Less Noise; More Jesus

          There are times when I climb into bed at night, and it’s like the sun is shining brightly in my brain!  It’s awake and alive and motoring at 90 miles an hour! I flit from one place to another and in a moment can’t recall what I was thinking of before this last thought!  The topics were as random as spaghetti sauce and snow! Sometimes they are worrying or anxious thoughts, other times ideas and things I hope I remember in the morning.  Other times, there seems to be no logic to the places my head goes at all!

SLEEP REFUSES TO COME

I toss and turn, trying to dim the blazing light that refuses to settle in my brain.  I try counting sheep (that almost never works!). I pray over every one I can think of.   I try to recall alphabetically all the names of Jesus, (this one works most of the time, but not always) but finally I fall into a restless sleep that seems to overtake me all night.  Ultimately this often causes me to wake up as tired—or sometimes more tired, than I was before I crawled beneath the covers the night before!  

Am I the only one who deals with this?  Somehow I doubt it.  Our world is moving at a frantic pace and it’s hard to process it, even as we move through our day.  By the time we want to go to sleep, it’s like our brain keeps running in an effort to catch up!  

We’ll replay regrets, rehearse and relive our worst-case scenarios, dissect everything we did during the day—what we missed, what we wish we’d said or did, what we hope no one noticed, and imagine all kinds of absurd things we think people either saw or think we did! And then add all the social media posts we saw or read during the day, the news overload, and what we didn’t accomplish that’s going to make tomorrow even more difficult, our financial crisis, and on and on!  

TRYING TO FIGURE IT OUT

We struggle to sort through fact and fiction while trying to focus on truth, but the lies interrupt because they shout louder!  We confuse our thinking with what we know and even have control over!  

                                                                              A SPIRITUAL WAR

Drowning out the noise, and surrounding our minds (and thoughts) to Jesus can be literally an all out spiritual war, because that’s the last thing Satan wants to have happen.  Mental clutter steals peace!  We are told in God’s Word that renewing our minds is important.  But it’s how we renew them that matters.  

We’ll never  have any kind of mental peace if all we hear is negativity from TV or read all about all the nastiness, back biting, downright hatred and other forms of evil on our computers!  Even newscasts are a huge measure of everything bad that’s going on all over the world!  We are urged to stay on top of all this nastiness because we need to be informed!

On top of this is the very graphic, weekly shows we can watch, which will lead our minds down diabolical paths!  It’s an anomaly to actually find a show which promotes goodwill.  Add to all the fake news about stars and events that haven’t even really happened, we can easily see, ‘ugly news sells!’

Renewal of our minds can only be found in the scriptures!  When we know God’s Word, we can ‘rightly divide’ the truth which comes from God and the lies which come from darkness—from Satan!  

DROWN OUT THE NOISE WITH JESUS

When we drown out the ‘dark noise’ from the world, we let in the bright Light that is Jesus!  Our attitudes will change, perspective, mindsets and perception!  We grasp onto optimism, courage, clarity, and possibilities!  We cling to joy, empowerment, and calm.  

Open your Bible on the nightstand.  Reach for the one on the shelf.  Slow down and spend time with our Creator.  Less noise and more Jesus means we are changing our lives from darkness, to an authentic relationship with our Creator. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Photo Credit: Trying to Fall Asleep 

Photo Credit: Waking Up Tired 

Photo Credit: Drowning The Noise In Our Heads 

Photo Credit: Renewing Our Minds In Christ 

Letting Go to Just Live

  De-cluttering is a huge theme in our lives these days.  In an era of ‘never enough’ we find ourselves faced with filled storage containers to simply contain all the ‘stuff’ that does not fit in our houses or the garage!

CONTAINERS OF MEMORIES!

A friend shares the story of how she had accumulated five large plastic tubs in the corner of her apartment, containing mementoes of her family heritage and history.  These containers had traveled across country several times, when moves were made and had become so large and heavy, physically moving them became a challenge! 

The goal had been to sort through all that was collected over the years, organize
the contents and then create well documented insights using the photos, slides, relevant documents, and other elements to give to each of her children.  

