Get Back Up

Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me. - Psalm 119:133

I fell down yesterday - hard. Something I thought was healed years ago snuck up on me. And like a kid riding a skateboard for the first time, I went from trying a really neat trick to landing flat on my back.

The bumps and bruises of sin covered me, and it seemed like the harder I tried to get up, the harder I fell. Again, and again.

Guilt piled itself on like a bucket of tar. "I know better, why am I here - AGAIN?"

As I kneeled before the Father today, afraid to show my face, unable to lift my eyes, I confessed the mess I found myself in. He agreed with each one of my offenses.

Then I heard something amazing in my spirit, breaking the chains of condemnation ... Your sin could never be greater than my forgiveness and love. Believe in what was accomplished on that cross. Live it, receive it, breathe it, proclaim it.

Sin no longer reigns in my life, Jesus does. It's power was broken the moment Jesus submitted to brokenness.

He saved my life.

True Ministry

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. - 1 Corinthians 1:3-5

I've got a chicken pox scar on my right forearm, just below my elbow. I was about six when the ailment visited our neighborhood on Third Street. All of the kids in the neighborhood ended up getting them. Better early than late, I guess.

I have other scars too. Right next to my right knuckle sits a scar I got while riding my new ten speed bike. I never drove over a garden hose again. Then there is the scar on my right shin, making it's appearance when I accidentally stepped into a hole that held a sprinkler head. Ouch.

These injuries are vivid, memorable - not something I would choose to revisit - but definitely a part of my story. I think about the scars I incurred later in life, such as surgical scars ... and let's not forget the team of emotional scars I've picked up along the way.

I once read that if a wound does not properly heal, that it will never turn into a scar. Staying open, bloody, painful and sore. When it comes to our emotional wounds, they can stick around for decades if they haven't been properly cared for.

It is not easy dressing some of those wounds. Nobody likes pain, but pain is a part of the healing process. In order to get past some of the garbage, we often times have to wade knee deep through it.

While some of the emotional wounds of my past make their way to the surface every now and then (carrying what feels like an incurable ache) if I take those hurts to God He promises to have a remedy.

As painful as each of those circumstances were, I would not change them for the world. The are a part of who I am, a part of my story. And by God's grace, I can use my scars to help somebody else who is suffering the same kind of injury - ministry at its purest.

What kind of scars do you hold? Do you loath them, or have you learned to embrace the ugly things?

God's work in the world is so much higher than anything we can wrap our minds around. The scars on Jesus' hands and feet tell me a lot about our pain.

It brings Him glory.

Stuff

If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! - Ecclesiastes 4:10

Stuff. We've all got it. Trickling down the stairs, clogging up the lint screen of our dryers. Dust bunnys challenge the feather-duster, threatening to take over. The ring around the bathtub fights back with determination. Piles of unwanted items stack themselves into the garage, awaiting that spring garage sale. Keeping a home tidy requires our daily attention.

It is the same with our heart.

I sat with a friend last night, discussing the ins and outs of some of my "stuff." Negative tapes that have played for years, insecurities about my outward appearance that reflect depravity within. The expectations I put on others, hoping they will fill a void that only God can fill. It was a pretty long laundry list.

Twenty-three years into recovery, my dear friend was willing to extend a hand to help this tender soul who was just beginning. As we chatted over apple turnover, I realized something. I had a choice. I could continue to be overwhelmed by the mess on the stairs of my heart, or I could ask God to help me begin tidying things up.

I'm tired of trying to clean this mess up all by myself. I've reached a point in my life where my face has found the carpet. I need God's help.

Later, as I drove back to home, buildings and trees stood against golden light created the most amazing silhouette. The view was breathtaking. My heart was captured even more by the view inside of my soul. A new lie had been exposed during this conversation with my friend - one I have held onto for years.

But the ugly old thing, the lie that has caused me terrible turmoil for months, even years, suddenly looked amazing against the backdrop of God's light. New hope surfaced, giving this weary traveler just enough fuel to keep trecking.

We need each other. Who can you reach out to today? Who can you ask for help from? Don't try to clean up the mess all by yourself. It can be terribly overwhelming, and it's not much fun.

One of the greatest gifts God gives us is friendship.

Find one. Be one.

Sandcastles

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. - Hebrews 13:8

During my time away, we went to one of my favorite places - the beach. Constant, stable, tried and true. God's blue bathtub can always be trusted to stay the same. Blue horizon, rolling tides, carrying pieces of seaweed and shells. I dipped my toes in water that felt nothing like a bathtub, and found joy as polished toes found warm sand.

I find comfort in things that stay the same. Especially through seasons of change.

I don't know why change can be so uncomfortable. Is it for the sake of wanting to stay safe? Is predictability what I long to hold? Having a sense of being in control is surely the underlying factor. But change is inevitable. Change means growth, health, promise, and hope.

Change allows the most important things to stay the same.

As I stood on that shoreline the other day, the obvious splashed my ankles, and I realized - the ocean is in a constant state of change. Waves roll in, one after the other, creating a different line in the sand with each trip. Bare feet create a different set of tracks through mounds of sand. Birds fly in, then out. Crabs burrow into new and different holes, seaweed displays a unique collage with every ebb and flow.

Letting go of the sandcastles in my life is a good thing.

As God brings us through the unpredictability of change, there is one constant we can sink our toes into. He never changes. Like the afternoon light that dances on sprays of salty water, God the Father - His character - can always be trusted to stay the same.

Who has God proven to be in your life? Think today, on an attribute of God.

The view is breathtaking.

CBN.com Daily Devotion

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. ~ Isaiah 26:3

I stumbled upon one of my favorite verses of all times this morning. I've referred to this passage of Scripture countless times through the years. Keeping my heart and mind on Christ can be a challenge when I am facing a storm.

As I return from vacation, I am thrilled to announce my latest publication! A devotion I wrote has been published on CBN.com's website. I was overjoyed when I received an email from their Internet Producer.

The situation I wrote about was a lesson I would not soon forget. It was a terribly painful moment, carrying a deep and meaningful lesson about prayer.

I am always amazed at how God will sometimes take our pain and turn it into ministry. Nothing brings me greater joy than to know that my own experience with God has potential to heighten the awareness of somebody else's.

I invite you to visit http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/devotions/reese_lunch.aspx, and please post a comment if you get the chance.

Let's keep our eyes fixed on Him.