When God says, “Lay it Down”
We all have a word. Maybe you don’t have a word. Instead, you have a thought, a goal, or a dream. You might not be a New Year’s resolution type, but we all want more for our lives. My word for 2018 is expectant. I …
Tag: challenge
Winter is Coming
It was a super windy day. My husband and I were talking in his office when we both noticed that it literally looked like it was raining leaves. The wind was fierce and the trees were ready to drop their leaves. The perfect scenario. I …
Climax
You know when you watch a movie there is always a moment when you think the heroin isn’t going to make it: the climax. It’s usually tense. The bad guy seems like he’s going to win. The good guy isn’t going to make it. I feel like this is my life. If I had to make a movie of our summer “adventure”, there would definitely be a climax in the middle.
We have gone through construction numerous times in the last five years. We built our house, built out our backyard, finished our downstairs with wood floors twice, and now we have renovated our home. Construction is always tense. Always.
As I was laying on my bed staring at a new hole in our ceiling, I thought about that climax. About a week ago, I didn’t think I was going to make it. We were climbing our construction mountain making progress when another toilet overflowed (a toilet overflow is the reason we’ve had to reconstruct our house). Not only were we dealing with more water, I received a text from a friend asking for prayer. Her friend had just gone through something so horrendous I honestly don’t know if I would survive it if I were her. On top of that, I got word that a Christian author and speaker who was a huge part of the writing conference I am a part of suddenly passed away at 38 years old leaving behind a husband and four young daughters. Have you ever heard that lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice? Well, in that moment, I felt like the lightning was striking me over and over again.
I sat at the kitchen table (one of the two options of seating in our home right now), interrupted my husband, told him to prepare himself for my crazy, and let go. The tears came out so fiercely I couldn’t breath. It was all just too much. Too much death. Too much water. Too much. I didn’t think I was going to make it.
So, there I lay on my mattress on the floor watching our project manager make yet another hole in my ceiling. I saw the look on my husband’s face when I got home that day and he told me he had something to show me and I knew it wasn’t good. More water. More leaking. More drywall coming out. I had a choice in that moment: sink or swim (no pun intended).
I swam.
You see, I had made it through that moment in my movie when I didn’t think I would. The tension came and I defeated the bad guys. I survived all my wounds and made it through. I was still standing. So, when water tried to torment us yet again, I knew we’d make it. I knew this stress would not be wasted.
I am currently studying the Book of Ephesians. In this book, Paul talks a lot about his suffering and imprisonment. He, too, was the hero who you’d think wouldn’t make it. But he did. Not only did Paul make it through his toughest moments, he did it so gracefully that he changed the landscape of Christianity forever. He took what was supposed to take him down and turned it into the most glorious legacy ever.
Paul knew that his suffering would lead others to know his Savior. He understood that his misery and distress wasn’t going to be wasted. He also knew that he had a choice: sink or swim. And he swam.
You, my friend, will make it through your climax. You will climb your mountain and make it to the other side. Your suffering will not be wasted. He is not punishing you. He is not mad at you. Life is just hard sometimes. That’s part of what creates our need for a Savior.
So, the next time you are laying on your mattress on the floor staring at another hole in your ceiling like me, lay there with confidence knowing that you will make it to the other side.
… being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phillipians 1:6
Love & Blessings,
Meg
Summer of Chaos
If you’ve known me or hung around The Messy Mingling long enough, you know that I like order. I like my house clean, pillows coiffed, and fingerprints cleaned from the fridge doors. You’ve made my day if there are vacuum lines in the carpet upstairs. …
Coming to a Close
It’s that time of year again; the time when things come to an end and we get to stop making school lunches. Ah. Sweet summertime.
By the middle of May, we are all pining for lazy days, swimming to take the place of showers, and no folders to sign. May is the most craziest month in all the land and by June, we can finally let our frazzled hair down and breath. By August, we are ready to ship our little hoodlums off to the Land of Oz that is their schools welcoming schedules and responsibility like welcoming in someone to clean your house. By August, we are begging teachers to come back from the throws of summer retirement longing for the days where we can entrust someone else with the responsibility of telling our little ones to stop picking on their brother.
Isn’t it funny how we long for change and we don’t even realize it? We stay in the school zone for too long and we may all lose our minds. By May, everyone needs a break: the teachers are done, students are exhausted, bus drivers done-zo, and parents, well, parents are beyond done with the organizing, signing, projects, late night runs to the craft store, and the basic responsibilities that comes with parenting kids through school. We welcome the change that summer brings sometimes pleading for the days of sleeping in to get here faster. August rolls around and there we are again putting in that change request to our schedules.
We were built for change. God designed our souls to get antsy. Just look at the seasons. In Texas, you will find pumpkins on porches in September. Christmas trees go up the weekend before Thanksgiving (be still my soul). We like change…when it’s expected.
“He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding” Daniel 2:21
Why is it that while our souls long for change, we fight it at all costs? Sure, we like the change we can see coming like the end of a school year. But, you give us a more challenging change like moving to a new area or switching careers and we crumble. At least I do. I like to know what’s coming; what to expect. I like my lists. I am a planner at heart even though my life is full of unplanned spontaneity. My soul nudges me into change constantly. And if it’s not my soul, it’s my husband. I will never forget bawling my eyes out while sitting on our tiny kitchen counter in our even tinier apartment when he told me we’d probably have to move out of state to buy a house because California real-estate was ridiculous. We hadn’t even committed to anything and yet, I was a wreck at the idea of change. We ended up staying in California for another four years.
We were created for change. God did not wire us to be stagnant. In order for us to change, grow, mature, and have faith we’d need some type of change in our lives. However, we are the strongest army of resistance when change even tries to breech our shore.
I think when I realize I am perfectly wired for change, that the Creator made me that way, I can accept the change a little easier when it comes my way. I was meant for change. I was designed for change. Life is boring without change. I don’t grow. I lack maturity. My faith dwindles. Change is good for the soul; difficult but good. When the expected changes come, when I celebrate the last day of school with a cannon ball, I will use that as a reminder that God is the master conductor of change and I was built for this.
“While the earth remains, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” Genesis 8:22
Love & Blessings,
Meg
