Being Confident

     God is so funny.  He has been so faithful in using my mind the way it works best, to show me things in just every day life circumstances.  I've been a coach for nearly 25 years.  Within that time frame I have come across a lot of referees.  Some refs were good and others not so much.  If you have ever seen any kind of a game, you KNOW that any really good ref has to be CONFIDENT in His calls.  
As a Physical Education and Health teacher I have had to ref many games in my gym over the course of 21 years.  With every call, there always seems to be someone in class that wants to argue or question it.  Today as I was refereeing a game, and I blew my whistle and called  a player "out of bounds" as his foot hit and crossed over the line while he had the ball.  Immediately upon my call, I got questioned and he wanted to argue.  With confidence, I simply looked at him, with a bit of my "teacher look", and said, "Your foot was out of bounds, other teams ball!" and blew my whistle and signaled to the other team and away we went.  I did not stand there and banter with him.  He stood there for a minute in a bit of shock and then accepted my call and moved on.  It was at that moment the Lord said to me "this is why you need to be confident in my Word".  I began to laugh and as I was running down the court still refereeing the game.   I laughed and said "Lord you are so funny" right out loud.  To me, it was funny for Him to again, take a second to use my simple daily tasks to illustrate something to me and use it to minister. He does that to me so often.   Hes so clever. He knows me, He knows my mind and I am a visual learner...so right there is was. 
 We need to not only be IN the Word and KNOW it, but we need to be CONFIDENT in it.  The world or someone will always question it.  They will want to water it down, they will want to argue it.  The truth is, however, that He is the same yesterday today and forever.  He is unchanging, unwavering and we need to be confident in His promises.  If He says that He will supply all our needs then we need to be confident in that (Philippians 4:19). If He says that no weapon formed against us shall prosper, we need not only hold on to that, but be confident in the call He made (Isaiah 54:17).  If He says that we are an overcomer, than we are (Romans 8:37).  Meanwhile the enemy will come a knocking trying to convince you otherwise, wanting to banter with you, throwing whatever he can to try to detour your thinking to get you to question (John 10:10).  Be confident in what God has said in His Word.
Stand on it, move forward and don't let the enemy banter with you. 

Proverbs 3:26  The LORD will be your confidence. He will keep your foot from getting caught.

When to Reposition

     Years ago when my oldest daughter was an infant and sleeping in her bassinet next to my bed, I got up to change her in the middle of the night.  I placed her changing pad on my bed, laid out the new diaper, cream and wipes and had everything in order ready to be used because I knew I would need it.  I made sure to have all of it ready because any of you who have changed a squirmy, poopy infant know that you need everything where you can get to them efficiently and quickly in order to manage the situation.  I laid her toward me with her bottom facing me, peeled off her pajamas, and then her diaper and assessed the "damages".  It wasnt too bad so I knew it would be a quick change.  As I was lifting her bottom up to clean her up, she apparently finished what had gotten us there in the first place because apparently she was not done.  If you have ever changed a breast fed baby, you know that anything that comes out of them is loose...and I mean seriously loose.  As sat there in my shock, this child, in one push, littered me with poop from head to belly.  It happened so fast, all I could do was close my eyes.  She literally had sprayed me with poop.  I had it dripping from my hair, my face and down my pajamas. The first instinct is to drop and run, but clearly I could not do that as she could have rolled off the bed and was laying there naked and bottom covered in poop as well.  I quickly cleaned her up, redressed her and place her back in her bassinet.  All the while, poop is dripping from me and I admittedly was freaking out.  I assessed the damage to myself and my surroundings, and realized that it was only on me and had not hit anything else, so I quickly got up and literally entered the shower with clothes on at 4 am.  From that moment on, to this day, I have learned to never change a baby, any baby, with their bottom facing me. 
I didnt blame her for the mess, she was just a baby.  I blamed myself for not knowing enough not to have her bottom facing me (new moms take note).  I learned quickly never to set myself up like that  to allow it to happen again by using wisdom from there on out.
   We have all had to deal with messes that we didnt expect, and often are the ones sprayed with the consequence, left to do nothing but clean up.
When this happens enough times we learn to put barriers in place to protect ourselves.  For me, in this situation, it was re-positioning my daughter when changing her because I did not trust that it would not happen again.  Of course my daughter was just a baby and didnt know any better.  What about when its a situation where its someone who should know better.  I agree with forgiveness, as hard as it can be at times, when we become part of the mess someone else has created.  Forgiveness is always the best resort, but even with forgiveness, that doesnt mean you allow yourself to stay in a position of becoming sprayed with someones mess again.   Eventually you get tired of cleaning up.  A wise person knows when its time to still love and of course forgive, but when its time to re-position.  Many use the term "forgive and forget", but if by “forgive and forget” one means, “I choose to forgive the offender for the sake of Christ and move on with my life,” then this is a wise and Godly course of action. As much as possible, we should forget what is behind and strive toward what is ahead (Philippians 3:13). We should forgive each other “just as in Christ God forgave” (Ephesians 4:32). We must not allow a root of bitterness to spring up in our hearts (Hebrews 12:15).  However, if by “forgive and forget” one means, “I will act as if the sin or the mess had never occurred and live as if I don’t remember it,” then we can run into trouble. Forgiveness involves not holding a sin against a person any longer, but forgiveness is different from trust. It is wise to take precautions, and sometimes the dynamics of a relationship will have to change. “The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty” (Proverbs 22:3). Jesus told His followers to “be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16). In the context of keeping company with unrepentant sinners, we must be “innocent” (willing to forgive) yet at the same time “shrewd” (being cautious).
The ideal is to forgive and forget. Love keeps no record of wrongs (1 Corinthians 13:5) and covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). However, changing hearts is God’s business, and, until an offender has a true, supernatural heart change, it is only wise to limit the level of trust one places in that person. Being cautious and re-positioning ourselves doesn’t mean we haven’t forgiven. It simply means we are not God and we cannot see that person’s heart.

