like a hammer
It's a beautiful afternoon in Port A, as I stand waist deep in the water and thank God that I can see my lower limbs. This is not always the case in the waters of Port Aransas, where murkiness is more the norm. Yes, it's a beautiful day as I hear those two chords from the movie "Jaws" while I survey the horizon for fins. Most of you know of my fear of sharks. It took just a 3-second scene - probably the only scene I really watched from that movie - to instill this fear. The one where the girl gets jerked down by the shark in the opening of the movie, never to come back up, a pool of blood surrounding her.
I also have a fear of killer whales, thanks to the movie "Orca", but that's another story. Then there is my fear of stingrays, thanks to Crocodile man.
There have been an abnormal amount of stingrays reported in the water on the beach we go to, so I'm keeping my eyes open. Sure they are shy. Sure they are friendly. And sure they have barbs that can put you in the hospital.
As I watch the horizon, my husband Blonde FunkNation and my sister-in-law suddenly exclaim at the same time, "Look at the stingrays!" They are standing about a yard in front of me and watching a school of them go by. Me? I am slowly backing up out of the water. After a few moments, they turn to ask if I saw them and laugh to see me almost back to shore.
I have been fighting the lies that plague me. The ones that tell me not to go too deep, not to fight, not to be dangerous to the one who wants to devour. That the medicine I'm on will keep me from hearing from God. That I will not be able to write, to draw, to do anything. That I will act like I've had a lobotomy. That I will not feel highs or lows. That I will not cry. (I can daily testify that is not true, in the good and bad).
"Is not My word like a fire?" says the Lord, "And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" Jeremiah 23:29.
God is bigger than medicine, no matter what kind. Even the psychotropic kind. He can use it as a covering if He wants. He will not let you go crazy on it.
There is a fighting spirit that God has put in me that the enemy cannot quench. I can be put on three medicines that I'm told to stay on for a year as my serotonin builds up. I am really sleepy in the morning, like I'm drugged. Guess what ? I'm drugged. All the more use for caffeine. I can lose my hair. Turns out I have a lot of hair and after a month of it coming out, it is still not noticeable.
But the enemy cannot win. The sword of the Spirit is the living and active Word of God. The sword is the offensive part of our armor that we use. It's a sword that cuts and injures and pierces and kills. It's a sword I don't use enough.
Our pastor Ron preached this Sunday from 2 Timothy 3 on the effectiveness of the Word in our lives. We think we know this. Do we really? Tonight I watched a teaching by Beth Moore. She began by using the same verse out of 2 Timothy 3 as she talked about approaching God's Word. "All Scripture is God-breathed..." Is it a coincidence God is reminding me in this season of life, of how crucial it is that I have a living active relationship with Him through His Word? That I use it as a weapon?
I will continue to climb one bloody rung at a time into the ship that leads me to the feet of Jesus who calms the seas, His robes gently rustling over them in the wind. His smiling face illumined by the Light He is. The victory will always be His.
But as it was written:
"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered unto the heart of man
The things which God has prepared
for those who love Him."
1 Corinthians 2:9
I also have a fear of killer whales, thanks to the movie "Orca", but that's another story. Then there is my fear of stingrays, thanks to Crocodile man.
There have been an abnormal amount of stingrays reported in the water on the beach we go to, so I'm keeping my eyes open. Sure they are shy. Sure they are friendly. And sure they have barbs that can put you in the hospital.
As I watch the horizon, my husband Blonde FunkNation and my sister-in-law suddenly exclaim at the same time, "Look at the stingrays!" They are standing about a yard in front of me and watching a school of them go by. Me? I am slowly backing up out of the water. After a few moments, they turn to ask if I saw them and laugh to see me almost back to shore.
I have been fighting the lies that plague me. The ones that tell me not to go too deep, not to fight, not to be dangerous to the one who wants to devour. That the medicine I'm on will keep me from hearing from God. That I will not be able to write, to draw, to do anything. That I will act like I've had a lobotomy. That I will not feel highs or lows. That I will not cry. (I can daily testify that is not true, in the good and bad).
"Is not My word like a fire?" says the Lord, "And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" Jeremiah 23:29.
God is bigger than medicine, no matter what kind. Even the psychotropic kind. He can use it as a covering if He wants. He will not let you go crazy on it.
There is a fighting spirit that God has put in me that the enemy cannot quench. I can be put on three medicines that I'm told to stay on for a year as my serotonin builds up. I am really sleepy in the morning, like I'm drugged. Guess what ? I'm drugged. All the more use for caffeine. I can lose my hair. Turns out I have a lot of hair and after a month of it coming out, it is still not noticeable.
But the enemy cannot win. The sword of the Spirit is the living and active Word of God. The sword is the offensive part of our armor that we use. It's a sword that cuts and injures and pierces and kills. It's a sword I don't use enough.
Our pastor Ron preached this Sunday from 2 Timothy 3 on the effectiveness of the Word in our lives. We think we know this. Do we really? Tonight I watched a teaching by Beth Moore. She began by using the same verse out of 2 Timothy 3 as she talked about approaching God's Word. "All Scripture is God-breathed..." Is it a coincidence God is reminding me in this season of life, of how crucial it is that I have a living active relationship with Him through His Word? That I use it as a weapon?
I will continue to climb one bloody rung at a time into the ship that leads me to the feet of Jesus who calms the seas, His robes gently rustling over them in the wind. His smiling face illumined by the Light He is. The victory will always be His.
But as it was written:
"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered unto the heart of man
The things which God has prepared
for those who love Him."
1 Corinthians 2:9