Trapped in a Room

A couple of weeks ago, one of our associate pastors gave an illustration that resonated with me. I'll probably never remember the sermon, but I'll always remember the illustration and have already repeated it to several people (and maybe modified it just a little :).

Whenever you are walking through a trial (and don't we know that sometimes we LIVE in the trial and feel like we are not even walking through it!), sometimes, it feels like we are in a high room somewhere with the door locked and we feel like we will NEVER GET OUT IT and we FEEL ALL ALONE!   Then suddenly, we see God climbing a ladder to the window of our room and we may even think, "look He's coming to rescue me from this trial."  When God reaches the window, he steps inside and rather than rescuing us, he sits down beside us and stays there with us.  We may want the trial to go away but sometimes He wants us to see that He is near and it's only through the trial that we can experience this nearness of God.

This helps us to truly understand what it means to when God says, Fear Not for I am WITH YOU!  No matter the trial, we don't have a God who does not understand our situations nor does He leave us to flounder around in our messes; but rather, we have a God who is relational, who sits with us and holds us in the palm of His hand   How personal is that?  How loving and kind is that?  It's something I've known and been told a thousand times since I was a child but walking in the middle of a mess, it's a great reminder that he's in the room with me!

Who Am I

How does five years pass without making a post?  There are so many excuses.  Too much time on

Facebook, tired at night after work, losing a parent, helping with another elderly parent and maybe just the feeling of defeat of "feeling like" I don't have anything to offer as I'm not the model parent and don't have model children.  It's the last excuse that is troublesome. When we become discouraged and defeated, then we become ineffective and complacent to not doing anything.  So I've rearranged some things in my life and want to get back to the gifts that I believe God has gifted me with and one of those is the gift of encouragement, the gift of looking at things half full instead of half empty and the gift of coming along side of someone who needs their chin lifted up.  My identity is not in what I do or what I have accomplished (or my failures) which would mean for me an arrogant spirit but rather I'm a child of God's.  This morning in church, the lyrics to "I Am Who You Say I Am" resonated with my soul and I've been asking God a lot to use me and speak through me and He reminded me that this is one of those ways.  So today, I'm recommitting to writing about experiences, successes, failures and anything else God commits to my heart about parenting outside of the box and I'll leave you with the lyrics to this song.  I felt the Holy Spirit lifting my chin to remind me who I am in Him and I pray that you too will have your chin lifted up as you navigate these difficult days of parenting.

Who am I that the highest King
Would welcome me?
I was lost but He brought me in
Oh His love for me
Oh His love for me

Who the Son sets free
Oh is free indeed
I’m a child of God
Yes I am

I am chosen
Not forsaken
I am who You say I am
You are for me
Not against me
I am who You say I am

Who the Son sets free
Oh is free indeed
I’m a child of God
Yes I am
In my Father’s house
There’s a place for me
I’m a child of God
Yes I am

(Hillsong)