Remember???

As I mentioned in my earlier post, tonight I went with my Momma and some wonderful friends to "A Night With The Chapmans". It was a wonderful night, and the Lord dealt with me on a couple different issues. Two main things, one of which I can not yet share, maybe in a year or two I'll be able to share (no it does not deal with adoption.), but I can share about the other thing God layed on my heart.

As Caleb Chapman talked about at the beginning of the night, its as if the Lord shifted a part of the events over the past months into focus tonight; there is still much blurriness, but a part of it was shifted into focus tonight. And the Lord has laid that focused part on my heart, giving me a new message and story to share.

I was listening to Steven and Mary Beth and Caleb tonight and I know a portion of what they've gone through. I see how they have trusted and relied on God the whole way through this, and I myself, have turned and had to rely solely upon the LORD, and the LORD is faithful to see us and to continue to lead me through and out of the pit.

But I have also seen people who have gone through the unthinkable and have not come through it; people that have simply fallen into the pit and never found the strength to climb out. Its as if they gave up and quit life. And I simply asked, half already knowing the answer, how, when facing the unthinkable (in all its various forms) do we come to such different responses?

And in the middle of singing, is when the LORD kinda just whispered in my ear 'Remember???... Don't you remember?? All those years ago? The promise?' And in my mind I flash backed to years ago, when I was a teenager, just starting to grasp what the decision that I had made when I was 8 years old meant. I remember when I first started to understand the love that God had for me, the compassion He has shown me and the ultimate sacrifice He paid for me... I remember when I first started to truly and intentionally worship my Savior. With that realization came a love for the LORD, and out of that love I promised that with whatever came I would always, ALWAYS love Him; that my response to whatever HE BROUGHT my way would be WORSHIP. And I don't take promises lightly, so when I was in the process of making that commitment, I let my mind wander... to What if...? What if I was faced with the unthinkable? At that time there were only a few options for unthinkable to take form, and I thought about each, often to the point of tears, and I, knowing that God was sovereign and that He loved His children, I committed whole-heartedly to the promise that WHATEVER MAY COME, I WILL LOVE YOU LORD. MY RESPONSE WOULD BE WORSHIP.

Remember??? Don't you remember now sweetheart?? Now remember another moment... I heard the Lord gently whispering again, and again my mind flashed to one of my trips to Venezuela when we read the book The Cross Centered Life, and then again to BLBC's Jeru Project, when we read a follow-up book, Living the Cross Centered Life, in one of the chapters in both of these books, the author, C. J. Mahaney, talks about not listening to your heart but talking to your heart. Our emotions can be deceiving, and we can't trust them, instead we have to speak to our hearts the truths that we know, truths that the LORD has promised us.

Remember?? was the whisper again and a tiny bit of blurriness shifted into focus. My own reaction, as with many others out there, was to rely on the LORD, was not only my relationship with God, but also because I had made that commitment many years earlier. I had told myself what my reaction would be if faced with the unthinkable. So.. when the time came to sit and watch my daughter slowly fade away, I remembered the promise. I remembered, even though I may not 'feel' as I did when I was on those mountains; I may not 'feel' like looking to Him; I still remember the promise that I made, I remember to look a little deeper, past the 'feelings' to the joy that I have that comes only from the LORD; I remember the truths, the truths I promised to remember, that He would never, NEVER leave me nor forsake me, He is ALWAYS faithful; I remembered ... WHATEVER MAY COME, I WILL LOVE YOU LORD. MY RESPONSE WOULD BE WORSHIP.

So I want to challenge everyone to decide today how you will react when faced with the unthinkable, whatever it may be. I'm not saying dwell on it day and night, but think and decide for yourself, if that time comes and you are indeed faced with the unthinkable, decide now how you will react, because if the time comes, your feelings WILL be deceiving.

~ To God Be the Glory!