"What Have I Done NOW?"

 “What have I done now?” David replied. “I was only asking a question!”

1 Samuel 17:29 

 

Let me set the scene: David has brought food to his brothers who are in the Israeli Army stuck in a stand-off with the Philistines.  Goliath, that HUGE behemoth of a man, has come out each morning and challenges the Army of Israel to send out someone to fight him and their fight will decide the war.  So far, Israel has had no takers and David asks what reward is there for the person who defeats this giant.  David's brothers berate him for pestering the soldiers and tell him he just wants to see the battle.  David's response is one that sticks out for me "What have I done now?".

 

David, it appears, was bullied by his brothers quite a bit to the point he had gotten frustrated with their constant correction, nit-picking, fussing at him.  So here he is again, getting the same treatment from his older brother, and David, in his frustration, asks "What have I done now?"  

 

At times, I can empathize with David in his frustration. When you do your best, and it's not good enough. When you cannot make every event, and it's not good enough.  When encouragement just isn't there, just criticism.  I get it.  I can empathize.

 

We all have detractors in our lives.  Those who want to see us fail, and want to help that failure along.  Those who just refuse to acknowledge anything good.  We all have them.  They are frustrating to us.  But here's the good news, while they may try to make us feel defeated, God is the one truly in control!  And when God's plan is in control, NOTHING and NO ONE can stop it!

 

David didn't let his brother's words rattle him...instead, David went out to face his Goliath and God defeated this monster!  Take heart!  Take EVERYTHING to God and let HIM do the fighting for you! 

It's All In How You Look At It

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, 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. The Father and I are one.”

John 10:28-30 

 

This has been a rough week.  Ever had one of those?  One of those weeks where you just can't seem to get anything right?  When these times come around, I have the tendency to come down hard on myself.  I will doubt myself. I will berate myself. I will also tend to not like myself.

 

But it is in these times that God will allow me a short pity party and then He will remind me to change my perspective. He will remind me that I am His and nothing....absolutely NOTHING can change that.  He will remind me that Christ came to this earth, giving up everything He had in Heaven, just so He could love me, understand me and save me.  I will be reminded that my Abba holds me in His hand and protects me and loves me.  I will be reminded that there is NOTHING that can ever separate us from the love of Christ. 

 

He will remind me that the negativity is from the Pit Dweller and to let it go.  He will remind me that the Pit Dweller has no power over me because Christ died for me.  He will remind me that as a child of the King of Kings, I should hold my head up and remember just whose I am.  And when I look at my life from that perspective...I'm not drenched, I feel the rain and welcome it!

Am I The Only One?

What exists now is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
there is nothing truly new on earth.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 

 

Have you ever had to endure a situation where you felt as though you were the only one going through this?  It's a HUGELY frustrating feeling, isn't it?  After living through the stress and struggle for so long, we begin to wonder how anyone could possibly have an inkling of what we are enduring, much less care that we are slowly sinking and there's nothing we can do about it.

 

To be honest, we, as humans, aren't usually ones to come rushing to someone who is enduring a hardship, difficult time, or struggling.  Why?  Perhaps it's because they hide it well and we don't realize there's an issue.  Perhaps we prefer not to notice because we want to stay in the "no-sad zone."  Perhaps we feel drained from having just reached out to someone else struggling and we aren't ready to do that again just yet.

 

Whatever our reason, the person enduring the struggle eventually will begin to believe that they are the only one who has, is, or ever will face such a challenge as theirs.  That feeling can lead to despair!  However....God reminds us that we are NOT alone in our struggles.  Notice today's verse: "...there is nothing truly new on the earth."  Did you catch that? Our struggles may be new to us, but they are not new and they are most certainly not new to God.  Nothing surprises God!  And, as a matter of fact, God allows struggles in our lives to teach us how to help others later on who may be facing a similar struggle.

 

Yes, we will encounter situations where we slump down and wonder "Why me?" and we will begin to believe the whisperer from the pit who tells us no one cares, no one understands, no one has ever faced this, and the whisperer LIES!

 

One of the things I try to remind the Deputies and employees of the Sheriff's Department: "If I don't know what's going on with you, I can't help you or find help for you."  And it's true!  But start with God, He has more resources at His immediate disposal.  But understand YOU are NEVER alone!

I Am WHAT?

Atelophobia - the fear of never being good enough

 

Believe it or not, Atelophobia is an epidemic!  I know this because this is one of the topic of quite a number of conversations I have with people.  Not to mention it's a condition I have struggled with for as long as I can remember.

 

For some reason, we many have been led to believe that they are not "good enough."  It might be that we have been told outright that we aren't good enough or it could be that we have simply been ignored, put down, discouraged by those we seek encouragement, or it could be due to our past or it might be that we are just different.  The truth of the matter is there are innumerable reasons for which we have been led to believe we aren't good enough...and the truth of the matter is that they are all LIES!

