Jump!

Today I'm joining Lisa-Jo Baker for 5 Minute Friday...

Not for comments or traffic or anyone else’s agenda. But for pure love of the written word. For joy at the sound of syllables, sentences and paragraphs all strung together by the voice of the speaker.

Just write without worrying if it’s just right or not. For five minutes flat with no editing, tweaking or self critiquing (seriously hard for me...and that's why I need to do it!).

 

Go...

 

I watch him jump.  Again and again he jumps.  Brave.  Braver than his momma for sure.  This momma who fears the water.  I marvel at his courage.  And I pray that as he grows he will continue to be brave when it matters most.  When HE leads him to take bigger leaps, that he will have the courage to jump!

 

 

 

So much life ahead and the possibilities are endless.  God has plans for this brave little boy.  I often pray that he (and his brother) will grow to be a courageous, bold and obedient man, without fear of others, seeking to honor the One that matters most.

 

He's on his way!

 

Then I think of his momma, me.  Do I let fear hold me back when I should jump?  Not just from the water, but when it matters more, much more.  Where is God calling me to be braver, bolder, more courageous today?  Where do I need to put my faith into practice...and just JUMP?! 

 

How about you, friend, where is He calling you to jump? 

 

God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called.  We are the called!

(I Corinthians 1:2)

 

Click on the link below to hop on over to Lisa-Jo's page to read what others had to write about "Jump".

 

The Storm

SNOWPOCALYPSE 2011 or so they say. It was a typical winter day here in northeast Iowa. Bitter cold, wind and a little more snow to blow around and drift.

But as I listened to the proclamations of weather doom for the Midwest yesterday, my mind drifted back to nearly 4 years ago when another storm raged.

My oldest son Andrew was only 3 weeks old when the electricity went out. We were facing a severe ice storm. When my husband Alan had said he was concerned about the power going out, I thought, “What’s the big deal?” I grew up in a small town in Indiana where the longest I ever remembered the power being out was 4 or 5 hours. He mentioned the possibilities…the complications on the farm, no power for DAYS. I seriously thought he was being overly dramatic (he loves weather and so I thought he was a bit excited). I sarcastically said with a rueful smile, “Days?!” He didn’t look amused when he said, “This is Iowa!“ He was serious!

I still didn’t take it seriously myself…never imagining that when the power went out it would stay out for EIGHT days and NINE nights! The longest eight day and nine nights of my life! I couldn’t be Amish, ya’ll!

When the electricity went off I wasn’t prepared for what came next. We had to pack up our stuff including everything required for a 3 week old baby (and that’s a lot of stuff folks!) and head up the road to Alan’s parents’ house. They didn’t have power either, but they did have a brand new home that was well insulated. We would run the generator 2 hours a day…1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the afternoon/evening. Those were some long days. Do you know how quiet a house is when nothing is running, not even a refrigerator? Do you know how loud a baby sounds in the middle of the night without any other noise? Do you know how hard it is to play UNO by candlelight?

Today, it probably would be tolerable. But under the circumstances it was terrible.

You see, worse than the storm that raged outside was the storm raging on the inside…of me! I was facing down a severe case of postpartum depression. Not the baby blues. No, outright, suffocating, deep depression. The kind of depression that feels as if it’s gripping you around the neck and is pulling you down into a pit of despair.

Only a couple of weeks before I had been on “cloud nine.” The highest of highs. Rejoicing over the birth of my first child! I was thrilled to be a mommy. I had the most beautifully perfect son, a loving husband. My life was perfect, everything I’d ever dreamed of and I praised God for it! Yet, that didn’t keep the depression from seeping in. A chemical imbalance the doctors said and perhaps they were right. Yet, a spiritual battle quickly broke out as well. The Father of Lies saw his opportunity and took full advantage. It was scary. It was lonely. It happened despite the fact that I was a born-again Christian. Despite the fact that I knew God’s Word and His Truth.

The electricity came back on. We went home. My mom came from Indiana to help out. Still the storm raged inwardly.

I spent a lot of time crying. Wishing I would die. Wishing to not feel.  Wishing I could just go to sleep. Yet, when I did sleep, I experienced terrible dreams and woke up in a cold sweat. Being a Christian, I felt guilty. Shouldn’t I be able to overcome this with my faith in Him? If I really loved my baby, wouldn’t I be able to "snap out of it" and think of him instead of myself? Boy, the Enemy was coming at me from every angel. If he couldn’t get me with anguish, suicidal thoughts and fear, he’d be sure to get me with guilt.

Torment! That’s the best word to describe it.

Despite the pain, despite the lies going through my mind, despite the darkness that consumed me, there was another voice whispering still. The Truth! Yes, the same Truth that fills my earliest memories. The Truth that penetrated my heart day after day, month after month, year after year before this storm came raging. As the lies of the Enemy filled my mind, the voice of Truth quietly filled my heart. Sometimes the words came through my husband, other times through my mom and even a couple of times from Christian friends. Sometimes (often to my own surprise) they came out of my own mouth as I cried out to God for help. Out of my heart flowed the Truth that filled it long ago, even though it was now harder to hear and believe.

