Despair and Distrust

When the world around you seems to be taking over your thoughts, feelings, emotion and . . . well, quite frankly, your good sense . . . how do you handle that? How do you stop the voices in your head and heart long enough to hear from heaven? Glad you asked! Today has been that kind of day for me. A day of questions that demand answers. A day of true self-reflection that cries out for a mirror. And you thought pastors don't have days like this. Well, think again.

Human as we are, we feel the same rejections, the same pain at accusations and the same disappoint in others, as anyone else. In fact, our world is often so isolated, with so few who we are transparent with, that in some ways these effect us more deeply.

So, the question again is what do I do? I take a bath! a long hot, soaking, bubble filled, bath! As I allow the heat of the water to fill the tub and its contents . . . me . . . my thinking is slowed, and I begin to be soothed.

Then, I pray. I pray long and earnestly as I did today. God brought me back to a passage in the Amplied version of Jeremiah 15:19 which says :

"Therefore thus says the Lord [to Jeremiah]: If you return [and give up this mistaken tone of distrust and despair], then I will give you again a settled place of quiet and safety, and you will be My minister; and if you separate the precious from the vile [cleansing your own heart from unworthy and unwarranted suspicions concerning God's faithfulness], you shall be My mouthpiece. [But do not yield to them.] Let them return to you--not you to [the people].

I insert my name in the place of Jeremiah's and I am reminded that I must give up any tone of despair or distrust and give it all to God who loves me more than I can ever think or imagine. Then and only then does peace come. Is that a decision we make once and then - boom - problem solved? Sometimes it is just that easy, but more often than not, it is something we do over and over again.

Remember, this too shall pass . . . like a kidney stone . . . but it WILL pass! (grin)