NOV 7, 2023
After a life-threatening situation like my car accident, the unshakeable and non-negotiable things become larger and everything else becomes smaller. Who is most important to you in your life? What is most valuable to you? What things really matter? How do you really want your life to be lived out? These questions become easier to answer when they matter most.
Like a heart that is now fully exposed, what you can't risk losing is under the spot light for you and others to see. But this new-birth moment isn't just felt in near-death experiences like car crashes. It happened in its own way more than once for me when I discovered betrayal in my marriage over a span of 22 years. Life is shaken and doors fling open to a different reality than one could ever imagine.
But here's the deal. These are priceless moments in life. They are seasons of absolute surrender to whatever you know deep down is intended to help you make it through. Will the unshakeable be sufficient to move on? What can you cling to that can never be stolen from you no matter what?
Now, never let go of it. If you have been given a new start, never forget the foundation upon which you build. Mine is Jesus Christ. The rebirth moments in my life have served to remind me daily of what I have and who I am. I am a new creation. I am not the same as I was then. Now, I die daily. I surrender expectations, beliefs, behavioral patterns and heart desires almost on a daily basis so that I can align with the truth I discovered when all else fell away.
So, it becomes clear how I hold confidence in God's presence in my life. I don't always feel it as strongly as I did in the beginning. But as a daily journey, I realign to where I began so I don't wander back to an old forsaken path again. My journey has consistently proven that I will desperately try to replace this foundation with other comfortable and self-motivated efforts. This is vanity. An authentic journey toward wholeness doesn't divert from its foundations. It builds upon it with care.
Here are some thoughts and questions:
What will we conclude to be true and what will we choose to build everything on?
'If God is FOR us, who can be against us?' (Romans 8:31 NIV, emphasis mine)
If He didn't keep anything from us, not even His own Son, but allowed Him to suffer, 'how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us ALL things?' As in, give us His Presence, His help, and His very own life from here on out? (Romans 8:32 NIV, emphasis mine)
When it gets hard, when it gets fun, when it gets impossible, when our dreams are stolen or when they finally come true, will we ever be separated from Love? 'Who is going to separate us from the Love of Christ?' (Romans 8:35)
When I know these answers, I will experience significant progress toward wholeness! Authentic wholeness will happen when I learn to keep this in my life and observe my beliefs and choices daily to remain accountable to it. It takes daily discipline to do it.
We can get there!
**If you are on this journey and would like me to share more about this starting point, please email me. I would love to share with you a free copy of a Scripture prayer you can pray daily to begin to live out of this truth. The starting point is most important because it sets our course for all of life. If we wander from it, we can adjust and get back on track as we begin to see again the truth we are building upon.
Beginsathome22@gmail.com
#1. Confidence With God, Part 2
.png)