Tag: Scriptures

Embrace Your “Can’t”

Today’s a new day! I used to tell people that the word “Can’t” should never be uttered from their mouth. I used to use the popular phrases “Just Do It,” and “Sleep when you’re dead.” Yes, I was that guy.

In today’s world, we are pushed and even encouraged to take on more and more, and we are seen as weak or strange when we are unable, or do not want to do so.

For me, this mindset came from my passion for life. It was fueled by a deep craving to achieve everything in life. It’s what made me intense, driven, competitive, and hardworking. It was who I was. Until I wasn’t.

As I have walked this crazy beautiful health journey for 22 years, it took me some time to come to terms with my “can’t.” Early on in my health journey, I constantly pushed through truly excruciating symptoms, like level 10 pain, exhaustion from weeks of no sleep, and unrelenting crushing fatigue even when I did sleep. I pulled myself together through constant life-threatening health issues, and participated in physical activities that I had no business attempting with a smile on my face (like running multiple marathons with no training) – while inside my body, my mind, and my spirit were dying a slow and agonizing death. Yet I still didn’t listen.

Why am I sharing all of this with you? Because I believe I could have spared my body a lot of pain and damage, my mind a lot of anxiety, if I had just learned to accept, or even embraced my “can’t” earlier in my health journey. I would have also spared my bride from a lot of worrying.

I want to share a few lessons I have learned along the way. I hope you take the time to read and reflect on them.

1). “Can’t” Is Not Weakness:

The biggest hurdle when it comes to dealing with “can’t” is intimately understanding on a heart-knowledge level that being unable to do certain things because of your illness does not mean you are weak, lazy, unintelligent, or unmotivated. This is where I was stuck for a long time. I had believed my whole life that if I couldn’t perform at peak levels, it must be my fault and that I just wasn’t trying hard enough. So, when my illness started to seriously affect my work quality in the career I had worked so hard to achieve, I compared myself to those around me, and told myself that I was just “too stupid” or “lazy” to do the job. At times I listened to the lies that I was worthless.

Hello Over-Achiever. I want to talk to you directly now. You burn-the-candle-at-both-ends doers. You know-you-can-conquer-the-world types. You did not choose your health issues. You didn’t work hard your whole life just to become a “lazy” and “unmotivated” on a whim. That’s not you and that’s not what is happening in your life. It’s not a matter of motivation, drive, desire, or ambition. It’s not a matter of not trying hard enough. It’s a matter of your body revolting against the true self of your mind and spirit. It’s a matter of your earthly vessel failing the real and eternal you that lives inside. The true and eternal you is still the same as it has always been: driven, motivated, intelligent, and strong. Once you accept this and understand the gulf between the two “yous,” you can take strides to get your body back on board so that a more collected, collective you can get back to truly living.

Accepting your “can’t” isn’t weakness; it’s actually strength. It means that you are strong enough to look your health challenge squarely in the face and get after the business of Overcoming. It means that you are brave enough to accept that your life right now must take an unexpected detour. It means that you are willing to admit your physical “can’t” so that you can open your mind and spirit to what you can and must do to regain your health. And the only way you can allow your focus to properly shift to healing is to first completely embrace your illness and your “can’t.”

2. “Can’t” Allows Healing:

Sadly, it took me several years to embrace this truth. I am encouraging you not to wait. Because if you don’t fully believe and fully accept that you are sick, you will keep running the rat race. But if you look deep in your heart, listen to your body, and know in truth that you are sick, then you can accept it. Embrace it.

I cannot stress this enough. Because until you wholly feel the weight of it, until you embrace it and believe it, you can’t get truly angry about what your illness is stealing from you. And until you get angry you cannot mentally, emotionally and spiritually prepare for the battle ahead of obtaining a full and accurate diagnosis, proper treatment, and hopefully better health. This is how coming to terms with your “can’t” sets you on the path to healing.

