Who Forsook Whom

I am sure there are many stories of people being hurt that we never see, even though they are right there with us. Most people don’t talk a lot about the pain they have experienced in their life.

Sadly, some of that pain comes from people in the church. That should never happen, but as long as the church is made up of human beings it will happen at times.

For me it happened when I was eighteen years old. I had just started asking myself if I really believed everything I had been taught about God, or did I just believe because my parents did. Deep down I knew the answer was yes. I really did believe. I just needed to confirm that in my own mind and heart.

We were the pastors of our church and just as I was making the decision for myself the church asked us to leave. They had decided it was time for a new pastor. I felt totally rejected.

We went to a new town and pastored a new church. Unfortunately, the girl who was basically the leader of the youth in the new church did not want another young girl in the church so she told the youth they were to have nothing to do with me. I didn’t know the reason for two years. By the time I found out what was going on I had already decided if the people in the churches didn’t want me, the people in the world did. Stupidly, I walked away from God and didn’t look back for ten years. Lucky for me, I had a wonderful family and friends who prayed for me and God took care of me.

Eventually I came back to Him but I continued to feel rejected and abandoned. I struggled with those feelings for many years. I would start to feel better and then something would happen that caused all these feelings to come crashing back. I can’t tell you how many tears I shed over the years.

Finally I was in church one Sunday morning and we were singing a song about how we have never been forsaken. I suddenly felt God speaking to me. He reminded me that no matter what anyone else did, He never forsook me but I had forsaken Him. I realized in that moment that I could no longer carry that pain around with me. I was holding God responsible for what humans had done. I was responsible for my own heartache.

To be honest, when I occasionally look back on that time it still seems a little bit sad but not painful. Mostly I just see it as a time of learning. Actually, that is pretty much a description of life in general. It is sad, however, that it took me so long to see it.

At one time, years ago, I was mourning the loss of a certain person out of my life. I was crying one afternoon and asked myself, “Why can’t I let go of this pain?’ Then I heard myself say, “Because the pain is all I have left. When the pain is gone, they will be gone too.” At that time, I realized I had to release the pain and let that person be gone from my life. I immediately felt a little better as I began my journey back toward happiness.

Are you living in pain from events that happened long ago? Do you feel like God abandoned you? Remind yourself that God never abandons us, but we often abandon Him. Remember, God cannot help us heal until we let Him.

Think about it.   

Remember Your Place

 

When you pray, do you ever feel like your prayers are hitting a glass ceiling? I think we all do. it’s only human.

I have mentioned before that I belong to a prayer group at our church. We meet every Wednesday, where we pray for each other, and for anyone needing prayer for anything.

We don’t have to worry about glass ceilings, because if one of us is having a glass ceiling moment someone else is really touching the hem of His garment. It is nearly impossible to be next to a person praying powerfully and not have it influence you. I know for a fact that I pray better than I used to. And why is that? Because I have learned so much about praying as I listen to the other prayers in the room.

There is a reason God tells us to not forsake the gathering together with our fellow Christians. It is so encouraging and uplifting. We have people standing in front of someone, or even sitting at the feet of the one we are praying for. Most are laying hands on each other as we pray. God lays thoughts and impressions on different ones as we pray. When that happens, they share it with the rest of us.

As these things are happening, we can feel God’s presence building. It boosts our confidence and we know prayers are being answered. We pray for things from salvation, to cancer, to jobs or pets. Nothing is too big or too small. God cares about what we need and what we care about. As our confidence grows so does our faith. Answered prayers give us even more faith. More faith brings about more answered prayers. It all creates a cycle. Some cycles are not good, but this kind of cycle is awesome.

The Bible says when we praise God we create an atmosphere of praise around us that God can work in.

One time my sister Diane and I were very upset about our brother Rick who had been diagnosed with cancer. As we were listening to the sermon that Sunday morning, God spoke to both of us at the same time and told us He knew about the need and for us not to worry. He told us to just praise Him and give Him a place to work, and then let Him do His job. We both felt a warm peace come over us and we gave it to God. Needless to say, our brother came through fine.

So here is the trick. Do like God says and surround yourself with your fellow Christians. Pray together and praise together and then get out of God’s way and let Him do His thing.

We sing a song in our church that says we are fighting a battle God has already won. Remember, the praising is ours to do, but the battle is His. When we try to fight God’s battles, all we end up doing is making a bigger mess for Him to clean up.

We need to remember God loves us, and He is always on our side. The lowly work, which is done on our knees, is ours. He is in charge of the higher work, which is overseeing the whole situation and winning the battles for us. We always have to remember our place, and that is on our knees. Don’t fight for the reins or God might hand them to you.

Think about it.