A-HA!!!

Today, in church, I had an a-ha moment. Everything started to click, and I'm not so upset about the bumps in my road. I don't say much to folks about it. After all, don't we all have challenges in our lives? And I'm stubborn. It took almost two months of being very ill before I even went to the doctor. That was taking the not complaining a tad too far. lol Even so, the bumps are there. They don't need to be named. They are just there.

We had a guest speaker at church, Andrew Chapman from England. The gist of his message? Life sucks, but God is faithful. It followed a running theme in my life these days. You can't go around the sucky parts of life. It's the going through of problems that makes you grow and helps you learn life lessons. Basically, no pain, no gain. Now, where else have I been hearing about embracing stress? Isn't that a whole chapter in Marilu's book? lol I'm learning how to apply this to my life now. It's been a day for introspection. Several books I've been reading have been about going through the hard times to get the good stuff.

Here's how this works. It's the pain of going through being unhealthy that teaches you how to be healthy. It's the pain of financial issues to help you learn how to be finanically healthy and successful. It's the pain of feeling frustration at the direction your life is going in to make you change things in a better way. Shoot, it's the pain of stubbing your toe that keeps you from walking into the side of the bed again. hehe I can see the light at the end of the tunnel in some areas. Others, I feel like I just got into the tunnel. I see the plan that God has for me, to prosper me and walk with me. I just have to stop listening to that inner brat that keeps telling me to take the short road. It may be easier but it doesn't lead to my goals. It doesn't lead to God's best for me.

One verse the pastor discussed today was Philippians 3:10-14 [amp]

10[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [[b]which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope]

11That if possible I may attain to the [[c]spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].

12Not that I have now attained [this ideal], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own.

13I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,

14I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.

Note the bold part. I put the whole part so you could see the context. But imagine. We sing songs in church and have even created a Christianeese lingo about the refiners fire and coming out purified and like gold. Have we really thought what that means? Too many concentrate on the gold. Hello? There's a fire to go through first. And that's not a cute little fire either. In order for it to get that hot, to burn out all the impurities, you need a roaring hot and consuming fire.

So, how do I handle the fire? How do I handle the refining that I need to have happen in me? I can fight it kicking and screaming, or I can embrace it. Me, I choose to embrace it. In the long run, it will be the easier way. I can go through my lesson and learn and be done with it. Or, I can keep fighting it, I can keep rejecting it. I can keep being hardheaded and say that the lesson isn't really for me. I'm going to meet my challenges with gusto, with excitement. I know that what lies ahead is a much better plan than the one I have for me. It's God's plan. Who should I trust, man's plan or the all seeing, all knowing, all encompassing God who knows everything about me from the number of hairs on my head to the ending of my story? I know who.

Here's a thought. I'm going to look back at this in five years and just be amazed from how far we've come. I'll be healthy in all areas. I'll be debt free, worry free, and making the choices I want to, not the hard choices I need to. How sweet is that! Not only that, I have an awesome family, wonderful home, and food on the table. The rest is just gravy! We put too much store in the problems we have created. But, that's a soapbox for another time. For now, I'm just glad that it's all clicking together in my mind. I'm not saying that I won't still grumble when I have to exercise or can't have the yummy food I miss. lol Hey, I'm human! But I will embrace the journey of making a better me.