Maranatha!
- Bailee Chavez
- Feb 12, 2023
- 7 min read
Hello my blog besties,
Thank you for taking time out of your day to read this post! I share these in hopes of helping others- even if just one person gets something out of it! I ultimately do my best to explain what God’s been teaching me with vulnerability while pointing others – and especially myself – back to the truth.
Struggle as a Shifting Shadow
This week I’ve been thinking about how our struggles take different forms with each season of life. I remember experiencing anxiety when I was just a little girl- without reason. It was just there. As I got older, that anxiety gained traction as the world gave me things to attach my anxiety to.
The reasons for my worrying have changed in various seasons. A commonality between them being that each fret demanded my attention and threatened to take something important to me- be it my self-worth, reputation, morals, appearance, or even faith. So many times, when anxiety has called, I have answered and responded accordingly to its demands.
John 16:33 tells us that in this world we will have trouble. It’s simply a byproduct of the fall.
Struggle is an inescapable shifting shadow that follows us into every season- even seasons of blessing.
On the other side of being accepted to your dream college could be incredibly challenging classes and burnout.
On the other side of marriage could be unemployment or infertility.
On the other side of the blessing of children could be body image issues or postpartum depression.
The bottom line is that we simply don’t know what lies around the bend. And even in the absence of obvious external struggles, many of us still seem to craft irrational fears and false scenarios to worry about.
Whether tangible or not, the devil wants us to bury ourselves in our troubles. Luckily though, Jesus has already conquered that grave.
Personalized Pain
We must recognize that the devil knows our weaknesses. He knows what carrot to dangle in front of us at the right time and in the right way to make sure we individually are tempted.
Perhaps the trials you encounter do not look like your friends’. This is because your weaknesses are not there's.
Affliction is experienced by every person alive as we all knowingly or unknowingly long for something greater than ourselves. Thus, the specifics of our pain should not be the object of our affection.
We don’t have to scrutinize and debunk all of the enemies schemes. We can recognize them for what they are, and move towards the Light freely- for this is where we are called to direct our focus. Sin might still surround us, but it is not where we are meant to settle. Our place is in the Palace.
We don’t have to identify with our trials because Jesus took them all to the cross. There’s nothing He hasn't defeated. Worry creeps in only when we are imagining a future without God- who has redeemed all things.
A Thorn in the Flesh
It's important to note that the Lord allows some of our struggles to serve as thorns in our flesh.
A “thorn in the flesh” is something given to us by God to keep us from becoming conceited. It can feel uncomfortable, like torment, or a form of torture, but God does not torture his children.
Examples of thorns in the flesh
Chronic Illness
Disability
Mental Illness
Unfulfilled desire
Difficult relationships
Why?
Thorns keep us humble
Thorns teach us to rely on God’s grace
Thorns help us to be more kind, compassionate, humble, loving, and empathetic.
Thorns allow God’s power and glory to be seen through our lives
The Lord is our gardener. He has the power to cut off every thorn that is not serving us in some way. And so we can rest assured that, if a thorn is not removed, it is because it is there for a reason.
Some of us may struggle with believing our thorn is far too sharp. Perhaps the physical or emotional pain cuts deep, and it just seems like too much.
But we can rest assured there’s something sharper than any piercing thorn- God’s word.
Hebrews 4:12 says,
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
The Right Transformation
The contrast between the thorns in each of us and the Lord is that the latter never changes.
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
James 1:17
God’s command to keep our eyes fixed on Him and His Word is backed by psychology. Evidently, the Lord knows that what we focus on grows. We are not unchanging like our Lord. As humans, we have the capacity to change and evolve. We, like our challenges, resemble shifting shadows.
Consider how much a child is influenced by their environment. Their behavior often differs based on what they watch on television. They are constantly mimicking the words and actions they see on the screen.
Also consider assimilation- how someone from a different country can become immersed in another culture and adopt the same values and social behaviors despite their original upbringing.
In our humanness, we have the capacity to change, but it is imperative that we undergo the correct transformation.
The only way to be fully healthy and happy is to base our life on His truths. In a world, where we can focus on anything, may we choose God.
The redirection of thoughts and actions will start to change neural pathways as habits begin to be replaced, and new parts of the brain are used. The brain literally starts to rewire itself with a simple change of mindset.
Homesick
This past week while battling some anxiety, the Lord put a word on my heart, and that word was maranatha. I thought it was odd because I did not know that word meant. It sounded spiritual and perhaps I had heard it in a sermon at some point, but I couldn’t recall ever thinking about it. Following a quick Google search, I found out that it means “Come, Lord Jesus.”
I know the Lord gave me this word as a command to start viewing negative thoughts and emotions as reminders that this world isn’t my home. Struggle is a string attaching my heart to Heaven.
The Lord brought to my attention that we were actually never made to feel the weight of sin. Before the Fall, Adam and Eve were living in perfection. But because sin entered in, we now must face darkness.
Still, one day followers of Christ get to live in a place of complete restoration and absence of evil. Everything will be restored. We are all longing for this moment. It our souls’ and all of creation’s deepest desire.
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Romans 8:22–23 (ESV)
And so when anxiety and negativity set in- I don't have to pinpoint a reason. I can just look up- knowing that my heart is simply yearning for Home.
.
We can let go of what easily entangles us and move forward, not because we have a distinct “why” for every struggle or answer to every question, but because we don’t need one anymore.
May we accept the fact that the purpose for a trial may just be for the ability to empathize with someone in the future, but then show them that there is a better way.
He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.
2 Corinthians 1:4 NLT
Jesus modeled this perfectly. He faced many struggles, yet had the same solution to them all- to follow the Lord.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
Hebrews 4:15 (NIV)
Jesus’ death and resurrection free us up to hold our lives loosely and navigate challenges with a heavenly perspective- focusing less on the contents of our wilderness and more on the way out.
Prayer:
Lord, thank you that the answer to our problems- be they physical ailments, mental illnesses, or other unfortunate circumstances- is to seek You, delight in You, and put You first. Thank you that this has nothing to do with us and everything to do with You. Your Word says that we will be saved by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony. May we allow our struggles to point us back to what we have to look forward to in Heaven- a perfected mind and soul. Help us carry this heavenly hope at all times. May Your love be immensely louder than any lie satan tempts us to adopt as truth.
Amen.
- Bailee
2.14 Challenge
Happy Valentine's week!!! My challenge for you is to allow God to love you. It's easy to feel like we need to have it all together before accepting His love. Satan would love for us to wait to enjoy life with God until we are all put together… because that won’t happen in this lifetime.
No matter where you are in your faith, look for ways to appreciate the Father and the small blessings in Your day. A mentor once told me that I am not a unicorn (stick with me)- meaning I am not the sole exception to grace. We humans hold the same intrinsic value, and we all have the same access to God.
Think about a person whose relationship with the Lord you admire. You serve that same God, and that same relationship is available to you today. Let Him in.
The Lord is KIND. His love is not self-seeking- meaning He is looking out for OUR good. What a gift it is to be the apple of His eye even when we don’t recognize it.
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