I held on to small glimpses of hope. My mom read scriptures over me. She sat on the floor, crying and praying with me. My husband was my rock, solid and steady. Each of them pointed me to the Truth.

Like the storm outside, the storm within me eventually subsided. Thankfully it didn’t last too long, although it seemed like an eternity when I was in the midst of it. I saw the Truth for myself and I held onto it! He lifted me out of the pit and steadied me on my feet once more. Again I rejoiced over my blessings! Perhaps rejoicing even more than before, because now I grasped how blessed I was to have a God who protected me through the worst storm of my life. I realized how faithful He was, shining bright even in the worst of my own inner darkness. Despite the lies of the Enemy and the torment in my mind, God never left me. He saw me through the storm!

No matter what STORM you face, He is in control and will see you through! Fill your mind with His Truth! Prepare yourself now for the storms that come...and even as it rages, grab onto the Truth and hold on! Know there is hope in the Truth! TRUST Him to see you through...and be safe in any storm, friends!

"When the storms of life come, the wicked are whirled away, but the godly have a lasting foundation." Proverbs 10:25

Thank you LORD for your powerful, loving protection! You promised you would never leave nor forsake us, your children. Help us to stand on that Truth so that we can see past the storms of this life. They come to us all at one time or another, in one way or another. Help the Truth of your Word to penetrate our hearts in such a way that we will be safe even as we face the darkest of times, both inside and out, because of the hope and peace that we have in You. Thank you, dear Jesus! Amen.

Push Past

My little Noah turned 3 months old on Tuesday. That same day he decided to roll over for the first time when I was away at book study. I was pretty sad that I missed this “first” for him, but reminded myself that I’ll get to see him do it many more time.


The next day, I watched as he worked so hard to get his body to cooperate with his goals. The look of concentration on his face was priceless. When I laid him down on his back, he would push with his foot and easily roll over onto his side, making great strides towards his belly. Then, he came to a halt as his pesky arm got in the way.  :)

He pushed harder! He wouldn’t give up. He had made up his mind. He had been working towards this for weeks…making strides, building up his muscles to get to this point. There was no going back! He just kept trying. He pushed as hard as he could, making all kinds of grunting noises, until finally he found the strength to push past this great obstacle called his own arm. :) He did it!

He proudly looked around in triumph...

As I watched Noah working so hard towards his goal, I wondered if I am that determined when it comes to my walk of faith. As I face obstacle in my everyday life, do I push past them to reach my goals and become the woman God created me to be?

As women (and a human beings in general) it is so easy to be held back by the pain of the past, the struggles of today, fear of failure and our own insecurities. We often let our feelings and emotions rule rather than allowing the strength of the Savior to guide us.

We will never push past these obstacles unless we start depending on HIS strength, rather than our own. We get so far, then get held back by our own “arm.” We push and push to achieve, but we’ll never make it to our goal (and His) without pushing with His strength in us! It’s not a sign of weakness to depend on Him. It takes flexing our faith muscles to keep pushing forward!

Jesus said, “Anything is possible if a person believes.” Mark 9:23

What if little Noah would have given up? He would have never known what he is capable of. Noah kept building up those muscles, pushing until he found the strength inside, until he did it! At first, it was a little awkward. Even once he rolled over, his neck was weak, his head a little wobbly. After a couple of days and several more rollovers, his neck is strengthening. He could still be just lying there on his back, waiting for something to happen, but now…

He’s enjoying the view! A new found freedom!

The Enemy would love to keep us bound up by our own weaknesses! He wants us to give up, lying there completely helpless and ineffective, never reaching our full potential. He doesn’t want us to push past them, finding God’s strength within.

If we are Christians we already have the power of the Holy Spirit living within us (II Tim 1:14). That means that we have the strength in us to push past the lies of the Enemy, the circumstances of everyday life and our own feelings of inadequacy. We must learn to draw from the strength within, surrendering all to Him, knowing that we are dependant on HIS strength alone!

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.  Philippians 4:13

Noah will continue to grow, learn and mature from here. With a little practice, before we know it, he will be sitting up, crawling, walking and even running! Things that seem impossible for him now, are within his reach if he just keeps pushing forward.

This journey of faith is ongoing for us as well, my friend. It will continue until we are, “…mature, just as Christ is, and we will be completely like him.” We are a work in progress. We will never “arrive” or get it perfect in this lifetime. Still we must move forward, strengthening our spiritual muscles, maturing in Christ.

We can't give up! We must keep turning to Him, asking for His strength and relying on it!!! The more we depend on His strength the more natural it will become. The possibilities are endless. Things that seem impossible are possible for us too…when we rely on His strength!  Do you believe it?!

For nothing is impossible with God.  Luke 1:37