Yesterday, I wrote about RESTing our emotions–TRUSTing them to God so that we can experience Peace (contentment) in living above our circumstances. It’s part of the “letting go” (surrendering) process that I’ve been living and writing about…and I’m convinced it’s critical to experiencing Victory in this life…instead of just coping until we reach the next.

And at the last second, the verse came to mind “”And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6 NIV84). So I added it… and that’s what I had on my heart all day…how God loves to reward those who earnestly seek Him because He longs for us to truly seek HIM and truly LIVE a life of FAITH. And that’s what I experienced all day…His unmerited GRACE and FAVOR….blessings of unexpected Provision.

I raced to work for my sixth day straight. These occasional time stretches tend to mess me up since I’m a person of habit (Pavlov would’ve LOVED me)…so it was no real surprise that I walked into our team meeting to be “gently informed” that I grabbed my longer slip for the shorter dress that I had on. And not being one to start a new trend, I merely laughed and was thankful that I was going to my networking luncheon which is near my home so I could swing by my house and change. I was distracted so I left some things at the office that I wanted to take to my meeting; but we all started the work day with a giggle..that’s always fun.

Then at the end of my networking luncheon, I was frantically setting up a meeting while agreeing with someone else’s lighting choice, as I was wrapping up to race back to the office. When I pulled up my calendar on my phone, one gal said, “I wish you would go with me to the Margarita Ball.” I looked at her…trying to process her comment. We went from trying to set up a time to meet for a margarita, to going to the Ball….and my frazzled brain wasn’t keeping up. This Ball is put on to raise money for children’s charities; and it’s one of the biggest shindigs in Dallas. I’ve heard about it for several years…but it’s almost impossible to get a ticket. Admittedly, I’m much more comfortable barefoot and in sweats; but I have thought it would be a fun experience…just never thought about it seriously.

So as I asked her “are you serious?” for the third time…her grin getting wider, her nod getting stronger and her eyes getting brighter each time that I asked …my feeble brain began to process it. Then I asked the fateful question, “How much is it?”… When she smiled, “I have an extra ticket and a room. All you need is a formal dress.”, I actually caught myself beginning to breathe again….and exclaimed, “I’d love to!”
Then I wrapped up my stuff; and as I drove back to work, I couldn’t stop grinning in amazement…this Cinderella is going to the Ball….

And the rest of the day was similarly covered in unexpected Blessings and Favor. God’s loving Hand was doling out gifts from my innermost heart’s desire. And I knew why….because I earnestly seek Him…and I was gently reminded: like many young girls, I grew up wishing I had someone to flick a wand and make everything “okay”. But I don’t need a “fairy godmother”…I have a Heavenly Father God…who loves to lavish His undeserved Favor on me…as I live a simple life of Faith. Jesus said, “It is more Blessed to Give than to Receive”…but that is regarding our heart to others. As we give of ourself to HIM…we will RECEIVE more of HIM. And that, my friends, is truly a GIFT beyond all we can ask or imagine. 🙂

“For this reason I kneel before the Father…. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:14-21 NIV84)

I’ve been kinda quiet lately…part of how I’m learning to “be still”. But in this fast pace world we live in, it’s not very easy to “stay” still…so much to do…so much coming at us. So what God is showing me is that “being still” is often a state of mind rather than literally the body being still….and it’s an amazing Faith experience.

As I’m learning to be still and REST in Him, I am experiencing RESToration in many areas of my life. My Boss noticed that my sales this month have been primarily previous clients returning…that’s the best kind, of course. And I’ve had several gals come back in…who for whatever reason had seemed to have developed a friction with me. But now situations have occurred where my heart has shone through to them as I rose above the friction to help them…and they have received it and been thrilled with what I’ve done for them. And I’m thrilled to have them as loyal clients. And this past week, several friendships have been restored that I thought were lost…or simply “misplaced”…and sorely missed. Such a blessing to have them back in my life.

But the lesson in RESTing keeps going deeper. Saturday was a really good, but really hard day at work. So I spent that evening with a rare REST time at home, sharing and laughing on the phone. Then Sunday morning, I stayed in to watch more of a DVD teaching…and I almost cried as I watched as the concepts of what God has been teaching me were confirmed in this teaching…even down to specific verses. In His amazing lovingkindness, God doesn’t miss a detail. And it strengthens my TRUST in Him and so my FAITH is strengthened.

And I’ve been realizing ever since how very much I need it. Right before leaving for work, I remembered I never got the mail from Saturday. What I found was not at all expected. I have been in a continual “battle” to get something rectified that wasn’t handled properly by a professional whom I trusted…when I received the letter, the “old me” would have freaked…lost my patience and my REST. But I CHOSE to stay grounded in HIM…who allowed the circumstances. And when I was able to call about it yesterday morning, it was all resolved…just a standard letter that slipped through the computer system. Yes, I am relieved and thank-full…but that wasn’t the VICTORY…my unshaken FAITH was. It resulted in a confident assurance in My Heavenly Father…and the “peace that passes understanding” that seems to be so elusive in these manic days. Again…more blessing.

