The Holy One calls to me this morning. He has been my comfort and peace while this life is spiraling out of control. Where would I be today without my Savior and Lord? What would I do were it not for the Holy Spirit maintaining my faculties?
The news came fast, hit hard, and left us with a totally different life and perspective. Funny how everything In this life can change in an hour of "discovery". We can observe for many years the outside of things and never really know what lies within.
This is why we must pay attention to what each trial and the heat it brings exposes, from deep within our heart. Unholy attitudes, unaddressed, are to the soul like cancer is to the body: devastating, destructive, virile, and death producing.
As the heat gets turned way up, the Holy One awaits my cry.
I cannot get past the "anxiety", the fear of the unknown, the reality that life has forever changed. I know full well that I, who am a control freak, have no control. Not external and not even self-control for this anxiety seems to rule. My heart is jumping out of my chest, my stomach is in knots. I just want to run and hide but there is no place to go to get away from this emotional strain.
All around me are the "effects" of my old life and the things that have always brought me familiar comfort are now adding to the anxiety as I realize their value is worthless to me now.
And so I cry out to the One who is always there. The One who will never leave me nor forsake me. But my cry is one of shame. After all these years of knowing Him and truth and dependency, why the anxiety?
The devil say, "If your faith was real you wouldn't feel this anxiety". Oh the liar, what a low blow. He brings death and then accuses us of handling it poorly.
Then my Holy Counselor speaks: "Remember Gethsemane". Two words that begin to part the dark suffocating clouds of insanity and anxiety. "Jesus, too, was anxious. He was so anxious, He sweat blood. He knows! He knows!"
Just realizing that my beloved Savior, who suffered and died for all of us was anxious as he faced death brings relief to my shame.
The Holy One takes me back to God's Word. I Peter 4:12, "Dear friends, do not be surprised, at the painful trial you are suffering as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice that you participate in sufferings of Christ so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed".
There is no human explanation for the Presence of the Holy Spirit and His powerful influence over our lives. In two words spoken to my heart and mind, He destroyed the grip of the ancient deceiver. The anxiety left. The rule of Holiness was restored. I know I can face each new day not in my own strength but in His.
So what does that mean, "be anxious for nothing"? Phi 4:12 begins, "Rejoice in the Lord always, I say it again rejoice", just like I Peter 4. Then comes, "Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God."
Truly the only place I can find thanksgiving is in the knowledge that I know I cannot function apart from the Holy Spirit. I am not thankful that I cannot function, but I am thankful that I know I cannot function without Him manifesting His life in, to, and through me at this moment or season of crisis. "and THEN the peace that transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus". A Holy, Heaven peace comes. Like a Heavenly Peace I.V. hooked to my Spiritual vein.
Faith is real. Faith is not a Pollyanna denial of earth's reality. Faith grabs hold of a superior reality: A loving Heavenly Father, A fierce and powerful Savior, who hates and conquered death and an indescribable indwelling Guardian of my heart and mind who radiates His comfort and peace into every cell of my being.
Anxiety and fear are not to be denied, but they can and are to be overcome.
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
The news came fast, hit hard, and left us with a totally different life and perspective. Funny how everything In this life can change in an hour of "discovery". We can observe for many years the outside of things and never really know what lies within.
This is why we must pay attention to what each trial and the heat it brings exposes, from deep within our heart. Unholy attitudes, unaddressed, are to the soul like cancer is to the body: devastating, destructive, virile, and death producing.
As the heat gets turned way up, the Holy One awaits my cry.
I cannot get past the "anxiety", the fear of the unknown, the reality that life has forever changed. I know full well that I, who am a control freak, have no control. Not external and not even self-control for this anxiety seems to rule. My heart is jumping out of my chest, my stomach is in knots. I just want to run and hide but there is no place to go to get away from this emotional strain.
All around me are the "effects" of my old life and the things that have always brought me familiar comfort are now adding to the anxiety as I realize their value is worthless to me now.
And so I cry out to the One who is always there. The One who will never leave me nor forsake me. But my cry is one of shame. After all these years of knowing Him and truth and dependency, why the anxiety?
The devil say, "If your faith was real you wouldn't feel this anxiety". Oh the liar, what a low blow. He brings death and then accuses us of handling it poorly.
Then my Holy Counselor speaks: "Remember Gethsemane". Two words that begin to part the dark suffocating clouds of insanity and anxiety. "Jesus, too, was anxious. He was so anxious, He sweat blood. He knows! He knows!"
Just realizing that my beloved Savior, who suffered and died for all of us was anxious as he faced death brings relief to my shame.
The Holy One takes me back to God's Word. I Peter 4:12, "Dear friends, do not be surprised, at the painful trial you are suffering as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice that you participate in sufferings of Christ so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed".
There is no human explanation for the Presence of the Holy Spirit and His powerful influence over our lives. In two words spoken to my heart and mind, He destroyed the grip of the ancient deceiver. The anxiety left. The rule of Holiness was restored. I know I can face each new day not in my own strength but in His.
So what does that mean, "be anxious for nothing"? Phi 4:12 begins, "Rejoice in the Lord always, I say it again rejoice", just like I Peter 4. Then comes, "Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God."
Truly the only place I can find thanksgiving is in the knowledge that I know I cannot function apart from the Holy Spirit. I am not thankful that I cannot function, but I am thankful that I know I cannot function without Him manifesting His life in, to, and through me at this moment or season of crisis. "and THEN the peace that transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus". A Holy, Heaven peace comes. Like a Heavenly Peace I.V. hooked to my Spiritual vein.
Faith is real. Faith is not a Pollyanna denial of earth's reality. Faith grabs hold of a superior reality: A loving Heavenly Father, A fierce and powerful Savior, who hates and conquered death and an indescribable indwelling Guardian of my heart and mind who radiates His comfort and peace into every cell of my being.
Anxiety and fear are not to be denied, but they can and are to be overcome.
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
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