I had friend of mine reply on my FB page to one of my posts. He is a solid Christian guy that I have known and respected for a decade or so. He said that he knew a few people that had gone through this or a similar plight, and they said that they would not change it for the world. A month in, and no conclusive anything except that they don't know what kind of non small cell cancer they are going to diagnose me with due to confused labs. I can agree with my friend's friends not wanting to change it. Is it hard?..VERY. Do I wish it was gone?...Maybe?.?.? If I could erase this time, would I do it?...I don't think so, but I am not completely sure.
The reason I am nearing that state now is that there were some things that I was praying for that just Were...Not...Happening. In my analysis of what was missing and why God would not answer them, I discovered that I was not in the alignment with God, that God wanted for me, and the details just started to flow and be revealed to me. I think they apply to many people at many different levels. That is the cool thing about walking with Jesus. He makes a personal plan for each person. I am happy to report that I have been given everything I had been praying for. Some of it was difficult, and frankly impossible, without God. The door opened, and I took the step, and it worked in a few of those cases.
Anyway, a layer deeper on alignment, forgiveness, and action. Perhaps this is more practically or better summarized as love God, love your neighbor, and talk is cheap.
- When things are comfortable in life, we tend to get comfortable with our own way. That way does not always align with the way of God. So that comfort sometimes needs to be disrupted to reveal the supernatural power of relationship with God in our lives, and most importantly coming into alignment with what Jesus taught. It requires the placing of self and self-comfort to the side, and not just praying about, but doing what is written. When we find ourselves comfortable and look closely, we can find pleasing ourselves at the center in our "selfaverse".
- Forgiveness. It was in Matthew 22:33-40 that we find Jesus preaching and once again, the Pharisees show up to test Him. He schools them through the whole chapter with lessons on not judging people by appearance at the wedding, being a responsible citizen to government and community, relationships in heaven, the greatest two commandments, and his lineage and Lordship. I think forgiveness falls into the category of the greatest two commandments...Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as you love yourself. As Christians, we even say, "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors" in the Lord's prayer. So what are we asking for if we have someone who has wronged us "so heinously", and we chose to hold a grudge? Firstly, we get to carry that rock around with us which is ridiculous. Secondly, and more importantly, we have broken the 2nd greatest commandment, and we are essentially asking to not be forgiven by saying the Lord's prayer. However, in a state of comfort, how easy is it to just not deal with the person and take the easy path? The path of least resistance? Just chalk it up to the time is not right, or they will eventually see the error in their ways and come around. To be perfectly honest, I had fallen prey to the easy path in a few cases and it was a blocker in my prayer life. I knew this and prayed about it, and never really took any actual action. Sometimes, we just have to take the step. Reduce yourself, and take it in faith, and it will usually work out entirely differently than what our pride and worry would have us believe.
- Habits...We all have those habits that we know God does not want for us. Some may curse, some may have addictions, some may steal, some may hate, some may tell white lies to make people feel better, some may treat people harshly...road rage :-), impatience with others, and so on. They are all sin for one reason or another and what ever yours is/are, I am sure you can identify. Alignment with what God wants for us is the way to a healthy spiritual life where the supernatural can be activated. While quite verbose, Galatians 5:19-26 does a great job of listing what misalignment looks like, as well as what alignment and the fruit of that discipline look like, in contrasts in verse 22. The offering is there. It requires alignment with action and not just words. Talk is cheap! If you want to release the supernatural in your life take action to align. So often the first step to improvement is on us. Remember Peter walking on water in Matthew 14:29?
Do any of these sound familiar to you? My guess is that most of us encounter this point, at some point in our lives, and likely it happens more than once. Its when life turns into the old commercial about the guy who gets up to go make the Dunkin Doughnuts every day and its the same old prayer life day in and day out, and we just put up with those things that are not right in our lives, say a prayer about them, and go on with our day...yet there is nothing happening. The supernatural power of God beyond the usual day to day is hidden because we have these self-oriented blockers in our lives.
As it turns out, sometimes God can put you in a position where He will supernaturally answer your prayers, but it will be a "Shadow of the Valley of death" in Psalm 23:4 experience for you. That is my "Blessed Plight". I am staring down the gun barrel at what one oncologist told me was a 50% chance of living a year. Yet, all of the prayers I was praying have been answered in spades. I mean mind blowing here is everything you asked for. I am now living the life I always wanted. I am watching God do supernatural things in my and Kelly's life, almost daily. Stuff that there was NO WAY it was going to happen without God moving me, and changing my circumstances. In contrast, I was also blessed with an appetite for milk. For some reason I love milk. Milk is high in calcium which causes very strong bones, the strongest of which seems to be my skull. That has positioned me well to get really big 2x4's over the head occasionally which eventually awaken me. :-)
So would I change my plight? I don't think so. It is scary to have someone tell you, you have a disease that can kill you in a short period of time. If I could change it, it would be tempting to just make it go away and return to my "gotta go make the doughnuts prayer life". But feeling this level of freedom is incredible. As odd as it sounds, being at peace in a storm where I have not an ounce of control, is freeing. I am literally forced to make the choice between trust God or just sit around and worry without Him. Thank you for your prayers. They are working. Kelly and I continue to Soar on Wings like Eagles #Isaiah40:31 in our faith during this storm.