Pressing Ahead in the Year 2014

Hebrews 13:20-21 "Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

The year 2013 quickly slips away and we see a new year coming, whether we are ready for it or not. As the ball gets ready to drop and 2014 commences, how should I look at the past year and all it brought? For some people, the year 2013 had great sadness. For others, it may have spelled financial disaster, or the loss of a relationship, or illness. I found I had a mixture of conditions this past year. I choose today, though to look back at the circumstances of my life with a redemptive review. I can either be hopeless or hopeful. It depends on who I am looking at. If I look at myself, I quickly get hopeless. I know that in and of myself I have nothing to boast about, no bragging rights. My life is not wrapped around being in a certain social status, or my own particular claims to fame. But that is OK.

When I accept that about myself, I can then look away from myself and look at the One who lives inside me. With Him, all things are possible. (Luke 18:27)

If I believe in God the way I say I do, I do not need to be going backwards regretting the mistakes of the past. God knew every single detail of my life way before I was ever born. He knew all the trials, all the stupid things I would say and do, all the problems before there ever was one of them. He let them happen anyway, even if it was through a fault of my own. This fact gives me great comfort. Nothing in my life ever took God by surprise. He has never been disappointed in me, because He knows I am but dust, and that I can do nothing by my own power that will be of any use to Him or His Kingdom. It is only Him living inside me that can produce a work acceptable in His sight.

The Apostle Paul had every right to brag about his status as a Pharisee before His salvation. As he so beautifully writes in Philippians 3:4-14. "... If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in HIM, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is in God by faith;that I may know HIM and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed into His death, if by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on that I may lay hold of that which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended;but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

Do you see what he is telling us? We do not have to be tethered to the past, the mistakes and failures and clinging to our own human understanding. No, we can have a fresh start for this coming new year. And if we mess up in the new year (as we surely will) there is always a fresh start every time because God in His infinite patience had His Son pay for every infraction we ever did or ever will commit. That is why Jesus Christ is our very best friend, the friend that sticks closer than a brother.(Proverbs 18:24) No other man or religion can offer mankind what He does: total forgiveness, making us brand new creatures (II Corinthians 5:17) and mercy that endures forever. So, in 2014 I do not need to make any kind of promises to myself, promises I will surely break.

No, I just need to get more and more of Christ. More of His Word and His thoughts inside me. More prayer and communion with Him. As John the Baptist said, "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3: 30) For only when I am filled with Him am I truly happy.

May Day! ... for Me!

So I woke up on May 1st like any other day. While half of America is still battling large snowstorms, we are blessed here to have sunny, pleasant spring-like days. I am thinking to myself about all the terrible things I am seeing surrounding me at this time. The economy sinking, terrorism growing, politicians failing us, families disintegrating, nations crumbling, wars and rumors of wars. The list goes on.

I think about it. Maybe I could post about May Day. Yes, that might be catchy. Yes, for I knew that it meant distress in some way. I checked again the definition online at the Free Dictionary by Farlex.


The first definition that came up was:

"An international radiotelephone signal word used by aircraft and ships in distress signal"

How appropriate, hmmm, little old writer me, I'll use it. But I do get sidetracked. I was going to get a haircut after dinner and do a couple errands at our little shopping plaza. I sat down to eat with my husband, and I had two Very Important Things that I just had to tell him right then.

The problem is, I talk and eat at the same time and then I start coughing and choking. Sometimes it can be awful. Like last night. When I experienced my very own little May Day. Wait a minute, Lord, I was going to write about that...

Suddenly, when my husband and I realized I could not get a sip of water or any beverage down and I felt like a big air bubble was trapped inside my stomach but I could not release it, my husband, who had worked in a GI lab, said we needed to go to the Emergency Room right away.

May Day! It is a panicky feeling when your saliva gets backed up and it starts to make you sick. I started hyperventilating, and by the time we reached the ER, my blood pressure had risen higher from its normal low.

They took me right away, just as my husband predicted. They gave me some meds in my IV to help the sphincter relax. It did respond a bit, but definitely did not clear. It was kind of humorous to me (if you could be laughing at a time like that!)but the nurse called the attending ER Physician and said:
"I have a food bolus in Room 14"

Now I have worn many different hats in my life, but being called a "food bolus in room 14" was never one of them. We did manage a laugh or two between my spit up sessions.

Everyone on the GI team assembled. All we needed was my doc. Please, what was taking him so long?

May Day! I am still gagging.

While all this is happening, I think, "God are you showing me that Iam the one who is in distress?"

I have to admit that I have a painful situation that I have carried for many years. It has not resolved, and it probably never will, this side of heaven. It is a person close to me that I deeply love, that I have sought to reach, to restore a relationship with. That person does not want to requite my affection in any way. I am hurt beyond words. I am grieving and it manifests itself in illness that is leaking out in various parts of my body.

By the end of the evening, I have an upper GI. My husband is present and doesn't like what he sees.

I have to deal with this.

I love this person.

But I have to get over the pain that hurts me.

Then I think about the ONE MAN who knew this suffering a trillion times more than I ever could. He knew billions of years ago, when He looked down the corridors of history, that this very thing would happen, even though He did not cause it.
He was looking down in love at all of us involved. He saw every part of it. I believe He felt every anguishing tear that we shed. He is not just a God that is way off somewhere, watching us groan and squirm down here.(Matt. 28:20)

Yet I am on a path, I want to count all things loss if only I will gain Christ at the end. (Phil. 3:7)

It says in Isaiah 52:14: "So His visage was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men."

Well, I can't say I have suffered like that or what Jesus did in Hebrews 2:9:

"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone."

My suffering is probably caused a lot by my own failures to receive and apply grace in my own situation. So the Lord allowed me to suffer my own little May Day distress signal.

I was at the doc's mercy then. Who knows what would have happened if I didn't get treatment.

All I can say to my Gracious Heavenly Father today is:

Psalm 25:4 Show me Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths

25:5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You [are] the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.

One last note, this post was about suffering distress. If you have not personally believed in Jesus Christ, the most horrid distress of all is awaiting you, ending up in a place the Bible calls the Lake of Fire.(Rev. 20:15) But Wait! You DO NOT have to go there! For Jesus has also heard the distress call of everyone on this planet. He awaits your positive consent to the facts of the gospel:
Jesus came as your substitute and died as the perfect God-Man upon the cross, bearing every sin you ever will or ever did commit.(Romans 3: 10-17) He completely satisfied God's wrath against all the sins of mankind.(Isaiah 53:10-11) God proved His satisfaction by raising Christ from the dead. You can be a fresh, BRAND new creature forever and be rescued eternally from the Lake of Fire by receiving God's gracious gift given through His Son.(II Cor. 5:17) If you believe this is in your heart, you will be saved from the wrath to come.(John 3:16, Romans 4:5) I beg you, do not put it off.