by MeredithNMills | Jun 17, 2016 | Hope in the Midst of Heartache, Identity in Christ, knowing God, Uncategorized, Waiting, Walking by Faith
It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
I sit in a hospital room, surrounded by beeping and whirring machines. Otherwise, it’s silent.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
A beloved family member sleeps fitfully in the bed in front of me. The surgery went well. Anesthesia effective. Thank God for good doctors. Now begins the rocky road to recovery.
As I stare at her, something deep within me revolts against what I see. In this room, all over this hospital, are people who bear God’s image – each with a story to tell. They have hopes, plans and dreams. They are loved, and they love in return. They want to be healthy, happy, free. They want to be anywhere but here.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
Sickness. Pain. Aging. Loss. Broken bodies. Broken hearts. Broken lives. It’s all so…wrong
We were made for more than this..
My mind wanders back to a Garden, the first and only perfect Garden. Teaming with life, bursting with beauty, this Garden showcased the handiwork of the Master Creator. He spoke everything into existence and pronounced it good – everything, that is, until He was ready for His magnum opus. For this, He would use extra special care. He would craft man and woman as the pinnacle of His creation. Now, He says, everything is very good.
Teaming with life and bursting with beauty
Beauty. Fruitfulness. Each day an extension of yesterday’s friendship with God. No knowledge of pain. No conflict between man and wife, humankind and God. Trust and peace. Wholeness and well-being. Unhampered joy. Unhindered life.
This, this is what we were made for. This was God’s design.
Not what I see in this hospital room.
Not what we see all around us today.
Not life as we know it in this sin-ravaged world.
When mistrust of God and self-exaltation came on the scene, everything changed. Absolutely everything. (See Gen 3.)
Creation itself groans under its “bondage to decay” (Rom 8:21). Thorns and thistles. Death and desolation. Predators and Prey. Famine, drought, natural disasters. And we, the masterpieces of His Creation, we cannot escape this broken existence either. No matter our position or status or story, we all know the pain of living here.
But it will not always be so.
Because a Deliverer came to our rescue.
The Creator became as the created.
The One who holds our universe together stepped into our brokenness and lived among us.
He knew our pain. He faced our battles. He bore our shame.
He chose the cross and took our sin – the very cause of all this heartbreak in the first place.
The Holy One waged war on sin and death. And He won.
The victory has been decided. Jesus is the Champion. And soon, we will know the full reality of all He accomplished that day at Calvary.
Someday God will restore His creation. He will deliver us from this fallen world. He will usher in a new heaven and a new earth where we, His own, will be with Him forever. In our new home, there will be no more death or pain or sickness or tears. He will make everything new.
And so, as I sit here in this hospital room, I take comfort. As I read the news and feel the heartbreak of each new tragedy, I find hope. This fleeting existence is not all there is. Someday, everything will be made right.
Our Deliver is coming. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
How do you comfort your heart in times of suffering and pain? I’d love to hear!
(If you want to know more about a relationship with this Deliverer, please check out In Case You’re Wondering.)
Related posts:
What’s So Good?
I Quit!
A Dose of Encouragement
by MeredithNMills | Jun 3, 2016 | Identity in Christ, knowing God, Uncategorized, Victorious Living, Walking by Faith
by Meredith Mills @DazzledByTheSon
I can’t.
When I’m not enough – strong enough, experienced enough, grown-up enough…
The job is too big. I feel too small.
The pain is too deep. The broken pieces too many.
I’m not strong enough. Smart enough. Experienced enough…
Have emotions like these every hijacked your heart? It happens to me all. the. time.
Like when the pot’s boiling over, the child’s calling from the bathroom, the phone’s ringing and my hands are in soapy water.
Or when the day looms daunting ahead, and I just want to pull the covers up and go back to sleep.
Or when I go to a writers’ conference and start comparing myself to real writers.
Or when a loved one’s heart is breaking and I want to fix it, heal it, make all the hurt go away.
Life is complicated and messy and rarely turns out how I plan
Life is complicated and messy and it rarely turns out how I plan. Sometimes I feel inadequate for this life God has given me.
That’s why I find the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 so very encouraging (Mark 6:34-44).
