Meeting Us Where We Are

Most of what is written here, upwards of 85% (swag) comes out of my journal.  Typically I review something I wrote some months back, double check the passage to which I was responding – to make sure I did not write down something really stupid – and then transfer it here, usually somewhat expanded.

Just now I was reviewing the next section of the journal.  It was the middle of last December.  Since last August many difficult things have happened and continue in our family.  I wrote, as a prelude to my time with the Lord, “Lord there is much on my mind and heart now.  I do not know where to start.  At some level I feel overwhelmed by what you have…”  At that point there is a note that my dad, who would pass away 37 days later, called with an issue concerning his 24 hour health care and a challenge with insurance…it left me with a task to do for him…then I continued, “…yet something else on my plate, Lord how do I proceed?  I feel like I am getting crushed here.”

I don’t always record my prayer, I did this time, “I cast this on you and thank you for this series of circumstances.  Lord, please glorify yourself in this and…glorify me in you.  Father please help me through this.  Help me to pray and trust you in this.  Help me where I don’t trust you.”  Next to this was written Philippians 4:6 – 7 and 1 Peter 5:7.

Then I picked up my reading for the day, 2 Chronicles 14 – 16; Revelation 4 – 5; Haggai 2; Zechariah 1; and John 4.  Those passages just so happened to deal directly with my being “crushed”. My response filled 4 pages, about 8 times more than usual…

At times like these, and this has happened more than once, I will start with the reading and the Lord will bring other passages to mind that reinforce.  For example I started in 2 Chronicles 14:11, which took me to 2 Corinthians 12:10, James 1:2, Romans 5:3 – 5, and then back to 2 Chronicles 15:2b – 7… “the Lord is with you when you are with Him, and if you seek Him, He will let you find Him…in their distress they turned to the Lord…they sought Him, and He let them find Him.”

Part of my response to that chain, “Lord I rejoice in my weakness, I rejoice in all of the affliction…” what guarantees a strong finish “is my continual trust in Him.  My abiding in Him.  But I cannot do that on my own, I have to trust you for that as well…”

The point is – well there are several – If we come to Him admitting our desperate pain, He responds, He comforts, He meets us where we are.  He does that through His Word and through His Body.  All we have to do is seek Him, He will let us find Him.

If you are not recording your walk with Him in some form of journal, start.  I had forgotten this.  However, as I was reviewing this entry, it came back, and reading through the entry I was overwhelmed by the grace with which the Lord met with me on that day.  I wept as I read through how He responded.

If I hadn’t recorded it.  It would have been forgotten, a sweet time with the Lord passed and not remembered.

Do yourself a favor.  Write it down.