Lucky

Sometimes it just happens. You have plans, you think you know what to expect next, you get comfortable in your own battle-facing routine...and then, it happens. A change erupts and you are caught off guard, not really sure of what to do next - other than to keep on breathing. And if you are really, really lucky, that change will also come with an insult to injury. "Lucky?", you sure wonder. Oh yes, my dear reader. Because without the undeserved pain, we would just wander around this Earth without the need to search for our purpose. Complacency is such a dangerous mental state. It numbs you. It steals from you. It lies to you. And most of all, it gives the devil the power he needs to destroy you. Therefore "lucky" is indeed the right word. Because when it all comes tumbling down and that one last straw accumulates the right amount of unnecessary weight on your already beaten down soul, that's when you wake up - really, really wake up. And here you are today, breathless, perhaps concerned, but alive. Nothing beats the feeling of looking back on your chains and seeing the devil scream in anger at your resurrected dry bones. 

What do you do now, though? How do you pay your bills? How do you keep it together? How do you make it happen? You trust - and you come up with your God-given game plan. You know what that one looks like, because it is the very same one God told you about when you were a child - and your hearing was not intoxicated with this life's unGODly challenges. Take a seat, take a breather, and think. What could possibly be God's purpose in your life? Why did God allow this new re-direction in your life? Why now? Why you? Haven't you gone through enough, already? You have. He knows. He is keeping score, counting the tears, positioning you for greatness - the kind of greatness that will enhance you as the image of God that you are, and will bring Glory to His name. 

It's happening as you read this right now. 

Do you remember when King David wrote about his soul feeling down? A man after God's own heart, who made mistakes, but remained true to the love God had planted in his soul - even when this one could barely breathe. And he wrote the most beautiful words ever written in the Old Testament, on Psalm 43, verse 5: "Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God."

That's what you do, in order to keep it together. In praise lays a truth that only God is able to unfold for you. In your darkest moments, praise. In your brightest moments, praise. Praise when it is raining outside, and praise when there are no clouds in the sky. Praise. Because the battle was already won. It took a few nails, a wooden cross, and the blood of God's only son to set you free. 

Remember that - and chin up.

#dreamer #purpose #God #hope #trust