Jesus is Unmoved and He is in Us

Boy, has it been a long time since I've written on this blog consistently. I haven't really thought through the purpose of this blog, but I guess it's probably so I can remind myself later of what God is doing and has done in my life as well as share it with those who care to walk alongside the path that carries my journey.

So for today, this is what I've got.

God is teaching me some pretty big lessons at this point in time. These lessons aren't really measurable or tangible per say, but some may argue that it means they are all the more important.

-The first of these lessons is trust and I guess it is more of a fringe benefit of the greater lesson that is to follow. I'll say more about this, but God is teaching me peace and rest at the moment. I am reading a book called Traveling Light at the moment and it is all based on the 23rd Psalm. The crux of my growing from that Psalm lies in the following verses:

¹ The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

² He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,

³ he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.

Believing in these promises and discovering more meaning in them (with the help of Max Lucado) has helped me to calm down in Jesus. Our Shepherd is good. He gives us what we need. He helps us to rest when we are being compared to the most volatile animal that cannot sleep without just the right conditions (Lucado's observation). He makes it possible for us to rest and brings restoration to us. He guides our paths. Trusting and simply falling limp into these promises and letting them hold me is the goal. More and more I see Jesus taking away my fears, calming my anxieties, reassuring me that He was, is, and will be in control. This is good for me as a person standing on the brink of the unknown. The Lord is my Shepherd; leading me into what I cannot see or know.

-The second and greater lesson I'm learning is similar and being tested intensely and repeatedly. It's good, it's frustrating, it's challenging, and it's good. It's nothing that hasn't been said before, so if you're looking to the secret to life, well this is probably as close as there is to one, but it's not really a secret. Here it is....

I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.^"

²⁶ And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God;

²⁷ I myself will see him
with my own eyes—I, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me! Job 19:25-27

Job was an incredible man of faith who got what I'm about to say. He went through a multitude of struggles and afflictions and still he rested in the truth that he belonged to the Lord and that his Lord was in control and taking care of him. Wow. Yesterday I put a pretty good summary of this on my Twitter. "I belong to Jesus & I'm okay. Regardless of circumstances or people that surround me, that holds true. Thanks be to God." My hope, my joy, my peace, my wholeness, my identity, my dreams, my groundedness, my love, my sturdiness, my strength, my wisdom, my passion, everything I am...it rests in nothing else but Jesus Christ and the fact that I am His. There are so many things in my daily life that knock me off balance and have the ability to wreck my mood like coffee on a white sweater. It's unbelievable how quickly my entire outlook can change by the smallest of circumstances or one small gesture from a person. The truth is, what I have in Jesus is so much bigger than my feelings or moods. What I have in Jesus is so much bigger than who people say I am, how someone chooses to treat me at a given time, or a circumstance that is beyond my control. I've been facing some hurtful situations recently with few places to turn to. But standing on the Rock of the Gospel means that we are not moved by the things of this world. Because greater is the One who is in us. Amen for that!! Not only does it free me from being knocked out of whack every time someone hurts my feelings, but it frees me so deeply that I can keep loving freely. Don't mishear me, I'm not advocating being a doormat. I'm just saying that when Jesus is for you, honestly, who can even be against you? The things I think I need in life or from people becoming secondary to what I already have in the salvation found in Christ. Max Lucado says this in Traveling Light:

"Are you hoping that a change in circumstances will bring a change in your attitude? If so, you are in prison, and you need to learn a secret of traveling light. What you have in your Shepherd is greater than what you don't have in life."

Jesus is the ultimate game changer. Today I was thinking how blessed we are to have this hope and be able to be held by Jesus in the midst of such a chaotic world that is scary and full of uncertainty. My comments were this:

"There's something about Him. About His promises and how He came. How He suffered and did the unthinkable--coming back to life so we could have it with Him. There's just something about Him that makes everything right. No matter what is said, done, seen, felt, or heard, it is nothing in comparison. He was, is, and will be and in that, we are made unshakeable."

I pray this is a place that God holds me in and that I can fall deeper into rest in Jesus and it is my prayer that you can rest there too. He gives it freely. Praise God for that. Without Him I'd be beyond a wreck. Even when He is there, I wreck things trying to do it myself. He quiets me and says "let me lead you by still waters." Lead on, Lord.