LET IT GO

Happy New Year , Family!!!!!!

This year is going to be AWESOME!!!  I hope you know that and are ready for it. LISTEN!!!  YOUR YEAR, IT IS GOING TO BE AMAZING!!!! I am not just saying that, or thinking it, or hoping it is true, I KNOW IT!!!

A lot of people say, ‘do not set your expectations so high, because you will be disappointed when the things you are hoping for do not come to be.’ BUT  GOD, He says, ‘set those expectations high. Come on, dream as big as you want to; I can do anything!!! More than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!’ (Ephesians 3:20). I just truly love that. Leave the low expectations of life to world…you just go on right ahead and blow the ceiling with your ideas!!!

There is so much I want to write; so much that the Lord has been graciously teaching me for the past few months, Not to mention our “God’s kind of woman” series.  But as I was meditating on a topic to kick start the year, I remembered a song that spoke to my heart when I listened to it. On the day, I remember, I nearly cried. My heart was so heavy from all the things that had been happening at the time. It SEEMED to me, that there was no point of rest. It was as if everything that was supposed to be right, was not right. The consistent lies of the devil that I was alone in this, were like drums in my head that could not stop. Not that I had not been praying about it all. NO!! I had been praying and trusting Him to come through for me. But although I FELT comforted in the confines of my room, the moment I stepped out into the world, it SEEMED to me that I was drowning.

On this day, this song, LET IT GO, by a Malawian artist, THA GOSPLE spoke to me and soothed my heart. It fired me up and reminded me of so many key things self pity had made me forget. In it, he talks about how his life was shaken up by the illness of his mom who had suffered a stroke.  It lost its meaning and he thought of giving up. The pain was so severe, he says, that he did not feel like praying. That is a looot of pain and listening to the song gives you a sense of what he felt through the process. I did not reach these levels of pain but the beautiful thing  about God is that He comforts us in all of our troubles so that we too might comfort other people with the comfort He gave us – 2 Corinthians 1:4. This song is testament to that truth. After having gone through a traumatic incident,  and been comforted, the artist himself then offered words of encouragement to others, me being one. Now, I started thinking, ‘if God did this huuuge thing for him and his family, surely, surely, this is but a small thing. If the stroke bowed down and said Jesus is Lord; If her legs started moving, walking she now dances, then surely, there is nothing He will not do for me!!! Praise God!!!’  Now imagine if he had not shared the experience? Okay, so God, being God would have reached out to me in another way but this should encourage us to be a people who speak out about the times God has comforted us. There is someone, out there, who is waiting to hear that there is hope to the death sentence, the world has given to them.

  

And the song does not end there. The lyrics continue to state: ‘He used to tell Jesus when things go hard but now he tells his hardships about his God.’  The question that came to mind was: ‘Ruth, what are you doing about all this.  Your circumstances are bullying you and abusing you. You want to ran away from your own life, dig a hole and sink right in.’ See sometimes us Christians really do act like those kids being bullied in the play ground. We take the beating then ran off and tell our Dad AFTER THE EVENT. To show Him our bruises and let Him wipe our tears. Our dad comforts us and loves us and we smile again. For just a second, everything is okay and then a new day begins and we are back in the play ground, ready to be beaten again. The thing however is, at that time, we can stand up for ourselves and tell our circumstances not to mess with us because we are loaded. You take for example, Ezekiel in the valley of the dry bones. When God asked him, can these bones live? He said, ‘Only You know.’ How often do we say this too? Only You God, know why I had to be fired; only You know why I don’t have this and that. But God said right back to him: ‘it is not up to Me to do something with these dry bones. It is up to you to command them to live.’ And Ezekiel did as instructed (Ezekiel 37:1-10) and we all know the strong army that was made as a result.  There is so much that God has commanded us to do with our words of faith. Sooo much power to order our world around. Have you ever seen that giant who cries like a baby? It doesn’t make sense, right. You always think: Why is he not doing anything?  Ask yourself that question too. Why are you not doing anything? Tell those hardships to bow down to our risen savior, Jesus Christ!!!

