Month: September 2018

But God, who encourages those who are discouraged, encouraged us by the arrival of Titus. 2 Corinthians 7:6 (NLT)

As I was driving down the road yesterday, I saw the most peculiar sight and had to do a double take. There were several shirtless men…pushing a car…down the road. It wasn’t odd the guys had their shirts off because it was blistering hot here. Also, cars break down, so occasionally we’ll see a car being pushed off the road. What amazed me was how they were walking that car like they were taking a dog for a walk. They apparently had a destination in mind, and it wasn’t the side of the road. Did they realize they just past a towing service?

I was thinking back to this rare scene last night and received a very strong message of encouragement. It didn’t come from being thankful for not having a vehicle break down on me, it came from seeing a vehicle that was broken down. It came during a time someone was in a valley, and if you’re in a valley, this is specifically for you! It’s easy to be encouraged when things are going right, but what about when things are going so wrong you’re not sure what to do next?

What you do is you keep going when you’re struggling. As those guys were “walking” the car down the road, they would keep watch and let the vehicles behind them know when it was safe to pass them, but they didn’t stop. They kept going! Just like them, we can’t stop when things get rough, even if people are passing us. Let them pass but keep going!

I was curled up last night thinking about those guys working together with the car. My guess was the owner felt pretty frustrated and discouraged when it broke down. The guys that helped could’ve simply waited for him to deal with the problem. Even though it was around 90 degrees with high humidity, they showed their support. How encouraging for the guy to know that he wasn’t alone. I imagine it will be something they’ll look back on and say, “Remember when…”

Thinking back to how this could’ve played out gave me goose bumps! I feel the driver’s heart sinking as one more thing goes wrong. The car’s dead in the middle of a busy road. He’s low on money…or gas…could’ve ran out of gas…which could’ve been because lack of money. (See how I start coming up with all these scenarios?) He’s feeling like everything he does goes wrong. Cars are starting to back up behind him, and he’s wondering why he’s even trying.

He jumps out of the car just to stop the blaring horns behind him. He figures he’ll just get out of the way and give up. He starts pushing the car while trying to steer. Then, completely out of the blue, there’s a guy that jogs up to him and lends a hand while encouraging him by saying, “Don’t worry. You got this. I’m with you.”

Before he knows it, a second guy is behind the first telling him, “Don’t worry. You got this. I’m with you.”

From behind him comes a third guy saying, “Don’t worry. You got this. I’m with you.”

All he could hear was the encouraging chant, “Don’t worry. You got this. We’re with you.” The insurmountable issues he was facing suddenly seemed manageable with the encouragement he found.

You see, my family struggled through the day yesterday. It was ROUGH, and both my boys, and me too, were feeling discouraged, overwhelmed, and in a valley. Each of us struggled to understand the other. We might as well have been speaking different languages! I certainly want my boys, in their discouragement, to hear me saying, “Don’t worry. You got this. I’m with you.” Their dad telling them, “Don’t worry. You got this. I’m with you.” And their brother saying, “Don’t worry. You got this. I’m with you.” However, I know they aren’t always going to hear us chanting, “Don’t worry. You got this. We’re with you.”

We’re only human, and there’s going to be times when we disappoint them or aren’t around. While I hope we spend their lives going alongside them and cheering them on, I also know they need more. We all need more in those lonely days of discouragement. This was shown in a message I just heard from Pastor Groeschel as he was talking about 2 Corinthians 7:6 and how our God is the God of encouragement.

This is what I want my boys to remember, this is what I want to remember, and this is what I want you to remember. When you feel like you are in the lowest valley and you’re all alone, not hearing another voice of encouragement, drown out that beeping behind you to hear the most encouraging, strongest voices there are. Listen! Do you hear? The Holy Spirit starts speaking inside you, “Don’t worry. You got this. I’m with you.”

Jesus is walking beside you saying, “Don’t worry. You got this. I’m with you.”

