FINDING THE GOOD LESSON TOO
So the last Blog was a list of things that you can do in this Season. I truly hope that the list came through to help. Please feel free to share what you have been able to apply.
Today, we look at the things that I have learnt, at first involuntarily and then voluntarily. I was at a place of denial and I had refused to accept the circumstances as they are. But GOD had to impact on me HIS Heavenly gentle nag to learn what I needed to.
In the real sense, it doesn’t feel that gentle. Sometimes it boils up anger and the need to burst out in all confusing ways of communication. But then I accepted and sat down quietly at HIS feet to learn. Not for too long though… The situation worsened and because I am me hahahaha!!, I went back to throwing my proverbial stones towards Heaven. Then again, I arrived at “acceptance-ville” (what a beautiful town), sat at HIS feet, this time with my sulky face. You know that combination of puppy eyes in between sniffs? Just like a child that has cried their eyes out and are suddenly offered candy and they get confused about how to transition their feelings? That one right there!!
I have been in this cycle more times than one. It hasn’t been easy and I must say that this must be one of my hardest seasons yet. At first I was the “angry-but-HE-promised-to-do-it” Christian and “You mean this will affect everything we had planned” spoilt child. But now, I am progressively becoming the “Let YOUR will be done” nice child of GOD. Wuuuuueeeeh!! From Volcanic Lava to the Silent Rock. I am glad I have learnt so much. I am glad I am wiser now. I am glad I have fallen in love with GOD over again. I am glad that I have been most honest and vulnerable with HIM in this season, and I am loving this new space.
There are some things I already knew, but this time, GOD made them clearer. If the light bulbs on my head would only be visible… Hihi!! There were also those I heard HIM tell them to me a while back, but they didn’t quite make sense. But now, I have them well explained. #IfTheLightBulbsCouldTalk. There were those I never thought I needed a lesson in, but HE taught them to me.
So here goes a list of things that I have learnt in this Season, backed up by Scripture. All Scripture is according to the New International Version, NIV. I challenge you to to read them in various versions. The Message Version is my favourite so far. I hope that one or two or more of them will help you in one way or another.
✓HE remains GOD through and through. HE is GOD in the Green Mountain Tops and still the same GOD in the Valley of the shadow of death.
HIS Glory and Majesty remain intact even when the World is shaking. Whichever way whatever goes, it doesn’t take away who HE is, Mighty and all that! HE has never and will never leave HIS throne. No one stands before HIM, behind HIM or besides HIM. HE stands alone.
📖“..I am GOD, and there is no other; I am GOD, and there is none like ME.”
Isaiah 46:9
✓Losing some battles or having my prayers not answered my way doesn’t mean HE lost.
Not all victories are worth it and The LORD doesn’t dwell in impact-less, short-lived and vain victories. As I yearn for victories to come quickly, HE will sometimes delay the victory till when HE knows it will make an impact in my life and the Nations in general. More so, even what seems like a battle lost to me is a battle won to HIM. And HE is The LORD of all victories, even before the battle begins. And HIS victories are not small stories. We read Bible Stories that are from eons ago and still get mesmerized to date.
📖“But thanks be to GOD! HE gives us the victory through our LORD JESUS CHRIST.”
1 Corinthians 15:57
✓HE does whatever HE pleases, not out of arrogance of HIS Omnipotence, but because HE is GOD.
📖“The LORD does whatever pleases HIM, in the Heavens and on the Earth, in the Seas and all their depths.” Psalms 135:6
✓I am just a mere mortal. I work and walk under HIS Guidance and Mercy. No amount of my goodness, actions, words, efforts, prayers, pity parties or even my anger towards HIM will twist HIS Arm or bribe HIM to make things go my way. I am not justified at all to stand in HIS way in quarell and protest (with placards) against how HE chooses to run my life, my situations and the World.
📖“HE is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer HIM, that we might confront each other in court.”
Job 9:32
✓I am not an only Child. So I need to stop being selfish and pray not only for this to end for my own good, but also for my siblings’ good.
Praying for the Nations is my GOD-Given responsibility.
📖“…pray for each other so that you may be healed.”
