Who Hindered You?

Who hindered you from running?
Who caused you to be sluggish?
Who kept you from your appointed task?
Who told you to stop and not go on?
Who kept you from crossing the finish line?
Who kept you from being a winner?
Who told you it was o.k. to give up?
Who said you really don’t deserve this prize?
Who gave you negative words to defeat your purpose?
Who cast doubts on your life’s dream?
Who said quitting is an option, you couldn’t do it anyway?
Who said you’ll never make it, move on?
Who said that’s the way life is, deal with it?

BUT THEN WHO SAID

In Hebrews 12:1 that “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” This passage tells us that we could win this race and that in due season if we faint not, we shall win this race.

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. (Ecc.3:1) There is a time and a season for everything that happens in your life. You shall win if you trust the Lord to be your trainer. Redeem the time that the Lord has given you. Run this race as if it meant your life, for it may cost you yours and those who are watching the race.

When You Feel It,You Heal It

I was watching a famous talk show host when I heard the phrase, when you feel it, you heal it. Never was a truer word spoken. The question was asked of the guest, "do you feel responsible for the plight of your child?"
"Yes, I did for a while" the guest answered.
"Then what makes you feel different now" questioned the host.
"When I realized how I felt about the situation, then I could take steps to be healed. First I had to face me."

I thought to myself, that's the same conversation I just had with my son. He was getting over a break up with the woman he thought he was going to spend the rest of his life with. We had many talks and discussions about the whys of their breakup. He went through many scenarios about what he would do if he saw her again. He had heard rumors that she was engaged to another only eight months after their departing. He had even talked to the new fiance on her cell phone by default.

The day came shortly after that when he saw the two of them in the grocery store. The initial shock quickly slammed him in to heartache. But, he girded himself with a prayer and took the higher road and spoke to the newly formed couple. A couple days went by as he processed the encounter. At this point he asked me were there some books he could read to help make sense of his thoughts.

He first read Attachments by Clinton and Sibcy, a book about why you love, feel and act the way you do. He then read Tough Stuff by Charles Swindoll. It talked about getting through the tough stuff in life. And then he started reading the DNA of Relationships by Dr. Garey Smalley. It talks about discovering how you are designed for satisfying relationships. Through reading these books he's learning how relationships work and where he fits in in the process.

A few days later, my son said to me the minute he walked in the house from work. Today I faced the fact that we are finished and I feel better now that I acknowledge that fact. I'm okay with that. I though when I said that to the Lord that I would feel devastated. But, I don't feel bad at all.

My statement to him was, the hardest thing to do is to face yourself and own up to your true feelings. The torment comes in when you keep putting off dealing with your fears. Once you face them you find that you can begin to move forward. Now your healing can begin when you face where you really are. So, when I heard the guest make that statement, I agreed that until you feel it, you can't heal it.

The Raging Storm

Many times in our lives, comes a storm that we feel we cannot whether. This summer their were quite a few natural storms that took out the power lines to my house. I live in an area that has lots of trees, so its inevitable that a tree must fall sooner or later to the elements that come and go. I apply what happens in the natural to what often happens in the Spiritual. The Raging Storm are my thoughts about life's happenings.

As one of the many storms was raging, it became deadly as poison. Destruction was on a collision course with anything that would defy its path. The winds blew as if they were in their last battle serge as it would take no prisoners. Its vengeance required victory in battling the elements.

As swift as it came, the more slowly it exited the premises. The few hours it fought seemed days to the tormented. Finally as the storm took its leave like honey slowly dripping, you gained respect for what it could have left in its aftermath. The storm could have been worse but God was yet merciful again.

Reflecting back at the sway of the trees as the wind forced them to bow down countless times, and seeing the pelting rain that conjured up opaque sheets of water, with lightening and thunder that would have rivaled Zeus’s display in the skies. Oh may God’s wonders never cease.

At the height of the storm came the unleashing of the heavens accompanied by the fighting of the wind against the rain and lighting constantly sparing with each other. There was a lone tree that got caught up in the middle of the battle. It could not stand between the two fighting foes and suffered a deadening lightening strike and fell.

The tree lost its balance and pulled several life lines to the ground like dominoes. Whatever was in its path lost its power that supplied life giving links to others. The cords that supplied the necessities of life eventually broke for their burden was much too much to bear.

Our lives often resemble a raging storm that comes quickly and steal away our joy. We get tossed and turned and thrown in many directions. Lightening bolts such as death, pain, heartache and disobedience lead us on a path of destruction. Some of the pains we could have avoided if we would have reached out to the Master and asked for help. But we chose to remain in the middle of winless battles with ourselves where we can’t see clearly what we need to do.

As we struggle and stress, and stress and struggle, we eventually bow down on our knees and implore God to stop the strife. We realize that we can no longer carry the heavy burden alone. That’s when Jesus lifts you up and places you on a solid rock to stand which is the Word of God. So when the storms come again, and they will, connect to your unending power source. Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed; He answers him from His holy heaven with the saving power of His right hand. "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. Psalm 20:6-8."


SPW
07-09-08