As the containers continued to ‘grow’ she opened one and discovered some of the contents, including an old family Bible, beginning to mildew.  She was mortified!  

CHALLENGES IN OUR SPIRITUAL LIVES  

It’s not uncommon that our Spiritual lives feel much the same.  We keep ‘stuffing’ things in our hearts and minds to come back to later, and often we forget what we’ve stored there.  We haven’t taken time to just ‘sit’ with the Lord in quiet.  We consume the information, but life is calling us, so we rush about doing all those things that ‘just have to be done!”  Life in essence is crowding Him out!

As things pile up and our minds are trying to process, we are slowly disconnecting with God.  Our prayers feel rushed or mechanical, or even non-existent because subconsciously we’re ashamed of where we are.  To talk with Jesus, would require a bit of repentance and who wants to feel guilty?

JESUS COMMUNED WITH THE FATHER

Jesus was all about withdrawing to a private place to commune with the Father.  He didn’t do this because he was weak, but he knew that ‘closeness’ can only come from intimacy; that private time to surrender, and just be still and listen!  

If this was important to Jesus, who was human, but also all God, how much more important should it be for us?  

MAKING ROOM FOR GOD

Un-cluttering our souls begins by making room for God.  Life is loud and busy.  Our world (and Satan) is intent on making us so busy we have no time for anything but activity.  

        With activity comes fatigue.  We become so tired that all we want is to go to sleep, so even prayer becomes an effort we choose to forego!  So we plan for the morning, but we went to bed late, and haven’t caught up with sleep yet, so we hit the snooze button and by the time we are out the door, we’re late….again!

God is not going to ‘invade’ our space with demands for time with Him.  He’s waiting for an invitation --to let Him know we want him there.  Our intentions are good, but they don’t always work out.  Suddenly it becomes a vicious cycle.  Finding time with our Creator just doesn’t seem to happen.  Sometimes we just have to 'let go' of something, just to live and be able to cope with all that's going on.

IN THE STILLNESS

To have an un-cluttered soul isn’t about intentions that don’t bear fruit.  It’s about actually s.t.o.p.p.i.n.g. and engaging with him, along with listening to hear his voice.    It’s in the stillness, when we are quiet, that this unique, sacred interaction, will happen. 

Photo Credit: Storage Bins full of Stuff 

Photo Credit: Clutter

Photo Credit: Fatigue

Grace Under Pressure

  A friend describes a relationship a relative has with a neighbor.  Over the years, they’d never been ‘friendly’ with each other, but there came a time when their lack of ‘friendliness’ escalated to disdain, over the treatment of her daughter, which gives questions to ‘can people just instinctively not like each other’?  

Their relationship became so volatile it nearly drove them to hiring lawyers against each other.  The story goes that while the issue was never resolved, that lawyers were never involved, but they very deliberately avoided each other.  They would choose to wait outside the building (like a post office) until the other came out and left, before they would enter, rather than risking ‘getting to close’,  if they needed to be in the same area.  They chose to never speak to each other, even to be polite, in any social gathering and refused to even attempt to understand the other.  

What makes people clash with each other, in the way my friend describes? Is it a personality conflict, just a person who chooses to be difficult, or something more?  When we stop and think about it, clearly someone is friends with both persons—although these ‘friends’ rarely cross over. They each have relatives, relationships, connections, and friends who would never see the side of them, that others see and tag them ‘disagreeable or difficult’.  

Separately they are likely level-headed, charming, kind and thoughtful in their personal spaces.  So what instigates such a hostile, different behavior between others?  

Often times you hear of this kind of thing in the work place whether it be a boss who is just difficult or a co-worker set out to make your life miserable.  But are they really?  Could it be this ‘difficult person’ was brought into our lives to teach us something about ourselves?  

As believers, we are taught we are supposed to love,  ——even loving the ‘unlovable person’.  This can be terribly challenging, even on our best days.  Our instincts go against it!  Instead of having a friendly, loving kind of feeling, we are feeling anger, frustration, a need to ‘thump’ someone, or lash out verbally.  Our hackles rise, heart rate (and likely blood pressure) rise and it feels like sand paper rubbing together.  The last thing we want to do is ‘deal with them’ in a kind, thoughtful way.  

