God Has Our Back

 "Have not I commanded you? Be strong, vigorous, and very courageous. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."        Joshua 1:9

        In the office where I work we have a Christmas Tradition.  We give gag gifts to our co-workers.   We search all year for just the right gag gift.  Something that embodies the person and yet makes everyone laugh.  Usually it is in reference to the "absolutely worst" part of your job.... and yes... it usually makes you laugh too.... 

        Well, last year our Grants writer got me good.  He gave me a bin pin that said "2010 already sucks".   It was funny because it was pretty much right on as the beginning of the year is always a nightmare for me as that is when I have to close out the grants.  It is usually a mad dash to spend any remaining funds before the drop dead date.   So for the first few days I wore that pin everywhere... even to church... it was a joke..... it was cute... but it became much too true to remain a joke.   Shortly into the new year my dad died and then it just got worse from there.   Needless to say I took the pin off and have not put it back on...

        During much of the year I have isolated myself from everyone around me.... I have not wanted to bring anyone else down.   I think that for the most part I am still doing that but I have let a few folks back in....  not many though....  But yes it has been a long and lonely year.

      It would be so easy to say that God had abandoned me during times when my life just seemed to stink.... but it would be a lie.   Because, you see... I have not been walking through this alone.   God has never left my side..... Oh, there have been many times where I have not seen His touch in my life.  Many times where I felt alone and abandoned.  There were times where I would not hear Him or feel Him in my life.    But yet He was always there.... waiting for me..... Hindsight is a wonderful thing isn't it?  It's easy to  look back now as I do a "Year In Review" kind of thing on my life - and to see how He was there working in my life and I didn't even see Him.   Yep.  That's it exactly.  

       There are so many places in the bible where God tells us that He will not abandon us.... David speaks of that so many times in the Psalms.... and yet in many other places in the Psalms he is unable to see God working in his life, and He asks God "where are You?".   The pure and simple truth is that God IS always with us.  He NEVER leaves us.   We just sometimes take our eyes and our minds off of Him and forget to look to Him.  

      Maybe sometimes we put blinders on (kind of like putting on sunglasses at night).  The same things are out there.... they are already hard to see because it's dark out, but you have even more trouble seeing them because of the sunglasses.   The sunglasses are kind of like when we get all bummed out because of the circumstances of our lives.   The circumstances are there.  They are not going away (at least not by our power)... but if we take our eyes off of God and look to ourselves or others to fix the circumstances it will never happen.  We just can't do it. God is there.   He may or may not fix the circumstances, but if you wait for Him, and follow the lead that He gives you, He can surely navigate your way around or through the circumstances.

       Dear Lord, thanks for always having my back.  Even when I didn't realize I had a back. Thanks for being with my friends when they need you and can't see you working in their lives.   Thanks for forgiving us when we forget that you are always there.  Dude, You just rock!"