A landslide. It took days for my mind to begin to fathom the situation before us. There were decisions to be made. Work to be done. Our church would never be the same. There was no time for delay. The day was set. “Dress Down Sunday” – wear your work clothes to church. We sat almost shoulder to shoulder during the service, most of us dressed ready to swing hammers and carry rubble. The songs had a certain sweetness to me that morning and the message was touching as well.
Despite all the destruction already begun and soon to be done around us, God’s character and truth remain unchanged. Amidst the tools propped and ready for action, a plywood wall roughed-in to make a smaller meeting room where we would worship for the coming months, no stage for the worship team, and a monstrous situation lingering over us, none of God’s truths were changed. He still loved us. He is still the God who can move mountains. He still owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He is still sovereign.
We had (and still have) a lot of work to do, but this family of believers pulled together, dug in and put in a full day’s work and then some. As I carried broken pieces of drywall to the dumpster, l couldn’t help seeing the parallel of lessons through the day. We had painted the walls in our sanctuary 3 yrs ago….. and today, we demolished the walls. It doesn’t matter how good something looks on the outside (or inside in this case) its what the structure is leaning on. This is so true in life, what is my life structure leaning on? What is it that I seek to give stability and security to my life? What is it that I rely on to hold me up?
Sometimes when troubles pile upon me, I tend to take the “poor me, I can’t handle this, how will I get through this…” role and become upset with God. I forget He loves me enough to leave me the way I am. I forget He works all things together for the good of those who love Him. I forget to trust Him and I turn to worry and anger.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Lord, give me eyes to see these troubles as You view them. Remind me of the eternal glory ahead and give me strength to fix my eyes on the unseen instead of this massive situation so visible before me.
Fixing my eyes,
Sharon
Despite all the destruction already begun and soon to be done around us, God’s character and truth remain unchanged. Amidst the tools propped and ready for action, a plywood wall roughed-in to make a smaller meeting room where we would worship for the coming months, no stage for the worship team, and a monstrous situation lingering over us, none of God’s truths were changed. He still loved us. He is still the God who can move mountains. He still owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He is still sovereign.
We had (and still have) a lot of work to do, but this family of believers pulled together, dug in and put in a full day’s work and then some. As I carried broken pieces of drywall to the dumpster, l couldn’t help seeing the parallel of lessons through the day. We had painted the walls in our sanctuary 3 yrs ago….. and today, we demolished the walls. It doesn’t matter how good something looks on the outside (or inside in this case) its what the structure is leaning on. This is so true in life, what is my life structure leaning on? What is it that I seek to give stability and security to my life? What is it that I rely on to hold me up?
Sometimes when troubles pile upon me, I tend to take the “poor me, I can’t handle this, how will I get through this…” role and become upset with God. I forget He loves me enough to leave me the way I am. I forget He works all things together for the good of those who love Him. I forget to trust Him and I turn to worry and anger.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Lord, give me eyes to see these troubles as You view them. Remind me of the eternal glory ahead and give me strength to fix my eyes on the unseen instead of this massive situation so visible before me.
Fixing my eyes,
Sharon
That was so well said! It is really easy for me to do the "poor me" thing too. Thanks for the reminder to look to the Lord and to His unchanging faithfulness to me no matter what the situation may be.
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