Just Keep Going!

“Just Keep Going”

“Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, 

I am he who will sustain you. 

I have made you and I will carry you; 

I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”

Isaiah 46:4 NIV

This past summer my dad took us to Michigan on vacation.  My only request was to go to Sleepy Bear Dunes. I had heard how breathtaking it was and how beautiful Lake Michigan was at that spot. 

We had finally arrived at the Dune Climb at Sleepy Bear Dunes!  We climbed over the first big dune and we thought that we would see the lake, boy were we all wrong!Everywhere we looked all we saw was more & more dunes. SAND EVERYWHERE! Some of the dunes were small, but most of them were MASSIVE.  We soon found out that it was a 3.5 mile round trip through deep sand and over steep dunes. As we journeyed, we were hot, tired, sweaty, and our muscles were screaming at us.  Part of us wanted to stop.

Thats when I sensed God whispering:  “If you don't keep going you'll never know what you're missing up ahead.  Why justlook from a distance when you can take the extra steps to be able to feel it and touch it and see it close-up.” A lot of people can see the view from far away but you have to have the endurance and the will to seek it out. It's the same thing in our spiritual walk. We encounter things that leave us exhausted, sweaty & hurting. But if we don't have the endurance to keep on going, one foot in front of the  other on our journey, we will miss what's ahead.

Along the way my daughter, Sarah, who has Type 1 Diabetes didn't think she could make it any farther. So my nephew Brandon, stopped, picked her up and carried her up the hills that she could no longer climb. He was hot, tired, & didn’t think he could make it either. But he picked her up and carried her off and on until we made it to the lake. That was an amazing visual of what Jesus does for us.  We are all on journeys in our life. Sometimes the journeys are long and hard. Sometimes we don't think we can go any further. We are at our weakest. But Jesus is right beside us, encouraging us and sometimes carrying us when we don't have the strength to make it any farther.

Once Sarah knew that she was being carried and didn't have to walk the rest of the way by  herself, she didn't have to rely on her own strength. Her whole countenance changed. How her spirits were lifted. She was no longer sad and weary & tired. She began smiling and realized she was going to be able to make it to the end. 

And oh what a magnificent view we saw at the end. To see the beauty of Lake Michigan, to feel the cool water. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss any of it.

Music For Reflection:

*Press On by Mandisa

Headphones

Headphones

“Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track.”

Proverbs 3:5 MSG

Headphones have been a pet peeve of mine lately. Nothing can annoy me more  than when I think I am having a conversation with someone, only to find out they had headphones on the whole time! Then I have to get their attention and start the conversation all over again. Or, i end up not even having the conversation at all. That drives me nuts. 

Or, you are having a conversation with someone and you are making all these plans. Then the other person around you decides to take off the headphones and then they start asking all these questions about what is going on. Only because they couldn’t hear you when you were making the plans. That drives me crazy! 

My son has gotten to the point now that he will listen to his music with one ear bud in and one ear bud out.  That way he can still hear me & still hear his music. But I wonder how that really works out. Your only half listening to the music and half listening to the things going on around you. Neither is getting your full attention. 

When my family is talking to me they want my undivided attention. They not only want me to hear them. But they want me looking at them when they talk and they want me responding to them when they speak.

This made me stop and think. When I talk to God I want to know He’s listening to me. I want Him to respond when I talk to Him. 

Does God feel the same way when He’s trying to talk to us? Does it drive Him nuts when we totally miss the conversation? Does it drive Him crazy when we ask all kinds of questions because we missed out of what He had to tell us? Is He yelling, “Would you just take the headphones off all ready?”

We can all tend to not hear God’s voice. At one point or another we can find ourselves in one of these categories. 

1. Are we the one with ear buds in and totally missing out on the conversation?  
2. Are we the one late to the conversation trying to figure out what we missed while we had our ear buds in?  
3. Are we the one only listening half because we still have an ear bud in one ear? 

All of these situations cause confusion to us. They leave us wondering what we might have missed out on. They leave us questioning plans & what we might have really heard or not heard. Or we miss out on the conversation that we could have been a part of. 

What are we missing out on hearing from God? What exciting plans and dreams, what blessings are we missing out on? God desperately wants us to hear Him. He wants us listening. He doesn’t want to have to repeat Himself. He doesn’t want us questioning and trying to figure out what He wants. And He does not want us to only listen half way either, but completely. He wants & deserves our undivided attention. 

It’s time we take off the “headphones”. It’s time to put aside all the distractions. Its time to turn off the other noises. A dear friend of mine told me recently, “Dig deep. Whether you've had a great day so far or not, God has more. Keep digging!” 

