a convenient place to put my trust.

You remember the old song, sing it with me.

“Put your hand in the hand of the Man that stills the waters. Put your hand in the hand of the Man that calms the seas…..”

Love Handles - with care.

(Painting by Michele King, the Hands of God reaching my family.)

Rambling? Or Trusting the Process....

 

(Me, looking focused!)

I’ve been slacking, I apologize. Sometimes circumstances get in my way and I let them.

I’ve been incredibly tired lately and I’ve used it as an excuse not to do all the things I would normally do in a day. Some days I feel like I could sleep all day long and still want to crawl back into bed by 8:00pm.

But all my time hasn’t been downtime. I have been writing, just not blog posts.

It can be easy to let them slide, because, let’s face it, how many people actually read them anyway?

I’m 13 chapters into a new story, if I stick with it this time, it could really become a novel. Not like the ones I have tucked away in my laptop, but one I could actually finish and submit somewhere.

The challenge? It’s not my genre. Not at all. It’s a western – of all things. I don’t think I’ve ever read a western in my whole life. What makes me think I can write one?

Well, I’m doing what I always do when I write. I listen. And that’s just what I’m hearing right now.

I know, it’s very strange. Right? But then again – I can be a very strange sort of person in very many ways. So, why not?

I actively practice listening for the voice of God. But when I sit down to write, things just come together. Occasionally, they stick and I make something of it. Most of what I’ve written will never see the light of day.

Like right now. I’m rambling on paper (a computer screen, really,) hoping something will stick; that something will stand out to me and I can delete what feels useless.

But tonight, I’m feeling like my rambling isn’t coming out to be pointless.

What if?

What if God can use my ramblings?

What if everything I write looks like ramblings to God?

Yes, like most of you (I hope), I argue with myself. Please tell me you at least TALK with yourself.

If I argue the point that no one reads what I write, I could conclude – then why write at all?

If I argue that I’m writing for an audience of one, then I could concede that the one is worth it – even if I’m that one.

Usually when I write, I feel closer to God – not that my relationship with Him is about feelings. But they help. Sometimes. Can I trust them? Probably not. That’s why I don’t rely on them.

But when it feels like God is sitting here with me as I type out my next words, keeping company with the God of the universe can be a cozy thing and I enjoy it! That alone could be reason enough to keep writing. Peace.

No one else in the world has to read a thing I’m writing, but there are reasons for it.

Even if it’s simply introspection or self-assessing.

Even if I’m secretly feeling for the edges (of my existence).

Even if I haven’t completely figured it out. Grace.

So, I’ll write. Till my fingers don’t work anymore and my mouth can’t talk to text; I’ll write.

Read what you will. Ponder some of it. Toss out the rest. Share what you find meaningful.

I might not even see what makes sense to you, tucked in here like a treasure or a secret. Maybe there’s nothing here at all.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” – Proverbs 3:5

A traditional Christian stand-by. What are you doing with it?

What Good Do My Prayers Do, Anyway?

 

I thank the Lord that my prayers ARE fervent and effective and so are yours!  Hallelujah!

“….The effectual and fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much.” – James 5:16 KJV

While reading through a social media post the other morning, I realized suddenly, that my prayers are not without effect – even when I cannot see the effects they bring.

Mine is not the place to make decisions for others, but to pray God’s perfect will over their lives.

I can do that.

We’re all given free will, which at some point, we begin to exercise for ourselves. This includes our grown children, our friends and neighbors, our parents; all our relatives and loved ones. And yes, even the dictator in a foreign land.

What a sneaky ploy of the enemy to try to convince us that our prayers have no effect!

It’s a lie.

Satan speaks to what we can see with our carnal eyes, the eyes we see the world through – the eyes that look at circumstances instead of looking at what God has to say about it. And God – will always have the final word!

Hallelujah!

What an effective way to get someone to stop doing something: to convince them that it’s not doing any good at all.

What a cunning lie to plant in the mind of God’s people: to get them to focus on circumstances that seem frustrating at best.

All the while – God is at work on the hearts of our loved ones.

Guess where we were when God found us? Yes! In sin! Is there any doubt that that’s exactly where He’ll find our loved ones? (Romas 5:8)

Do not relent. Your prayers ARE fervent and effective!

