Good morning…
“Amazing post!” she emailed after yesterday’s message, With A Heavy And Thankful Heart. “I needed it!”
“I’ve been trudging through the valley these past weeks,” she admitted. “Dark, sad, powerless. It’s surely part of the awakening process but so not me. I’ve started the spiral of control again in my helpless attempt to save the train wreck & that has created more feelings of despair. So your post reminds me what I know, what we joyfully studied in our Waking Up Whole class – to center on God and his work. And it will work out. Feeling much more hopeful & empowered with God in control. Thank you.”
“You are experiencing, and you describe so well, the single choice we are given moment by moment,” I responded right away. “When we place the focus on ourselves and our own exhausting efforts, spiraling down to grab control, helplessly attempting to save the train wreck, we get sucked into feelings of depressive despair. We trudge through life’s valley dark, sad, powerless.”
“Instead when we continue to focus our attention on God, who is powerful and ever present, then we gradually feel the joy of knowing everything is working out in God’s time, in God’s way,” I continued. “Hope happens. We are empowered. With gratitude we begin to trust, ‘God is in control here. Fortunately, I am not.’ I think this is a crucial choice we need to make several times each day – shifting our focus off of our powerlessness to trust with our whole being that our loving God is in the process of redeeming everything, slowly, surely, as only God can.”
“Will we keep our eyes focused on noticing small positive increments of change within and around us?” I zero in. “Our choice is simple: ‘No, I think I can save the train wreck without God, on my own power’ or ‘Yes, I trust that God is at work, moment by moment, and I am determined to catch the Spirit in action.’ Our ‘No, I will stay focused on myself,’ creates dark despair, heavy sadness, and a spiral down into powerlessness. Our ‘Yes, I will keep my focus on God,’ creates hopeful anticipation as we are empowered to witness rising up in us the very same power that raised Jesus from the dead. The peace of Christ fills us, surpassing our human understanding. Hope, power, peace: these gifts become ours when we repeatedly surrender, “Yes, God, I trust you, and I will marvel at your healing power at work in our midst.”
Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!” (Hebrews 12:2-3, MSG).
…Sue…
