Abide

About 3 days after my husband finished radiation therapy, we pulled down the back part of our house. We had plans for something bigger, newer, better. But as the furniture was removed and the walls, floors and roof were pulled off, all we had was a mess! Not much of what had previously been there remained, and I remember feeling like the back of our house mirrored how me…tired, run-down, a shell, broken… empty.  My faith felt tattered, I had nothing to give to anyone, and I felt like God had disappeared.  The journey of the previous 4 months had left me in a mess!

I took hope in the fact that just as we were rebuilding something bigger, better, newer in our house…that God was going to do a work in my life that would see me come out the other side with greater strength, beauty and capacity.

For a long time I asked God to answer many questions about that season, trying to understand the why’s and what for’s of all that went on in order to ‘make sense’ of it. I’ve come to the conclusion that I may not get all the answers and I’m looking at my Valley with new eyes.

I love the story of Joseph. Here was a guy with a huge call on his life, he would become second in charge in Egypt, and save thousands because of his obedience to God in storing up grain for a season of famine. But before he got to that point, he was thrown into a pit, sold as a slave, and sentenced to jail. Not quite the systematic rise to power you would hope for! 😉

I love his words to his brothers when he finally met up with them again…”Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50: 19-20).

It would have been easy for Joseph to feel like God had left him, forgotten about him but Joseph was a man who could look back on the challenges life had thrown at him, and know God could work it all out for good.

Romans 8:28 says ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.’

So with that verse on my heart, I have been on a quest…instead of looking at my valley and mourning that season, I am looking for the good that God has brought out of that place. I wondered if I could write 10 things God taught me from my valley and I tell you, it was easy!!! As hard as that season was, God has brought good out of it. He has revealed Himself to me in greater ways, He has strengthened my faith, He has healed deep hurts, and I have come through the other side with greater depth and understanding. What the enemy intended to harm, God has turned around for good. 

Perhaps you are in a valley right now… I’m so sorry, my heart breaks at your pain. But can I tell you that God will not leave you here. He is the God of restoration, freedom, and He will make all things new! Perhaps you too have seasons that you don’t understand. God can bring healing. As we choose to look at these places with fresh eyes we can be confident that God can take the broken places of our lives and breathe life, strength and beauty into us. And so there is hope…hope that our God can carry us through the tough seasons, hope that our God can restore, heal, and make all things new, hope that what the enemy intended to harm us, God can turn around for good, and hope that through our valleys we can grow and become bigger on the inside. 

My God is mighty to save, He is powerful to heal and I am trusting Him for even more!!!! 

Blessings!

Tammy x

One of my favorite songs is by Jenn Johnson & Bethel music:

‘God I look to You

I won’t be overwhelmed

Give me vision to see things like You do,

God I look to You

You’re where my help comes from

Give me wisdom 

You know just what to do’

And the chorus beautifully declares God as our strength, our shield, our rock, and that He reigns!!!!

I find myself singing this song a lot when I’m feeling overwhelmed. It is a reminder to me to lift my eyes from the situation and circumstances that I’m facing and place them on God.

2 Corinthians 4:18 tells us to ‘fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary and what is unseen is eternal.’

2 Corinthians 5:7 echoes this: ‘we live by faith, not sight.’

What we look at can block our vision from the eternal. It can keep us fixated on the here and now. It can keep us walking in discouragement and fear. It can steal our joy, our hope, our faith. It can keep us from seeing God and it can stop us from seeing what God is up to.

In Matthew 14, Peter courageously asks Jesus to call him forth out of the boat to walk on water. He does actually walk on water but the moment he takes his eyes off Jesus and looks at the wind, he is afraid and begins to sink. His focus shifts from Jesus to the present circumstance. 

I love the words from the above song ‘give me vision to see things like You do’. I often think vision is a fancy word for faith. It’s a preferred future, a trusting in God to bring forth His heart for us, to take the temporary and breathe life, healing, hope, joy, and freedom over it.

Wouldn’t it be great to see things from God’s perspective? To have eyes to see the big picture! I love that the things of this world are temporary and that we are walking toward an eternal freedom and glory! God sees the big picture and He asks us to lift our eyes to Him and walk by faith (not sight)! 

Perhaps you are going through a difficult season at the moment. Perhaps you need spiritual eyes to believe God for your finances, your health, your marriage, your child’s salvation. In the temporary, it can look daunting and we can wonder how on earth we are going to see any kind of breakthrough, but it’s in those moments we need to remember that God is BIGGER and lift our eyes and voices to declare His sovereignty over our lives!

