Sometimes life is so good, it’s beyond your earthly comprehension. You stand and marvel at the incredible goodness of God. You rejoice with people as they open their hearts to the truth of God’s Word. You watch people pour their lives and love into each other. You watch people hunger and thirst for God. You watch them grow in their relationship with a loving God. You watch people forgive each other, overlook each other’s wrongs, and stand in unity and peace. You watch those incredibly hurt rise up with unexplainable grace. You watch a brotherhood of believers surround the weak, the poor, the needy, the sick, the lame, the helpless and you praise your Father for being privileged to be a part of this Family of God. Sometimes you sit alone and look around, your mind can hardly comprehend the blessings you have received, so far beyond your expectations and dreams, and you wonder, Why me, Lord? Why have I been so incredibly blessed? Your blessings are innumerable. Sometimes there are no words to describe the emotions of your spirit but a “beautiful Hallelujah“.
Sometimes life just hurts. You watch people suffer terrible loss. You suffer terrible loss. You watch people face rejection. You reject. You face rejection. You watch people judge others’ wrongly. You judge wrongly. You are judged wrongly. You watch friends lose loved ones in death, bent low with unspeakable grief. You watch relationships separate. You watch people hurt each other. You watch people leave, close friends, people you love and care about, and it leaves a hole in your heart. You suffer for following Christ and His Word. You watch people reject Christ and His Word. Sometimes the waves of pain go over your head. Sometimes your body shakes with overwhelming pain as you sob, crying out to your Heavenly Father to release you from His calling on your life. Sometimes it would be so much easier to forsake the cross of Christ and walk away from the pain and rejection of being a follower of Christ. Sometimes the only song you have is a “broken Hallelujah“.
Life holds both extremes. Both broken and overwhelmingly blessed. We all have experienced both. I’ve fallen on my face before God, begging Him to release me from His calling. I’ve waved my white flag of surrender before Him telling Him I was finished! He wouldn’t accept it. He merely smiled. He held me tight, reminded me of how much He loves me, and all He had suffered for Me. He reminded me of all the things He had suffered because of me. He didn’t give up. He didn’t wave a white flag of surrender. He kept His eyes on His Father, the goal, the purpose of His life here on earth. And He turned my eyes toward Himself, his goal, his purpose for my life here on earth. Following Christ does include carrying His cross. He says I need to take up my cross and follow Him. His cross means suffering for being His follower. His cross will become heavy, so heavy that I might almost stumble and fall beneath the weight. But His cross leads to eternal life. His cross represents His death, His suffering, His love. He carried His cross. He asked me to carry my cross.
When I pass through the valleys of life and wearily climb the mountain ahead, suddenly I look around and my strength is renewed. I see the sun shining so beautifully again and my breath is almost taken away at the incredible goodness of our God. I marvel at His blessings. The valleys before somehow don’t seem so deep and so dark. I marvel at how He uses people, sometimes people we don’t even know, to bless us with things far beyond what we expect or dream of. Notes, cards, words, spoken and given at just the right time, not knowing how they were needed.
Prayers. There is nothing so simple and yet so profound and powerful as prayer. Even a child can pray. Aged people can pray. The handicap, weak, poor, rich, and weary can pray. We have yet to tap into the power of prayer, mainly because here in America we don’t really know our need for prayer. How sad. We are so busy, so independent, so proud, so self-sufficient that we don’t really know how much we need prayer. We don’t know how many miracles are done through prayer. How many needs are met, how many burdens are lifted, how many feet are kept from stumbling and falling, because we are too busy to pray. I am humbled by the prayers of people for me. I recognize that if it weren’t for the prayers of fellow believers I may have stumbled and fallen, the cross of Christ may have become too heavy, the suffering too great, the rejection and pain too deep, and I may have laid it aside and walked away. I am indebted to my brothers and sisters in Christ who have interceded for me, who have lifted me before the throne of Grace, before our gracious, merciful and loving Father, where I did find grace and strength in my times of great need. I recognize the debt I have to others to lift them before that same Father and that same throne of grace, and I am ashamed of my excuses for my lack of prayer. And once again I challenge myself to pray, pray, pray. Pray like never before, knowing the enemy of our soul is killing, destroying, and stealing souls. There is a falling away from Truth like I have never seen before but there also seems to be a turning to Truth, a turning to His Word in miraculous ways, too. There is a real battle going on because the devil’s days are being numbered. His time is short.
So if you, too, have pulled out a white flag of surrender, if you have stumbled beneath a heavy cross…put your flag away, stand up again and march strongly as a soldier of Christ.
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