Tag Archives: victory

Is it really as bad as you fear?

May 28, 2010

Sometimes our fears and dread prevent us from moving forward, when as FDR said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” How often do you finally take the plunge only to find the water wasn’t really ice-cold but comfortably warm?

Too cold to jump in... or not?

As I wrote the last post I was preparing to go to the barn and take down all the stuff stored on top on the tack room in Rubbermaid containers, bags, and boxes. When we moved here three years ago all the extra stuff was thrown up there. It was time to get it down and do a final spring cleaning.

Expecting the worst

In my mind’s eye there was a picture of a pile of stuff that would look like a dump truck had just raised its bed and let loose a full load. I was girding up to face such a challenge. Fearing the worst I had postponed this chore for a couple of years. If you recall, I first mentioned it to you well over a month ago… two months maybe?

Well, everything is down. My worst fears never materialized. Not only was there no dump truck, but 90% of the stuff in the storage containers is clean, bagged horse sheets and blankets. If I took all the bagged pony clothes out of the Rubbermaids there would be only two small containers left. Those are filled with blankets as well, just not in neat individual bags.

Paralyzed by fear

Okay, so the word paralyzed is a little strong. But, it kinda tells the story. How many times do we put off doing something because we are afraid of how massive the required effort might be? Our schedule just never opens up enough to get at that mess. So – we never get to the mess and in our mind it grows larger and more ominous as time passes.

Melinda, the author of Boots and Saddles blog (click on title to visit), commented on my last post that she also creates the dreadful ‘maybe’ pile thinking she might still need the stuff. She never does.

A pleasant surprise

In retrospect I guess shouldn’t be surprised that the expected tsunami of stuff just never materialized. I don’t habitually leave stuff in a mess. That doesn’t mean my house is always clean, mind you, but I don’t leave piles of stuff behind closed doors as a rule.

Claim Victory!

Don’t give in to your fears. Open the doors wide and sweep clean that last place you dread to go. Every mess we hang onto, whether it lives in reality or simply in our mind, is a needless burden on our shoulders and spirit.

Claim victory from fear today. At the top of my ladder was an organized stash of good stuff that will find a new home. Somehow the sun seems to be shining a bit brighter this morning and I’m walking just a bit taller. The mess, it seems, was only in my mind. Is yours?

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Is it possible to always live by right principles in the real world?

February 26, 2010

“I am impressed with the wonder of what God says, but He cannot expect me to really live it out in the details of my life!”

My misgivings arise from the fact that I ransack my own person to find out how He will be able to do it. My questions spring from the depths of my own inferiority. If I detect these misgivings in myself, let me bring them to the light and confess them – “Lord, I have had misgivings about Thee, I have not believed in Thy wits apart from my own.

These words were written by Oswald Chambers a hundred years ago. You know, people just don’t change, and neither does God.

ski jumper

Faith believes in the possible, not the present

The 2010 Winter Olympic Games are in full swing. Last night we watched skiers fly 50 feet in the air; twisting , turning, flipping, and performing feats that defy understanding in one whose feet stay as close to the ground as possible. The back of a horse is as high as I need to be, and I’m really starting to appreciate the 14-hand variety.

show jumping with name on photo

When a young horse enters the arena under saddle for the first time, if faced with a five foot fence, will see it as nothing more than an obstacle to be avoided. In smart riders, the same would be true! Yet, some of these horses (and riders) will go on to soar over fences with an ease that simply mystifies the rest of us.

Don’t limit your vision…

Oswald Chambers’ words are as right today as they were a century ago. Do not limit what you believe is possible by your own experience and understanding; stand on the promise of Victory in Jesus Christ – already achieved, and delivered by grace. Like the horse and the Olympic athlete, our vision will expand as we practice and master our lessons, until we too are able to fly!

Go out there today and be victorious.

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Thanksgiving, the fork in the road

November 25, 2009

What is the miracle of Thanksgiving? It is the grafting of two peoples together, the Pilgrims and the Indians, as further evidence of the covenant that allowed the Gentiles to become a living part of the people of God.

Our thankfulness is for the abundance that the Lord provides, even when we are in the darkest and most desperate places and circumstances. Even so, His abundance is there. Just as there is more grace where there has been the most sin, when times seem the most hopeless, abundance is in the greatest supply.

Christians have been lamenting the assault on Christmas for years now, as Christmas parties, pageants and images disappear from the school systems; crying foul as the Christmas tree is banned from the public square while other symbols of religion are allowed.

Stores have been lambasted for choosing “Happy Holidays” over “Merry Christmas.” I, too, have been dismayed and affronted by such actions.

Now, in the cool clear light of a Thanksgiving-eve sunrise, I am not appalled, I am not sad, I am not mournful, I am not annoyed – I am blessed. Why?

Because it is now obvious, so obvious that I marvel I didn’t get it until now, that such happenings are part of the plan and I fall on the side with the God of the Bible, the only place I ever want to be.

There is only one reason for Thanksgiving, and that is to speak our gratitude to God for the blessing that is America. Thanksgiving is evidence that we were set apart as a people from the moral decline of Europe to enjoy a fresh, although brief, period of unrestrained, scriptural, and glorious relationship with the Lord. For a time the earthly balance between God and evil was heavily and visibly on the side of the angels. The citizens of the new world basked in His grace.

What a brilliant opportunity the holidays present for the family of God. If ever there was an obvious fork in the road, this is it. One street leads to the elevation of human greed, avarice, dissipation, and worship of self. The other leads to a more dimly lit, quieter lane that eventually leads to the narrowest of gates.

What does the shopping orgy known as Black Friday have to do with recognizing the abundant grace and mercy of God as He provides for our needs and offers the opportunity of family membership to those not born into it by human blood?

What He offered was His own blood to make up for that not already flowing in our earthly veins.

Thanksgiving is a day set aside to gather the family and be grateful in unison. It is an opportunity to teach the children, revere the elders and remember that even if our present circumstance is not one of material bounty, there is abundance yet in that we are on the right path.

If for no other reason on earth, the family of God through the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ, can celebrate the fact that we progress toward the narrow gate left open for us by Jesus Christ as He entered Glory. It stands open yet today. Entry is assured. We have the Victory.

Be thankful. Share with others in the family the abundance of love and grace during this holiday time. If you find yourself worrying about the shopping, the cooking and who is using what greeting, I would ask you to stop, look around and check your bearings.

Which way did you go at the fork in the road?

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