If you are in the early stages of your health journey, this next part may shock you. The medical system (at least in the United States) will not completely facilitate you regaining your health. Not at all. Unless you are exceptionally fortunate, your journey is not going to look like: get sick, see a doctor, get better. No, if you have a chronic or complex illness, generally speaking you need to prepare for battle. You need to arm yourself with knowledge and with the mental fortitude to be your own advocate. You need to prepare to fight for your life. You need to push for answers and drive the process. No one else will or can do it for you.

This is why embracing your “can’t” is so important. Because when you truly realize what you “can’t,” you get really, really angry at this invisible thief of life that is your illness. I don’t mean “bitter” angry, I mean “motivated and determined” angry. And you’re going to need that determination to drive the (sometimes grueling) battle that lies before you. And that drive to press forward in the battle is the only thing that will lead you to wellness.

It’s all you, Warrior! So get really angry at your “can’t” and resolve in your mind to do everything you humanly can to regain your health.

3. “Can’t” might be forever (But it’s not your identity): One of the more valuable pieces of advice I can share with you is that your “can’t” might be forever. That can be a difficult pill to swallow. But your “can’t “ does not need to become your identity. My life is much more than all the “limitations” I face on a daily basis. My life is full of hope, adventures and overcoming all the bumps in the road.

4. “Can’t” Makes Room for “Can”

Another critically important thing that coming to terms with your “can’t” does is that it makes room in your life for your “can.” Some of your “cans” may look something like:

1). I can make healthy, life-giving meals for myself to help my body heal.

2). I can research my illness for myself so that I have the knowledge to ask good questions at my appointments and to make educated treatment decisions.

3). I can maintain a positive attitude, despite how I feel.

4). I can make time for self-care activities that will help my body.

5). I can surround myself with people who encourage me in my health journey.

6). I can purposefully structure my life so that it supports wellness and healing.

7). Even though I couldn’t yesterday, today I can go for a short walk or bike ride.

8). This morning, I can rise early and sit peacefully to watch the sun rise

9). Right now, I can make positive choices to help with the symptoms I’m experiencing.

10). Don’t get hung up on committing to daily schedules of “cans” or expecting some type of minimum performance of “cans.” While it’s absolutely important to have bigger, more overarching “can” goals, embrace what you can do today and accept that tomorrow’s “cans” may look very different based on your health. Every day is a new opportunity to discover and put into practice the things you can do.

Here are some practical steps that can be used to work towards peace with your current “can’t:”

1. Pray

2. Journal

3. Reach out to family/friends

4. Reach out for professional help if needed

Coming to terms with your “can’t” may be difficult, but it’s so important and it opens the way for healing and wellness to come in time. You are unbelievably strong to live with your symptoms day in and day out and even stronger to accept and face such a challenge head on. Be encouraged that your “can’t” is just for right now and that nothing we face on this side of Heaven is forever. ~OC

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. ~2 Corinthians 4:16-18

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Go Fly!

Today’s a new day! As I continue to deal with the effects of Lewy Body Dementia, sometimes my thoughts take me to a place that doesn’t always make sense. But sometimes, I am blessed with a word, thought or phrase that might not make sense to me at the time, but as I unpack it and begin to pray about it, all the sudden things become a bit more clear to me. Let me give you an example.

A few weeks ago, I saw a butterfly fly by me as I was sitting on my balcony. Like most of you, I have seen hundreds of butterflies in my lifetime. But that day, God impressed upon me to type the word butterfly down in my notes. So I did and did not think anymore about it until a few days ago. The following is what God showed me and I thought I would share it with you.

I often wonder if a butterfly ever goes back to thinking like a caterpillar once it has undergone chrysalis. Does the butterfly ever think, “Man, I had it so good when I had to crawl everywhere and ate leaves?” Or does the butterfly look to its new life where it can fly, go places faster and eat the sweet pollen from flowers and think I will never go back to crawling? I’m guessing the latter because I have never seen a butterfly eat leaves or crawl around.

I wonder then why we often go back to our old ways of stinky thinking and our old ways of life once we have asked God into our lives. We have been set free from a life shackled and earth bound to a life of a high calling in Jesus. Scripture says that all things have become new and we are a new creation. We have to put away our old way of thinking.

