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!

Further Down The Rabbit Hole, Alice!

For those of you who have been following along on this 30-day blog journey, you may be feeling a bit of what I'm feeling right now. I feel very much like Alice who found herself hurtling down a rabbit hole into a whole new world where things were very different from what she was used to. She learned many new and strange things that forever altered her destiny.

I'm Alice. This blog is the rabbit hole and I'm discovering God. It is one thing to know ABOUT God. It is another story to know HIM. I have known God for a long time, but I feel like I have learned so much more about Him over the past 10 days. Whereas my faith would be shaky at best sometimes (meaning I wasn't sure if I could fully trust or believe He would do what He said) prior to this journey, I feel like I can't HELP but trust God now. Simply by learning about His names, character, and attributes, I have engaged the supernatural truth of God and I will never be the same.

Today, I learned what "immutable" means. I've heard it before, but never understood the definition (Here's a hint: It doesn't mean "the inability to be quiet." LOL). "Immutable" is an attribute that describes God's consistency, perfection, and inability to be anything other than Who He is.

Psalm 102:25-28 (NLT)

²⁵ Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth and made the heavens with your hands.
²⁶ They will perish, but you remain forever; they will wear out like old clothing. You will change them like a garment and discard them.
²⁷ But you are always the same; you will live forever.
²⁸ The children of your people will live in security. Their children’s children will thrive in your presence.”

God isn't going away. He isn't dead, nor can He be killed. He will not fade away like a mist like human life will, but He remains forever. He doesn't age, get sick, fail, make mistakes, sin, break, fall apart, or malfunction. He can't be outsmarted and is perfect in all He does. Even when we don't understand or agree with how He is doing things, He is still doing what is right and necessary. We don't see all the factors, but God does. He sees the beginning, the end, and everything in between. He sees what is hidden and what is exposed, He can not be anything other than Himself and He will live forever.

My favorite part of the verse mentioned above is the last line that says,"Their children's children will thrive in your presence." I am learning that I need less and less of the material things in life to "thrive." I feel that God is getting me to a place of complete dependence on Him for everything. By revealing to me Who He is, He is showing me that I am in good hands and that He can be everything I will ever need. He IS all I will ever need!

I feel like a blonde joke.

Years ago, blonde jokes were "all the rage." Every time you turned around someone was coming up with another joke about people with blonde hair (implying, of course, that they are all dumb air-heads). Even though I was born with blonde hair, I must admit that I have laughed at my fair share of those jokes. One of my favorites goes something like this:

How do you kill a blonde? Answer: Put spikes on her shoulder pads!

Yeah, yeah, I know. Not only is that one mean, but it is totally dated. For any of my younger friends, you're probably thinking, "What the heck are shoulder pads?" You don't want to know.

I say all of that to say that I felt like a blonde today because as I meditated on today's attribute of God, I kept finding myself getting lost in thought, cocking my head to one side, and staring blankly into space with a confused look on my face.

Omnipotent. God is onmipotent.

Omnipotent is one of those terms that can easily be "church-i-fied" (a christy-ism, of course), underestimated, and taken for granted. Many of the sacred words used to describe God have been said so much in the church that people often say them without even understanding what they mean.

Omnipotent means that God is powerful. Not only that, but if you remember yesterday's blog, I wrote how God is infinite (no limits whatsoever). So when you put those two together, you get an unlimited God who has unlimited power.

HARD. Concept. For me. To grasp.

Check this out:

Jeremiah 32:17-18, 26-27

17 "O Sovereign LORD! You have made the heavens and earth by your great power. Nothing is too hard for you! 18 You are loving and kind to thousands, though children suffer for their parents' sins. You are the great and powerful God, the LORD Almighty.

26 Then this message came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 27 "I am the LORD, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?

My human brain is so finite and limited that I just can't understand the reality of no limits. I look at myself and my own life and see LOTS of limits. I try to be a positive person, but the truth is that I can be very skeptical, cynical, and negative sometimes (and when I am feeling that way, I don't want all your cutsie smilie faces and jokes, LOL). As most of you would imagine, I am not this way as often as I used to be because of the grace of God and the things he has taught me over this past year and half of my life.

Still, my life as a human being is very limited. I have hopes and dreams that will never be fulfilled. I have put a cap on the whole height thing and it's all a journey to munchkinland from this point forward (bone loss with age, yadda yadda yadda). I have to wait in the check out line holding one item while the person in front of me has a full cart and I'm in a hurry. I have to endure the idiot drivers who think its ok to speed and ride my bumper while I pretend they're honking because they love Jesus.

I am limited. This world is my temporary home, thankfully, and I look forward to the day where I don't have to worry with the limitations of this life. But for now, I am a limited person trying to understand an unlimited God.

This verse says that:

1. Nothing is too hard for God.

2. He loves people (even when the children are suffering for the sins of their parents) and is kind to them.

3. He is great and powerful.

Even though I can't fathom the love, power, and greatness of God with my faulty human brain, there are some things I understand with my heart.

I understand that because of God's omnipotence, I am safe with Him. He loves me in spite of my faults and has the power to do anything. Read that again: anything.

If God has the power to do anything, why do I struggle with doubt? Why do I worry? What is there to fear if God is on my side?! Nothing!

Our struggles and pain in this life can be too much to bear at times, but it's not too hard for God.

And now, I must go continue my meditation because at this point, I want Him to search my heart and show me anything that I have been afraid to give over to Him. Are there any reigns that I simply can't let go of? I want to know so I can confess that to Him and be healed.

I serve an unlimited God who has such an abundance of power that NOTHING is too difficult for Him. That means it's time for me to let go of it all and trust Him completely. How about you?