Monday, September 24, 2012

Um...Yeah...I Can Work With This


I have shared my personal testimony only a few times over the past ten years.  I do not share it just for the sake of sharing; for it is painfully personal and a journey that I am still, after ten years, trying to reconcile.  But today I want to skip to the pivotal moment along that painful journey because I want to focus on that, not everything that led up to that.

I had been falsely accused of something and the repercussions were more than I imagined.  I had lost everything but my family.  My entire identity had been taken from me and in my absolute despair, in that moment in my life when I could not possibly go any lower – I had a vision.  I’m not a man of visions but this one was very clear to me.  I saw God sitting, leaning forward, his forehead resting in this right hand, and his head was shaking back and forth slowly.  This is what He said, “no no no…my dear son believe me this is not what I wanted for your life but I promise you, if you give me some time I will work with this”. 

The miracles that have happened since that time have been far too many to count.  The life I lead today is one that is free from any type of bondage be it spiritual, emotional or physical.  The pain of the event is something I am still processing through but the outcome – well, I’m here to say that God did, indeed, work with it and much has been achieved!

I know another man who sits in prison.  He, like thousands of others, claim he is innocent and the truth is – he is innocent.  But the laws of the land and the hearts of the wicked prevailed to the degree that he is now in prison and may very well be there for a very long time.  I talk with him often and his spirit remains strong.  He is a powerful witness to those around him, he leads worship in the prison, he writes, he is a wise counselor to many and the list goes on.  You see, God worked with it.

When you encounter something unexpected that has a negative impact on your life, can you work with it?  Can you allow God to work with it?  If your best friend, brother, sister, mother, father or lover betrayed you somehow and caused you pain would you be able to work with it?  Would the two of you be able to agree that time heals and that God CAN work in and through all things?  Would you just surrender and decide that there’s nothing that can be done, cut your losses and go? Moses led his people in to the middle of nowhere but God worked with it, didn’t he?  Daniel was stuck in the middle of the hungry lions, no escape, no light at the end of the tunnel, hardly a hope…but God worked with it, didn’t he? 

God doesn’t purposely send wicked your way.  It happens.  But God can work with anything if those who are in it will focus on Him. 

What did you do today to focus on Him while he is so intent on focusing on you?  While things are being put in to place to bless you and to make your life, yes, even you very soul – jump with joy…what are you doing in return?  Are you saying to God, “yes, you better work with this!” or are you saying, “Really, God?  Wow!  I didn’t know You saw that…thank You…I will continue to praise You and recognize You through all things and I will wait patiently on You while You work with this”.

They that wait upon the Lord SHALL renew their strength; they SHALL mount up with wings like the eagles; they SHALL run, and not be weary; and they SHALL walk, and not faint…Isaiah 50:31

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