Your Emotional Rescue: And God’s Response to Your SOS
The future of the pandemic remains uncertain. Fear about responses to a change of guard in the White House loom over our country. Rumblings of martial law permeate the national conversation. Yet our Jehovah Jirah stands at the crossroads. So don’t panic. Posture yourself for…wait for it: Your emotional rescue: God’s Response to your SOS. It’s ready for the taking.
Don’t Fall Prey to Doomsday Mindsets
Maybe you aren’t literally wielding a white flag right now. But we are all unsettled to some degree. Essentially, living in these challenging times requires each of us to strike a delicate balance in our attitudes. We must essentially walk a tenuous tightrope. On one side of it, we see fear-stricken people. The opposite side is littered with ostriches. They bury their heads in the sand, deny the pandemic’s existence, and do entirely as they please without the slightest regard for anyone but themselves.
Neither approach works for a Christian. The true Christ-follower is tethered to his Lord and Savior and bound by the command to love his neighbor as he does himself (Mark 12:31.) He makes it a point to consider other people’s needs in thought, word, and especially deed. But even as he does, he fully knows that while the impact of his actions may be limited in scope, he has done the right thing before God. And when you are obedient, you can count on God’s response to your SOS to be the right one.
But this vexing paradox does present a dilemma. How do we make peace with the fact that some things are fully changeable and others are not?
Inertia, Proactivity, and Change
The Serenity Prayer, written by Reinhold Niebuhr, comes to mind. In this prayer, written in the 1930s, we pray: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom and strength to know the difference.” We must know the difference to behave well as we live our lives in the difference. And we must also have the courage to trust God for the answer to that question and many others we may never arrive at this side of eternity.
In this uniquely challenging time in history, we can easily give in to inertia. When we are unsure about something, not moving forward is much easier than standing still. For some people, this may be exactly where God wants them: Still. Knowing He’s, well, Him! But even if we aren’t exactly proactive with regard to action steps, we can still move forward by working on our character. We can set aside our plans involving to-do lists and focus on a to become list.
If you are wondering whether God wants you to focus more on character development than on action steps and service projects at this juncture, here are four ways to determine if that’s true for your life.
Is God Illuminating False Security Blankets?
If so, He may want you to improve your level of trust in Him. All of our crutches look s little different. The demons of people who suffer from substance abuse appear more obvious than those of the closeted hoarder. But all of our “limps” stem from the same impediment: lack of trust in God. If we aren’t leaning on Him, we nuzzle up to the wrong security blanket. When we face a crisis, we do well when we choose to trust God alone. And He will often be all too glad to illuminate for us the things we rely on instead of Him. We simply need to invite Him into that winnowing process. As we lean into Him more, deepening our relationship with Him, He will reveal the flimsy things we may have been leaning on instead. He will provide an emotional rescue.
Some common security blankets that can supersede the security found in God alone: financial independence, familial stability, and over arched dependence or zeal for politics and government. When none of these take the place of dependence on God, they are in and of themselves non-detrimental. Paul provides us with this great illustration of God’s sovereignty in Col. 1: 16-17. “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through him and for him.” We must make sure that we trust in God, the rock of our salvation, rather than in man-made security. We truly can trust God’s response to our SOS. In any and all circumstances!
God Prompts Your to Lasso Your Thoughts & Eliminate Distraction
Fortunately, when we set our intention to trust, we can also decide to focus on His plan. Focus is such a short, direct word, yet such a difficult thing to implement. You may have heard the expression “all the things.” If you are like me, you may feel like an octopus. Demands of motherhood, work, spouse, friends, ministries, and work all tug at your proverbial tentacles.
And then there are the personal “derailers.” A few of these crossing my path of late in my ministry include legions of excuses, lamentable marketplace constraints, and reservoirs of insecurity. These cups fill up to near overflow if I don’t keep them in check. The perfect antidote to your naysayer self talk: God’s word. I love this verse from Jeremiah 33:3: “Call to me and I will come to you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” That verse right there fills me with spiritual oxygen. It spurs me on as I shake off the Enemy’s arrows. God alone can provide the emotional rescue the Enemy pretends to deliver but instead pulls the rug out from under us. We must trust God. “He who began a good work will complete it, we are told in Philippians 1:6.
God Provides Glimpses of Future Purposes and Helps You Identify and Reinforce Traits You’ll Need
God waits on us to partner with Him before He lays out His total trajectory. But in my experience, He does provide little glimpses of His dreams for our lives. Recently, God gave me a peek at a plan He has for me to write another book. He woke me up in the middle of the night with subheadings and chapter ideas.
Can I just admit I’m the stubborn goat in this mountain? I rolled over and went back to sleep and tried to hide from all that. Though I’m a tremendously prolific writer, laziness is creeping into my periphery. So I need to work on my perseverance to stay the course God lays out before me regardless of these feelings and temptations to stall out. Fortunately, I can lean into Philippians 4:13 to help me stay the course. “I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me.” This strength is the very best emotional rescue.
God Heightens Your Empathy and Compassion For Others
Another antidote to discouragement in these challenging times is to remove the focus from yourself. Redirect it on to others. As you make this shift, God will come alongside and increase your empathy for the plight of others. He will increase the amount of mercy you are able to give. Some people refer to this as God “breaking their hearts” for a cause or a person.
If you’ve experienced this, you know what a powerful motivator it can be as God transforms you into an effective difference-maker. As God softens the heart of stone we are born with referred to in Ezekiel 36:26, He prepares our mind, heart, and soul for kingdom work that accomplishes more than checking off something on your to-do list. In participating in this heart transplant, we not only receive emotional rescue. We align ourselves with God’s purposes to facilitate the emotional rescue of others.
If any of these four scenarios strike a chord with you, partner with God in prayer. Ask Him to show you where He wants you to pitch your tent. Seek His guidance and pray for His will to be revealed to you. Thank Him in advance for the fruit this posture of prayer will yield in your life in the coming days and months of this new year.
Cindy‘s final installment in the three devotion trilogy is now available on Amazon in Kindle or paperback format!
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