Breakin' Up Is Hard To Do

Have you ever heard the song, "Breakin' Up is Hard to Do?" It's fun little ditty from the 60's & 70's that is actually really nice to play while you clean the house. It's only fun because of the music and the beat. The words are painfully true. It is hard to break up with someone else and it's even harder to have someone you care about break up with you.

I remember when I was in middle school, couples would break up about as often as mystery meat was on the cafeteria menu. It was hard to keep up with who was "going with" who at any given moment. As we all got a few years older, the break ups became more challenging and painful because we were becoming more serious about our feelings. We wanted a serious relationship where the other person felt the same way we did. If we found that, we felt like we could fly. Once it was over...we'll let's just say it wasn't pretty.

When the high school days are over, we get to a point where we are tired of the whole break up scene and we are ready to find the last one we'll ever fall in love with. We want someone who is serious, who is ready to settle down with one person, and who plans to remain faithful to ONLY us for the rest of our lives.

By this time, we've probably learned the pain caused by somone being UNfaithful and we may find ourselves in a place where it is hard to trust. This is only exacerbated by all the stories we hear of spouses cheating on one another. It is such a painful thing to have a promise of that magnitude broken. I've listened to many women process their thoughts and feelings on this issue and I am very thankful that I have a godly husband who has always been faithful to me. I don't say that to brag, but I am merely counting my blessings. I've been on the other end where I was the girlfriend who was mistreated and that was painful enough.

Sometimes we look at God through the lens of our earthly experience and we have a hard time understanding who He is. We find it hard to trust Him because of the people who broke our trust, but God is different. Today's meditation was on His attribute of faithfulness. God is faithful. He is not one of these guys who promise faithfulness then run off with something better at the first chance He gets. He's not one who tells you that you're the apple of his eye and yet you find Him looking at everything else out of the corner of His eye. God is not a liar. God is not a cheater.

He is faithful. His promises are true and He stands by them. He will never lie to you. He means what He says. He does what He says He will do.

Here is what His word says about Him...

Lamentations 3:23

22 The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning ; Great is Your faithfulness.  

Psalm 33:4-5

4 For the word of the LORD is upright, And all His work is done in faithfulness. 5 Your lovingkindness, O LORD, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.     

Sometimes we pray and don't get exactly what we want from God; therefore, we think God is unfaithful and He doesn't answer prayer. However, the whole time we were praying for the wrong thing, God had something better planned that He couldn't wait to give us. He is trustworththy. He is safe. He is good and faithful! There's another old song that says, "When you can't trust His hand, trust His heart." When you go through times when it doens't look like God is faithful, trust His Heart that is full of love for you!

Put Your Dukes Up!

I'm pretty scrappy. Ever since I was little, I wanted to fight and wrestle with my dad and my brother. I don't like to give in and I will continue even if I'm wounded. My mom always said I would get hurt, run to her and cry, then right jump back in the pile. I would always tell people that I never played sports because I wasn't a competitive person. The truth is that I'm just TOO competitive. Growing up, I was never a good sportsman and I HATED to lose.

Every once in a while, I would stumble upon someone who was just as scrappy as I was and we'd have a battle to see who was the toughest. My mom would often lecture me for playing a game called "6 inches." For those who don't know, "6 inches" is a game where you make a fist and position yourself exactly 6 inches from your opponents flexed bicept. Then you directly punch them as hard as you can without pulling your fist back for added force. They take their turn and this continues until one person can't take it anymore. I finally saw the light on that one when I came home with 6 inch black bruises on both arms and could hardly move them. Game over.

While you may not have heard of "6 inches," you've probably heard of the game called "Mercy" (or as some people call it, "Uncle"). This is a game where you interlock your fingers with your opponent and you both begin to simultaneously maneuver your hands to see who can get their opponent into a position of pain to the point where they surrender. In order to surrender, one has to say "Mercy!" in order to be released.

Hey what can I say? I was the only girl in the house raised with an older brother for most of my life. It was survival of the fittest!

This game came to my mind as I began to think about today's attribute of God, which is "God is merciful."

Many people think of God as an opponent in the game of mercy. They think He just punishes you or hurts you until you can't take it and you finally beg for "Mercy!" It breaks my heart that people think that way and I desperately want them to know the truth. That is NOT what mercy is at all.

The truth is more along the lines of the fact that we were caught in the death grip of sin. In fact, the truth is that we were dead in sin (we're talking skeleton here), never truly knowing how to live. Then God steps into the picture with His perfect search & rescue plan, allowing His only Son to endure the humiliating death on the cross as the final sacrifice that would ever be needed to cleanse us of our sin. In that instant, the grip of death and sin lost it's power and there was no need for us to cry out for mercy. It was freely offered and freely given. There is nothing left for us to do but walk away from the sin that had bound us and walk into the outstretched arms of our Redeemer.

Here's what Holy Scripture says:

Daniel 9:9

9 But the Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him.

Deuteronomy 4:29-31

29 From there you will search again for the LORD your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him. 30 "When those bitter days have come upon you far in the future, you will finally return to the LORD your God and listen to what he tells you. 31 For the LORD your God is merciful -- he will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the solemn covenant he made with your ancestors.  

