Teri

“Dear Lord. It’s me. I know you’ve heard this before…a lot…but I’m really discouraged today. Couldn’t you just send a Red Sea sized miracle today and make it all go away?”

Thought I’d give you a little peak into my journal from a few days ago. There have been a few journal entries like this over the years.

Yeah. It’s never worked.

God isn’t a star that we wish upon.

I’ve often battled discouragement along this journey. I think that most passionate people do. Maybe discouragement is the flip side of the coin of passion? Same coin, just two different sides?

Right now, I’m firmly entangled in the tar pits of the dream journey – that stinky, oozing, sticky mass of road blocks, obstacles, and set backs.

It’s hard to fight the discouragement. Do you remember Atreyu in the Swamps of Sadness?

So, why would a loving God who loves to give us Kingdom dreams allow us to fall into the tar pits?

Here are a few thoughts on that…

Faith muscle workout – You fight against a lot of resistance in the tar pits. Any personal trainer knows, it’s the resistance that builds the muscles. It’s there where we strengthen our faith and perseverance.

In our weakness – God is working despite the seemingly huge obstacles. He is working in the midst of them. We may not see it now, but after we’re down the road a few miles, we will be able to look back and see God’s loving hand giving us just what we need, when we need it. We will be able to say, “In my weakness, he was strong.”  It is a promise and God has never disappointed.

Hold up here for a minute – I’m a barrel-through kind of person. I see a road block and something in me just wants to ram it! That’s good in some ways. In other ways, not so good, especially when God wants me to wait. For me, the tar pits have also been times when God’s just asking me to slow down a bit because he’s got something cooking that needs to simmer a bit.

We are in a battle – We have an enemy who seeks to kill, steal, and destroy. The tar pits are glaring reminders of that. My disappointment should only serve as a reminder that the enemy of lies has been lying to me once again.

My disappointment provides me an opportunity to ask God to reveal the lie that is beneath my despair, heal the woundedness there, and reveal the truth of his love for me. Disappointment also gives me an opportunity to repent from believing the lie that tells me God isn’t everything he says he is.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman,
“Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” Genesis 3:1

Draw near  - I cry out to God when I’m stuck in the pits. I beg him to draw near to me. Or more, I am desperate to draw nearer to him. Each day I get a little better about being desperate to be near to him even when I’m in the full-speed ahead, all systems go mode. But, being in the pits remind me just how much I need his presence.

I pray your day is filled with drawing near…

“Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
    my salvation  and my God.” Psalm 42:5-6a