Stressed but blessed

Recently, a dear friend and Christian sister asked, “How are you brother?”

She knows I have been having a rough go of things the last few weeks and was genuinely concerned.  I could have laid bare a litany of things for her, complained and grumbled about them, seeking an opportunity to unload my heart and mind.  Therefore, I will confess it was awfully tempting to do so at that very moment, as my mind went into gear, before my mouth.

Thanks be to God, He took control of things between my thought process and the unleashing of the tongue and the moving of the lips, as the words rolling around in my head came tumbling out like so many piercing arrows.  Yes, thanks be to God, that my heart formed a very peaceful and adequate response, one which truly summed things up for me at that very moment and at that very immediate point and time.

            Let me be very clear, the things I am experiencing at this moment do hurt, they do cause deep pain, and at times there is sorrow; a sorrow that truly cannot be explained.  I have been walking in a daze, wondering where the end will be and if the end will at all be pleasant.  There has been a sense of foreboding, expecting the worse while hoping for the best in the outcome of it all.  There has been a state of depression hanging over my soul, which is both unfamiliar and at the same time comfortable and pleasing; a blocker to all of the heartache of the moment.  At times I want to wallow in the misery and at another time I command myself to snap out of it all and keep going along the straight and narrow.  Can I get a witness?

            So when the response was evident in my heart and came from my lips I was shocked.  For that moment I realized my heart was overriding my mind and it was truth verses untruth; it was a God moment.  It was as if it were not I who was speaking, but God.  I said with resolute assurance and full confidence that the words were true: “I am stressed; but I am blessed.”

            At that moment there was a lifting of the weight that held me pinned to the ground and breaking of the chains which I had allowed to bind me into subjection to fear and hopelessness.  As these things were lifted from my life, I felt a fluttering of my heart and an understanding that I had disconnected my mind from my heart dawned along the dark horizon.  For the time I had been in the fog and the daze, my mind was propelling me along a path that was dark and dismal.  All along, I realized, my heart was singing and praising, watching and waiting with the Father of the Universe, who wanted nothing more than to wrap me in his arms and hold me, speaking peace in the midst of the raging storm.

            I am not going to paint you some picture of red roses and blue skies with an orange sun glowing in the distance above.  No, there are still dark clouds on my horizon and the waters still seem troubled, but the darkness of the depression has been shattered, so I might see that even in the stressful situations, God is still abounding in more than I deserve, blessings which I cannot count.

            “I am stressed; but I am blessed!”

            Some would say that you must not confess the negative, but I think that if we fail to face the truth of the matter we are missing the positive.  Think about it this way.  God’s Word-it is the writing of the Apostle Paul-says, “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 KJV)  So very true; all the strains and stresses of life work together for good.  It does not say that these things are good, but they result in something that is for our good.  How stressed we are, but how blessed we are!

            In the midst of the sorrow of life we see that God is faithful; His love is unending, His power is indescribable, and His hold on us is firm and unrelenting.  He said that He would never leave us, nor forsake us. (Matthew 28:20)  Jesus went on to say:

             “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 KJV)

            As we rest in Him and His goodness, He gives strength to face the unknowns, to stand against the perils and struggles of life.  It was the Prophet who wrote, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31 KJV)  Yes, I am stressed, but I am so very blessed!

            Paul was struggling with what he called a “thorn in the flesh.”  We are never told what it was; it may have been poor eye sight, declining health, some chronic pain or something which was debilitating.  We do know, but we do know that it caused him enough concern that repeatedly he sought divine healing.  But it never came.  Does this mean that he was a sinner, or forsaken of God?  No, it does not; a thousand time, “No!”  Notice what God said and what the great apostle realized through this affliction: “And he said unto me, ‘My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV)

Later he would be able to say, “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4 KJV)  He would also be able with confidence, in the same book and to the same dear friends, write, “I can do all things through Christ which [strengthened] me.” (Philippians 4:13 KJV)  The stress was still there, but the blessing of the stress far outweighed the struggles of the moment.

The next time your mind tells you one thing and your heart tells you another, do not disconnect the two, only to be deceived by what you know through your thought processes.  Let you heart listen to the still voice of God, a God who holds you in the palm of His hand and directs all things for your good.

I will leave you with one more admonition from the Word of God: “The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my [savior]; thou [saves] me from violence.  I will call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.” (2 Samuel 22:3-4 KJV)