Too Simple

    

"But his officers tried to reason with him and said, "Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, wouldn't you have done it? 2 Kings 5:13a NLT

How many times have you missed out on being healed because you didn't like the way it looked or sounded? As little kids, a kiss on the boo-boo or a band-aid is an immediate fix. We are happy with the attention and run off to play some more. As we get older that simple fix doesn't work and we want ice, a band-aid, and some time to rest and recover before we go back to playing. Once we become adults a simple fix just doesn't seem to solve the hurt, you have to baby the wound before you can move on. The simple things just don't work or at least that is what we are programmed to believe. This not only happens physically but spiritually; before we know it, a period of time has flown by, and we are still trying to heal. This healing can be from someone or something in your life that has hurt you, but for this post, I'm going to speak on our sins. Yes, even I sin, it's inevitable, and though I don't like to admit it I sin daily. We are told as believers if we ask for forgiveness of our sins they will be forgiven. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9 HCSB 

    How many times have you missed out on a blessing, blessing others, or a calling because you could not forgive yourself? The Bible, which is God's word, clearly states that if we ask for forgiveness it is given, so why do we have such a hard time forgiving ourselves. We get caught up in our mistakes and we are not able to move forward. I have a theory, or at least God is opening my eyes to why I struggle with forgiving myself. IT'S TOO EASY! Like Naaman from 2 Kings, I find myself thinking in order for me to gain forgiveness from God it should be earned. I should have to do some difficult task to be worthy of God's forgiveness and to forgive myself for messing up, but that is not what God says to do. Let's look at Naaman's background real quick and discuss this story that jumped out at me one morning this past week as I read my Bible. Naaman was a commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was an excellent commander, won many battles, and was favored by the king, but there was a problem, Naaman had leprosy. During this time, leprosy was viewed as a sign of sinfulness and you needed to ask for forgiveness and be cleansed. Naaman went to Elisha's house, a prophet of God so he could be cleansed of this "sin". His response to his cure isn't too far from what mine has been at times. He became angry and refused to do what Elisha's messenger told him to do. Why did he become angry? Naaman was expecting Elisha to come out and wave his hand over him or at least give him some difficult task to complete. Instead, Elisha sends a messenger to tell Naaman the simplest of tasks, "Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored and you will be healed of your leprosy." 2 Kings 5: 10 That's it, just go wash yourself, it seems simple enough.

    You see Naaman was expecting a different answer, and this threw him off guard. In my opinion, Naaman did the hard part which is humbling himself and asking how to be cleansed. He was not expecting it to be so simple. Him being a commander expected the cleansing to be a more tedious task, and was upset that he traveled when he could've just washed in the rivers of his country. It took his servants asking him if it would have been a difficult task if he would do it just to be cleansed for him to realize his reaction was a bit dramatic. Of course, Naaman was like, well yeah I would do the difficult task, and his servants asked him then why won't you do this simple thing? Just go wash yourself in the Jordan, it's so simple and we can be on our way, serving our king and winning battles. (emphasis is mine) We are not told the time frame from when Naaman showed up at Elisha's house to when he decided to go wash in Jordan. Can you picture the shock on his servants' faces when he was given this simple assignment and refused to do it? 

    Let's bring this back to us when we ask for forgiveness of our sins. Can you picture God's face when we don't simply come to him and ask for forgiveness? He already knows what we've done and why we've done it. We want to ask for forgiveness and hold on to it like it's a treasure or not even bring it to him. Either way, when you don't bring it to God and leave it with him you are weighing yourself down. He can't do the work in your life and you will struggle to do what He has called you to do because you won't allow the simple act of asking for forgiveness to set you free. The hardest part is humbling yourself before God, admitting that you messed up, letting it go, and moving forward. Yes, it's really that simple. We are not supposed to walk around feeling shame and guilt for weeks, months, or even years. I'm not saying we shouldn't feel those things when we mess up, because we should, but once we have asked for forgiveness we have to let it go and move on, not sit in the guilt and shame. The devil is at work when you get stuck in these feelings and, honestly, he is happy that you are there and will do whatever it takes to keep you there. Don't allow yourself to get stuck because you can't forgive yourself for what you've done. Will there be consequences? Yes. Will it be easy to let go? Maybe, but maybe not. Will you have to work daily to move forward? Most likely yes, but that's for anything you do. Don't be so hard on yourself, give it to God, and move on with life. Seek forgiveness and set things right with those you have hurt and move forward. You are loved and worthy of living a life full of blessings from your loving father. Don't be a Naaman and torture yourself for your mistakes and make your life, and the life of those around you miserable, simply go before your loving Father and ask for forgiveness. I know it's a lot easier said than done, but as soon as you accept it you will be set free. 