God’s booming voice from above is telling you, “Don’t worry. You got this. I’m with you.”

Three in one will drown out all other voices, along with His angels surrounding you, saying, “Don’t worry. You got this. We’re with you.” How loud and beautiful this chant will be! Although, God will often send you a word or a person to encourage you, you’ll never have to wait on them when you have a God that is an encourager.

Please know how true these short phrases are:

Don’t worry. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

You got this. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

I’m with you. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4

Remember too…For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Psalm 91:11-12 With the crowd you have around you, stay encouraged!

Notice how our phrases begin. They aren’t DIY-do it yourself, they’re DYI-depend on your Immanuel. Immanuel literally means God with us. God is ALWAYS with you, so Don’t worry. You got this. Immanuel’s with you!

 

 

 

 

From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. He said: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry. Jonah 2: 1-2

I love the opportunity to be outside. We have a picnic table out the back that allows us to eat meals there, do schoolwork, or even nap. Yes, I’ve been found napping on the table. We’ve run into a few problems with this setup though. Unless we’re armed with towels, it’s very wet in the morning and doesn’t dry off until the sun is shining brightly around 11:00 in that area. By that time, it can get extremely hot because the table is sitting on rocks that radiate the heat, making it feel even hotter. Plus, the umbrella tends to house more wasps than keeps us cool.

I was thinking how we could fix the problem without putting money into building a gazebo or pergola. The idea of putting up a sun shade sail came to mind, but I’d have to order that. It dawned on me that we had a type of screen house that was to keep the bugs away or provide shelter from rain when camping. We hadn’t opened it up in years, but why not?

It wasn’t quite as I remembered. It was huge! It provided plenty of shade, and our picnic table fit under it with lots of room to spare. That was great! I sort of felt like I was sitting in a tent though, making it a little stuffy. I had a way to fix that. I included a box fan in our outdoor oasis. Problem solved!

How wonderful to be able to go out there and not get soaked when we sat down with our breakfast. We could even enjoy a fire while getting some relief from the sun. I know…fires are to keep you warm or cook over. I need them a little more often! We even spent many evenings using the picnic table for playing games, yet something wasn’t quite right.

Even though I was able to listen to the birds and be outside, it was pretty dark at the table, and I wasn’t able to see very clearly. When we set up our shelter, we figured the openings were best on the sides by the fire pit and the door. We keep those sides opened, but it’s all screen in the front looking into the woods with big, solid panels blocking part of the view. That screen starts messing with my eyes!

The clarity of the view when peaking out the side without the screen was so much better than trying to look through a maze of black lines. It seemed brighter, crisper, and a whole lot more beautiful. I was missing that from the front. I solved one problem while taking away one of the reasons for wanting to be outside to begin with.

We tend to want everything perfect. My screen house wasn’t. Does that mean it was a failure? No! It simply means that I needed to change my view. I needed to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative whether I turn the opening to the front or focused on getting to be outside when otherwise I wouldn’t be.

Did you recognize the line about accentuating the positive and eliminating the negative? I was told that Aretha Franklin had some powerful messages in the songs she sang, and I needed to go back and listen to what she was saying. I certainly have belted out a few of them myself around the house, but I didn’t remember this song that was so popular by many different artists. The lyrics were written by Johnny Mercer. Ms. Franklin recorded “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive” on her 1962 album. If only we’d follow this advice, it would create a whole lot more R-E-S-P-E-C-T for one another!

I challenge you to look up the lyrics to that awesome song and do what it tells us Jonah and Noah did when everything looked so dark. Accentuate…wait that just doesn’t seem right…ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive, e-lim-i-nate the negative! Seriously, latch on to the affirmative, don’t mess with mister in-between, spread joy up to the maximum, bring gloom down to the minimum, and have faith or pandemonium is liable to walk upon the scene!

Let’s stop looking at what’s wrong and start looking at what’s right in our situations, in ourselves, in other people, and in the world.  I guarantee a whole lot more brightness will be seen!