by MeredithNMills | Sep 19, 2017 | Family, fear, freedom, grace, growing in Christ, Uncategorized
Lean in close, I have a secret to tell…“I am a recovering control freak.”
Seriously.
Life is good when things go according to plan, when nothing too crazy happens, and when people behave themselves. But if things start to veer too far off course, I get anxious.
God has grown me a lot in this area over the last few years, though. I’m learning to raise the white flag, to trust Him and listen to His voice when things seem out of control.
I had an opportunity to practice this recently – with my own sweet child in my very own home.
Read the rest of this story at Just18Summers, where I’m sharing today about parenting and when to raise the white flag of surrender.
by MeredithNMills | Jul 18, 2017 | grace, Hope in the Midst of Heartache, knowing God, Uncategorized, Walking by Faith
by Meredith Mills
@DazzledByTheSon
Last week, my hubby was out of town for a business convention, which left me home alone with the kids. We had a good time together, trying to stay busy and not miss Daddy too much (hard to do!) Two days in a row, we drove out of town to meet friends at the zoo. 
That was exhausting, but super fun.
One night, while the kids were tucked safely in their beds, a car drove by our house and cast creepy shadows on my bedroom window. In my mind, I knew the shadows were caused by the tree outside. But fear began to invade my heart. “What if’s” flooded my mind as this mama bear thought through how I’d defend my babies in case of danger.
It’s crazy how that happens. There was a logical explanation. Nothing really to be afraid of. But sometimes our emotions are stronger than our minds.
Thankfully, however, the Holy Spirit is stronger than both.
As I lay there in the dark, I prayed that God would shield and protect us. I envisioned a large superhero shield covering our home and angels standing around our property.
Then I went to sleep. We all awoke the next morning, safe and sound.
Psalm 28:7 says, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and He helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I will praise Him.”
I love this description of God. He doesn’t just give us a shield. He is our Shield.
He stands between His child and the onslaught of the enemy. He absorbs and extinguishes the fiery dart blows.
This, however, leads to an obvious question. Does this mean bad things should never happen to His children?
We need only look around to see this isn’t the case. Christians suffer like the rest of the world. Probably even more, if you ask imprisoned believers and those tortured for their faith.
Is there a contradiction between faith and “real life”? Is God really our Shield when awful things happen?
Since God doesn’t change (James 1:17), we can trust that He never stops being our Shield, though His protection may look different at various times.
- Sometimes He shields us from physical harm
Like those times when I’ve narrowly avoided a wreck.
Or when we’ve prayed for healing and He grants our request.
Or that time when I was a young adult living at home and my family happened upon a crime scene. Somehow our car ended up inside the police blockade, a would-be burglar laying shot on the ground a few feet away. That frustrating delay twenty minutes earlier may have kept our family out of the line of fire.
- Always He shields us from the enemy’s fury
Satan hates Jesus. He also hates those who follow Him. Quite honestly, we’re no match for the devil. Yet the devil is no match for our God.
God stands between us and the enemy’s wrath, never abandoning us to fend for ourselves. Never leaving the devil to do anything he wants with us. (See Job 1-2, 42 for the interaction between God, Satan and a man named Job.)
- Always He shields us from God’s righteous indignation
Our God is pure. He hates and punishes sin. But Jesus, the Sinless One, stands between His children and God’s anger. On the cross, He bore every ounce of the judgment we’d incurred through our sin. Through faith in Christ, “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
In every circumstance, God is our Shield – protecting us from things seen and unseen. Sometimes He prevents tragedy. Sometimes He walks though it with us.
What do you think? How do you reconcile the apparent contradiction between God as our Shield and the trials that we face? How have you seen God act as your Shield? Please comment below. Let’s get to know Him better together!
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God of the Storm
by MeredithNMills | May 4, 2017 | abiding in Christ, Family, Hope in the Midst of Heartache, knowing God, Loneliness, Uncategorized, Waiting, Walking by Faith
“Look at this picture I drew, Mommy.” I turned my attention to my preschooler’s stick-figure drawing. She explained, “This kid is all alone because his door was open and he fell out of the car.”
(In case you’re wondering, that has never happened to her, or to anyone else we know.)
When you fall out of the car
As I looked at her unusual artwork, I noticed another, larger stick-figure person above the child. I asked her about it, and she simply stated, “That’s God.”
God.
Well, of course.
Because really, we’re never alone. Even when we feel lonely or abandoned, or if we fall out of a car and get left behind, there’s God.
“My presence will go with you and I will give you rest” (Exodus 33:14).
It’s easy to think that peace lies in the stability of our circumstances. If life is good, I often fear change and the unsettled emotions that accompany new chapters. If life is turbulent, I long for change as the solution to my problems.
But God Himself is our peace. His nearness is our good, the source of rest for our souls. Walking close to His heart enables us to experience His rest.
Several years ago, I found myself in a very dark season. God seemed indifferent to my prayers, and I was angry. So I told Him how I felt. I poured out my heart to Him (Psalm 62:8) expressing my disillusionment, anger and fear.
Then God came near. He spoke gently to my doubting heart. He didn’t condemn, rather, He reminded me of who He is – my Source of life and peace.