In Ephesians 4:23, we read that we should let the spirit renew our thoughts and attitudes and to put on our new nature. That can be easier said than done when our old life keeps wanting to creep back in and disrupt our new life. Our old life wants to come back out and do things that it used to do before we accepted a new life in God

The following are a few things I believe we can do to help us live the life God has chosen just for us.

1). Change Our Environment:

We cannot change our thinking and our life until we change our environment. The butterfly has to flap its wings and leave the leaf so it can find new life. You and I are called to come out from among them and to be separate. If we never leave our old life, we will never be all that God intended us to be.

We have to find new places to hang out and feed ourselves good things. It can be hard to leave the old things behind, but if those things are holding us down, we have no choice. That could mean distancing ourselves from old friends who might want to pull us back into our old habits. We were meant to fly. So we need to spread our wings and trust God to help us navigate this new life.

2. Change What You Put in Your Mind:

The butterfly no longer eats what it used to. Its appetite changed and so did its taste. As a Christian, our spiritual appetite and tastes must change. We cannot walk through this new life eating, drinking and talking like our old selves. It is unhealthy for our new selves to continue consuming our old diet. Plus, I find as we start consuming new healthy things our bodies will not want the junk our bodies used to crave as much.

3. Embrace Your New Life:

Our new life should not only bring glory to God, but also light to others. When we see a caterpillar and a butterfly, we think two different things. The caterpillar is destructive to plants and is not very attractive. But the butterfly brings life to other plants and is beautiful. Our lives should have that kind of change.

We are called to live and walk in the light. We are to bring life to those around us and not destruction. People should be able to see a difference in our new lives. We should embrace who God has created us to be and strive to live the life we were meant to live. If we do that, we cannot help but to soar. So, go fly! ~OC

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Transformed Nonconformist

Today’s a new day! Did you know there are 1,430 hate groups in the United States alone. Sadly, those numbers are growing. While many tend to be small, they have political power and want to see unrest across America.

Hate groups will continue to poison hearts, stir up violence, and polarize people in 2024 and beyond. So to gear up for these challenges, I reflected back on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s book Strength to Love. I encourage you to check it out.

The book is a fascinating read, but one of the phrases Dr. King used truly grabbed my attention. Dr. King calls us to be “Transformed Nonconformist” Here is the scripture that Dr. King used to come up with this beautiful term.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2).

Transformed nonconformists reject racism, discrimination, hatred and anything that tears our society apart and tries to divide us.

Transformed nonconformists break the chain reaction of evil by refusing to “fight fire with fire.”

Why? Because as Dr. King explains, “Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence… in a descending spiral of destruction” This is one of the main reasons for not responding in kind to evil. In the powerful words of Mahatma Ghandi, “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

The second part of Romans 12 describes the divine reason we break the chain reaction of evil. The Scriptures command us to conquer hate through the power of love:

*Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse (v. 14).

*Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone (v. 17).

*If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone (v. 18).

*Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath (v. 19).

*If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink… (v. 20).

*Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (v. 21).

These commands indicate that a transformed nonconformist is in fact a peacemaker. And these peacemakers break the chain reaction of evil – through suffering, absorbing pain and responding in love.  

Peacemaking is not for the faint of heart. Peacemaking demands an uncompromising rejection of the unloving ways of the world and a radical embrace of the enemy-loving way of Jesus.

I read an article once where a civil rights worker was asked how he was able to endure racial hatred and violence while working for justice. “The hatred coming at me in those fists and clubs was bouncing right off me back into the air, and it could just continue to spread like electricity. I decided not to fight back. I would let my body absorb that hatred, so that some of it would die in my body and not bounce back into the world. I now see that my job in the midst of evil is to make my body a grave for hate.”

Did you catch that last sentence? “Making my body a grave for hate.” That sounds scary. It is! That is why I chose to follow Jesus – the one who made his body a grave for hate, the one who rose from the grave, and the one who said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21).

