As I look back, I realize the weight of facing some of
the worst hardships and life altering challenges during the past two
years. I survived emotionally numbing
blows in recent years, and because of the holidays, only to relive some incidents
afresh. I lost loved ones and friends
dear to my heart. I saw the true colors
of many, left abandoned and like my grandma use to say, up the creek without a
paddle, on several occasions.
It seemed that at every turn, another door was either closed
in my face or at my back. I felt boxed
in and forced in a state of bondage. There
were times I called out asking God if He saw me. I felt as if He was watching me suffer these
things as He watched the guards beat Jesus beyond recognition. I felt my old nature rise and a bit of old
Chris resurfaced; the one that jumps into action to take care of Chris and
handle people and situations. I want to
keep that old girl under control because she’s dangerous. The last time I let her have free reign for just
1 hour, it took years and several attorneys to get things resolved. The reborn Chris just kept saying be still,
do nothing, God is not blind nor has He turned His back on you. It’s God that has brought you to this place
and time in life. Wait on God, my spirit
would say.
I started to imagine my situation. My spirit was feeling as if I’m standing in a
paneled room boxed in with no visible way of escape. Each wall of this room is touching me on the
front, the back, and the sides. I wait with my hands folded behind my
back. I kept hearing a familiar clicking
sound. Familiar in that I know I’ve
heard is somewhere before, long ago. Then
I remembered our old camper. The
cabinets and closets in it didn’t have handles and the surface look streamlined
and you had to know where to press them to get them to open. I had trouble with a few of them, just
couldn’t seem to get the press right to make it open until several tries.
Then I heard God say to press with my hands behind me,
and a door opened. I stepped back and
God began to give me insight into why things happened this year. No great mystery, it was His will and it was
what was best for all involved. He
showed me how the past two years were a proving year for me. He showed me how much He loved me and had
invested in me. It was a year during
which I was being branded for His purpose for my life, to write of His glory,
as John was banished to the Isle of Patmos to write the book of
Revelations. One mistake was to believe in the word of people
and depend on them for help and not look to God first then He would send the
help I needed.
I found myself
back in that paneled room and I was instructed to press again on a place in
front of me. As I did, a door
opened. As I stepped out the way wasn’t
clearly marked and a bit foggy and unstable in places. God whispered, if I trust Him, He’ll lead me
and show me the way. To be successful,
I’d have to get rid of the useless baggage from the past year that would hold
me down or cause me to fall.
Beyond the love and investment God has placed in me, I
take away from this image that even when people and situations seem to have us
boxed in, all we have to do is look and wait on Jesus; then press, and He’ll
open a way of escape. If we trust Him, He
will lead and guide us through our day to day life. To be successful, I must press the door
closed on the past and focus on today with Christ.
For 2017 join with me in my resolve, like that of the
Apostle Paul described in Philippians 3:1-15, to forget those things which are
behind, and reaching for those things ahead, then press the mark, for the
prize, which is the high calling of God, in Christ Jesus. Let’s do a New Year Press.
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