This past Sunday, my family and I headed to church, and oh boy, did I get taken by surprise.
See, I grew up in church. Nearly every time the doors were open my grandparents and Mama made sure my heathen-butt was going to get Satan scrubbed out of me. I was saved when I was six. But to be honest with you, it wasn’t a dramatic occasion because I have no memory of not believing in Jesus. I just always knew He was there and “had my back”.
That being said, those college years snuck up on me. Since I was “grown” and not living at home for the first time, I hit my rebellion phase. Even then, it wasn’t that I doubted God’s existence. I knew- in all my profound and existential wisdom- He was there. I just, sort of decided to ignore Him. I could feel Jesus’ judging eyes burning a hole in the back of my head the whole time. Just like a rebellious teenager, I figuratively “slammed” the door and stomped off muttering under my breath, “What are ya going to do about it?”
Thank God, He didn’t smite me...
Literally.
Finally, I came around and fell to my knees. I crawled back to Jesus and explained how stupid I really was.
Oh boy. He already knew.
From that moment on, I rededicated my life to trying to serve God’s will. Got back into church and throughout the moves across these southern states, I stayed involved.
So all that to say, if there is a topic then there is a pretty good chance I’ve heard a sermon on it.
When I walked into church this past Sunday, I wasn’t prepared for the emotional roller coaster I was about to ride. I have certainly been brought to tears and to my knees by messages before. That’s no joke. And every time, it was something I knew God wanted me to hear.
This time the message was about not facing your “Goliaths” alone. David never would have accomplished the feat were it not for his utter and complete faith that God would do it through him.
Oh boy. God’s timing got me again.
Just as I laid in bed the night prior unable to fall asleep because I was stressed and trying to “think” through to find solutions. You know, solutions I could achieve on my own.
When the pastor started naming off some common “Goliaths” we might face in today’s world, I felt like slinking deeper in the pew. It was one of those, “Oh crap! How does he know all that about me? Is there a spotlight on me?” moments.
Failure. Check! Finances. Check! Guilt. Check! Feelings of isolation. Check! Physical ailments. Check!
Well, I guess it was time for God to beat some more of the devil out of me. He’d certainly managed to catch my attention again.
See, I am a stubborn person. A very stubborn person. In fact, the only person in this world I’ve come across who not only matches my stubbornness, but goes flying by at his own bull-headed pace, would be my darling boyfriend.
When I come across a problem, my immediate thought is, “How do I fix this?” There it is...the problem. See it? The word “I”.
Nothing lasting will be accomplished when I’m trying to do it by myself. God sometimes needs to let us break down before He can start building us up to serve His plan. You know, by relying on Him. Every time we start taking steps away and heading toward our DIY solutions, things get muddled.
Now in this column, I’ve talked about my most recent come-to-Jesus meeting where He had to snatch my ear and tell me to listen again. But this same concept pertains to us (people) too.
We cannot do this life alone. At least not very happily or successfully.
We, as a community, need to come together and learn to rely on each other to find solutions.
Recently, I’ve heard complaints in our little neck of the woods about race relations, school bonds, city ordinances, county zoning, police and sheriff department relations, the animal shelter crisis, fights in schools, and how the local sonic doesn’t accept cards.
Well. That’s a lot of issues various people seem to have. I’ll tell you this, nothing, and I do mean nothing, will be accomplished as long as we’re at each other’s throats. It’s high time to step up and start listening and working together. Not one person will fix anything on that list above by themselves.
After all, if we were meant to solve problems without the help of our fellow man, well, I guess Adam would still be pretty lonely in paradise.
