God Heals the Heart

God heals the heart

I’ve always heard this statement said to people who are going through difficult times, who have suffered loss, or are dealing with a tough situation. But I never knew the extent of its truthfulness until the past year or two. I am living proof that God not only heals the heart, He gives you even more than you could have possibly hoped for.

My High School Sweetheart

When I was 16, I went on a date with one of the guys from my 10^th grade class at school. After our date he dropped me off at my friend’s house. Standing on the doorstep, we parted ways with a goodbye kiss that left my heart racing. Today, nearly 12 years later, he still makes my heart race. And in 3 months he and I will stand on a beach in Florida and express our love for each other, and celebrate the many years we will have together as husband and wife. I thank God every day for him.

I think it’s awesome to be able to say that I found the love of my life when I was 16. I may not have realized it at the time, but I know it now. Over the past decade we have been on again and off again in much the same fashion as Ross and Rachel from Friends. But somehow in the back of my mind I knew it was him. He was the one God had planned for me - to grow old with me, and to make me the happiest person in the world. :)

Did you PLAN your bear hunt in the wilderness?

Walking with God does not mean walking with him when it's convenient, through a problem-free life that we have all planned out.

You may want to re-read that. I’ll give you a second. Ready? Good. The above statement is something that has, at times, been hard for me to accept. I’ve never actually heard this statement anywhere, but I came up with it in an attempt to encompass three common misconceptions about walking with God that have been hindering my own spiritual journey.

First, walking with God means walking with Him through life and all that comes with it. It does not mean you walk with Him around the problems, or above the tragedies, or somehow pray your way out of hardships and trials. I remember in preschool or kindergarten, when we would sing the song about going on a bear hunt. I don’t remember it exactly, but it involved running into several obstacles along the way. One was a river. And what choices were we faced with when we came to the river? “Can’t go over it, can’t go under it, can’t go around it, gotta go through it.”

That’s how the Christian life works. You gotta go through it. But no worries, God is right there with you. In Hebrews 13:5 He promises us “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”

Secondly, just because we’re walking with God doesn’t mean we get to make the plans. We can’t come up with a great plan, pray about it, and expect God to jump on board and bless it just because we ask Him to. That’s a little bit backwards. First you should pray about it then ask Him to show you how to follow His plan. So when something interrupts your plans, the question you’re faced with is this: Will I go with God on this journey, even though it’s not what I had planned? Will I go with Him anyway?

“In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” - Proverbs 16:9

Thirdly, walking with God does not mean walking with Him when it’s convenient, or when it serves our purposes, or when we think we will get something out of it. Basically, we need to either decide to walk with God 100%, or get out of the way. The decision to walk with God, and stay with Him, is not always going to look like the most exciting choice. Suppose someone gave you these two options:

1. Walk with God down this path and receive tons of blessings, or

2. Walk your own path, follow your own plans, and end up misguided and frustrated.

Obviously, this would be an easy choice. Now suppose someone gave you these options:

1. Walk with God down this path and lose your sense of worldly security (financial, social, etc), and face trials that will ultimately serve to make you grow, but will be painful. Or,

2. Walk your own path and live a relatively comfortable life with no intrusive obstacles along the way.

A slightly more difficult decision, right? I am not trying to over-simplify what it means to choose God’s ways over our own. I’m just trying to make the point that choosing the path God wants doesn't mean we’re choosing a painless, obstacle-free journey. But it does mean we have Him right beside us all along the way.

Right now I’m doing a Bible study that centers on the Israelites’ deliverance from Egypt, their journey to the Promised Land, and all the wandering they do in the meantime. The study invites each person to be willing to follow God into the “wilderness”, whatever that may be for him/her.

Everyone does not face the same wilderness. It may be something tragic that happens in your life. You lose a loved one, or lose a job, or a marriage that you thought would last forever begins to fall apart. It could simply be a situation that is frustrating you, because it’s not “what you had planned.” It could be something more voluntary, where you have to make the choice between journeying into the wilderness or staying safely where you are. However your individual wilderness manifests itself, the basic principles are the same.

Often when God allows a wilderness opportunity into our lives, it’s because He sees potential in us to be more and do more in our walk with Him. He’s not letting things into our lives because He’s mad at us, or because we haven’t passed some unwritten test. He does it so we will grow.

Don’t expect a short journey through the wilderness. You may get a short one, but don’t expect one. God will allow you to remain in your wilderness, face-to-face with it, until He has used it to fully develop your potential and cause you to grow. Remember that when you’re facing something in your life, before you attach any type of negative label to it, remember that God can use it for something positive. God’s ways are not our ways. There are no mistakes in His plan. The only mistake would be to not trust Him to lead you through that plan.

“‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord.” - Isaiah 55:8

Third Base Coach

“Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.”
– Colossians 3:2

I have played softball for several years, and one thing all of my coaches have stressed to us is that we MUST keep our eyes on them when running the bases, especially when running to third. When running towards third base, you had better be watching the coach. She was never hard to pick out. She was the one right beside the base, jumping up and down, waving her arms and screaming like a lunatic. All of her enthusiastic waving and yelling had a purpose, which was to tell you one of two things. If she was franticly pointing at third base with both hands, it meant “get here ASAP and STAY HERE.” If she was waving you towards her with one hand, and using the other to point towards home plate, it meant “get here ASAP, turn the corner, and KEEP GOING.” If she waved one of us home, and we were tagged out at home plate, she never got mad.

But the quickest way to make her angry (and find yourself on the bench) was to look back over your shoulder to see who had the ball, and find out how close the play would be. She didn’t want us looking around the field, making base-running decisions for ourselves. She knew each of our running abilities, and she was going to be responsible for making the judgment call on whether or not we could make it. Our job was to run with all the energy we could muster, and do whatever her ridiculous hand motions told us to do. When running from second to third, your focus was on her, and nothing else. That’s the way we should be in life. We should live our lives as if we’re running towards third base, and never take our eyes off the coach. Because even the quickest glance over the shoulder to survey our surroundings can cause us to trip and make a mess of things, and miss what He had planned for us.

Who is your third base coach? Who do you focus on when you need guidance and advice? When you need to know whether to keep going or stay put? Is it a parent? A spouse? A close friend? Understand that no one other than Jesus could or should ever fill this role. Let your family and friends cheer you on from the bleachers. You need to focus on your Coach. He knows what is best for you and will give you clear instruction about what you need to do, as long as you keep your focus on Him.

Life's Deep End

“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” - Hebrews 13:6b

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” – Isaiah 41:10

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you…” – Isaiah 43:2a

Below is a story from a book by Joyce Meyer:

"A little three year old girl felt secure in her father's arms as Dad stood in the middle of a swimming pool. But Dad, for fun, began walking slowly toward the deep end, gently chanting "Deeper and deeper and deeper" as the water rose higher and higher on the child. The girl's face registered increasing degrees of panic, as she held all the more tightly to her father, who, of course, easily touched the bottom. Had the little girl been able to analyze her situation, she'd have realized there was no reason for her increasing fear. The water's depth in ANY part of the pool was over her head. For her, safety anywhere in that pool depended on Dad. At various points in our lives, all of us feel we’re getting “out of our depth” or “in over our heads.” When bad things happen, our temptation is to panic, because we feel we’ve lost control. But the truth is we’ve never been in control when it comes to life’s most crucial elements. We’ve always been held up by the grace of God, our Father, and that won’t change. God is never out of His depth, and therefore we’re as safe when we’re in life’s “deep end” as we were in the kiddy pool."

I frequently hear (and read) people saying how important it is to be obedient to God in the little things in life. I have learned that God often reveals his plan little by little, step by step, as we obey him. Once He tells us to take step one, He is not going to tell us what step two is until we’ve obeyed him and taken the first step. I have always found this principle to be true, and I can appreciate its purpose. If we knew from the start what God had in store for us – all the steps we’d have to take - we’d probably be far too intimidated to even begin. When I think of this principle, I usually think in terms of small steps. However, while many times he does lead us one small step at a time, sometimes He requires a big step.

It takes so much faith to take big steps. If you fail when trying to take a small step, hardly anyone notices. You just jump back up and continue on your way. But if you fail while attempting a big step, it seems the world stops and everyone looks your way to see what just happened. Not only do people notice, but it’s much more difficult to get back up and back on track. I don’t think God will tell us to take big steps until we have proven that we can obey Him in the small ones. So I suppose we could consider it a privilege to be facing a big step – it means we have grown, and have demonstrated our ability to obey Him in the small things, so He is trusting us with more.

“Don't be afraid to take a big step. You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps.”

I recently came upon this quote by David Lloyd George. When God does call you to take a big step, you have to be willing to take the risk and make a huge leap, trusting God to help you land on your feet and in His arms. When I was a child I used to love to play in the mud puddles in our driveway when it rained. There was one that was larger than the others, especially after lots of rain. That was the best one. One of the things I liked to do was attempt to leap over this mud puddle. The thing about jumping over something is you have to totally commit if you want to have any hope of clearing the obstacle (puddle of muddy water, in this case). If you stand right beside the puddle’s edge, all the while doubting your ability, and then half-heartedly hop towards the other side, there is no way you’re going to make it. You’re going to land right in the middle of that mud puddle. If you want to be able to make it across, you have to get a good running start, and put everything you have into hurdling across it. Even if you don’t believe you can do it, you better find a way to bury those doubts, ignore your fears, and give it your all. Now I realize that taking big steps in life is not the same as jumping over mud puddles, but I liked the analogy.

Know that God is with you during each step He asks you to take, whether it’s a tiny baby step, or a gigantic leap of faith. And remember that there is no “deep end” and no reason to be afraid because we are being carried in our Father’s arms.