I pray you will join me on this journey of Love over hate. ~OC

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Keep Soaring

Today’s a new day! I write this as another hurricane comes through Florida. A good majority of the state is still recovering from another hurricane that hit us just a few weeks ago. These back-to-back hurricanes got me to thinking.

One thing about the storms of life is they do not last forever. They come and go. It is the size of our faith in God that determines how we will make it through each storm we face. Overcoming the storms of life can be overwhelming at times. When going through the storms of life, our faith and focus should be on God, the author and the finisher of our faith, not our problems. Sometimes that is easier said than done. It is during the storms of life when our faith is tested.

The only way to overcome the storm is to face and confront it. Overcomers cannot afford to play hide and seek with challenges, but instead must choose to face and deal with them head on. The challenges we are facing are just for a short time. We can never allow them to rob us of our destiny. We can never give up on life, on our faith, on our family/friends, and on the important things in life. We must face the storms of life and trust God for a brighter future. God did not bring us this far to leave us. He has a purpose for our lives. The word of God says- But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. ~Isaiah 43:31. I do not know about you, but that gives me hope.

While all the other birds fly away from the storm with fear, an eagle spreads its mighty wings and uses the current to soar to greater heights. An eagle doesn’t run for safety during the storms, but rather, it takes advantage of it to soar to some higher spot. Storms need somebody who will not give up no matter how hard it is. During the storms, take advantage to pray harder and worship like never before. There are times when the storms of life hit us so hard, when the storms threaten to sweep away all that we have. I am talking about times when the storms take away our loved ones, when the storms take away our possessions. Those are the very times we need to stand up and face the storms head on. God is bigger than any storm we will ever face in life. To overcome the storms of life, we have to have faith which is bigger than the storms. Our life is not over until God says it is.

If we are going to overcome the storms of life, we must let go of certain things surrounding our lives. We have to let go of some people who are holding us back. We have to let go of all of our fears and doubts. We have to let go of everything that is weighing us down and soar to a higher spot. Leave gossipers to gossip, leave haters to hate. Overcomers do not have time to confront everyone who speaks against them. Those living without purpose have limited vision, but overcomers see beyond the storms. Your storm will not last forever. Keep soaring! ~OC

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Faith Over Fear

Today’s a new day! The last few weeks have been a bit overwhelming for me. Dealing with multiple health issues and a new life changing diagnosis. In the midst of all the challenges, it would be easy to get discouraged….or stressed out….or worried….or afraid.

But the Bible has something to say about times like these – and as you might guess, it gives us some tools for overcoming the storms of life.

When life gets discouraging, we can look at the story of the Apostle Paul in the book of Acts and hopefully his trial will lift us out of any discouragement or fear that we might be walking through.

Paul knew what it was like to be in a storm – both literally and figuratively. He had been stoned and left for dead, whipped repeatedly for preaching the Gospel, was endlessly persecuted and experienced more than one setback.

One of those setbacks happened in Acts 27, when he was a prisoner being transported to Rome for trial. It was the wrong time of the year weather-wise for this trip, and Paul even prophesied to them, saying, “Men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also our lives” (Acts 27:10). But the captain of the ship decided to go anyway, and they sailed right into a major storm.

The Bible says they went days and days without seeing the sun or stars. For weeks they were tossed and slammed by the raging seas. Just reading through this story makes me a little queasy. In verse 20, we read that after so many days, all hope – even among these veteran sailors – was lost.

Have you ever been in a position where all hope seemed lost? Where despair and hopelessness got the best of you? That can be a devastating place to be. And the Apostle Paul was there because of the stubbornness of the crew. He had warned them about making the trip, but they went anyway.

But then, Paul stood up in the midst of that dark, hopeless situation and shouts, “Be of good cheer!”Unbelievable!

“Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told.”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭27‬:‭22‬-‭25‬ ‭

What a crazy thing to say to people in the midst of a hopeless situation – “cheer up!” But Paul had hope where there was no hope. He knew he belonged to God. He heard the word of the Lord (v. 23) and knew he had the victory.