But while I like the whole song, the line that did it for me was: Life brings pain from the outside in, but let me show you real peace from the inside out. This line brings to mind this picture or peace flowing like a river originating from within us to the outside world. Jesus left us HIS peace;  Not as the world gives (John 14:27). It is different. The world is looking for peace and wanting it, but God has embedded it in His Children. Isn’t that amazing? You are its custodian.  It is, if you like, another of your distinguishing marks.  Shalom, the Hebrew word of this peace means wholeness, completeness, divine health.  He therefore said He left us, His own wholeness, His Completeness.  It is consequently, NOT a feeling, although, it may sometimes manifest itself as such. The mistake, I made was wanting to feel it even when I stepped out of my room. Wanting to feel the wholeness, completeness, like nothing was lacking.  And when I went through my day, and realized everything still looked as bad as it was yesterday, it saddened me. The thing though, is that I was supposed to use this peace I know/ I had because it was given already to every believer, to influence my surrounding. I was to BELIEVE I had it no matter my circumstances. This is what distinguishes you as a child of God. The Bible says, blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God (Matthew 5:9). You do not get to panic just because everyone else is panicking. It is your duty to make peace. To calm people down. To make people wonder why you are acting different and draw them to Christ, and thus through your peace, making more, peace makers i.e believers.

The Line, made me consider as well, Jesus on the Sea of Galilee (Mark 4:35-40). His disciples were panicking. They looked to the storm and thought: We are dead. So many fishers die at sea and we are going to be just like the rest..’ It is like you and me. We hear of all these people who have not made it in life. We then think, ‘we can’t beat the system. The waves are just too high.’ But NEWSFLASH!!! JUST LIKE THE FISHERMEN, YOU ARE LOOKING THE WRONG WAY. TURN TO JESUS. Isaiah 26:3 states ‘You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.' Which they finally did and shocking thing!!! They see Him sleeping; not on the floor; the Bible records that He was sleeping on a cushion…LOL… Honestly, it is surprising, no-one yanked Him off it considering the situation. They must have truly respected Him. On the other hand though, the manner they woke Him up is not stated in the Bible..we just know they “woke Him” and considering the  first words were :DON’T YOU CARE???, these were not some happy fishermen. But  then seriously, how do you expect the Prince of Peace to act in a storm. He is Peace.  He does not have ‘freaking out’ in His dictionary.  Long story short, He releases some peace into the situation. SORTED!!!

Then He turns to them and asks: ‘Why are you afraid?’ See if you are not at peace, you are troubled. You are worried. Even when Jesus said: ‘My Shalom I leave with you’,  He  then added a note that we are to let not our hearts be troubled.  We are to keep our peace in the face of adversity. If we choose (Yes! It is a choice) to not worry though it is tempting to, the peace that is in our spirit will be released to our senses. Otherwise,  the shalom in your spirit, powerful as it is, will do you no good if your heart is full of worries and anxieties and troubles. Refuse therefore, to be submerged under your own cares.  Your part is to maintain or rather to keep what is already yours, your peace.  AND WHY IS THAT SO HARD? Because it is the opposite from the way the world works. The world tells us to do stuff; to always do, do do..because if we do not, then nothing will happen. But God,  He tells you to be still; be still and not always do, do, do. He will fight the battles for you.  And every time you continue to just worry and think and do stuff to get yourself out of it, you are telling God: Hands off!! This is my stuff. But God is saying to you, 'NO! YOU LET IT GO, I have it.' Do not argue with Him. We already know who will win.

So, this year to maintain your peace no matter what. He had you yesterday, He has you today and He will have you tomorrow. Our God is a God of peace. Granting rest to the hearts of many and buffering the harshness of the winds that blow and shake our world.  You can let it go!

If you want to listen to the song, here is a link: http://www.reverbnation.com/thagosple99