Bonding or Bondage

     This weekend I woke early in the morning to find myself with arms raised and somewhere between sleep and wakening, I was praising and worshiping the Lord.  I had such peace when I awoke and truly this is my heart.  As I was thinking deeply about this, as I often do about things, I was thinking about how my desire is to be in His presence...constantly in His presence.  Pressed up against Him.  Immediately I pictured a child crawling up into the lap of a parent snuggling in right into the crook of His neck.  Then I pictured the birth of a new born, placed upon the chest of its mother.  This is done after birth to form a bond, a connection.  There is nothing standing between the baby and the mother, they are skin to skin, and the baby surely could hear the heart beat of the mother, something it has heard for 9 months in the womb.  Peace, assurance of safety and security, completely unaware of anything else around it.  That is my hearts desire, to just be that close, nothing to come between that bond, and fully hearing His heart beat.
Then the Lord placed another picture in my head, that of sand. 
 I am blessed to have had and will have the opportunities to go to the Bahamas and enjoy time in the sand and sun.  I am looking forward to that again this year.  Only one thing I can think of that I am not looking forward to about this trip is sand in my bed.  We are seriously surrounded by sand at our hotel.  Tracking it in to your room in inevitable.  As hard as I try, and as much as we sweep, take our shoes off at the door etc.... sand gets into the room.  Without fail, I somehow end up with at least a grain of it in my bed....IT DRIVES ME CRAZY.  One grain of sand between the sheets and my skin can really wreck havoc on a good nights sleep.  Its the difference between restlessness and peace.  It can be the same in our lives.  The smallest most minuscule thing, that may seem as small as a grain of sand, can get between you and God and steal your peace and your joy.  What is it that we have in our lives that is getting in the way of that complete peace.  You may think that you can ignore it, but lest you get rid of it, it may steal from you that which you desire.  Nothing is hidden from God, He knows every detail of our lives.  He knows our name.  
He desires to be "skin to skin", nothing standing between you and He.  He could shake out the sheets, but He wants you to take a hold of a corner.
God knows your name.  He knows your personally.  He has inscribed your name on the palm of His hands, you are always that close to Him.  Isn't that wonderful!  Isn't that enough reason to feel safe in His hands?  Why would we ever want anything to get in-between us and God?
I don't know where your find yourself today.  Perhaps you feel lost or alone or far from home and you're not sure how to find your way back.  Remember that He knows your name and He is willing to help you get rid of anything that stands between you and He...things we have placed there, not Him.  He will never leave you nor forsake you.  Ask Him to help you shake out your sheets and get you back on track.  If you need direction, He will give it to you, just ask.
I love this passage from Psalm 139.  Meditate on these scriptures and remind yourself just how intimately your God knows you.

Psalm 139

You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you.

19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
    Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
    your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
    and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
    I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.