Sometimes Life Happens

Have you ever encountered a day where life seems to just happen to you in a way that completely disrupts your routine and re-routes your life forever? Perhaps you have encountered many of those days. I am certain that many soldiers can understand what it is like to encounter disruption when they lose a limb or are injured by bombs. Many civilians are also caught unaware by disruptions such as drunk drivers, car accidents, deer standing in the road, car bombs, doctors telling them they have cancer, etc.

These life changing moments can be overwhelming at times, but God has built into our bodies a mechanism to enable us to overcome these moments. It is a tiny little part of our brain called the amygdala which kicks into overdrive during these times of crisis. It takes over for the conscious mind and runs the body helping us to cope during crisis until the conscious mind can handle coming to the surface again. It constantly amazes me the more I study the human body how uniquely we are all formed. We are created to withstand incredible amounts of stress, yet there is a limit to the amount the human body can withstand before it starts to break down.

I often wonder if catastrophic life events aren't reminders to us to slow down. I am not saying that they are God ordained, I am saying that things happen sometimes for a reason. I believe that God knows everything that is going to happen in the universe and I believe that He knows how to help us through these events. Some of us get so caught up in our every day affairs that we forget to take the time to get quiet before our Maker, to listen for His still small, yet large voice. Sometimes, I believe that we get sick because we are not taking the Sabbath day off to rest like we are supposed to as God designed the Sabbath day to be. Instead we are using that day to go bike riding, playing golf, hiking mountains, etc. In the scripture, it states that on the 7th day, God rested from creating the world. This is the prototype for all creation. We are encouraged to rest from creating... from working, from doing. Many of us grew up in families where we were made to feel guilty for resting... well, today, I'm going to give you permission to rest. I'm going to give you permission to not feel guilty for taking care of your body. You might say, "who am I that I can give you permission?"... my answer is that "I am a child of God, just as you are a child of God... and I release you from the guilt and shame that anyone has put on you that is not from God, and I release you to be who you are as His child because that is what His word releases me to do as His child."

Now, I know that people from all over the world read this blog... so I hope that you can understand that I care for you, each and every one of you. I am saddened by the events in Pakistan especially, and I pray for my friends and readers in Pakistan. I pray for peace and tranquility to come to your door. Most of all, I pray for peace and rest. May the God of the Heavens and the earth give you peace and rest in Christ Jesus! Amen and amen!

RamyB

Even Though The Storm Rages... He Is In The Eye of the Storm

If anyone has ever been through a difficult storm such as a hurricane, a tornado, a blinding blizzard, they know that in the middle of the storm there is often a place of peace or a moment of calm before the storm begins to rage again. In a hurricane, it is called the eye of the storm. Even in blinding blizzards, there is often a lull and then another wave of storm.

It amazes me at times how nature gives way to humanity almost as if we need a breather, a chance to catch our breath. I believe it is God's way of speaking to us, letting us know that He is there, even in the fiercest of circumstances. He is there to help us through.

I can think of many storms in my life where I didn't think I was going to make it through to the other side of the storm. I remember driving through a horrific, blinding blizzard. It was like driving with roller skates on sheer ice. It took us five hours to travel 100 miles. Normally, it would have taken 90 minutes, but the storm was so bad that everyone was travelling very slowly and we could barely see the car in front of us. There were cars in ditches. We couldn't pull over to the side of the road because we were in the mountains and the nearest town was 100 miles away. Even the tractor trailers were having difficulty with the journey. Yet, I knew, as my roommates slept, that someone bigger than me was travelling with us keeping us all safe.

When we got to the next town which was out of the mountains, there was a lull in the storm, so I drove on through another three hours, finally to the end of the storm. One of my roommates suddenly woke up and asked if I wanted her to drive. I said, "yes." As soon as my body hit the passenger side, I fell into a deep sleep. My roommates said I could not be awakened for the next 500 miles. I had driven us through the most difficult part of the trip... the blinding. They slept through it, but we were not alone. It was the middle of the night, but I, the driver, was not alone. He was there in the eye of the storm. He kept me awake, alert, and safe. I'll never forget it.

There are so many other kinds of storms we experience in life... times when things happen beyond out control, yet He is there with us even if we cannot see His sustaining hand.

(c) 2007, RamyB