Perhaps you are in a valley so dark that you can’t even see God… I’ve been there… and can I encourage you that God is there!!!!!!!!!!!! HE WILL NOT LET YOU GO! He’s got you. Hang on for dear life and keep walking because the valley will come to an end and there will be joy again. He will prepare a banquet for you and the enemy will have to watch on as you feast on God’s goodness. (Psalm 23:5).

In the story where Peter begins to sink, he cries out to Jesus and the passage says that Jesus ‘immediately’ reached out His hand and caught him. The Message says ‘Jesus didn’t hesitate’. I love that! In that moment when we feel ourselves sinking, we can call out to Jesus and He will not hesitate in reaching for us!

Some of the most defining moments in my faith have been when I have declared God’s sovereignty over whatever situation has been overwhelming me. As I put worship on and begin to sing that God reigns, something shifts in me…and in the spiritual. The thing that was consuming me gets put into perspective as I lift my eyes to Almighty God and place it in His hands. Can I encourage you to make some time this week to declare God’s sovereignty over whatever situation is going on for you. If you can get a hold of Jenn Johnson’s song sing ‘Our God reigns’ over your life.

Let’s ask God to give us spiritual eyes to see His vision for our lives. Let’s not get stuck in the temporary. Let’s fix our eyes on Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith!!! 

Blessings!

Tammy

• the Shepherd Himself who refreshes my heart and speaks words of truth into my places of inadequacy, who tells me I am enough because He created me and I am His.
•  a thankful heart that lifts it’s focus from the lack to gratitude. Sometimes we just need to change what we’re looking at. Shifting our focus from the lack to the many blessings we have brings joy and contentment.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by life…caught up in the craziness of what’s going on around you? Unable to think clearly, frazzled, anxious? Perhaps, like me, the break-neck speed of Christmas craziness, and the endless purchasing of back to school supplies has been enough to sidetrack you! 🙂 Life can often leave us feeling frazzled and spiritually depleted.

At our women’s retreat God challenged me about not getting caught up in the busyness of life. As I sat down at the boatshed I watched the current moving at a fast pace. I felt God speak into my soul about my need to be anchored in Him and not be caught up in the swift moving current of life.  I don’t often get prophetic pictures for people but as I prayed for a lovely friend, I saw a cyclonic whirlwind swirling around her like a huge dust-storm. She couldn’t see, it was chaos around her, but there she was at the centre of it all, on her knees before her Heavenly Father. A picture of total dependence on God, of positioning herself at the feet of the only one who could help her get through the chaos.

Over the last 3 years there have been many moments when I have felt totally out of control, totally overwhelmed and not sure how to get through the chaos and turmoil that has surrounded me. Even now, we have things going on that we have no control over and that picture of setting down anchor and positioning myself before God has bought courage, strength and determination. In the early days of my husband’s diagnosis of cancer I remember thinking about how I was positioned to get through it. I knew this was not the time to give up going to church, even on those days I was in the depth of emotion. In the words of a dear friend, if we can’t cry at church, where can we cry? 🙂 I knew I needed the encouragement and support of my faith family and I knew I needed God more than I had ever needed Him!!!

This year God has reinforced that picture of being anchored in Him with a scripture from Jeremiah 17:7-8 “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the steam. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

Ephesians 3:17 encourages us to be “rooted and established in love” Why? So that we may “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpassess knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (v.18-19). Bigger on the Inside! 

So, how do we put this into practice? The start of a new year is always a great time to evaluate where we are and where we want to be. Let’s not just have a desire, let’s put some things into place to make that desire a reality. I have found Rick Warren’s framework of ‘divert daily, withdraw weekly and abandon annually’ really helpful in my personal desire to be anchored in God. I have subscribed to a daily email from ‘Proverbs 31 Ministries’ to help me divert daily to God. I looked at my weekly routine and picked a day where I can spend 2 hours withdrawing with God and I have a retreat and a spiritual conference scheduled this year to help me abandon the craziness of life and give God a solid block of time for growth.

But I want to leave you with one last question…where do you find yourself positioned for 2015. Do you find yourself carried along by the craziness of life, or like my friend, do you find yourself on your knees before your Heavenly Father. Are you positioning yourself well? are you anchored, planted, are your roots down deep into Christ’s love? My prayer is that this is truth for you and that we will find ourselves positioned well to meet all that life throws at us. Blessings!!!

Tammy