DRILL A MAN

WORDS...they come together on page. Right?

Alone... they don't mean as much, but put them together with each other and they become more meaningful.  Such are the things of life.

Have you ever entertained the thought..."What if I am just a fool... A Dreamer living in a dream world?  What if all that I've been believing isn't even true?  What if the hope I've been clinging to is silly?"

I have.  Those thoughts have came knocking at my door, and unfortunately I let them in.  I know they're lies, but somehow they grabbed hold of me and began to affect my emotions.  They became real to me.  As I let them seep into my reality I began to feel even more depressed.  In that depressed feeling I began realizing with even more clarity that my hope in God and the work of Jesus is solely what has kept me going amidst trials and hardships year after year.  Without a hope that God has a bigger plan and purpose for me, what's the point?  There is no point.  We'd all be living life aimlessly, but not REALLY living at all.

Think about it...if there is no God, no bigger plan, and nothing after you die...what are you doing here on this earth?  To love my family and do good for others, you might reply.  But for what?... Why? So they can be loved to just die and it all be meaningless?

In the movie "Moneyball", based on the true story of Billy Beane and changing the game of baseball he said this:

Billy Beane: It's hard not to be romantic about baseball. This kind of thing, it's fun for the fans. It sells tickets and hot dogs. Doesn't mean anything.

Peter Brand: Billy, we just won twenty games in a row.

Billy Beane: And what's the point?

Peter Brand: We just got the record.

Billy Beane:  I've been in this game a long time. I'm not in it for a record, I'll tell you that. I'm not in it for a ring. That's when people get hurt. If we don't win the last game of the Series, they'll dismiss us.  I know these guys. I know the way they think, and they will erase us. And everything we've done here, none of it'll matter. Any other team wins the World Series, good for them. They're drinking champagne, they get a ring. But if we win, on our budget, with this team... we'll have changed the game. And that's what I want. I want it to mean something.

Just as Billy wanted meaning for what they were doing for people in baseball...Our reason for existence has to mean something.  Or otherwise we are just living here to be erased and as Billy Beane said, "NONE OF IT WILL MATTER".

As I wrestled through getting the lies out of my mind I remembered something someone once said:

When God wants to drill a man,

And thrill a man,

And skill a man

When God wants to mold a man

To play the noblest part;

When He yearns with all His heart

To create so great and bold a man

That all the world shall be amazed,

Watch His methods, watch His ways!

How He ruthlessly perfects

Whom He royally elects!

How He hammers him and hurts him,

And with mighty blows converts him

Into trial shapes of clay which

Only God understands;

While his tortured heart is crying

And he lifts beseeching hands!

How He bends but never breaks

When his good He undertakes;

How He uses whom He chooses,

And which every purpose fuses him;

By every act induces him

To try His splendor out-

God knows what He’s about.
- Anonymous

This really helped me to get my focus back, kicking those lies out and jump-starting my believing again that all the trials and hard things my husband and I keep going through have distinct purpose and meaning for our good and God's Kingdom plan for people.  There is a point.  It's not just a big waste of time.  God is always about the people.  Our pain and trials will be used to bring comfort to someone else going through similar pain and God will use it to build our character as well and bring Him glory.

When I'm going through sufferings and hard times I always like to know that there is at least one person who can relate and understand how I'm feeling.  It always comforts me to remember that Jesus, my Savior, walked the road of suffering.  He knows what it feels like to be betrayed.  He knows what it feels like to step forward in love to love people, and have them spit in your face, mock you, and walk all over you.  He knows how it feels to be rejected and under-appreciated.  When He came in the form of a human, to set us who are captive to our sinful nature free, He wants us to know that he knows the pain and how it feels.

If you are struggling right now or have been for quite some time through hard times...I understand.  Let's press on together asking God to show us the meaning of our pain and trials.

If you are struggling with believing if God is real...open up a Bible and sincerely ask God to show you who He is.  He will show you.  It may not be when or how you expect, but if you seek Him He will answer.

What's your hope that keeps you going through hardships and trials?

I hope that you find your Hope in God's bigger plan.  His great love for you and Jesus Christ's redemptive work on the cross.

Just like words, if you take seasons and moments of your life and separate them to stand alone, they may seem meaningless.  But put them all together and you will begin to see them forming into a meaningful story with purpose if you walk with God and salvation in Christ.

Are you desiring for just one person to love you unconditionally and not make fun of you?  Someone to lead you and have your best interests at heart?  One who can, most importantly, free you from the wages of your sin which will only lead to eternal death?  One who wants to have an intimate relationship with you and who cares for you so deeply that He watches over you all the time...never sleeping?  I did!!  And still do!!  I've walked the road of feeling like I don't belong, being stuck behind the prison bars of insecurity and feeling like you don't matter, and frequently feeling overlooked.  But not anymore!  If you feel like that, I want you to know that God did NOT overlook me!  And He does NOT overlook you!  There is love and freedom for you through Jesus!

Jesus is that ONE.  God is waiting for you to accept His free gift of love to you through salvation in Jesus if you haven't.

I believe that you can't speak into people's lives about things you haven't experienced yourself.  So I want you to know that I speak all these words and anything I write on this blog from personal experience.  Let's walk together!