Jesus and His disciples needed to get away. Their days were so full of need-meeting that they hadn’t even had time to eat. It was definitely time for a break. But when they arrived at their planned retreat, a large crowd of needy people were waiting.
Jesus’ compassionate heart shifted gears. He spent the day loving on those who came to Him. But by the end of the day, His disciples were done. They came to Him with their plan – “Send the people away so they can eat.”
Jesus’ response astounds me. “You give them something to eat.”
Ummm….come again? We must have misheard Him. Did He say for us to feed them? Doesn’t He know that we can’t feed all these people? Is He that out of touch with “reality”?
I find myself wondering, why would Jesus tell His followers to do something impossible?
But did He? Was their assignment really impossible?
Actually, He told them exactly what He was about to do – with their hands. They would give those people something to eat.
It seemed impossible, though, because they instinctively looked to their own resources. If they relied on what they had, they would be stuck with just that. Jesus’ plan, however, was bigger than the disciples and their resources.
He told them to take inventory and come talk to Him about it. They brought a mere five loaves and two measly fish to Jesus and watched as He blessed what they gave Him. Then He put into their hands what they needed to feed every one of those people.
But not all at once. He gave them a little and they gave it away. When they used it all up, Jesus gave them more. And they did it again. And again. And again, until every person was fed.
And that is how we do the impossible, too.
Broken and small, but enough in His hands.
We offer ourselves to Jesus – all our strengths and weaknesses, experiences and memories, joys and sorrows…all we have and all we are. He takes what we give Him, broken or small as it may be. Then He uses our hands, our hearts, to feed the hungry souls around us and to live out His call on our lives.
He gives us wisdom for decisions we must make.
He provides strength to do more than we’re capable of on our own.
He forms endurance in us through the struggles we face.
He tunes our hearts to His so He can love the world through us.
He does this over and over again, as we keep coming back to Him for more – more intimacy, more grace, more strength, ultimately, more of Him.
For God Himself is both our Source and our Supply. He has already given us everything we need for godly living. (Check out 2 Cor 3:5 and 2 Pet 1:3.)
What about you? How have you seen Him multiply your “loaves and fish” so you can live beyond yourself? Please join in the conversation – I’d love to learn from your journey!
Related posts:
Redefining Success, Part One
Redefining Success, Part Two
by MeredithNMills | May 7, 2016 | Identity in Christ, knowing God, Uncategorized, Walking by Faith
I never understood, until I looked into their eyes.
Waiting to be loved
There are always children waiting to be adopted. But we don’t need to adopt, because we have our own kids.
Seriously, that’s how I used to think. I’m ashamed to admit that, but it’s true.
My mindset changed, however, when I went to Bangkok and looked into the eyes of needy children, abused children, vulnerable children. And I realized, adoption isn’t about the wants or needs of a parent. It’s about welcoming a child into your heart and home and lavishing love on them. Through adoption a child gets a new life, a new identity, a new family. They gain an advocate – someone to look after and provide for them. They receive a relationship with the parent who has chosen to love and accept them.
I find great joy in knowing that God has done this for me.
“God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure” Eph 1:5.
He didn’t need me, as if the Self-sufficient One could be in need. But He wanted me. He longed to pour out His love on this needy soul, to take me “under His wing” and provide for me, to bestow on me a new name and a heavenly inheritance.
He chose me and I became His treasured daughter.
On the day of my adoption, everything changed. All my sins, which I wore like filthy rags, were taken away. He gave me a new heart. I was washed clean and clothed with the righteousness of Jesus. He made me fit to be His child and granted me direct access to His heart. He made me part of His worldwide family and He Himself came to dwell in me through His Holy Spirit.
I am safe now. Safe in the care of the Father who loves me. And so are you, fellow Jesus-follower!
I’m adopted!
What facet of your adoption into His family is most precious to you and why? Please join the conversation– I’d love to hear from you!
Related Posts:
Eternal Life Now
Nothing to Prove
Thanksgiving Thoughts
Don’t take my word for it! Check out these verses: 2 Cor 5:21, 6:18; Gal 4:5-6; Eph 1:4-5; Heb 10:17-22
by MeredithNMills | Apr 24, 2016 | Identity in Christ, Uncategorized, Walking by Faith
Sometimes our vision changes.