Biblically we are taught that the world  doesn’t recognize believers by comfort or even agreement—-but in love.  When we love those who seem difficult, or broken or even abrasive, we are reflecting the light of Christ in ways that otherwise would be impossible.  

Could God be asking us to notice ---and ask ourselves what it is that makes the “difficult” person so hard to love?  Could we need to do some soul searching to see if our anger and hostility is misplaced; or if we are harboring feelings of jealousy or even superiority that God wants us to change?  It’s been said the thing that angers you most about another person is often something that resonates within yourself.  Perhaps that’s true, I really don’t know.

Maybe we are to see that we need to address humility in some way, or taught to show more grace or even patience.  Is God using difficult people to shape in us a Christlike heart?

      Difficult people leave us with several options.  We can freak out and want to challenge them on every level.  Or we could ignore them completely and theoretically no longer have an issue.  Or we could step back and observe them for a while and ask the hard questions.  Are we showing grace under pressure?  Am I being the kind, thoughtful person God has called me to be—-especially to the ‘difficult’ person, so he can see Christ in me?

Photo Credit: Neighbors Arguing 

Photo Credit: Neighbors being good neighbors 

Photo Credit: Love Your Neighbor 

Photo Credit: Love Difficult People 

Trusting Jesus When Doubt Whispers

  For years I would wait for summer to come so we could travel to South Dakota.  I loved it there.  It seems something about the Black Hills just pulled on my heart strings.  I couldn’t describe it, but I knew I wanted to be in the mountains.  Over the next two decades my family would make the two day trip out, (we were younger then!) stay the week and then make the trip back!  Once my husband retired, we would take our RV and summer out there.  It was the dream location.

IN THE MOUNTAINS

Then as God would have it, we made a trip down to the Sevierville, TN area.  We were again in the mountains, and we bought a place.  This became the place we wanted to live.  We began building our house and suddenly life was turned upside down.   Charles unexpectedly passed away.

EVERYTHING CHANGED

I made the decision to continue with the build, even though I’d not have Charles to share our dream.  As a widow, everything changes— sort of.  It’s like I had to start all over again, but I’m still doing the same thing.  In many ways I feel like I’m still in waiting mode!

BIG DECISIONS

There’s no question that building a house takes time.  But I’m not even in TN!  I’m in MD!  So I wait!  I wait for updates, pictures, even the bills which need to be paid.  And I wait for the date on the calendar which will initiate my return.

Many years ago a friend said, it’s wrong to ‘wish for things to happen.’  I asked him why.  And he said, ‘when you are so focused on what you want in the future, you miss what’s going on right now; today!  You’re wishing your life away'.  

WAITING IMPATIENTLY

  I know that’s true and I try not to ‘wish my life away’ or even to wait impatiently for the day to come where I’ll journey to my home in the South!  And honestly, it wouldn’t make any sense to go sooner, the house isn’t finished yet!

Waiting is hard! But someone else said, ‘patience isn’t passive behavior—-it’s trust in motion’.  That struck me because it’s not about trust in the people building my house, or anything a person can do.  It’s about trusting God; his timing and will to make everything work together for His good!

CHOOSING TO TRUST GOD

It means choosing to trust God in the moment even when the outcome is unclear!  I can’t help but recall that Jesus died on the cross.  The disciples scattered for a while and then ended up together in a room while they waited.  They didn’t know what to do next!  Their Messiah, the Christ was no more in their space.  He was in a tomb.  They knew he’d died.  They were at a total loss.   Before the event happened, they were positive he was the Christ!  So how’d all this happen?  And why?

WAITING

The how’s and the why’s are questions we ask, too, especially when we are required to wait for something that seems unclear.  But on that third day, Jesus rose again!  They remembered all the things he’d taught them and suddenly it made sense!