In the same way, we also have the word of the Lord — we have the Bible. We can do what Paul did in the midst of the storm – look to the word of God and cheer up.

The Apostle Paul chose to believe in the word of God more than he believed in the raging storm. Faith came by hearing, meditating on and remembering the word. We can do that today. For starters, read and meditate on (Mark 9:23, John 10:10, Philippians 4:6, 7).

When we do what the Apostle Paul did – focus in on God’s word in the midst of the storm, then faith comes, and we can see beyond the storm. We can imagine life beyond the dark clouds. We can use our storms of life to encourage everyone around us.

Today, I want to encourage you as you walk through the storms of life, do like the Apostle Paul – declare Faith over Fear. Today, be of good cheer! God wants us to be healed, have our needs met, to overcome the world and have peace. All things are possible to them that believe. Lean on those promises.

Today, as you walk through the storms of life, I pray Romans 15:13 over you: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Amen. ~OC
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Someday….

Today’s a new day!

Someday when the kids are grown…
Someday when I’m financially stable…
Someday when my life isn’t so crazy…
Someday when I feel like my family/ friends approve…

Someday when (fill in the blank with your reasons), I’ll follow this big dream that God has given me.

Sometimes God gives us a glimpse of what’s to come and we need to wait on His timing. We may have lessons to learn first. Or maybe there are things that need to be put in place before it’s time.

BUT..
When God says, “Do this…”, our only response should be to pray for guidance and obey.


Let me tell you a bit of my story…

I had been on my crazy beautiful health journey for several years when I began to feel very strongly that God had something more than just being a patient. That God could use me to pray for and encourage other patients walking through their own journey. I did not have the full picture at the time, but I knew that God had a beautiful plan for this journey.

As I spent more and more time in the hospital, doctor appointments and treatments, I began to see God using me and my story to reach other patients who were being overwhelmed by the day to day struggles of their health journey. Fellow patients were reaching out to me to share their stories and I was blessed to pray for them.

Over the past twenty-two years, I have been blessed to walk with many patients. I have watched some experience healing from their medical battle and I have seen some experience the ultimate healing by walking into the presence of God.

This amazing journey started with me looking past “Someday.” Someday when my health improves. Someday when I have all the answers. Someday when I am more qualified.

When God called me to walk with and help others walking through the medical world, I was not qualified, but I was willing. I did not have all the pieces to the puzzle, but I knew the One who did. All God wanted from me was a “Yes.”

“Yes” because God was so clear about my next step (He confirmed it in multiple ways) that I knew this was His will for me.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalms 119:105

I do not know what God is calling you to, but I encourage you to trust in Him with all of your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. 

When God says, “Go!” You need to go. Even when it’s scary or doesn’t make sense to the world.

Being in step with God’s plan should always be our goal. It will not always be easy or seem “perfect” to us but we need to trust that He knows what He’s doing. Just keep leaning in and say yes. ~OC

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The Thief on the Cross

Today’s a new day! Yesterday, I reposted about the thief on the Cross that I found on a friend’s Facebook page. The story about the thief on the Cross has always been one of my favorite stories from the Bible. I have often shared after meeting Jesus, the next person in Heaven I want to meet is the thief on the Cross. Here are some of my thoughts on this amazing story.

As I went back and read Luke 23:26-49, I was struck with gratitude for the thief on the cross beside Jesus. Mocked, insulted and shamed- Jesus endured not only the painful, sorrowful physical pain of the cross but rejection of the people that he loved and came to save. Yet, it was the unexpected conversion of the thief who was there beside Jesus in those last moments. The thief’s witness of faith is a beautiful reminder of the redeeming potential of mankind.

So what differentiated the thief on the cross and the other criminal hanging there? I believe it was awareness and repentance.

