Fast approaching is the day of departure for this incredible journey!
I know there is much to be done before I board that plane, but I wish I was leaving tomorrow. I wish I didn’t have to pack my bag, because, let’s face it I hate packing and thinking about packing 11 months into a pack and a day pack sounds exhausting to me. I wish I didn’t have to think about the remaining $1100 that I need to raise by December 18th. I wish I didn’t have to say goodbye to all my friends and family, I hate goodbyes even when they are “so long’s”. I wish I didn’t have to make the last decisions about my possessions that I’m leaving behind or selling.
Mostly I wish I wasn’t in the waiting period. The waiting room has always been my worst enemy. The times when I’m about to change seasons but am in the limbo waiting room between the season I’m in and the one I’m about to enter. For some reason it’s in these waiting times that Satan speaks the most lies to me, and for some reason its in these waiting times that I am most gullable to believe these lies. I hate that. The waiting room is a battle field for me, it is a place where I have to be extra vigilant and ready to take captive every thought. Satan is a liar, a deceiver, a stealer, destroyer and a killer. I was recently reminded of this truth, and was reminded that when we take a thought captive we have to ask ourselves, is this this thought A) a lie, B) a deception, C) destructive, D) stealing God’s promise in my life, or E) bringing death (not literally)? If it is any of these things then it isn’t truth, and it isn’t God’s heart. This is a great exercise for me in the waiting room, because here in limbo land things start to appear not as they really are, and I refuse to let Satan steal my joy and my promises.
In response to the lies I’ve been entertaining I would like to declare some truths. Here we go (as you read this I would appreciate you joining me by standing on a chair, or any piece of furniture, curb, tree, etc., and speaking or shouting these declarations):
1. I am God’s beloved daughter
2. I am called by His name
3. I am an orphan no longer, and by His love I stand, “in accordance with His PLEASURE and will” adopted (Eph 1:5)
4. God is willing and desires to use me just as I am
5. I am beautifully and wonderfully made
6. God has created me uniquely for His heart, and the way I love him and the way he loves me is unique to the way he has created me
7. My God gives good gifts to His children, and because he loves me and because he has called me I know he will provide the resources for this trip
8. God is always in a good mood
9. I am free indeed, no more chains holding me down, no more burdens keeping me from jumping and there is no sorrow that is so strong that it would overtake me His beloved one.
10. Because I am His child, I have an inheritance that would frighten the ugliest of the enemy’s armies, I have the Victory because of Jesus. Get this: “Having believed, I was marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing my inheritance” (Eph 1:13-14). And like the song goes, the same power that conquered the grave lives in me.
11. I am not insignificant to the one who is most significant
12. God doesn’t dwell on my sins, and doesn’t desire that I do either.
13. I hear from the Lord, because he likes to talk to me and he likes to use me to talk to others, and well he just like me, a lot. It isn’t weird, or a lie, or too mysterious, or heretical, or unbiblical. No, it is normal, and natural, and awesome, and amazing, and the best thing ever, and completely biblical, and intimate, and lovely, and good, and refreshing, and deep, and joyful, and comforting, and restoring and what’s supposed to happen when I have the spirit of God living in me.
14. God is faithful to His promises, always, without exception
15. God is my provider, and he is the richest, most generous, best, most timely provider there ever was
16. God loves, loves, loves, I mean loves, loves, loves, loves, is enamored, love-stricken, madly, deeply, lavishly, love sick, head over heels, lost his head to his heart, love at first sight, climb the highest mountain, er move the highest mountain, swim the deepest sea, engrave my name on his heart, would die for me, would go to hell and back for me, jealously, intensely, insanely…..LOVES ME.
Take that Satan! Bam!
Ohhh I feel better already, I feel the weight of the lies coming off and the JOY of the Lord filling up, spilling over, and making it irresistible to smile. Thank you Lord for your truths. I praise you Lord and sing your praise and thank you for teaching me to sing in the midst of the battle, in the midst of brokenness.
