Learning to Walk Again...

Are you like me, and find that there are just some truths about

God

His Strange Love for us

His Backwards Kingdom ways

That are almost impossible to understand with our earthly minds??

It's funny because I can hear a story about

The whole earth flooding, a ton of animals on a huge boat, for 40 days and nights

And.......... No one get eaten!?!?

I'll Shrug...

"Ya... Sure.. I'll believe that.. what the heck"

What about that crazy mammoth Jerhico wall that fell from everyone yelling at it?

"Uh... a tad far fetched.."

But for some reason, I Believe it and it starts the movie reel of my imagination going
Projecting on my heart

Or
The young boy David

A slingshot, a bunch of courage, one stone, square in the forehead, and this monster of a man is down for the count

Makes my eyes sparkle with wonder

And my mouth to say with assurance....

"Oh ya!.... This story is Totally True!"

It's the big fanatical fables, that send the realists of this world into angry fist clenched tailspins

Yet, it's those adventures that light this naive, not so young anymore, story teller up inside

Chronicles of God's might and provision and creative genius, with a dash of romance

(Woohoo, it's like he writes for me!!)

And Then

Days like

Sunday January 26, 2014

Sermon time

Pastor Rowan standing up at the front

A big red, over filled water balloon of
Living Water Truth

Gently being tossed from one hand to the other
Metaphorically of course

Back and forth

I'm six feet away from him

Waiting in the second row

Strategically positioned with no tall heads in front of me

My eyes locked on the red target

"That balloon is mine" I whisper through gritted teeth

Eyeing my opponents on either side of me......

"The one on my right might pose a threat..... I'll keep my eye on him"

See

It's been a hot, scorching, dry, mid July kinda week

I came to church today over heated from life

Ready to play

Ready to be soaked and cooled with God's word

Catch any sort of refreshing, life water, that could be thrown my way

I came ready to get drenched

Rowan crouches down

Red balloon of truth held like a foot ball

Looks left

Then right

Leans back and winds up for the throw

In slow motion the red balloon releases to the crowd

"You Belong To Goddddddddd!"

He yells

My eyes wide

I see that vessel of liquid goodness sailing towards me

It's coming high, a little over my head

Instinctively

I'm out of my seat

Thirst compelling my leap

Hands positioned for the catch

I can feel the rubbery blob in my hands as I make the grab

Uh-Oh.......

I'm finding I can't quite get a grip

It takes all my effort to hold onto it for more than 5 seconds

"NOOOOOOOOO.....!"

This oddly constituted water balloon slips through my grip

I follow it to the floor

Swiping at this rolling mass of red

"I don't even care what I look like, right now"

I try to wrestle it to the ground

I want this for my very own!

I want to ram it down in my heart before it gets away.....

Again

It's odd to me how I can readily receive tales of talking donkeys, a whale belly camp out, magic hair that makes you strong, tap water turning into a smooth glass of Pinot Grigio
With arms, heart and imagination wide open

I don't question these things

It's those weighty words:

I belong to God

I am the righteousness of God

I am an heir to everything my Father in Heaven has because of what Jesus did for me

God is FOR me

I am absolutely, amazingly, extravagantly, perfectly, unconditionally a delight to Heaven.....
Period.
No matter what!

Uh.... This is where I hesitate........

Where I start to flounder, my tongue gets tied and my head starts to hurt.. Like seriously hurt!

Wrapping my mind around and Believing these simple, foundational
Universe changing truths

Seem as elusive as catching that dang slippery ungrippable red water balloon

Oh man

Do I ever want to Believe

In fact, I want nothing more than to have these truths weave their way through ever fibre of my being

Taking over me

You heard me

Complete system override!

I want it more than anything else!

It's always easier for a dreamer to reside in the world of ideals, romance
Euphoric Utopian places of paradise

Which is probably why I can recite all the dialogue in Tangled
Dream about snuggling up to Aslan

Fantasise about all the beautiful gowns that Queen Esther got to wear in the palace

I can enjoy these for moments of warm delightful bliss without the startle of
Harsh cold reality interrupting

Reality is a dreamers Nemesis

It's true

And for some reason

I can be fanciful about so many things in life

But when it comes to Christina and her day to days

I am a cold hard facts kinda gal

I am a realist to the core

So when I hear that I am as Loved by God as His perfect son Jesus.......

My heart pounds so hard I think it will leap out of my chest

My palms sweat

My soul starts to swoon

....... For about 20 seconds

Or an hour

I can stay in the land of the Lovableness of Christina

For about as long as I can manage to hold onto that wobbly balloon

I am faced with the realities of Christina every single day

I see her in the mirror

I hear her "not so honouring" words to Trevor that replay like a record that should be smashed

I feel her fears and insecurities

I carry her stress

And know her thoughts... (Yikes!)