That encounter changed everything. Well, not my circumstances. They were just the same after my time with Jesus. But I had changed. My heart was at peace, even in the midst of my pain. (I wrote about this in When Life Falls Apart).
In the presence of Jesus, I found rest.
How about you, fellow Jesus lover? How’s your heart? Has life left you weary and wounded? Could you use some rest? I leave you with some of my favorite of Jesus’ words:
“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29).
In what ways have you experienced Jesus as your rest? Please comment below – I’d love to hear!
Related Posts:
When Life Falls Apart
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by MeredithNMills | Feb 28, 2017 | abiding in Christ, Hope in the Midst of Heartache, knowing God, Uncategorized, Victorious Living, Waiting, Walking by Faith
Have you ever won the lottery?
No? Well, don’t feel bad – I haven’t either. (Of course, I hear you have to play to have a chance at winning, so maybe that has something to do with it.)
How about being chosen in a drawing, like at the Home and Garden’s Expo? You just fill out a little slip of paper, giving them all your personal information, then sit back and wait for a phone call. Sounds easy enough. I’d enjoying having new windows for my entire house.
Or even just the “guess how many jelly beans are in the jar” game? Nope. I’ve haven’t won that one either.
I’ve never been a lucky person.
My husband, on the other hand, now he was an altogether different story. He used to win drawings and prizes a lot. Until he married me.
Whatever your views on luck versus the sovereignty of God, there’s something inside each of us that loves to win. Be it small or big, we humans delight in attaining something of value.
Recently, I was wrestling through a life circumstance I wanted God to change. I thought this change would simplify life and add value to my days. I read and began memorizing the following verses – “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (Lamentations 3:25-26).
So, I waited. And I prayed. And I tried to change things on my own, which I guess isn’t really waiting on God.
Then I grew resentful when God didn’t bring the change I sought. I prayed and waited and tried some more.
And then I gave up.
God showed me that, while I love Him and desire to follow Him, I was fighting the direction He’d given. I was fighting Him.
You know, if I were God (and it’s a good thing I’m not), I’d be pretty irritated when my child wouldn’t follow my instructions. When, after lavishing goodness upon her, she kicked and squirmed and tried to run the other direction, I would find my patience growing thin.
But wonder of wonders, God didn’t treat me that way.
First Timothy 1:16 describes Jesus as “immensely patient.” And that’s exactly what I’ve found. With gentleness and grace, He led me to a place of surrender.
Oh, that word. Sometimes it makes me cringe. It feels so unnatural to surrender to someone else’s control. But this, like everything else in Christianity, is a matter of faith.
It’s a conscious choice to believe that the heart of God is good. To trust that He really does have my well being in mind. To act upon the belief that He sees the bigger picture and higher purpose.
I was waiting for God to grant me the “prize” for which I prayed. Instead, He gave me more of Himself. And I realized that Jesus is the prize, the treasure of infinite value.
People “surrender” many things for the chance at winning a prize – time, money, personal information…And any prize that we gain is temporal and sometimes worth very little.
But when Jesus asks us to surrender, He offers us in exchange the priceless gift of friendship with God.
Surrender
Paul said “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8).
And might I add a side note? When I surrendered, I told God, “Lord, I’ll do what You ask. But I can’t keep living like this – discontent, restless, angry. You have to change my heart. I’ve been trying to change myself, to pull myself out of this pit. But I can’t do it. So You’ll have to.”
And that’s exactly what He did.
After that step of faith, God began restoring joy to my soul. Where there was striving, there is peace. Where there was resentment, there is rest. I don’t know what the future holds, or how He will lead tomorrow.
But I know He’s good. And that’s good enough for me.
Related Posts:
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by MeredithNMills | Dec 25, 2016 | Identity in Christ, Uncategorized, Walking by Faith
“Look! The virgin will conceive and bear a Son, and they will call Him Emmanuel, which means ‘God with us’” (Matt 1:23) NET.
God.with.us.
Those three words astound me.
For thousands of years, God had been worshiped from afar. His holiness stood in stark contrast to mankind’s sin. A thick veil separated His earthly presence in the temple from those who approached Him.
Until Emmanuel.
His arrival changed everything.
The Eternal One stepped into time and wrapped Himself with humanity. The Creator became one of us. The King who controls armies, who sets up and tears down nations, that King made His first appearance in an unceremonious stable.
And such would be His life – a homeless Miracle Worker, a traveling Teacher, a King rejected by His own people.
He came not impress us, but to save us. Not to condemn us, but to restore friendship with God.*
He came to do what we could not do – to keep the Law of God, and die as if He hadn’t. To taste death for us, then render it powerless so we could be set free.
He came to tear the veil that separated a holy God from His people, and to make us holy, too.
This is Emmanuel – a God so in love with His people that He would walk among us, know our pains, experience our emotions, and die in our stead.
And He beckons us, even today as we celebrate His birth, to draw near to Him as well.
As we give and receive gifts this Christmas day, may we remember the greatest Gift of all time. And may we offer ourselves back as a gift to Him.
Merry Christmas!
This changes everything
* If you’re curious about how to begin a relationship with this Jesus, please check out In Case You’re Wondering.
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