First, the thief on the cross was attentive to who he believed Jesus to be- in light of an intimate unique relationship to God. Saying to the other criminal beside him, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation?” (Luke 23:40). Here too, the thief acknowledges his own sin, unworthiness, and deserved punishment. In the opinion of the world, there was no redemption, no more chances, this was the end. Yet, the thief also confesses an understanding that Jesus’ kingdom was not of this world and a new desire to belong to Christ. “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” (Luke 23:42).

Wait..there was still hope? Was it truly possible to trade the consequences for his decisions, the weight of his shame for a place in God’s kingdom that very day? And, “He replied to him, ‘Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’”(Luke 23:43). The beauty of Jesus victory over death reminds us of the ever present reality of the eternal promise of life. Yet, as God’s divine love and mercy are always more than we could ever conceive, gratefully we are reminded that God has yet to give up on any of us. So, to the thief on the cross I would like to say thank you.

Thank you for witnessing that not one spiritual journey is ever the same. Called to conversion, continually, we are a people always in need of a Savior. Though in mankind’s eyes your profession of faith might be considered last minute… it is in truth timeless. It is truly a graced beneficiary of the unrestrained and limitless love of a Father- who time has no hold upon. ~OC

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Some Lessons Learned

Today’s a new day! As I have run this crazy beautiful health journey for the past twenty-two years, I am often asked about the lessons I have learned along the journey. So here are just a few lessons learned along this crazy beautiful journey.

  1. Bring your pain to God don’t run from Him: When you run from God in seasons of challenge, all you’re left with is your own limited ability to cope with what you’re walking through. On the other hand, God invites us to draw near to him that we might experience his peace, healing, and closeness and this is what Scripture points us towards.

 “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.” Psalm 34:18

When we bring our pain to God we recognize that there is a purpose and in time God who loves us unconditionally will reveal his divine purpose through it.

  1. Fill your life with God’s word and God’s people: How we respond to the trials of life is critical to how we process what’s happening and how healing will take place. If we treat physical sickness with the incorrect medication, not only will our sickness continue, but it could become worse.

That is why it’s so important to not fill our minds with wrong thoughts; like God is mad at me, God is not good, worse things are going to happen, etc. If we allow those negative thoughts in, we will struggle to experience the peace of God he promises to us in Scripture (Philippians 4:7).

But when we fill our life with God’s words and surround ourselves with people who speak hope and encouragement into our lives, our experience will be much healthier.

“How sweet your words taste to me; they are sweeter than honey.” Psalm 119:103

When we fill our minds with God’s Word, we are reminding ourselves of who our God is, what he’s like, and we replace the lies of the enemy with the truth of God.

  1. Don’t be filled with worry, overflow with worship: Something powerful happens when we actively choose to worship through our suffering. We are not denying reality, we are simply redirecting our posture from one of worry to one of worship.

Worship changes our perspective. Worship speaks about where our confidence and hope lives. Worship redirects our thinking. Worship places the results in God’s hands.

  1. Believe that God will turn your sorrow into great joy: One of the great challenges of our faith is realizing that God can use our pain for our good. Meaning that our biggest sorrows can result in our greatest joy. When you think about Jesus’ greatest sorrow – suffering the shame, punishment, and death for our sin, the result was great joy – the redemption of humanity and the opportunity for a relationship with the living God.

When I reflect on my long health journey, which has been filled with a lot of pain, suffering and loss, I am thankful I pressed into God’s presence and trusted his plan for my life. I have watched him use my health journey to strengthen and encourage others which has resulted in my own comfort and joy through this crazy beautiful health journey.

As you walk through your own suffering today or in the days to come, I pray you will hold on to these powerful promises from God:

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” John 14:27

“And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20

As I continue to run this health battle, I am humbled that Jesus willingly suffered the greatest pain and death because He knew the end of the story and so do we. So keep leaning into the promises of God. ~OC

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Jars of Clay

Today’s a new day! In 2 Corinthians 4:7-9, we read the following words: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.  We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed.”

In the above verse, Paul is comparing us to jars of clay in verse seven because life here on earth will cause us to be broken sometimes and when we are we always have the choice on what we will do with our brokenness.  If we allow God to fill us more with each and every passing trial or heartache, He can shine through that brokenness and others will see Him. Even though some heartaches and storms seem to last forever Paul goes on to explain how we need to view everything in life on earth.  

