Faithful Friday

Faithful Fridays are rapidly becoming the only blogging day to which I am, well, faithful.  I do have some works in progress that I'll share soon, but remembering that God is the ultimate artist, let's look at His works in progress shall we?

I laugh about having ADHD, and sometimes I begrudge it- the real problems it creates for me are difficult (but not impossible) to overcome.    There are lots of down sides like hours and days when the fog rolls in and I can't get motivated to do tasks, much less focus on stuff.  The guilt of zoning out when I most want to be present for my friends and family is not fun, and neither is the struggle with memory {sometimes I feel like a goldfish}.  But there are also some upsides like- having lots of energy, being able to see connections between seemingly different concepts, being able to sleep regardless of the recency of my last caffeine fix, and noticing the little details.  

There's something redemptive about being distractable.  It helps me keep some of my childlike wonder at the world.  While my loved ones and acquaintances may have mixed feelings about my, "Oh hey, look, a butterfly," moments, I have to say I'm glad I caught some of those things.  In the busyness and the rush of today's tempo it gets hard to take time to appreciate the small wonders of our environment.  We can easily overlook the small delights around us, like the cheery yellow butterfly wending its way through the garden, or a magnificent sunset glimpsed through a clearing in the trees.

Recently I've been reminded to focus on the good things, to seek them out instead of focusing on my problems for fear that they'll never be solved.  Just as I was promised, the more actively I seek to find the good, the more readily I find it.  The changes in light, the whimsy of clouds, the colors of the sky- we can write them off as scientific, natural processes, but isn't it more fun, more beneficial and beautiful to marvel at them as majestic reminders of God's glory?  Even secular and agnostic sources are promoting an attitude of gratitude.  As believers we get to personally say thank you to the Creator for these visual gifts!  We can let the world tell us that these are just daily environmental occurrences, or we can accept that these things are demonstrations of Gods love for us.  God doesn't need the flowers to blossom or the sun to shine but He lovingly creates them.  They are His artistic expressions.  They are for you as much as they are for me.  Will you allow Him to woe you today?  Will you allow Him to console you in a brief distraction from your problems?  Open yourself to the possibility that that bright beam of sunshine or gentle breeze are His way of getting your attention and reminding you of His presence.

Faithful Friday- Surviving Spiritual Storms

In the midst of the storm, it is hard sometimes to find hope in the darkness.  God's promise to prosper us and not to harm us (Jeremiah 29:11), to give us a future and a hope can be hard to hold onto as we perceive calamity.  Sometimes we feel like Job- we are going along, living good lives, perfecting our hearts and surrendering and singing praises; until the enemy attacks and takes away a bit of our security.  We may stumble, but we pick ourselves up by holding onto whatever goodness is left, no matter how small.  And sometimes the enemy takes away everything in his power to take away-he strips us bare of our blessings and taunts us to give up our last vestige of hope.  He tries to convince us that God has forsaken us because He has allowed the enemy to take away our blessings.  It is in these times, when the ground slips out from under us, however, that we are most tightly held.  How wonderful to have our distractions removed that we might focus on Him.  Those wonderful blessings upon which we based our happiness and judged our standing with the Lord, cannot hold a candle to the gift of Christ in eternal relationship and salvation with the one true God, and that is a gift that I shamefully confess I overlook too often.  It makes me think that in the midst of my despair as my world feels like it is in upheaval and I face incredible loss, God is righting my priorities.  He tells me to cling to Him first, above all else.  He says, "Watch this, as I play Jenga with your life!  My Spirit will fill the holes and uphold you and you will not topple over because you are Mine."

Each storm I face, I must hold onto the hope that it will make me stronger.  I have to return to the story of Job, who lost everything, and then God revealed Himself, His majesty and divine, ultimate power-and then blessed Job ten fold for all that was taken away.  I know that my God has the power to restore all things, to give me answers to every prayer, and trust me- I try to give Him the solutions to my problems- but I am so thankful that He overrides me. I remind myself that His ways are not my ways and His ways are higher than mine.  He sees the ripples before they form and He knows that my solution is temporary and He uses His powers not to give temporary gifts, but lasting ones.  So I will be thankful for the "no's" I receive, and I will praise Him in the midst of the storm because His will is done and out of it His blessings will flow like a river milk and honey.  Oh friends, I will certainly falter in this life, seeking temporary comfort instead of divine relief.  But, when the haze of shock subsides and I find myself knocked to my knees- it is then that I will realize that I am perfectly poised to pray.  In these moments, surely I am held closer to the heart of Christ who suffered first.  You see, I believe in a creator God, not a destroyer.  Sometimes in life, as in art, in order to create some things must be deconstructed.  That part of refinement can be painful, but the beauty of being made a new creation makes pain worth while.  New creation is exciting.  I am learning not to wring my hands when God moves in my life, but to rub them together excitedly in the knowledge that something good is coming out of this and I have a front row ticket to see God at work.

Yesterday bad news came knocking and then it let itself into my peace of mind and told me how it would alter so many of the things I'd planned and expected for my future.  In the light of a new day though, I can recognize that even when bad news waltzes right in I don't have to lay out the welcome mat and feed it some snacks.  I don't have to get caught up, bending over backwards to entertain bad news and how it might affect each facet of my life.  No. Paul tells me to keep pressing on toward the goal (Philippians 3:14) and reassures me that in all things God works for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28).  When the rivers overflow the bank we can look at the tragic mess that's left behind and forget to move forward.  OR we can look for what was strong enough to endure, what's left standing.  We can be thankful for the fertile soil that's left in the wake of the storm and use it to grow new and better dreams.

In the eye of the storm there is peace.  If you stay where you are the other side of the storm may hit you, but if what if you could move with it?  Who do you think stands in the center of that supernatural peace and conducts the winds of change?