God hears you

 "Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." Matthew 7:7-8 CSB

    This past month God has opened my eyes to all the prayers that I prayed years ago and he has answered or is answering. I am thankful every morning that I wake up because I have another day to spend with my family and hopefully show others that God loves them. Still, this revelation that God has given me this month has opened my eyes to how he works and I am thankful for God's answered prayers in a new way. What I'm about to share is not me bragging about what I have or what I have done, but to show you how God works, at least in my life, and to give Him the glory he deserves. 

    Ten years ago, Nick and I celebrated 9 years of marriage, and we had a 7 and 5-year-old. We lived in a double-wide a few blocks away from where we live now. We both were sitting outside reading books on prayer and learning how to walk closer to God. We read a book by Mark Batterson titled, Circle Maker. This book initiated a conversation between us that I truly believe has led us to where we call home today. I was still in what I would call my infant phase of belief and what God is capable of doing, very innocent and naïve to how prayer works and how quickly he would answer our prayers. Mr. Batterson, wrote about walking around a property that he felt the church should purchase, but knew there was no way the church could afford it. His faith in God's ability to not only allow the church to relocate to this new property, but also afford it opened my eyes to what God was not only capable of doing, but what He was willing to do if we would only ask Him. You see, many times God wants to bless us with so much more, but we put limits on what we think He is willing to do for us, and therefore we don't ask Him. As Nick and I finished our books, we did what the author did and we walked around our house seven times for seven days and prayed that God would allow us to sell the house. We wanted out of the double-wide and into a brick home, where that home would be we weren't sure, but we didn't want to live in the trailer any longer. I'm sure our neighbors thought we were crazy, but I'm sitting here to tell you the prayer worked. It didn't happen after the seven days of walking around the house, or within the month, or even the year. As a matter of fact, so much time passed that I nearly forgot about the summer we walked around our house praying for God to provide us a house that we would be proud of, that would allow us to bless others, and invite people over for fellowship. A house that we could call home and our kids would have friends over and there would be plenty of room for everyone. As the years went by I just assumed that we weren't going to move out of the house and focused on being happy with what God had blessed us with, which was a small home that allowed me to be close to my kids, protection from the weather and many other provisions that we tend to take for granted in America. The walk around our house, some days with kids following us, and other days just the two of us was a simple way to show our faith in God. Three years ago that prayer was answered. God heard our prayers and gave us a beautiful century-year-old home on about two acres in the middle of our little town. We had no clue at the time what we wanted or where it would be, but we did know that we wanted it to be from God and allow us to bless others. God blessed us abundantly with this new home. It wasn't in the time frame we wanted, and yes, there were times I didn't understand why He didn't answer our prayers immediately, but looking back I can see His hands at work in our lives. There is another story about us buying this home, but that is for another time. 

    If you will sit with me for a little longer, I would like to share one more account of God hearing and answering our prayers. As I was finishing my teaching certification, I desperately wanted to work for Whitehouse ISD, but being straight out of college, and not growing up in this area the odds were stacked against me. I was fortunate enough to complete my student teaching at two schools in Whitehouse and was praying that a position would open up for me to work in this district. As my time as a student teacher came to an end and I interviewed for a position it became clear that I would not be hired by them, and would need to apply elsewhere. God opened doors for me as only he can and I was hired at Gladewater. As the years passed when there was an opening at Whitehouse I would apply and was interviewed but I always came up short. Over time, with each rejection, I believed that I was never going to be hired to work in Whitehouse, so I stopped applying for the positions posted and I accepted that I was where God meant for me to be. I allowed myself to believe that I just wasn't good enough and would never be the caliber of teacher Whitehouse hired, and accepted the lies the devil told me. Then out of the blue, a position opened up last year in Whitehouse and Nick told me I should apply. At first, I laughed at him, one because I wasn't looking for a job, I was content with my current position, and two, I believed that I wasn't good enough to work for Whitehouse. The repeated rejection over the years from the school was enough to keep me from even being interested enough in applying for the job, but after prayer and encouragement from Nick, I decided to see if this was God opening a door for me. As I sat in the interview I knew no matter the outcome I was good enough to work at Whitehouse. God was definitely at work in this situation and became evident when I knew I had the job within 5 minutes of the interview being over!  Most of the time after an interview you have to wait a day up to a week to know if the school was going to offer you the job. After 11 years of teaching, and the uncertainty of if I should even be a teacher, God opened the door for me to work at Whitehouse. Another prayer that was prayed years ago was answered.

    This summer I have been reminded of those prayers and many more that I prayed 7 or more years ago that God has recently answered. It is now, that he has opened my eyes, that I can see he heard my prayers but didn't answer them with an immediate yes because I wasn't ready. I needed to have the experiences that those years of waiting and not getting what I prayed for brought me. You see, God hears our prayers: I asked and received. I sought and was given what I prayed for. I knocked and the door was opened. True, none of this happened on my timeline, or how I wanted it to happen, but God made a way and blessed me in the process. I am better because of the waiting and more thankful for what He has blessed me with because it did not happen the way I wanted it to. God's ways are so much better than ours. Trust in his timing and accept that where you are, no matter what you are going through is where he wants you.