A cool breeze surprised me this morning. So, I sipped pumpkin-spiced coffee on our screened in porch with the faint scent of fall. Wrapped in the beginnings of a new season, I relished that all that is will soon morph into all that will be. Because change is coming. Ready or not.
Some changes excite me. Others overwhelm. But juggling both emotions seems to be the way of life. For all of us.
The surgery scheduler finally offered me a surgery date in mid-October which I turned down. If I have to wait that long, I decided not to miss out on a few commitments I made toward the end of that month. In the meantime, I spoke to someone in administration who suggested I seek a second opinion.
That appointment is a month away.
So, I keep pondering one of my favorite stories from the book of 2 Kings:
“When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. ‘Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?’ the servant asked.
‘Don’t be afraid,’ the prophet answered. ‘Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’
And Elisha prayed, ‘Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.’ Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6: 15 – 17 NIV).
Wouldn’t it be cool to live with the confidence that those who are for us are more than those who are against us? Might the greatest miracle be to live with our eyes open to that reality?
Maybe that’s why Paul stated, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10: 5 NIV).
But just because he said it doesn't mean I know don’t how to do it. To take every thought captive. I tend to glance at that verse and move on, accepting it’s too much. A lofty demand, impossible to achieve.
But it’s there. In black and white. Take every thought captive. Lasso the bad ones and replace them with right ones like, “Those who are for us are more than those with them.”
In a world where sirens blare, hurricanes blow, cars wreck, and cancer cells overtake good ones, the challenge to believe requires a mental sharpness I struggle to maintain. What about you?
Our walk with God isn’t just about church on Sunday or a quiet time in the morning or even a loud one at night. It’s about, dwelling in the shelter of the Most High and resting in the shadow of the Almighty (Psalm 91: 1 NIV). And in my experience, there’s no way to do that without wrestling with and overturning the doubtful, fearful, and unhealthy dialogues that run a muck in our brains.
I have made my concerns known to the medical people I interface with in several ways. Will I hear back? Will they change their position? I have no idea.
But while I wait for healing, I'm determined to fight against the invisible feeling that often accompanies no answer, and makes me sink into my skin and fade into crime TV reruns.
I want to believe right now, even on painful days, that, "If I make the Most High my dwelling-- even the Lord who is my refuge-- then no evil will befall me, no disaster will come near my tent. For he will command his angels concerning me to guard me all of my ways; they will lift me up in their hands, so that I will not strike my foot against a stone" (Psalm 91: 9 - 12 NIV).
And that's coming from someone who lost her first husband to a brain tumor over 20 years ago. Did evil befall me then? It sure seems like disaster entered my tent.
But right in the midst of it all, the power of those words were superimposed on the struggles we faced, leaving me assured his angels still guard all my days.
And maybe that's the best way to wrap this up. I want to always see His hope, His truth, His power superimposed on whatever I face, like the fourth dimension in my 3-D world.
Oh Heavenly Father, lay your truth over us like a soft, heavy blanket that covers us on the coldest night. Keep us buried in your truth, held fast against the dark, cold winter that is this life.
All photos courtesy of pixabay.com
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