In 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, it declares, “Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  As difficult as it is to look at some storms as being temporary when we know here on earth it isn’t just going to go away, God is drawing us to His side to allow Him to fill us with more of His light and to be comforted by Him.  He wants our focus to be on Him and eternity.  He wants His light to shine through our brokenness so the world will see Him.  The world is a dark, lost place and people need Jesus. The more we choose to be different by living a life that is pleasing to God the more they will see Him. Paul took great joy the more broken he became because He understood that the more weak he became the more God was shining through His life.  

Whether we are looking at our own life or the life of someone we love, don’t lose heart. God loves us and He has a plan. We need to fix our eyes on Him and seek Him and His plan. Allow Him to fill us so every crack of that broken jar shines His light to a lost world. The darker the world gets the more our light can shine for Him if we are seeking Him and allowing Him to shine through us. Our hope is found in Him and He wants to fill us with that hope. He wants to fill us with the confidence that whatever we may be facing or someone we love is facing that He has a plan but we must seek Him and follow Him. Don’t look for another way, the answers that we are seeking are found in God. It may seem easier and faster to look for it somewhere else, but if it isn’t His plan then it isn’t His best. So let us seek Him and trust Him, knowing how much He loves us so we can know that truly His best is yet to come. May we lean into His promises. ~OC

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When Life Knocks You Down

Today’s a new day! This has been a tough week for me mentally, physically emotionally and spiritually. I heard words from doctors this week that have not been promising. This week has made me press into my faith even more.

It’s easy to have faith when life is treating you well. When everything is working out. It’s much harder to have faith when you are facing challenges in your life. But that is exactly when you need to apply your faith. When you need to lean into your faith even deeper. Because faith is believing beyond the grime diagnosis from the doctors.

Faith is taking the first step.
Faith is jumping in the deep end and trusting everything will be okay.
It was easier to be positive back in the day, when I could lace up my running shoes and go for a 50 mile run. It’s much harder, much much harder when I have days where it’s hard to just walk across the living room without feeling like I have just run a marathon. Life was much easier when I could easily remember why I walked into another room. When my brain did not feel like I was in a constant fog. Living out our faith is so much easier when life is not so demanding. But that’s actually when we need faith the most.

We need faith and usually find faith when life is hard. On days, when we are fighting to just survive. Those are the days when we need faith the most. Because everything that means anything is worth the fight. Everything worth living for will require a real fight to achieve it. You and I cannot decide to quit half way through the race. We must run every step. Even when that next step is the hardest.

This crazy beautiful health journey has knocked me down a few times along the way. But I keep getting up. This week hit me like a severe cramp during a marathon. This week’s life changing diagnosis rocked my world. I was knocked down. I had to dig deep to get back up. But I did get back up. I didn’t stay down. My friend you need to keep getting back up when life knocks you down.

Here are 3 things I want to share about getting back up when life knocks you down.

1). Remember:
God still loves us and there are still many things to be thankful for.

We need to remember that God has given us many promises to hang onto. Check out Romans 8:28, Jeremiah 29:11, and Isaiah 40:31.

2). Connect:
The greatest temptation when we are feeling “down and out” is to isolate ourselves. We may feel embarrassed or lost about our current situation, or wonder if others will understand. We may think we can’t express how we are feeling. But the tough moments in life should connect us with God, our family and friends.

3). Pray:
We can pray that God will give us the opportunity to share what we are learning with someone else. As we begin to focus on others, we lose the grip of self-focus and all the negative feelings that can go along with it. Little by little, we will be planting seeds of a powerful life story we can tell some time in the future.

Here is a prayer that I hope helps as you walk through the tough days and keep getting back up:

Dear God, remind us that trials are to be expected. Help us keep our reactions under control and within Your will. Give us great strength to endure this trial in a way that is refining and transforming -for Your glory. ~OC

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