“….The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” – James 5:16 NIV

Some may call into question my righteousness, or their own. But remember, we’re not righteous in and of ourselves, we’re MADE righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ! (2 Corinthians 5:21) So don’t let Satan twist that lie into your brain. Your prayers ARE effective and powerful because you ARE righteous! Jesus did that for you! When you asked Him to forgive your sin and to live in your heart – God made you the righteousness of Christ. You put on HIS righteousness.

Keep praying. And when you pray, listen for God’s direction.

He knows better than we do where the wounds are in our loved one’s hearts. He knows better than we do what will soften their hearts and open their spiritual eyes and ears. And He knows what blanket of lies they’re comfortable beneath, and fully able to rip it off of them.

By His GOODNESS He draws us to repentance. (Romans 2:4) With His great love, mercy and compassion, He holds us all in HIS heart.

Yes, the people we’re praying for get to choose for themselves. And yes, that can look scary sometimes.

But the “odds” are stacked against the enemy. He’s a defeated foe. He was conquered right along with death, hell and the grave long before Jesus even walked the road to the Cross, way back when the Trinity came up with the plan! On that Cross – Jesus suffered and died to provide for our redemption. His work is not in vain.

Have faith, my friend. For without it, it’s impossible to please God. (Hebrews 11:6)

We don’t need to fight Satan; Jesus took on that job.

We’re to fight the good fight of faith. (1 Timothy 6:12)

And believe me, Satan will attack you on every front he finds available in attempt to steal that faith from you. BUT GOD gave you that faith. Hang on to it. Endure to the end.

You’ve still got it! Don’t rely on circumstances to be your measuring stick for successful prayer. Rely on the Word of God.

Yes, your prayers ARE fervent AND effective! Hallelujah!

“….The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” – James 5:16 NLT

 

Don't Keep It To Yourself

 “The next generation is your story away from glory.”

Many have made statements that sum up the same thought. Maybe I even overheard that line somewhere. But it came to mind and I want to briefly ponder it here with you.

When I look in the mirror, I no longer see the young vivacious woman I used to be.  I’m older, and I believe a little wiser. I also recognize that I won’t live forever. If I pay attention to my children and grandchildren, I notice that they too are growing older. Gray in the beards of my sons, grandchildren succeeding in their chosen career fields makes me contemplate what I’m waiting for.

The upcoming generations need to hear our stories, and the generations after them will need to hear their stories.

Some of us tend to be private people and courtesy of social media, we can sometimes feel like we’re connecting when in reality – we’re disconnecting from the people around us.

We tell ourselves, “They don’t want to hear my stories…. They want something quick and colorful; something they can read in a few seconds and keep scrolling.” Or perhaps, “I can’t share THAT story with her…”

But whether they want to hear our stories or not, they need to hear them – at least some of them.

I’m not suggesting you bear your soul to everyone. Listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit as you converse with those around you.

We need to be sharing the good that God has done in our lives so that the people God brings across our paths can stir up their faith and build up their hope as they go through their own situations.

To reveal God’s redemption in our lives may involve telling some sticky stories we don’t want to revisit. We’ll find that sharing these victory stories involve sharing the battles they came from – and this will stir up our own faith as well.

So many times, in the Old Testament of the Bible, God instructs His people to recant their history for the upcoming generations. It wasn’t merely to record their history, but to demonstrate God’s power through each trial they faced and to point out the mistakes they made and how God dealt with them, so that the next generation could benefit by it.

Granted, we don’t always learn from the past or from the mistakes of the people around us. Sometimes we’re stubborn and have to test the waters for ourselves. But while we’re biting off more than we can chew, with victory stories from those around us in mind, we’re more likely to trust that God is – and that He loves us and will bring us through.

Our world needs hope.

God has already provided that hope – through His Word, through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus – and through the word of our testimony; the sharing of our stories.is His

Cast aside the fear of embarrassment. Even the Apostle Paul asked for prayer that he would be bold with the good news of Jesus and the words of his testimonies. (Ephesians 6:18-20 here)

A favorite scripture comes to mind.

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony; and they loved not their own lives unto death.” – Revelation 12:11 (KJV)

No One Can Possibly Relate to What I'm Going Through

Do you ever feel like no one can understand what you’re going through? That no one has ever felt as rejected as you might be feeling right now? Or as looked down upon? Or as unloved? Or as ignored? Or as passed over? Or as alone as you feel from time to time….?