But what has happened to me personally pales to what is happening around me…there is a tremendous storm that I’m walking through. My sister’s friend I ran into at Big Lots had a heart attack last week; someone in my company has recurring cancer— is consumed with it…and it’s an opportunity to pray for everyone involved and share my Faith among my coworkers as this epic struggle for life is played out…made even more tragic by the fact that this person isn’t a Believer; and I received a call yesterday about a dear loved one who also is facing recurring cancer…with three children. So much pain.

And as I was praying in the middle of the night…I was gently reminded: true RESTing in God isn’t about sitting around doing nothing…it’s about RESTing our EMOTIONS IN HIM. When Peter saw Jesus walking on the water, he so wanted to BE with Jesus that he simply CHOSE to be. And he was quite literally experiencing a FAITH WALK…until he saw the wind…and he became afraid. He was truly living ABOVE his circumstances…until he allowed his emotions to take over…and then he began to sink into the water…and out of FAITH.

So I believe that this is the true lesson in RESTing…to live above our circumstances is to rest our emotions on Him who can calm the storm because he created the sea. Trusting solely in the ONE who claimed “It is finished” as He hung from a cross and now sits in Victory at the right hand of our Heavenly Father. And when we CHOOSE to BELIEVE IN HIM….and learn to TRUST so strongly that we can REST our emotions IN HIM…we may not literally walk on water like Peter…but it will surely “feel” like we are…and that is the true JOY of a FAITH WALK. 🙂

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6 NIV84)

“Immediately (after the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000) Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” (Matthew 14:22-33 NIV84)

Posted on facebook: 10/14/2012

This past week, I shared about my continual journey of “letting go”. I also shared how “hard” it is…because it is critical to let go of the pain from our past. And that pain is “protected” by fear and pride….it’s how we’ve learned to cope. But the Bible says there is no victory in coping in our own methods…our own “strength”. God allows pride to cause us to stumble over ourSELF…”Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.” (Proverbs 16:18 NASB)…and “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.” (1 John 4:18 NASB)

And we can’t even depend on our own Faith walk to experience victory, because that can waver when the inevitable trials come. In order to gain true victory in this life…not where everything goes “right”…but when you can agree with Paul, “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.” (Philippians 4:11 NASB)…we have to choose to place our Trust in HIM for all things and learn to Rest in Him.

So as I’ve lived my own journey and watched those I care deeply for struggle with pride and fear that keeps them from experiencing true JOY…I’ve learned the importance of “letting go”…or, what the Bible calls “surrender”. And it’s been quite the topic of conversation for me the past few weeks…in fact, I have a feeling several folks are ready for me to “let it go”. :-))

But yesterday, as I rested in my Quiet Time, God in His Lovingkindness took it one step further. I “happened” upon a you tube video titled, “your root problem is”… Honestly, I didn’t want to take the time to check it out…so I went back and “favorited” it to watch later…but something came over me to go back, yet again, and watch it…and when i read the rest of the title, I smiled at God as I understood why I was meant to watch it then. It was “the real root of your problem is CONDEMNATION.” I hadn’t seen that before…

He spoke of how we have so many effects of sin in our life…broken marriages and other struggles. But he gave the visual of how they merely are the sick “leaves” that “stem” from other issues. And, just as you can’t kill weeds by killing the leaves…you must kill the root…so he taught how we must deal with the root issues of why we continue to sew and reap the effects of sin in our life.

He quoted the Mayo Clinic that “70% of illness is caused by stress”; so the first root cause of problems is stress. But then he went on to mention that the root cause of most of stress is fear. We know that, as well. You can go into any book store and find tons of books on stress and even fear…as he said, that’s how far the world can go in dealing with these issues.

But then he went even further…that the root cause of sin issues is spiritual, of course. And that the deepest root of all is condemnation…deep inside we don’t BELIEVE that we are worthy of God’s love and living a righteous life of victory in Christ. That is where the you tube video ended…but that’s not the end…and this is also something that I’ve been enCouraging others in lately…I just never saw the connection until now…

The enemy seeks to deceive us–that is his greatest “weapon”–into a false identity…we see that in the Garden of Eden and when Jesus was tempted in the desert. But today, he tries to convince us that we are still “condemned” and, therefore do not “deserve” Joy and victory in this life… But that is a LIE…and it makes worthless Christ’s “It is finished” on the cross.

As Christians, we have entered into His Righteousness. And, once again…it’s not a matter of whether we “feel” or “believe” that it’s TRUE…it’s a matter of TRUSTing that we are considered RIGHTeous in God’s eyes…because we don’t have to consider Christ’s sacrifice “good enough”… GOD does. So…”therefore there is now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Period….it is “finished”…so, not because of anything we have done or not done…but because of the work Christ did on the cross…we can “let go” of the pain of our past…and experience JOY…if we TRUST Him. 🙂

“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things?

If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

(excerpts from Romans 8: NASB)