Patience doesn’t mean we aren't doing anything.  We are stretching in our faith and growing into the person God wants us to be.  Waiting refines us.  It helps us meet with God and align our hearts with his.  In the waiting we are uncomfortable, perhaps even agitated, stressed and unsure of how to respond, and want to know what to do next.  

PROMISES FULFILLED

But when the waiting is over, there is healing, storms are stopped, lives renewed,
and promises fulfilled.  There is light at the end of the tunnel—-a shimmer of sunshine through the clouds and illumination driving out the darkness.

The reward of the light is realizing that God was working the whole time!  —-Even when we doubted and became impatient for something to happen!  It may seem that ‘things aren’t moving’; and we’ve been waiting for such a long time without seeing the light. 

But the light does come and God isn’t slow in keeping his promises.  He’s got a plan; a design to strengthen us and ‘grow’ us.  Waiting is hard.  But the prize is perfect, more than we could imagine, and in God’s perfect timing.

Photo Credit: Faith 

Photo Credit: Trust 

 

Peace In The Chaos

         I was surprised when the phone call came.  He said simply, “I quit!”  The conversation with a person I’d hired six months ago, left me with ‘What in the world am I going to do now?' and a sinking feeling. Taking a deep breath, I thought, “God’s got a plan.”  

After talking with my children, one said, “Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise.”  Another said, “It was time.  It wasn’t working!”  Still, for me, I felt momentarily lost with so many questions about how to proceed with the project he’d been hired to lead.  It was way beyond what I felt I could handle.

I kept reaching out to God until finally, I just told God, I just need your peace.  I know you are there!  You’re weren’t surprised with this ‘event’.  I know you love me and will help me through.

Eventually I calmed down and my son and I created a tentative new plan and he assured me we’d get through.  I prayed again before going to bed and had no issue falling asleep.  But as 4:00 a.m. rolled around, the darkness seemed alive and well in my brain again, just like the cold darkness outside.  I tossed and turned as I relived the conversation and all the questions that followed.

When I woke again, I asked God to give me something to calm me once again.  I wanted so much to just trust Him with what I’d given Him—a total surrender, which was totally genuine, —until all those negative, critical voices came calling again. 

Then there was Bible time!  I love the time I spend with the Lord in the early
morning….before the sun even rises.  And God gave me a verse from Job 29.  “His candle shineth upon my head, and by His light I walk through the darkness.”  Job 29:3

It was totally what I needed.  God’s light is available to me 24/7, even in the darkness when sounds from the depths of blackness begin howling and tormenting.

There’s a song about how when asking for peace during a storm…. that God doesn’t always remove the storm; but he does walk with us through it!  It isn’t that he ‘can’t’ remove the storm; but it’s what we can learn as we walk through it.  

I will learn to depend and trust him even more.  I will be reminded that in God’s strength all things are possible, even about things I know nothing about!  I will be reminded that worry only brings more anxiety, and is horribly unproductive!  I will see that it’s not about my fears, it’s about God’s presence and power.

As of this writing, while the family and I have a plan, we still don’t know God’s plan.  It may be completely different that what we envision.  But that’s okay.  Chaos ma,y in some form, continue to haunt me as I learn how to wait on God, allowing Him to work out the details I don’t know anything about, and more.  And who knows, he might even send a person more suited my needs and way of thinking to replace the person who quit.

I know God is for me and I also understand that Satan is going to do all he can to alter God’s plans.  But God will prevail, because he is all powerful and faithful, with a unique perspective on things unseen, and an enduring love.

As we face this New Year, it’s hard to tell when any of us will have an overwhelming challenge that will seem to overtake the world we have been accustomed to living.  It’s the way of life.  It’s how we respond to these challenges that helps define who we are and indicates how we choose to live.

I expect as the days, weeks, and months ahead, I will need to make decisions I hadn’t planned on.  Still I know if I go to the Lord before I make a decision and wait for him to show me what I should do, it’s much more likely I’ll make the correct decision!

What challenges are you facing today? Have you had a ‘talk with God’ about it? Perhaps this is where you will find his unique peace. 

Photo Credit: Peace In The Chaos

Photo Credit: Peace In The Chaos