Sweet Jesus...

Fasten your spiritual seatbelts, it's going to be a ride! Here we go...

So lately I've been wrestling with the Lord over some issues. Our current bible study seemed to bring more fear and condemnation than holy encouragement. I've been afraid that God is terribly angry and disappointed with me. If you know me at all, you know that I do not do well with those feelings. When I feel like I have let someone down, my initial reaction is to straight run the other direction so as to not further disapppoint. This is where I have been standing with God for the past 2 weeks; slowly stepping backward with hesitant eyes and a weary heart, though I know I should run into his arms, not away from them. So I have been stuck in a ongoing battle over which way to run.

I have been discussing these emotions with a friend of mine and they have done their best to provide encouragement for me to NOT RUN! I've done everything to convince my friend that it's better for me to run because then I'm not a failure. My friend has had the same consistent answer "pray about it." Tonight, it finally came to a head when I stated that I feel like God has nothing to say to me. I expressed the feeling that God now hates me, despite His obvious displays of love in the past. I felt like He was angry and therefore leaving me with no answer. I told my friend that all I wanted was an expression of love from God so I would know that He hadn't forgotten me. My friend encouraged me to "press in deeper." So I did.

I decided to find a verse to try and express my feeling to put as my facebook status. So I went to biblegateway.com and typed 'love' in the search box. As I was scrolling down the typical verses, I began to think it was hopeless. And then I stumbled upon Jeremiah 2:25.

Jeremiah 2:25 (NIV): Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry. But you said 'It's no use! I love foreign gods and I must go after them.'

Wow. The first part of the verse is what really struck me. After I express a deep desire to run away from God, I find this straight instruction to not do that. So I asked my friend if they were praying and they said "yeah I am." Thank God for friends. I think what most appeals to me about this verse is that it's not a straight command like "Don't be afraid." It's like a negotiation. It's like He is simply telling me to give Him a chance. Don't run yet. Don't run until my feet are bare from pursuing Him and my throat dry from calling out to Him. I'm getting misty-eyed all over just thinking about it. And when I think back on my life, God has never left me so desperate. He has never left me with bare feet and a dry throat. I always have strength to struggle onward a little longer even when I think I've reached my breaking point. And He miraculously always comes to my rescue before I collapse. The second part of the verse applies too because He calls me to be patient and I try to make excuses. For the past 2 weeks, I've been trying to convince God of how big of a screw-up I am like He'll decide I'm not worth being used and remove His hand from my life. First of all, He knows how a big of a screw-up I am and doesn't need me to tell Him. Second of all, my weaknesses only make Him love me more, so it's really futile to try to make excuses.

So in case that wasn't awesome enough on it's own, I decided to take Beth Moore and Kay Arthur's advice and dig deeper into the word. So I looked up the same verse in The Message.

Jeremiah 2:25 (The Message): Slow down. Take a deep breath. What's the hurry? Why wear yourself out? Just what are you after anyway? But you say, 'I can't help it. I'm addicted to alien gods. I can't quit.'

Wow! Really? Can the same verse in another version really appeal to a completely separate issue in my life? Apparently. I've been quite impatient with God for answers and solutions to issues that plague me. And here are some direct instructions to just chill. What's even more amazing is that when people tell me to do this, my response is consistently "I can't help it." Oh geez. The Lord clearly knows what I am feeling and going through and wants me to just be patient and give Him a chance to show why He is the Lord of Hosts.

It can't get any better right? Wrong! God proceeded to encourage me to continue in the pursuit of my dreams. It started by my statement: It kills me to put love and effort into something and then watch it get ruined through no fault of my own. This was in reference to my desire to be as far away from ministry as possible because my passion got smashed when I was in it before. My friend's response: Well you have to realize it makes you stronger in the long run. To which I sharply responsed: I haven't received that strength yet. And then it hit me - I don't have that strength yet because I don't need it yet. However, I just finished the rewrite of the book that I started in Master's Commission. I want to send it to a publisher, but I've been dragging my feet in the process. And through this conversation, it dawned on me that I'm hesitant to take that final step because I'm scared of the rejection of something I have worked so passionately on for the past 2 years of my life. Dreams of epic proportions are wrapped up in that small piece of literature. I'm not sure I can handle the possible rejection that might come from putting it out there in the public eye. But, God will give me the strength to stand up under that weight because of the trials surrounding my passion and devotion of the past.

So it's been a pretty epic and amazing night. And it didn't even have to come on a women's retreat or through puddles of tears. Just through some simple facebook chat with a good friend. Every time I think I have God figured out, He changes things up on me. I love it! It keeps me intrigued, because everyone knows that when I start to figure things out, I start to get bored. Oh how He loves ME!

Final thought: My friend said, "If your walk ever slows to a tip-toe, then you need something to change." I responded, "If I'm walking at all, I need something to change. I'm much better at a sprint...and I haven't sprinted in a loooong time."