Can you entertain with me that Jesus Himself has walked that mile in your shoes?

John 1:10-11 says this about Jesus, “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”

So, Jesus shows up in the flesh to live amongst the very people He created in His very own image and they didn’t recognize Him – they [most of them] didn’t receive him into their lives.

Ouch! Most of us can recall Bible stories of how He was scorned, tormented and killed. Yes, - by the people He came to save.

Hebrews 4:15 tells us that we have a Savior Who knows exactly how we feel and what we face in this world, stressing that OUR High Priest DOES sympathize and understand everything we go through. He was tempted in every way we can be tempted. Yeah – let that sink in. He knew exactly how it feels to be human. Even though he was 100% God, He was also 100% man. He had to become human in order to pay the price for the sins of humanity. He sacrificed His throne in Heaven to step down and become man for a moment in time, simply to redeem us from our own selfish sin.

This is how the Amplified version states it, “For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize and understand our weaknesses and temptations, but One who has been tempted [knowing exactly how it feels to be human] in every respect as we are, yet without [committing any] sin.”

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah told us about Jesus long before He was born and Mary laid Him in that manger when he said, in part, “He [Jesus] is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief…” – Isaiah 53:3

Jesus came into this world with the foreknowledge that He would be hated and rejected. He already knew the plan; He knew He would experience sorrow on a level we can’t begin to understand, no matter how much grief we’ve endured. His rejection wasn’t the rejection of a parent or of a lover or a child. He was rejected by the whole world at one point, while in the process of paying our debt.

I’m not stating this to minimize what you might be going through right now or to say your pain pales in comparison to what Jesus went through. I’m telling you this to emphasize to you that Jesus really does know how you feel and completely understands everything you’re going through.

No matter how untrue that feels, let it sink in.

He CAN relate to you. You can tell Him anything, you can share everything with Him. Always. He’s patient. He’ll wait. You can pour out your heart even if it’s filled with anger – even if that anger is directed at Him. He can handle it, because He knows how it feels. He can empathize with you.

He’s literally the only One Who has felt exactly what you’re feeling. He’s the ONLY One you can completely confide in, trusting that He can relate and will sit with you in the dark and hold you close to His heart till your own heart beats in sync with His.

This is why you can trust Him. With anything. With everything.

Jesus Himself calls out to you with His own words of love and comfort, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.]” – Matthew 11:28 (AMPC)

Feelings deceive. They lie to us, sometimes. And they’re easily manipulated.

Try trusting Jesus over your own feelings. He’s never disappointed me, even when it looked as though He may have. I’m not saying things always go the way I want them too – but Jesus has never disappointed me. He’s already seen my future; He knows all my potential. Even though He knows what’s best, He allows me to choose. Always.

I'm F.I.N.E.

 

I'm fine. 

I guess you could say that's my mantra. I'm fine. It's what I tell myself when the road gets bumpy. 

 

Is that sometimes a denial that things are harder than I want to admit?

 

Does it mean things could be better, but "I'm fine"?

 

When I'm sick or just feeling lousy, I'll remind myself, "I'm fine."

 

Sometimes it's a phrase I quietly assert repeatedly in my mind. Sometimes I tell it to myself out loud. 

 

Is it merely a positive confession or an affirmation?

 

I took time to think about it. What do I mean when I say I'm fine?

I chose my meaning. 

 

I deliberately came up with what I actually mean when I humbly acknowledge I'm fine. 

 

I'm (Finally and) Forever In Need of Emmanuel. 

 

I'm

Forever

In

Need of

Emmanuel

 

Emmanuel - God with us. God with ME!

 

I need God to draw my next breath and take my next heartbeat. 

Of course, I need Him for anything and everything. 

 

Whether I'm doing great and don't remind myself I'm fine or I'm dragging and feeling defeated - I'm fine. Because I truly am forever in need of Emmanuel. I always need God with me. 

 

That's my reminder. 

 

What do you mean when you say you're fine?

 

"Let all those that seek and require You rejoice and be glad in You; let such as love Your salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified!

[As for me] I am poor and needy, yet the Lord takes thought and plans for me. You are my Help and my Deliverer. O my God, do not tarry!"

Psalm 40:16-17 AMPC

 

"And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen."

Philippians 4:19-20 ESV