Walking with Jesus
When I set out on this blogging journey, my goal was to chronicle my walk with Christ. I was at the tail end of a pretty dark season. Life had recently come crashing down around me, and everything I thought I believed came into question. (To read more, please check out My Journey.)
“Two things I’m certain about,” I confided in a friend. “The Bible is the Word of God, and I’m saved by the blood of Jesus. Beyond that, I just don’t know right now.” Specific Christian doctrine, practical Christian living…it all needed to be reexamined.
Thankfully, those two certain beliefs are the bedrock of our faith and our God is a Master Rebuilder.
For a time, I thought I needed to rebuild my faith through prayer and Bible study, but then I came across the following verse in Colossians 2:7: “Having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith…” All those verbs – they’re in the passive tense, meaning I’m not the one doing them. Rather, I’m receiving the actions of Another.
Maybe that seems trivial, like mere semantics, but it took a weight off my shoulders. I realized that, just as God rooted me in Him at salvation, so He Himself is building and establishing my faith. My role is to abide in Him and welcome His work in me. (See John 15.)
During the course of this rebuilding project, I’ve learned that “identity” is a core issue in the Christian faith – most importantly, an accurate knowledge of God is essential. Of secondary, but also vital, importance is knowing my own identity as a child of God. These two things are like lenses through which I view and interact with the world around me.
Looking at life through the lens of identity
God showed me that my understanding was flawed in both areas. So I’ve been taking notes as I read through Scripture of everything I see related to those two issues. My big, thick journal is almost full because, guess what? God has LOTS to say about identity. (And I’m not even half-way through the Bible yet!)
He longs to be known! And He wants us to know who we really are, too.
So I think it’s time to shift the focus here, or rather to “zoom in” on this aspect of our faith. I’d like to share with you what I’m learning, and I’d really love to learn from your journey, as well. Together, in the Body of Christ, we have the greatest treasure the world has ever known – friendship with God. Because He drew near, we can know Him and be secure in Him.
So stay tuned and prepare to be…encouraged!
Related Posts:
When Life Falls Apart
Identity Crisis
by MeredithNMills | Apr 8, 2016 | Identity in Christ, Uncategorized, Victorious Living
“Congratulations on turning 65!”
I stared in disbelief at the letter I had just received from a life insurance company. I looked at the envelope again. Yup, it was addressed to me. Sixty-five? That’s decades away! I laughed and tossed the letter in the trash.
A few weeks later, I got an invitation to an informational dinner hosted by an assisted living community. Then came another letter regarding my supposed upcoming 65th birthday. Each piece of correspondence was from a different source. What seemed at first like a crazy fluke began to hoist proverbial “red flags” in my mind.
Has someone stolen my identity?
Then I looked more closely at the intended recipient – it was addressed to me, but with my maiden name. Memories crashed into my mind like a flash flood. About fifteen years ago, when I was single, my identity was stolen. It took months to unravel the mess and clear my name. I wonder, could this senior citizen mistake be somehow related?
Protecting one’s identity is of great importance, and mine was in question.
In the spiritual realm, a similar crisis exists for every single believer. Our enemy, called “the accuser” in Revelation 12:10, is constantly telling us lies about our identity. He wants us to believe that we aren’t really that different from our old selves apart from Christ.
New Creation
Just as I am neither 65 nor single, I am also not the same person I was without Jesus – and neither are you, fellow Jesus-lover. When the Holy Spirit takes up residence in a believer:
- He breathes life into a formerly dead spirit.
- He breaks the chains of addictive sin.
- He adopts us into His family and calls us beloved.
- He forgives every sin and cancels the record of charges against us.
- He makes us more than conquerors
- He begins a transforming work that He will be faithful to complete.
God defines our identity – not the accuser, not other people, not our feelings, not our circumstances.
Much is at stake here. For just as identity theft damages its victims, so we will miss the riches of God’s work in us if we believe Satan’s lies about our identity.
Victorious Christian living and intimacy with Christ hinge upon knowing and believing the truth. And when we know this truth, astounding freedom will be our reality (John 8:32).
Now it’s your turn! What lies have you believed about your identity? What aspects of your new identity in Christ are most exciting to you? Please join the conversation!
Related Posts:
Voices in My Head
If Only…
Praying Through Rejection