Oh, for me to Believe something else in the face of the Christina
I can see, touch, taste, smell, and hear

Now, that is hard work!

While Rowan was preaching yesterday

My mind uncomfortably expanding and feeling like its about to burst

A verse popped up in my head

Ephesians 1:17&18

Paul Speaking to Christina about the things of God she can't quite seem to grap on her own

"Christina, I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Glorious Father

May give you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation so that you may know Him better

I pray also, that the Eyes of your Heart (your understanding) may be enlightened (Flooded with light)

That you may know the Hope to which He has called you, and the Riches of His glorious Inheritance in the saints"

That's it!

This is what I need

Right now, my physical mind is conditioned to see the reality of my world

Myself

What I need is for my natural eyes to close

I need my life here on earth to become dim for a moment

And
The Spirit of God to shine a big old light straight into my Heart

Flooding it with Life and Truth

With His reality

Which to be honest

Unless my natural eyes are closed,

His Life and Truth seem way too good to be true

There is a difference between the realities of heaven and my escaping to an afternoon in Narnia, with Lucy
When I should be doing school

Heaven is not a place I escape to

God's Love is not just there to make me feel all fuzzy for a few moments

The razor sharp sword of Truth is not for me to day dream about as I stand in the grocery line

Stabbing all the bags of chips by the till

These realities from heaven are meant, not as an escape

From life

From Self

They are meant to Invade our lives

To become the world that we live in

Operate out of

The words of God are meant to be our eyes

Our mirror

It's not fanciful or whimsical like a fluffy fairytale

Its Powerful and more real than anything we can see, feel, taste, smell or touch here on this earth!

Oh God,

Would you give us (Your bride) the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation for the things of you

Flood our Hearts with light and hope

Where our minds are blocked and conditioned to the logic of this world

Help us to Believe in the craziness of Heaven

Like blind eyes opening

Waters parting for radical escapes from the plots of the enemy

Like being worth the death of Your only son

Being the recipient of your Fatherly embrace in the face of all our lost, sinful, rebellious brokenness

Help us to Believe it all

We are Your Treasured Possession

Your very own Dearly Loved children

We Belong to You

May these somehow be the Greatest realities of our lives

* Pictures taken at Comicon 2013
*Drawings by Nadine Mcgrath (One of the Lovely girls in our Youth group... Years ago)

Do you know that

In Christ

We have been

Enriched in Every way

1Cor 1:5

Enriched means

1. To supply with riches, wealth, abundant or valuable possessions

2. To supply with abundance in everything desirable, mind and knowledge

3. To add greater value or significance to

4. To adorn or decorate

5. To make finer in quality, as by supplying desirable elements or ingredients

I was reading 1Corinthians this morning and this word Enriched just jumped of the page at me

I 've been giving life my best shot...

Some day's thinking
"You've got it Christina!"
Other days wondering if I will ever get this!

I guess when I read that God has already Enriched me in every way
In Christ
I'm grabbing the word right off the page of my bible and
Plugging it straight into my heart

Enriching something is all about adding what is needed to something to make it more valuable

Well, I know that today

God says that He has added to me everything that I need

Knowledge

Wisdom

Focus

Peace

Joy

Finances

Ability

Health

Rest

He has even Enriched my food and drinks and blessed them to my body

Just think, Christina, You don't need a thing
You've got it all!
All God's gifts are right in front of you as you wait expectantly for Jesus to arrive on scene for the finale
And not only that, but God Himself is right alongside
To keep you stead and on track until things are all wrapped up by Jesus.

God, who got you started on this Spiritual adventure
Shares with us the life of His son and Jesus.

He will never give up on you
Never forget that!

1Cor 1:7

Where do you need to know that you have been Enriched today?

I know for myself
I need to remind myself that God has Enriched my sleep and rest
Also
That He has Enriched (added) Wisdom to me
For some situations that I do not yet have the answers for

I don't think it's in my dna to not give life my best shot
Although
In every single area of my life
I can recognize that I need God to
Add
To Supply
To make
To add Value
To Enrich me

God, thank you for Enriching me
My life
Thank you that I can rest in Your finished work in me
You are right along side of me
Your presence is here with me
Supplying me with everything I could possibly need
Adorning and decorating my life
Making every part Beautiful
What an honour to be Your child
Help me to put my faith in you
Instead of my best efforts

You Love us so much
You are so involved in every detail of our lives