Friday, March 20, 2009

Get your head around this!


Okay...typing at the speed of light because I know it's only a matter of seconds before someone realizes I'm alone and comes to remedy that.
I was reading this morning (and as an aside, can I just tell you the encounters I have experienced with the living God as a result of setting aside time to read his word? Nothing in my life has compared, and I'm sure he will be faithful to do the same for you--in fact I dare you).
And I was having a hard time in my walk with God lately...just in my life in general...so I was rattling off all the things I was feeling to God...defeated, hopeless, guilty, tired, weak....when it dawned on me (I say that like I thought of it on my own...which I did not) that there are scriptures that speak to every one of these things. I decided to make a list of all these things that I was feeling...and look up verses to speak to them.
It was one of the sweetest realizations I've ever had.
I was looking up verses about being defeated because I truly feel this every day. Does anyone else feel this way? Here are just a few of the thoughts that will run through my head (and unfortunately come out my mouth):
"Oh..you did it again..way to go...I thought you were supposed to be better at this?"
"Ummm that piece of cake was huge, it was giant...I can't believe you finished it"
"Seriously, you know better than that, you'll never get this right, just give up now."
All these thoughts mix together (and mind you--they come straight form the mouth of the Father of lies) and they make for a very defeated, weary Jenn.
And I can easily feel like I'm never going to get it, like it's too hard, and like I'm exhausted. I could never do this battle every day for the rest of my life....
Do you ever feel this way?
Well friend--here is a tall glass of water:
"To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it." Revelation 2:17
Did your heart just rejoice?
Okay, let's picture this.
It's your kids birthday and you are SO excited to given them this present...let's just pretend you've been waiting their whole lives to give it to them, and you wrap it so perfectly and you give it to them--you know that feeling?
Well....get your head around this...the GOD OF EVERYTHING has a gift for us. I mean....if that were not enough....He specifically chose it for you, and will give it to you....that IS what it says...
and if that weren't enough, it's a new name.
I have nicknames for nearly everyone dear in my life; John is the hub or hubcap, Ellie is Peach, Peach Pie, Princess Peach, Linc is Bear, Linc Bear, or little Bear, my mom has been affectionately referred to as the mayor, My sister-in-law we call Crit, Critty Cat, my brother-BB-which stands for Brother Bear. I love these nicknames, because they show I really know these people, that I have a relationship with them that is mine. And my parents have some of the dearest nicknames for me--one of which my mom gave me that is so embarassing I won't even say (and which she put on my 16th birthday cake) but which I love so dearly because it is what she chose to call me when I was a baby--she gave it to ME.
Now...God.....(please fasten your seatbelts)
has a name JUST for you..that no one else knows. That kind of special name, a secret name, that I can only imagine will satisfy and address every facet of what he created us to be, and it's a secret...between us and God.
Okay, how do I type words that make you feel that feeling of driving down a highway with no windsheild? Cause that's what I feel when I read this.
I'm not making this up, he wrote it. And I can't believe he did.
The key is--it's offered only to the one who "overcomes". Now, don't immediately write this off like "well, that's not me--I can't do it." Because you absolutely can. The powers of the universe have been placed within your reach if you have put your trust in Christ as your Savior, and don't believe anything else.
Now I don't know about you...but that is enough incentive for me in this day and the next.
Friends...Romans...Countrymen..
do not let this thought ever leave you...
Your God loves you more than you can ever measure....and he wants you to know it.
Now--go overcome.

1 comment:

Jennifer said...

Jenn, I praise God for you more than you could ever realize. As He speaks TO you, and you so openly share here, He speaks through you directly to me. I needed this word so badly this morning. SO badly. I'm wallowing deep enough in my own feelings of defeat that I wouldn't have found it on my own (not because God wasn't trying to tell me, but because I wasn't at all trying to hear). Thank you for listening to Him as He would have you share something. God uses you so often to bless, encourage, and even convict.... but mostly (at least recently) to comfort. I thank Him for you, and for allowing me to stumble upon His reminders that, while you may have felt He gave to you exactly when you needed them, were very much a message to me as well. We serve a living, active God, no? So humbling.