Monday Morning Memo: Being Mask-Free

I’m sure if you would have known you were going to see this frightening picture to start your week…you may not have gotten out of bed.  Yep, this is me with my red-light therapy mask on.  If you aren’t familiar with the benefits of red light therapy…they are finding that it:

 

✓ Stimulates collagen production


✓ Reduces appearance of fine lines & wrinkles


✓ Improves elasticity & firmness

 

I figure at my age, it can’t hurt to give it a try 

 

Of course, a person using one of these has to get over the fact that they look absolutely ridiculous during the “treatment”.  I mean…I look ridiculous enough without the mask…so who knows…maybe the mask is an improvement!

 

At least it is obvious that I have a mask on.  But, it does make me wonder how many times I wear a mask that isn’t quite so obvious.  Those times when I make sure I have the appearance that everything in my life is going just fine…but it really isn’t.  Those times when I convey that I have my act together, following the path that Christ wants me to follow, but if you looked under the “mask”…you would realize that I’m dragging my feet and not listening to His directions.  And those times when I do my best to make people think my marriage and family are perfect, only posting those perfectly staged photos of everyone smiling and getting along…even though we all know no family is flawless.

 

Of course, no one wants to know everything about my life and there are always things that probably would be better left unknown.  But problems arise when I…and maybe even you…make our life appear to be something that it isn’t.  We neglect to share our struggles because we fear others will think we are weak.  We neglect to share our inadequacies…because, heaven forbid, others would realize we are human.  And we never share about those times when we have sinned and greatly disappointed our Savior…because, well, again…we want others to think we are perfect.

 

Spoiler alert…we are all human and we all struggle and unfortunately, we all sin.  That doesn’t make it right…but neglecting to face these realities can sometimes turn others away…especially those who need to know our Savior.  If they don’t ever see our imperfections…they may think that they have to “fix” themselves first before they make the life-changing decision to follow Christ.  And that simply is not true.  Life with Jesus is a journey…where we have successes and yes, we have failures.  It’s a process where He walks with us every step of the way and accepts us right where we are…but has much higher hopes for us in the days to come.

 

It is only through Christ’s power and strength that we can face those things in our life which need changed.  Only He can shave off those rough edges which will hopefully make us look more and more like Him.  Remember, you and I were created in HIS image, so we really have no reason to wear a mask.  Letting others see that He still loves us, even with our faults and failures, is an opportunity to share with them a glimpse of our Savior’s love for them too.  

 

So, let’s work this week on being mask-free.  That is, of course, unless you’re like me and have fine lines and wrinkles that need to go away 

Monday Morning Memo: A Load Off My Shoulders

It was just a simple question by a friend of mine who I hadn’t talked to for a long time.  She asked, “So, are you and Dan going to Florida again this winter?”  She knew that we usually go for one to two weeks in January or February for a short escape from the cold winters which I happen to loathe.

 

I so wished I could have answered her positively…saying that we have the vacation all planned.  Instead, I gave her the Reader’s Digest version of my health for the past 17 months and as a result…shared with her that it’s next to impossible for us to travel at this point.  I still cannot lay down to sleep because I can’t get my breath…so sleeping anywhere but home just isn’t practical at this point. I then apologized for sharing probably way more than she asked for…because it was just a friendly, simple question to make conversation.  But being the gracious person that she is…she said she was glad I told her so she could be praying for me.  How humbling…

 

I have shared before that life just isn’t always what we’ve planned.  If you are like me, there are days when I can handle that fact and accept it…and days when I can’t.  I was thinking about this recently and wondered what makes the difference between those two different reactions…and I think it’s when I let fear take control, I tend to struggle to accept today’s realities.

 

Being a Christian doesn’t take the difficult days away and honestly, it doesn’t even promise that tomorrow will be better.  Let’s face it…if we were promised that life would be a bed of roses… Joseph wouldn’t have had horrible brothers who threw him in a well and then sold him as a slave. Stephen wouldn’t have been stoned to death.    John the Baptist’s head wouldn’t have ended up on a platter.  And I think my life is difficult!

 

What it does promise is the fact that we have a Savior who will hold us up through whatever is thrown at us.  He is our refuge.  He is our strength.  He is our all-knowing and all-powerful Father who assures us that we are His and as a result…we really have no reason to fear.

