In It To Win It!

Is it ever difficult for you to jump into the Word of God, to really devour the words and study them for a while? Maybe you've realized that it is truly a discipline, to be a daily Bible-studyer, and discipline is simply not easy. The distractions of daily life war against our time with God.

And yet, don't you desire a life lived well? Do you beg God to help you be patient and gentle when your life is spinning circles around you? Do you wish for wisdom when you have tough choices to make? Do you realize your need for stillness, peace, and contentment?

Do you realize your need?

When I need help, I often look for the answers around me, even though I want what the Word offers. I make resolutions. I talk to friends. I read books, lots of books. I declare my decision to turn it around and do things a different way. Then, I pray about my plans and offer them to the God of the universe.

But by then, I’ve been running, a hundred miles an hour, in the wrong direction. My direction.

When I study the Word of God, when I dig deeper, and I stay still, to think about it, to listen to it, I find answers there for the life I live today.

The truth is, if I want to live well, I need this letter from God, every single day, woven into my life. Yet at times, I’ve given away my quiet time to extra work or extra sleep, to procrastination, a workout, or a TV show. Things worth little compared to the value of my time with God.

I remember the years when my two boys were still babies. They were born just over a year apart, and I will admit now that those were some hard years! I tried to pull it off smoothly each day and do all the things I thought a Mama should do. Eventually, I learned to be honest--my life was more like a wooden rollercoaster ride than a smooth sail.

During those years, I took a lot of shortcuts. I could be through the shower and have my hair dried and makeup on in 20 minutes flat. In the kitchen, my theme was "the quicker, the better". The only shortcut I learned with laundry was "never fold it when the boys are awake". They could blaze through 13 piles in 2 seconds flat, unfolding and desorting in one fell swoop.

But I also took some shortcuts in my time with the Lord. Too many days, I sat on the edge of the bathtub once I was "ready", ingested a few verses and quickly ran off to get the little guys out of bed and start the day. There was plenty of background noise in the form of "Maaaama...Mommy...MAMA!" during those "quiet" times.

Obviously, life has seasons, and that time when you're home with little ones is more of a survival time than one in which you thrive. But there are plenty of seasons of life where time and discipline are hard to come by. For me, there had to be a change. Because a lack of God's Word, a lack of really soaking it up, will take it’s toll.

Do you remember the little Sunday School song where we used to squat down real low to the ground and then come up just a little with each "grow" until we bloomed into a whopping four foot tall human being? Go ahead, sing along now: "Read your Bible, pray every day, pray every day, pray every day. Read your Bible, pray every day, and you'll grow, grow, grow. And you'll grow, grow, grow, and you'll grow, grow, grow..."

You could also reverse it, and if you don't read your Bible and pray every day, then you'll shrink, shrink, shrink.

So here’s to growth, to God’s Word, to being still, to looking to the One who gave us life. It’s basic, and some of us have heard it from the time we could read, but this book will make all the difference in our lives.

If we’re in it.

But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does.
James 1:25

What Do You Do With Loss?

Everyone suffers loss. Maybe you have lost something important, or maybe knowing you will nags at you. The thing is, losses come in all shapes and sizes. Loss of a dream you planned your life around. Loss of someone you loved. Loss of a pet who was always by your side. Loss of physical function you used to have. Loss of your life the way you knew it. It doesn't matter the type of loss, it just hurts.

I've sufferred some losses lately. And even though I am blessed to have my husband, my children, my family, and others still beside me, the loss has ripped a piece of my heart out. I've been on my knees, throwing it at the feet of Jesus, feeling comforted in His great arms. And I've dropped to the floor, crushed by reality, my tears unstoppable.

Have you been there? At that place where grief takes over, your hope in Christ flickers in the background, the "here and now" reality sets in like a cloud, the darkness heavy on your shoulders. You ask Him with shaky voice, "What do I do with this?" And you grieve over your loss. You feel the pain with only a small ray of hope that you'll get up off this floor and feel good again, get past it, over it, or move on in spite of missing them.

It's lonely here, in the place where loss meets life, even if there are others showering you with hugs and prayers. Because the way you deal with the pain is different from every other person. The way it hits you is all your own, the pain is yours.

Except for the One who knows you inside and out. He will fill the empty places, the hole that feels raw and wide open in your heart. Only He can do that anyway. He's the only One who lasts forever. He is not fading away, the way our loved ones are, the way we are. And He loves you and longs to fill your emptiness.

Sometimes my tendency is to put hope in the people around me. I can see them. They make me feel known and loved and good. They care for me and help me to feel less lonely. But still, I feel unsure. Because they are no more sure and certain than I am. As David said in Psalm 39, Everyone's life is but a breath.

So my hope in them falls short. Their life, like mine, is fading. And then I choose to hope in the Lord. Trust in the Lord. Those words I memorized when I was five, they mean so much more now. I didn't understand. I said I trusted the Lord, but I didn't fully understand.

I used to think that trusting God was a one-time event. I placed my trust in Jesus Christ for my eternal salvation. But because life is full of difficult moments (trials, you might call them), I realize now that trust is something we do day after day. I can respond to my pain by trusting in all kinds of different things, or I can trust in the Lord.

It's often in moments of grief that I learn to trust Him. Trust that the God who made me loves me and has my life in His hands, my loved ones' lives in His hands. Trust that life is so much bigger and more important than me and the life I live on earth. Trust that God is good, and He is worthy of my focus and attention, day in and day out. Trust that even though all that is true, He cares for me.

He hears your cry and sees your pain and knows how it feels to you. Trust Him.

Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
Psalm 62:8