Trusting in Chariots

    "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God."  Psalms 20:7

      So...I've been on hiatus while I stressed over Christmas, tried to fix my internal and external aches and pains and put figurative band-aids on my husband and children.  In other words, I've been stuck down in a pit and trusting in chariots.  Where was God in all of this?  Still there.  I was busy making my pit more comfortable instead of reaching my hand out to Him to pull me out.  I'd forgotten He desires to hear my prayers and pleas.  He knows my every thought but wants me to talk to Him.  Maybe I've been afraid of His answers and timing.  Control freak, maybe?  Can you relate?

     In our humanness, we use every earthly tool available to cure our ills.  But I was reminded of the many stories of the Old Testament where God desired His children to trust in Him alone.  Inevitably, they'd believe that He wasn't enough.  They trusted instead in  power, weapons and pride to defeat their enemies.  It never worked out very well for them.  When they finally listened and trusted in God alone, they didn't even have to use a weapon to see their enemies crumble beneath their feet.  Slow learners then, slow learners now. 

     I have been resistant to His words.  I pray that He changes my heart and I can trust in His provision alone.  Take a listen to what He's told us....

"Trust in the Lord and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths." Proverbs 3: 5, 6.  "He who trusts in His own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered." Proverbs 28:26

Good News/Bad News

     At this point, I think my readers are a mixture of Christians and Non-Christians so I'm not always sure which way to target my posts.  For those who know me very well, you'll forgive me for giving "TMI"  (too much information).  The good news right now is that I haven't had a seizure in 3 months!  That is a miracle in itself.  My epilepsy is mostly caused by my hormones.  The bad news is I'm probably not having seizures because I seem to be beginning early menopause!  Can anyone say "hot flashes"!  It has been a trying summer on many levels, but I found this article that helped me put things in a better perspective.  It's sometimes hard being a woman and the mother of a challenging teen while your hormones are out of whack!  Maybe you will gain something from this sweet little article also.


 A Time to Grow by Carolyn Mahaney                                               
There are few times I feel less spiritual than when I face physical and hormonal challenges such as PMS and (now) menopause. I feel tired and irritable, my sin sometimes spilling over onto those around me.
My strategy has often been to try and wait it out. Once this is over, I tell myself, then I’ll get back to making progress in the Christian life. I forget that I am smack in the middle of God’s plan for my life! God has ordained these hormonal days along with all the others! Menopause isn’t simply a trial to get through. It’s an opportunity for testing faith and spiritual growth.
Elizabeth Prentiss beautifully expresses this point:

“God never place us in any position in which we can not grow. We may fancy that He does. We may fear we are so impeded by fretting, petty cares that we are gaining nothing; but when we are not sending any branches upward, we may be sending roots downward. Perhaps in the time of our humiliation, when everything seems a failure, we are making the best kind of progress.”

The best kind of progress. Far from precipitating a spiritual decline, we often grow more in these difficult seasons than when life is easy, and we feel like we’re flourishing (remember, those feelings can’t be trusted!)
That’s why the apostle Paul sees weakness as an opportunity for boasting in the Lord:

“But [God] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

For the sake of Christ, we are to boast in our weaknesses, we are to be content in menopause or PMS or postpartum depression. For when we are weak, it is then that His power rests on us. What an opportunity!