 

Deuteronomy 33:27 says, “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.”  In the book that I wrote about last week, “How To Quiet A Hurricane – Strategies For Christian Endurance In The Midst Of Life’s Storms” by Justin Kendrick, he shared this wisdom concerning this verse:

“’Underneath are the everlasting arms’.  Underneath what?  Underneath your problems, fears, insecurities, and sins, God’s arms hold you up.  Underneath today, tomorrow, last week, and next year, God’s arms hold you up.  Underneath everything are the everlasting arms.   If you can grasp this single truth, it has the power to deliver you from every fear.  You don’t have to carry the world.  You don’t even have to carry yourself.  God is fully committing to holding you up.”  What a wonderful reminder that we don’t have to carry the world…or even ourselves.  HE will hold us up.

 

Wow…what a load off my shoulders!

Monday Morning Memo: A Stuck Ram

I have been reading the book, “How To Quiet A Hurricane – Strategies For Christian Endurance In The Midst Of Life’s Storms” by Justin Kendrick.  If you feel like your life is currently in the middle of a hurricane…I highly recommend this book.

 

The author pointed something out that I had never thought of before, concerning my favorite story in the Bible.  He was talking about Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on the altar.  I have shared with you before that this story is my favorite because after God tells Abraham that he is to sacrifice his son, scripture tells us that “the next morning”, Abraham sets out with Isaac to fulfill God’s instructions.  No arguing.  No trying to “deal” with God.  No whining and complaining.  No…Abraham immediately obeyed His God.  That’s the kind of obedience I want to have in my life.  But if I’m honest…I’m a long way from having that level of complete surrender.

 

So that is probably why the Lord spoke to me last week when I read about another aspect of this story which I had never thought of.  The author of this book talked about the ram in the story.  Kendrick shared, “Just as Abraham raised the knife to take the life of his son, God intervened and told him to stop.  Abraham had passed the test.  At that very moment, he looked up and saw a ram caught in the nearby thicket.  He then sacrificed the ram in place of his son.”

 

I’ve read about this part of the story many times, but I had never thought about one intriguing detail which the author pointed out.  It is the fact that Abraham didn’t see the ram until he had lifted the knife to sacrifice his son.  A ram is a full-grown male sheep.  Smaller rams weigh about 120 pounds, while larger rams can weigh over 500 pounds.  This is not a small animal, and it would not have been quiet if it were stuck in a nearby bush.

 

The author wrote, “Have you ever seen an animal trapped in a thornbush, struggling to get out?  I recently saw a video of a horse stuck in mud.  It thrashed and neighed and flailed its body all over the place.  It makes no sense that Abraham wouldn’t have been aware of this animal while he was tying Isaac to the altar.  But he didn’t see or hear the ram because God’s provision isn’t fully seen until we are tested, and we surrender.”  OUCH.

 

There’s that word that makes me squirm sometimes…surrender.  I’ve shared with you before that I tend to be a control freak…so the thought of complete surrender to someone else’s directions – even if their God’s – can be difficult for me.  I tend to want to bargain with Him.  I want to only meet Him halfway so that I can still keep some control.  But as was pointed out in this book, “We trust God with half our hearts while we cling to our false notions of control.  We might experience glimpses of God’s provision, but we don’t see radical miracles because the ram only becomes visible once we’ve surrendered what we love most.”  Once again…OUCH.

 

Ever since I read this last week, I’ve been wondering what miracles I haven’t seen fulfilled, because God was waiting for me to surrender.  You see, I want to see the ram BEFORE I completely surrender.  I want to see my “way out” of a situation, BEFORE I give Him complete control.

 

But that’s not how God usually operates.  He wants us to trust Him enough to give everything to Him, without seeing the end result first.  Will it be easy?  I can only answer for myself and for me…it won’t be easy.  Will it be worth it?  Oh yes…I believe it will be worth it.  Because my goal is to have my story read:  “And the Lord told LuAnn to ________...and the next morning she obeyed.  No arguing.  No trying to “deal” with God.  No whining and complaining!

 

“God, your God, is testing you to find out if you totally love him with everything you have in you. You are to follow only God, your God, hold him in deep reverence, keep his commandments, listen obediently to what he says, serve him—hold on to him for dear life!”

Deuteronomy 13:3-4 The Message