A Lesson In Wet Underwear!
Pressing through difficult circumstances is often a daily discipline until the season is over. I say “discipline” because one day you feel like you see rays of light through the clouds and excitement and anticipation comes over you as you think that maybe TODAY is the day!!!…And the next day is black clouds and drenched clothes… and it takes “discipline” to get through it without “losing it” along the way…If you know what I mean, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!
I’m convinced that it’s impossible to survive today on yesterday’s manna! But we try don’t we? We have all been in seasons where we are having a really tough time and then hear a good teaching or have an experience that offers us hope only to wake up the next morning, all too aware that life is still a warzone…You look the people today in the eyes who you went to dinner with yesterday when circumstances were looking “up” and try to figure out how in the world you are going to pull off being “ok” today having experienced the last 24 hours of life compounding the last umpteen weeks, months or years of this battle! Your drenched clothes are a very clear reminder to you that “the rain falls on the JUST and the unjust…” and feelings of frustration and occasional hopelessness surface…
You look around with a half manufactured smile, a faith it til’ you make it laugh, and you think to yourself, “WHERE’S A FREAKIN’ UMBRELLA WHEN I NEED ONE! While walking around soaked to the point that your wet underwear is now chafing your butt! (As if just being soaked wasn’t bad enough right?!)
The humor of that analogy reveals a level of understanding that is only acquired from having HAD drenched underroos… and if you have, then you can relate to the figurative discomfort of navigating life’s “Stormy Season” resulting in a “less than dry” repetitive reality…
“So, how do I navigate today’s compounded discouragement, when yesterday felt like I had reached the end of my rope?” My answer is simple and complex…easier said than done… but none-the-less a reality that I have come to understand and walk in… The answer is only one word- Perspective… or maybe better put in these circumstances, “recalibrated perspective”
I have “felt” abandoned by God at times when I couldn’t see the forest for the trees. But just because it “felt” that way did not make it truth or reality…That was only my perception of it…and my PERSPECTIVE changed as information and truth revealed itself more clearly or as I disciplined myself to focus on what I “knew” rather than what I presently perceived.
I have had to discipline myself to keep life in perspective… Sadly, I have found that, over time, it’s easy to forget in the darkness what you learned in the light. And sometimes you need to remind YOURSELF what you learned, who you are, who you determined that you will be, who God says that you are and ultimately what “TRUTH is”… and usually the time to do that is when all Hell has broken loose and you feel a little “less than willing” to recalibrate your perspective…
So what is “Truth”? Perspective can change what we perceive to be “truth”… For instance… Just because something appears to be a certain way, does not mean that it is… Illusionists have proven this to us in spades! We THINK we are seeing something from a “true” perspective, but the illusionist reveals that what we perceived was only a PARTIAL truth! The whole truth is only revealed if he shows us how he manipulated our perception to produce in us a “belief” in the illusion…
I believe that this is the Devil’s strongest weapon against us… His ability to deceive us into believing “His Illusion” over “Reality”… He proposes the illusion complete with what appears to be a legit platform from which to present his case… He lets you shuffle the cards, he lets you bang on the deck, he convinces you about the foundation on which the illusion will be constructed, and then using your perception he intentionally manipulates the circumstances. Ultimately, convincing us that what he has constructed is the reality… But to the learned, or watchful eye, it is understood that what is being presented is a well crafted deception…a partial truth…
Perception says, “I feel like I’m about to drown”, the reality may be that the boat has been dispatched for your rescue. Perception says, “This is never going to get better” while the reality may be that you are moments from breakthrough… Perception says, “I’m all alone in this fight”, where the reality is that God’s Word says, He will never leave you or forsake you… Perception says, “I can’t do this”, where the reality is that God’s word says You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you… and as you focus on who GOD says that you are and what His Word says about your circumstances you begin to see “perspectives” change… You go from seeing things from your perspective to seeing things from God’s perspective and His has the ability to account for what we cannot… That missing factor being, His intervention in our lives and knowing what our future holds if He has His way!
As you recalibrate TODAY, ask yourself, Do my circumstances trump the TRUTH of the Word of God? Are you who you “think” you are, or are you who God says you are?
Your current perspective may be a partial truth, but do not be deceived into believing it is ABSOLUTE reality! Circumstances change when God enters the equation… Sometimes we just have to wring out our underwear and keep pressing through the stormy season with the understanding that “WE ARE WHO GOD SAYS WE ARE” and declare to ourselves and our circumstances that we WILL believe God’s Word and His promises over what we previously perceived to be our reality… Chafed cheeks and all!
And will we continue to get wet, even though we are praying for clear skies…Yeah, Probably! For a little while anyway… Will there be times that we go to climb a wet hill and slip in the mud and fall on our face and get covered in mud… I’m guessing, that is a little more than a possibility… But does it mean that we are destined to live that way…ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! The promises of God supercede our circumstances and you WILL get through these circumstances if you refuse to quit!
The physical realm was created by the spiritual realm… So I ask you, what is more real? The creation or the creator? Does our ability to see something change its legitimacy? I say, No! Just because we cannot “see the whole” does not mean it is not there or is not a reality or, more importantly, that the it’s laws do not apply to our circumstances…
God has set spiritual laws in motion to help us navigate this physical realm… Don’t disregard the Key for a failure to understand the inner workings or the complexity of the lock… Just because we don’t understand all of how it works, doesn’t mean that the key is useless…
God has set keys for success in motion and many times, all that is necessary for the door to be unlocked is our willingness to insert the proper key… So we go to God’s Word and ask what does He say about our current circumstances and then we stand on His Word and apply what we have learned to our circumstances… and most of the time, we will have to do this DAILY until the door opens! It’s not enough to do it yesterday, because TODAY has it’s own issues to deal with… So, until we get through this season, we do what we have to do, EVERY DAY to get where we need to go! In those dark, rainy seasons, God’s Word is a light that illuminates the way on our path!
Just because you pulled the compass out yesterday doesn’t mean you won’t need to go back to it today to determine your direction.
Our Perception changes when we allow God to be a factor in the equation, and we recognize that we are no longer bound by human limitation…
God’s Word is the catalyst for changing our reality!
Luke 11:9 says, Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.
I think the key in that verse is the failure to quit… “keep on”… KEEP ON!
Destiny altering moments often happen at the intersections of injustice and frustration.
If you can dig it, say WORD!
WORD. 😉