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!
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