James 5:16
✓”Let YOUR Will be done” is perhaps one of the highest forms of surrender. And the sooner I accept that HIS Will will always reign, the sooner I can find peace.
📖“FATHER, if YOU are willing, take this cup from ME; yet not MY will, but YOURS be done.”
Luke 22:42
✓It doesn’t please HIM when I am in pain. It doesn’t please HIM to see me in a state of unrest and distress.
HE wants me to find peace in HIM, even in my worst of seasons.
And the only way that can happen is to leave it all with HIM. Fully let go and let HIM.
📖“…The LORD blesses HIS people with peace.”
Psalms 29:11
✓Nothing catches HIM by surprise.
📖“YOUR eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in YOUR Book before one of them came to be.”
Psalms 139:16
✓Even in the worst of circumstances, HE still teaches me. I only need be attentive and listen.
📖“..after you have suffered a little while, will HIMSELF restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 1 Peter 5:10
✓Silencing the noise is necessary to hear HIS still small voice. GOD doesn’t come in or with drama and confusion. Once I have allowed the turmoil to settle, HE speaks.
📖“Be still, and know that I am GOD…” Psalms 46:10
✓Not everyone is going to understand my seasons and the pain I need to endure in them.
Not everyone, or perhaps no one, will know what to say to me or will know what to pray for, with me or on my behalf. I need to allow them that need to to check out at The LORD’s ordering. Some will come back when it’s over, others will just disappear as quickly as they came. I need to understand that, make peace and leave my expectations only to GOD.
📖“LORD, YOU alone are my portion and my cup; YOU make my lot secure. Psalms 16:5
✓Setting priorities right… So that when situations leave you with a few hard choices, you will know what exactly to go for.
📖“But seek first HIS Kingdom and HIS Righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Matthew 6:33
✓Faith… The act of “Faithing” pleases GOD. Faith as small as a Mustard Seed.
But I also need to be attentive enough to hear HIM tell me that whatever I am “Faithing” for may not come to pass, because it’s not in HIS Will.
Or because HE is faithfully answering a prayer that I may have even forgotten I made. HE doesn’t want me stuck at the same point and moving in non-progressive circles. HE knows having Faith takes a lot of energy, strength and wisdom and I need to use that for whatever else I need to have Faith for next.
📖“And without faith it is impossible to please GOD…”
Hebrews 11:6
✓HE wants me to grow up to the maturity of working within HIS Word. HE wants me to be a mature Christian, one who understands what to do when whatever is thrown at me comes knocking.
📖“Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”
Hebrews 5:13-14
✓I am not more special than the Believer or Non-Believer out here. We are all HIS Children. I suffer what they suffer. The only difference will be how much Faith I have in HIM and how much I have learnt to have my peace in HIM. The difference is where either souls will spend their Eternity.
📖“HE causes HIS Sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Matthew 5:45
✓My Faith will be ridiculed by them that see the message of the Cross as foolishness. There are those that may ask where GOD is to save me, me who has been faithful to HIM. But I need to be ready to defend the reason why I still believe, even when all seems to be falling apart.
📖“But in your hearts revere CHRIST as LORD. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”
1 Peter 3:15
✓To be honest with GOD about what I feel. HE already knows but HE wants me to have the faith to tell HIM as it is. It was time I needed to stop feeling like I have to go to GOD well composed and throwing at HIM the “YOU know how I feel YOU will sort it out” attitude.
📖“The LORD is near to all who call on HIM, to all who call on HIM in truth.
Psalms 145:18
✓And when all is said and done, GOD has a great plan and future in store for me. That I need to trust HIM enough to understand that in whatever way HE chooses, HE will answer my prayers, over and beyond, and with the best intentions in HIS Heart for me. That HE will prepare tables and pathways in readiness for me.
📖“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares The LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on ME and come and pray to ME, and I will listen to you.”
Jeremiah 29:11-12
I am sure there are many other lessons that I didn’t log in, but these are the ones that stood out for me.
I would love, love to hear your lessons. Because, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17.
Let us hold each others’ hands and let’s make sure that by the time this is over, we will have helped someone cross over. Do not leave a single soul behind. And here I am holding your hand, that we can cross together.
More of GOD’s Grace, Love and Light,
Lydia Ndwiga.