Ladies, don’t let a bad day cause you to put headphones on. Don’t use them to block out & escape the world. Let the bad days & the good days cause you to dig deeper to hear God’s voice. Keep digging till you hear it. Because God has more for you to hear! 

Scars

I was having a conversation with somebody close to me. They asked me if I ever had times that my faith wavered. I responded that there are times that I grow discouraged and weary. But in those times I have to believe that God’s plans and timing are better than mine.

Then they began talking about how they have repeatedly cried out to God about past wounds. They have prayed for so long and they still remain. Sometimes it makes them wonder if there is a God looking out for us.

Your past is a part of you, it forms who you are. For good or for bad. God can’t completely take away your past. Where there is a deep wound, scars will always remain (at least here on earth). But He will allow you to use your scars to reach others. Scars can remind you where you have been.

I have a scar on my knee. It’s a pretty nasty scar from my childhood. I had cut myself running in the yard with my cousins. My cousins and I had a bright idea to fix it ourselves. I had seen my sister get stitches and I wanted no part of it! So, we snuck inside to the bathroom and tried to fix it ourselves. By the time my mom found us, it was too late to get stitches. The cut ended up healing. But since the wound was pretty deep, it left a pretty good size scar. Every time I look at it, I remember what happened. But one thing about the scar is that it no longer hurts. There is no pain there, only memories.

It’s that way with our past scars. God will heal you and the pain from the wound will go away. But sometimes the scar remains. They remain not to cause you more pain, distress and distrust. They remain so that you can see them and remember what God has brought you through. You can see your scars and remember the pain. Or, you can see the scars and remember the healing.

It all takes time, when you are wounded there is a healing process. Don’t allow your faith to waiver in the moments of discouragement & weariness. Don’t allow the pain to make you lose your faith. Allow the pain to let you seek God. Let Him heal you. Choose to see the healing! Choose to remember the good that has come from the scars!

Don’t get caught up by the scars that remain. Allow them to remind you of where you have been and who you might be able to help now. Don’t allow your scars to paralyze you. Your scars can be the very thing that reaches the next person for Jesus.

“The Lord is close to all whose hearts are crushed by pain, and he is always ready to restore the repentant one. Even when bad things happen to the good and godly ones, the Lord will save them and not let them be defeated by what they face.”

Psalm 34:18-19 TPT

Celebrate!

"Celebrate"

We were all gathered in the family room one evening watching a football game. It came to a play that resulted in a touchdown for our team. I was wondering why Jason and Bryce weren’t more excited. That’s when I realized that the referees were reviewing the play. My husband and son were discussing and deliberating the touchdown. They were wondering if the touchdown would be upheld or not. I was just kinda shocked and I said “geez guys, it’s not your job to question it, it’s your job to celebrate it.”

I paused in that moment. Wow, what depth that statement had. We go through life questioning everything. Even when good things are happening!

Good things happen and instead of taking time to celebrate in that moment. We delay the celebration. We look at what might be wrong. We dissect things apart to make sure that it is for real and won’t let you down. Then once we feel that nothing will go wrong, that’s when we finally celebrate. Why do we do that? Why aren’t we CELEBRATING good things right when they happen? 

Well, one reason is because we are skeptical. We are skeptical because of things that have been done in the past. We are skeptical of other people. We are skeptical of other people’s actions. 

In other football games that my husband and son had watched, touchdowns had been reversed, taken away. For some teams, they had celebrated early only to have the points taken away. What a let down!

But I have good news! Life isn’t a football game. When something happens that we should celebrate, our referee, God, is not going to stop everything & replay past mistakes or review what you have done to make sure it’s worthy of a celebration. God is not going to let us down. So celebrate when it matters.

I can honestly tell you, I don’t remember who the teams were that played that night. I don’t even remember why the touchdown was being reviewed. The one thing I did remember was the most important thing! The reason they should have been celebrating in the first place, the touchdown! 

“Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
There it is! I’m making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands.”
Isaiah 43:19 MSG

Don’t wait to celebrate! God is doing things in our lives. God is doing things in our churches. God is doing things in our homes. God is doing things everywhere. Even this very moment!! Are you watching? Are you listening? Look for it! Then celebrate it. 

Don’t live your life in replay, reviewing everything that might be wrong or could go wrong. Celebrate! God is doing something new! That makes me so excited! Don’t miss out on it by watching replays and dissecting it to make sure it’s for real! Don’t miss out on what God is doing in your life and around you. Celebrate it, don’t question it. Need a reason to celebrate, look no further!

“The Lord your God wins victory after victory and is always with you. He celebrates and sings because of you, and he will refresh your life with his love.”
‭‭Zephaniah‬ ‭3:17‬ ‭CEV