Reason #184

I woke up at 8:48 this morning. Overslept, again. I jumped out of bed and rushed to get ready for church. I have an exact routine every morning, and my hair is the last thing on the list. I plugged my hair dryer in, turned it on and nothing happened. Great! That's the second hair dryer I have burned up in a year. Fortunately, for me, my parents live 5 minutes away so I jumped into the car and raced over to use my mom's hair dryer. Right before I pulled into their drive-way a song came on the radio that I haven't heard in years. I remembered singing this song at the start of my college career and I remembered how much I loved the chorus. Isn't it strange how lyrics stay with you forever? So I made a point to stay in the car long enough to listen to the chorus before heading inside to do my hair.

I need you, Jesus, to come to my resuce.

Where else can I go?

There's no other name by which I am saved.

Capture me with grace.

I will follow you...

The past 3 days have been unexpectedly difficult. There's nothing I hate more than being blindsighted, and just when I'm starting to do good, just when I'm starting to feel like I'm making significant progress, when I am least expecting it, I'm knocked to my knees. And so I find myself barely standing with achy, bruised kness and having a really hard time getting over it. Logically, I know I need to just buck up, shake it off, take it for face value and move on. Emotionally, that seems near impossible.

Well, I dryed my hair in world record speed and I headed to church. As I drove I told Him I needed Him to intervene. I needed Him to show me the truth of who I am and of how He sees me. And I asked that He'd open my eyes to see me in the way He does, not through my eyes.  Most of all, I asked that He'd show me whether or not I was doing His will. I needed assurance that I really was and have been doing what He's asked of me.

I sat in church feeling a little despondent, a little achy and really frustrated by it. Feeling ever so "sneaker-ish," (from yesterday) I listened to the message just hoping to grab a hold of a truth. Something, anything! And at the end of the message, the pastor concluded saying, "You are valuable. You are worth something. God has a plan for your life. Don't give up, hang in there." And I fought back tears because I knew He was speaking to me the truth I had asked for a mere 2 hours earlier.

But the afternoon rolled around and the bruises started aching again. Still there. And so I sat and talked it through with my mom as I tried to figure it out. There's a difference between knowing the truth and believing the truth, and somedays, no matter how much I know it, no matter how much it's spoken to me, I have a hard time believing it for myself.

I stood in the kitchen tonight cutting up cantaloupe and my phone rang. I was pleasantly surprised to see the name of a new, sweet friend displayed on the screen. I answered and had an hour long conversation about truth. An hour long conversation full of encouragement. An hour long conversation full of assurance and love. And I hung up amazed, once again, by His grace, His faithfulness, and His quick response to answer my prayers.

And so I stood in my parent's drive-way tonight, and as I hugged my dear mom, she reminded me of how the Lord so faithfully came to my rescue today. He heard my prayers this morning, He saw the bruises, and He noticed the aches. So He lifted me up, steadied my wobbly knees and He captured me with grace. 

And I'm thankful that when I need to be rescued, when I need to be pulled back to safety, I can call on His saving name. Really, it's that simple! And when you call on His name, when you ask Him, He will do it. Everytime, He'll do it!

#184 - Because He rescues me and shows me the truth.

"I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along." - Psalm 40:1-2