 

Let's talk a bit about the Truth:

 

You Are Good Enough For God To Call You BY NAME!                                    

 But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you.

O Israel, the one who formed you says, 

“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.

I have called you by name; you are mine." 

- Isaiah 43:1

 

Do you honestly think that God would bother to even know our names if we weren't good enough?  Do you think He would ransom you if He didn't think you were good enough?  The fact that, not only does God know our names, He calls us by name.  He calls us to talk with us!  Would He want to talk with someone who wasn't good enough?

 

You Are Good Enough For God To Have A Plan For Your Life!

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."  - Jeremiah 29:11

 

Why would the Creator of ALL even bother to create a plan for your life if you weren't good enough?  And think about this: God didn't just create a plan for us, but His plan is for good, a future, and hope!  Not only did God create a plan for your life, but He is going to make sure His plan is gets completed! "And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns." - Philippians 1:6  Does that sound like someone who thinks you are not good enough?

You Are Good Enough For God To Adopt You As HIS Child!

"But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God." - John 1:12

 

Now why would God want to adopt you if He didn't think you were deserving and good enough?  The fact of the matter is that God loves you so much that He has not only created you, breathed life into you, created a plan for you, won't stop until His plan for you is completed, and He has made a way for you to be adopted as His child!

 

Here's the point I want to make:  Atelophobia is nothing more than a load of manure the Pit Dweller is trying to sell us.  Sadly, many of us are buying what he is selling.  In THIS world, other humans might try to lead us to believe that we aren't good enough, but if you stop and think for a moment you will remember that God (the ONLY one who matters) not only thinks you are good enough, He celebrates by loving you enough to make you HIS child!

 

Think you don't deserve to be happy or to receive kindness or give of yourself to others?  Think again!  People will try to discourage us, sometimes to make themselves feel powerful, sometimes unintentionally, sometimes just because they want to.  But the opinion of another human being is worthless when God is the one who is making His plan for our lives complete.

 

Don't give in!  Don't give up!  Let God do His job and may He keep us out of His way!

 

I wish you a Happy, Blessed, and Memorable Christ Filled Christmas!  

           

PLEASE!!

The human spirit can endure a sick body,
    but who can bear a crushed spirit?

Proverbs 18:14 

When you think of Depression, what comes to mind? Someone who is down? Someone who is having a rough day?  Someone who is struggling with some decision?

Depression is not merely sadness.  Depression is much more than mere sadness...it is the complete feeling of hopelessness and it can be physically debilitating!  It can lead us to making decisions we would not ordinarily make.  It can become the devourer of our very life; the destroyer of all joy; the eliminator of all joy; and can become our executioner.

I realize this is not a happy topic to discuss, and for some this is quite a painful thing to read, but I have prayed long and earnestly about this subject, which is still "taboo" to bring up.  We aren't supposed to talk about it while it slowly devours our soul to the point that we are so beyond hope that we can only see one way out of the misery.  

There are many triggers for depression (situational depression): 

Loss of a job

Ending of a relationship

Loss of a loved one

Passed over for promotion

Being told that you "aren't good enough"

Depression can also be caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain.  Medication can help improve the balance.  

My point is this: PLEASE, I am begging you, if you are dealing with depression TALK about it!  Face it head on!  You ARE NOT alone and there are those of us who are willing to listen and help.  PLEASE.

Time? Who's Got Time To Look?

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven

Ecclesiastes 3:1

You all know about my love affair with coffee. Yes, I firmly admit it, I love coffee and drink copious amounts.  But this morning, I was challenged on this by, of all people, the person selling me my 7th cup of coffee.  She said, "How much do you have going on in your life that you need so much coffee?"

And THAT started the thought process.  We consume Monster Drinks, Red Bull, 5-hour Energy and so many other products that give us that boost when we begin to feel run down.  Then we wonder why we also have so many products that help us sleep.  

Why is that?  Is it because we truly HAVE so much we must accomplish in our day that we just cannot get it all done so we can get enough rest before having to get up and do it all over again?

I am convinced that God has given us this entire world to learn from and we spend more time ignoring it.  When a dog, cat, gerbil, pig, cow, goat or any other animal gets tired, what to they do?  They rest!  When they need to get up and go, they move.  But the fact is THEY do what WE should be doing.  We have been given time to do what is NEEDED!  Yet we choose to cram our time so full that the very thing that is NEEDED (rest) gets booted out of the boat.

Then we wonder why we get stressed (for which there are countless pills and elixirs to help) why we feel anxious, depressed, exhausted, and defeated.  Time Management is the key.  For there is a time for EVERY matter under heaven...we just have to decide what matters enough for us to invest our time.