25 Jesus said to her,
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die,
he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you
believe this?” John 11:25-26 NKJV
This is a short excerpt taken from a
much longer spontaneously written piece that I wrote several days ago while
thinking about my current season in life …
When two of the most important electronic items that I depend
daily on started having battery capacity/storage issues, I began to ask myself
what I would do if these items suddenly stopped working and I was no longer
able to use them or the information stored on them. This prompted me to make
sure that I have everything "important" backed up on hard drives or
cloud drives so I don't lose anything. Then, I asked myself, how would it
affect my ability to work from home if my laptop suddenly died? How would I
effectively communicate with my children, family, and anyone else, if my phone
suddenly stopped? I began to make "backup" plans…
A long time ago, I learned to take notice and pay attention
to “normal everyday” situations and challenges because, many times, God is
pointing things out to me that I can learn from. We are currently nearing the 4th
anniversary of my husband’s untimely entrance to heaven, and it has been a very
difficult and challenging season for me. I’ve had to constantly, mentally and
forcefully, make the decision not to go back to that place of dark despair and
utter loneliness in my heart and mind that I experienced, especially in the
first two years, after my husband died. But, as I began reflecting on the
challenges of lost battery capacity in two of the very important electronic devices that I use
daily; I was brought to some questions that I have asked myself: Have I prepared myself to handle this season
in my life? Do I have a backup plan when my personal “battery” seems to be
dying on me? Did I make sure to store everything that is “important” if my
“battery” fails on me? What is my current “storage capacity”, anyway?
As I pondered those questions, I realized that I do have a plan in place! And I have made sure to store everything that
is important if my “battery” fails on me! I don’t quite know exactly what my
current storage capacity is, but I have one answer to all of these questions: Jesus,
my Lord and Savior!! When all else in life fails, JESUS NEVER FAILS! He is my
plan A and He is also my backup plan! He is my everyday plan! My walk and
relationship with the Lord is where I’ve stored everything “important” in my
life! I plan to continue to be filled with the Holy Spirit and allow Him to
lead me and guide me, even as my own personal “battery” storage capacity seems
to be shrinking. I plan to solely and
wholeheartedly depend on my Heavenly Father whose grace is sufficient for me
and who daily supplies all of my needs (emotionally, mentally, physically, and
spiritually), according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus! (2 Corinthians
12:9; Philippians 4:19)
I believe there are many of us who, at times, begin to lose
our capacity to hold or carry the things that we walk in daily. Our battery
begins to drain and we may feel the need to just “stop working”. It’s during
those times that we need to rely on what we’ve already stored up inside of us
before our personal battery capacity began to fail. That’s when our faith kicks
in and we allow ourselves to depend on God’s grace and His strength to restore
us and recharge us. In 2 Corinthians 12:9, it says,
9 And
He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My
strength is made perfect in weakness.” For those of us who are feeling drained,
overwhelmed, exhausted, etc., during this time when we are looking forward to
celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the great love He
has brought to us, be encouraged! And continue to put your hope and trust in
Him, knowing “…that
He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of
Jesus Christ…” Philippians 1:6 NKJV
Have a Merry and Blessed Christmas and a
Happy New Year!