“For I know the plans I
have for you” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you
and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11
And we know that in all
things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called
according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28
What happens when something you believed would NEVER
happen becomes your reality?
Most of us – even Bible believing Christians – still
live our lives expecting, if not smooth sailing, at least a life without
faith-testing, life-changing trials. In our minds, the really big things are
things that happen to other people, and we go about our lives believing we’re
safe from them. But the Bible tells us there will be trials. Jesus Himself said “In this world you will have
trouble” (John 16:33, NIV). Thankfully, that is not where it ends. Our Lord
doesn’t leave us in the troubles. Instead, He leaves us with a promise.
“But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
If there is one thing my husband and I have learned
over the past year, it’s that only through trial by fire can your heart be made
malleable, and only through the careful striking of the Master’s hand can your
faith then be forged into the strong, unbreakable shield it is meant to be. And
through that same loving work of the Master Craftsman, we are fired and shaped
into that one special tool He meant us to be to do His work.
So, when you’re “struck” how do you respond? Will you
submit to the shaping? Or will you resist, becoming a tool full of potential,
but too brittle to be useful?
This is the reason this blog exists. Welcome to my
first of what I hope will be many uplifting posts.
Submission is a choice. Joyful submission is a blessing beyond anything I could understand
before my own life was turned upside down. So, in this introductory post, I
would like to share a bit of my life, the beginning of how I have come to
be Living Joyfully Submitted. Thanks for coming along for the ride!
Over Thanksgiving weekend, 2015, my husband of nearly
25 years was diagnosed with a rare cancer – cholangeocarcinoma – words that
struck fear into my yet-unsubmitted heart. Over the course of the next year and
a half, “the hits just kept coming” as the saying goes.
As a professing Christian
woman, I have had some choices to make. Let the fear take over (not an option,
my husband would need me); ignore the fear, dig in, and pray we would survive
(a better option, but shallow in the prayer department, and eventually
havoc-wreaking in the emotional wellness department); or fall to my knees,
broken, giving it all over to God knowing I can do NOTHING about it, nothing to
fix it, and not enough to just get through it. In other words…submit
.
Option three did not seem like the easiest, standing in
that dark place of fear. Since the day I kneeled at an alter and made my
Christian walk personal, I had never truly experienced what complete submission looked like. The
hard truth is that many of us don’t until we have to. And when we have to, that’s the time it seems hardest to
relinquish control!
So, there I sat, at the end of my ability to fathom the
scope of what life was about to look like, let alone what to do going forward.
Maybe you are there now. Maybe you have even been here a while. Maybe, like me
in that hospital room, your mind is numb and you can no longer see another
moment into the future. I knew difficult things would be required of me. They have
been, and continue to be. Difficult things will probably be required of you.
Oh, but how worth the lessons I have learned!
You see, joy doesn’t come in the lack of trials. Joy
comes in the peace we gain in the heart of them…and peace comes in the
submission to God’s loving hand. In trials we learn of God’s love in ways we never
could in ease.
I haven’t learned everything, and I pray sincerely
that, under His leading, I never cease to learn as I submit to His yoke…
“…for
my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew
11:30
I hope you’ll join me in the adventure of living
joyfully submitted to God’s will as in each post I share with you what I have
learned, and continue to learn. I look forward to hearing from you, and
learning with you, too!