Mercy is the fact that God loved us when we were unloveable, offered the gift of His Son when had nothing to give in return, forgave us of a debt we could not pay. I am not worthy of the mercy that has been offered to me. God forbid that I ever take it for granted!

Holy Father,

You're love and your mercy are too much for me to comprehend. Even though I am so unworthy, you gave me the best gifts of all. You gave me freedom, healing, hope, life, forgiveness, mercy, and the promise of eternal life. In my human mind, it makes no sense to love someone like me, but you do and I am so thankful. Thank you that you love us all and offer this gift to every single person you've created. Help us to know you and love you more with every passing day. You are worthy of all our praise!

In Jesus Holy Name I pray,
Amen

Missing, But Not Alone

My brother has been missing for about three months now. I can't explain what other people feel when a family member goes missing, but I can tell you what happened to me. The minute I found out, my stomach felt like a clinched fist unable to release it's grip. My mind began to race wondering what happened, where he had gone, what was happening to him, and if he was safe or not. I found myself developing a ferocious desire to go out and find him. Friends and family pulled together to post flyers, spread the word on facebook, and even form a search party. We had people coming out of the woodworks offering to help in anyway they could. My heart has never been so moved and touched.

We actually did search for him, but had no luck. The feeling of searching for a missing person that you care very deeply for is unmistakably surreal. It's like living in a dream. Nothing seems real and everything is under intense inspection.

The drive home from our failed attempt was long and profound. Humanly speaking, I was completely helpless in this situation. My eyes never left the side of the road in a final effort to hopefully find him down an embankment. As we drove home, I had to come face to face with the reality that we may never find him. If he was alive and well and just didn't want to be found, I would never see my brother again in this life. If he was not alive and well, I would have to wait until I get to heaven to see him again. While the certainty of a heavenly reunion is reassuring, the pain of not having him around is certainly not something I want to face. I love my brother dearly and I miss him so much.

As I reflected on today's attribute of God I realized it has been the ONE thing that has brought me peace in this whole ordeal: God is omnipresent. Even though I don't have any connection with my brother right now, I have a deep connection with His Creator and His Creator is with him wherever he is. How do I know? Being omnipresent means that God is everywhere all at once. The same God who comforts my heart right now as I type this is also with my brother wherever He is.

Take a look at how scripture describes it:

Psalm 139:7-12

7 I can never escape from your spirit! I can never get away from your presence!  8 If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the place of the dead, you are there. 9 If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, 10 even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. 11 I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night -- 12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are both alike to you.

If my brother is in trouble, I can feel the assurance that he is not alone because my prayers for my brother are being heard by the God who is with him. Even if he is no longer alive, I know that he is in the presence of God and will never be alone again. The same God who is faithful to me and so many others is faithful to my brother who is out of my reach, but he's not out of God's reach.

It's at times like these when the fact that God is omnipresent really means so much. It is a comfort during this difficult and painful situation. The situations that are too big for us are NOT too big for God.

A song for my brother and anyone else out there who needs to know you're not alone:



Mr. Know-It-All

We all know one (at least one) person who thinks they know everything. These are the obnoxious people who correct you when you weren't even wrong only to tell you how you could have been MORE right. They throw in needless information because they feel that the conversation is somehow inadequate without their contribution. Here in the south, these people end up earning a nickname: Mr. or Mrs. Know-It-All. While some people would love nothing more than to be called that in public (for everyone to hear), I assure you, it's not a compliment. 

There is One who is the ultimate "know-it-all" and He is God. The proper term is called "omniscient." It means that God knows everything. It sounds like it means that God is just really smart and knows all there is to know, but it's deeper than that. Much deeper.

Let's take a look...

Psalm 139:1-6

1 O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. 2 You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my every thought when far away. 3 You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am. 4 You know what I am going to say even before I say it, LORD. 5 You both precede and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to know!  

It gets a little more personal when you realize that God knows everything about you. He knows your thoughts, your words, your motives, your secrets, your sin, your weaknesses and your strengths. He knows when you stand, sit, walk, run and kneel (ahem). He knows your limitations and when you need to rest. He knows when you've had all you can take and when you can push a little further. He knows all of your wounds, heartaches and brokenness, but He also knows all of your pride, arrogance, and selfishness. Wherever you go, He has gone before and will go after you.

I don't know about you, but that is a pretty scary thought. The God of all creation knows EVERYTHING about me. I mess up. I am FAR from perfect and I don't always do the right thing. I'm a human who was born with a sin nature just like everyone else on the planet. I am hopeless without Him. I know how easy it is to slip into sin and how hard repentance can be. I look at all the things I know about myself and all things God knows about me and I am humbled...especially by the last part of verse 5 in the previous scripture. It says, "...You place your hand of blessing on my head."

Such knowledge truly is too wonderful for me and too great for me to know! He knows it all...AND YET. Those are two of my favorite words because it means that in spite of us, God can do some incredible things that are Anything But Typical. It's not typical to love people who betray you. It's not typical to bless people who curse you. It's not typical to offer life to those who are dead in sin...but He did because not only does He know your past, and your present, but He knows what you CAN be with Him.

WOW! Even though we are miserable wretches without God, He still extends His hand of love and blessing. He knows all of our sin and yet He loves us anyway! I am so unworthy!