First Step – Big Fall!
Are you fighting to save what seems to be a hopeless marriage? Are you grieving for the loss of a loved one? Has your life been turned upside down? Did your sweet babies become teenagers? Do you feel alone and disconnected? Is your anxiety so overwhelming in your life that you just can’t function? Maybe it’s time for the first step to a Radical Spiritual Breakthrough!
My post last week was difficult for me. After all, depression is “depressing”! Most people don’t want to talk, hear or read about it. We prefer just to push the subject down into a place we think the world doesn’t see and we don’t have to acknowledge. And… we all know how that “really works out” for us…
Every journey has a “point of beginning” and to understand the “How” of what I want to share with you, it is important to share with you what started my journey to a “Radical Spiritual Breakthrough”. Although Depression was a major “landmark” and catalyst, it was not the “point of beginning”.
It was with the typical childlike faith of a six year old that drew me to Jesus so many years ago. The wonder of children is that they are still uncomplicated by the world around them. “My heart hurt… Jesus loved me… I wanted to love Him… If I asked him to come into my heart, he would…He would never leave me and would take me to heaven with him one day.” It was that simple acceptance and I was never the same again.
Well, that took care of what I wanted from God. But…what did He want from me?
Micah 6:8 (New International Version, ©2010)
8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly[a] with your God.
8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly[a] with your God.
It would be wonderful to tell you this is exactly what happened in my life. Unfortunately, like most of humankind, my life journey was on “my own power”. My teen and young adult life could have been so much better. My marriage would have been what God intended it to be; and the years of fretting, worry, and depression would have been quite different.
Was I saved? Oh yes!
John 10:29 New Living Translation (©2007)
for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father's hand.
for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father's hand.
Was I living the “abundant/full” life that God had intended? Oh, no…
John 10:10 (New Century Version)
10 A thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I came to give life—life in all its fullness.
10 A thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I came to give life—life in all its fullness.
John 10:10 (New King James Version)
10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
The “Landmark and Catalyst” – The best thing that ever happened to me
Face down floor hugging Fear - Broken - Bleak - Unable to move, talk or react - Disgust for myself and disgusted by everyone around me - Anger and resentment - Bitter and Cold – Crushed!
You are probably wondering how this could be a “best thing” for anyone? The lowest point of my life,,, A good thing!
The First Step…takes a really big Fall!
There was only one place to go. After all, my Father was right there with me, as He had promised He would be. Surrender was my only option – there was no way that I had any “power” to pull out of this one.
The first step is always about surrender. For some of us it takes coming to a place where we realize that we are not in control – we are desperate, depleted and powerless. For others, surrender becomes a process of reaching a point where we finally “get it”! The apostle Paul had his “Damascan” road experience. King David had his “pit” and Peter had his “Crowing Rooster”.
Surrender: Complete trust in the nature of God, knowing that He has a plan for every detail of our life. Surrender is death to our old nature, plans and self absorption. Surrender births the abundant life that God has purposed and designed for us. Whatever happens in this world, we have peace and joy knowing that our Father loves us and He will bring the plans for our life to fruition.
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Psalm 37:23
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord …
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord …
Proverbs 16:9 ”A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”
Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”
Isaiah 48:17Thus says the Lord, Your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way you should go.”
Psalm 32:8 “I will instruct you and teach you in the way should go; I will guide you with My eye.”
Isaiah 48:17Thus says the Lord, Your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way you should go.”
Psalm 32:8 “I will instruct you and teach you in the way should go; I will guide you with My eye.”
Psalm 48:14 “For this is God, our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even to death.”
Isaiah 58:11
“The Lord will guide you continually …”
“The Lord will guide you continually …”
Does God desire for us to go through the “bad stuff” in life? Does any parent desire that for a child? It is in his mercy that he allows us to come to a place where we finally realize that He loves us and if we just give all of what we are to Him, we will have the life that He wants us to bless us with.
Psalm 40
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the LORD
and put their trust in him.
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the LORD
and put their trust in him.
4 Blessed is the one
who trusts in the LORD,
who does not look to the proud,
to those who turn aside to false gods.
5 Many, LORD my God,
are the wonders you have done,
the things you planned for us.
None can compare with you;
were I to speak and tell of your deeds,
they would be too many to declare.
who trusts in the LORD,
who does not look to the proud,
to those who turn aside to false gods.
5 Many, LORD my God,
are the wonders you have done,
the things you planned for us.
None can compare with you;
were I to speak and tell of your deeds,
they would be too many to declare.
6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire—
but my ears you have opened—
burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.
7 Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—
it is written about me in the scroll.
8 I desire to do your will, my God;
your law is within my heart.”
but my ears you have opened—
burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.
7 Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—
it is written about me in the scroll.
8 I desire to do your will, my God;
your law is within my heart.”
No comments:
Post a Comment