That was me to my brother, Kevin, waking up this morning! I didn’t even have time to go to my God tree but to meet with Kevin to discuss us being God’s superstars by taking this crucial message to the world that we have God with us in every single moment. Like if you’re not rolling with God, you’re missing out on His love, help, support, kindness, mercy, strategies, strength, personality, protection, charm, tact, grace, boldness, imagination, joy, peace, approval, power, wisdom, calmness, and encouragement backing us up in this crazy world. THE GREATEST NEWS EVER!!!!
As I type this, can you believe God figured out a way to let me know He was there in our meeting? Kevin pointed out a server to me who has a bad memory. I said to Kevin that this server taught me an important lesson. That I needed to wake up every day and put on a shield so that the disappointments of life don’t get to the inside of me. And as I go through two email accounts trying to find one message from Kevin about being a boxer, look what showed up right under Kevin’s message in an old blog:
“It was my brother, Kevin, who said to me under my God tree one day something like, “Neeks, you’re like a boxer right now. After getting hit in your head like 10,000 times, you eventually get numb to the pain.” That’s what has happened, the figurative (not real, guys!) blows don’t affect me the way they did in the past. The emotional, weak, and wreck of a person, needed to go! This was all God’s LOVING way to help me become the Neeks He would have me to be: courageous, tough, brave, strong, confident in Him woman, but at the same time, loving, gentle, loyal, faithful, enduring, kind, and going the extra mile wife, mother and person HE WOULD HAVE ME TO BE. Thanks to the pain!
I was at brunch with Kevin one Sunday, when an elderly server said, “You have to have a shield on so that nothing gets through to bother and upset you.” I wake up now and put on my shield. The disappointments still come, but with my shield on, I don’t let them get to me anymore the way they used to. I now live from a space of having one foot on earth with the hurts, disappointments, messiness, clutter, challenges, and brokenness exist, and the other foot in heaven FOCUSED ON GOD.”
That was no coincidence that that story about that server showed up right under the one I was so intent on finding of me being a boxer. God directed me there to tell you guys that His invisible Presence is always with us. Still, it hasn’t been easy, but I lovingly carry the weights of those hurts every day. This is the spec of a cross that God has asked me to carry, and for all that God does for me, I say, ‘No problem, God, I got you! I will joyfully and lovingly take this cross for you! What cross is God asking you to carry for Him? May His will and not ours be done. Amen.
God, however, lovingly changes my perspective on situations. Mother Teresa taught me to love until it hurts because eventually, it becomes only love. Unbelievably the knocks on the head have done the trick. I see how God sees us, from all our different angles, the good, bad, and ugly sides, but He still loves us all UNCONDITIONALLY.
Like I told Kevin today, we don’t have to get all clean up to be God’s representatives in the world. That’s our message that God meets us exactly where we are in all the messiness of our lives, and He meets us right there, loving and approving of us, NOT JUDGING US. He knows the worst of us but still loves us completely. Even if we’re at our lowest (me these last three years!) He meets us and says, ‘Come My child, take My hand, and let’s keep going, living our best lives together.’ He can help get any situation back on track, one step at a time and little by little. I told Kevin that I’m so proud of myself that I didn’t run to drugs or alcohol. I ran to him and God, and it turned out that those falls and punches brought me directly into God’s arms, and trust me, there is nowhere else I’ll rather be. (HUGE SMILE)