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Shine

Feb8

This blog focuses on tying the Bible together with real life.  And real life, as you may have noticed, is full of struggle, discontent, and confusion.  That being the case, most of the posts you read here address the undesirable effects of being human.

I try to make some sense of life in light of what the Bible teaches us about God, goodness, pain, love, and a host of other intangible concepts.

And when everything comes together – when reason and love give birth to hope and trust – we feel God shine.

The latest David Crowder Band single, “Let Me Feel You Shine” captures this sentiment beautifully.  If you haven’t heard it or don’t know the lyrics, have a listen.  I’ll wait.

 

Fantastic, no?

While David sings from the perspective of one longing to feel God shine, today I write from the perspective of one who is feeling God shine.

I am on the other side of the confusion and pain, and I am here to tell you that it is possible to feel God shine once again.

When life feels entirely hopeless, when life is too painful to press on, when all you can do is lie on the floor and whisper “Lord” over and over between the tears, knowledge is of no comfort.

We (and others) can remind us of God’s goodness, of the hope we have in Him, of his sovereignty, of His love for us.  And we know these things to be true.  But we don’t feel them to be true in the midst of suffering.  And that lack of experiencing truth in those moments allows feelings of hopelessness and despair to take over.

And then we feel guilty for feeling hopeless, and the negativity multiplies.  It’s a terrible cycle to be in.

But something that may prove more comforting than all the academic reminders of God’s wonderful attributes is someone else’s personal testimony that they have been there and not only survived, but now flourish.

For someone else to say, “I know the depth of the suffering you are experiencing.  I’ve felt hopeless and guilty as you do right now.  And the Lord, He delivered me.  It’s true – He revives those who are lowly in spirit,” (Isaiah 57:15).

When someone shares an experience like that with you, the ember of hope is gently blown on.  It lights up, ever so briefly, and dares you to hope again, ever so slightly.  You hold on to that other person’s story of deliverance and begin to think, “If God rescued them, maybe He will rescue me too…”

You have a death grip on that thought.  You treasure it.  You continue to lie at the Lord’s feet.  You continue to cry.  You ask the Lord to rescue you too.  You decide to rest.  No more doing.  No more reading.  No more talking.  Rest.    There is nothing else for you to do but wait on the Lord to do His part – to work for your good (Romans 8:28).

And then He does.

It may take weeks or months or years.  But, eventually, He answers your plea for mercy.  And with a flood of His love, you feel Him shine.  SHINE!

You experience everything you know about God – He is good; He is in control; He does love you; He does have a plan to use your pain for good.  Hopelessness is defeated by Truth.

I know.  It happened for me.  And, if you want Him to, He’ll make it happen for you, too.  If you are feeling hopeless today, hang your hat on my story.  And then rest while God writes your story.

 

On Being Mistaken for David Crowder’s Wife

Feb4
English: I am the originator of this photo. I ...

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Thursday night David Crowder played a free acoustic show in Memphis.  And I went.  And it was fabulous, as he always is.

I’ve seen him several times, but this time I was with a friend who knew the head of security at the venue.  And that friend graciously hooked us up with front row seats.  We strolled into a filled auditorium about 10 minutes before showtime, and we were escorted to our posh seats.

Which happened to be in front of a youth group.

And these high school kids were convinced that we had to be somebody famous in order to get these great seats.  Their first guess was that we were the KLOVE deejays sponsoring and emceeing the concert.

I kind of chuckled at that idea and politely informed them that we were not Amy, Craig, nor Kankelfritz.

As my friends and I sat there and talked, one of the youth group kids got out an impressive camera and tried to nonchalantly take my picture.  With a gigantic flash.  Four or five times.

His friend said he was camera happy.

Then the show started.  And between songs, David told several funny, personal stories.

In the middle of a story about a trip he and his wife had taken to Hawaii, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

I looked behind me, and a different youth group kid said, “Excuse me, ma’am?”

I shuddered.  How old did he think I was?!

“You don’t happen to be David Crowder’s wife, do you?”

I laughed, and replied, “Noooo….?”

Then his other friend explained, “Ohhhh, we thought you must be because of the way you were smiling and laughing while he told that story…like you knew exactly what he was talking about or something…”

I couldn’t believe it.

I couldn’t believe a) how utterly convinced these kids were that I was famous, and b) how desperate they were to rub elbows with someone famous.

(No slam against highschoolers.  Adults are this way, too, which is why People magazine and E! exist.)

(I cannot post links to People magazine and E! in this particular post without completely going against the very point I am trying to make.  But I feel it is important to point out I am not against these entities when they are used for entertainment purposes instead of places to find self-worth.)

Point a) just reminded me of how easily we can believe something that is false.  It doesn’t take much for us to label something as “true” and resist all evidences presented to us that what we actually believe is false.  Knowing this about ourselves, we have to guard against this tendency by constantly exposing ourselves to THE truth.

Point b) reminded me of the human desire for significance.  We all want to feel significant, and, if we don’t feel significant on our own, we at least want to be associated with someone who we believe is significant – i.e., celebrities.

But the truth of the matter is we don’t have to settle for association with celebrities.

We have access to the most Famous One of all.  If we want to, we can be God’s groupie.  All people everywhere have heard of Him in some form or fashion.  They may not have accurate views of Him – they may  call Him Mother Nature or Allah or Spirit Guide – but they have a concept of God.

(Note: having a concept of God does not solve one’s sin problem.  Therefore, a concept cannot save anyone.)

For those of us who know God personally through Jesus, we have direct communication with God.  All we need to do is talk about Him to others if we want to feel significant by association.

But that’s really just settling, too.  Association with God is great, but it isn’t the end all be all of our significance.

We aren’t significant because we know God or because we’ve talked to God or because we’ve gotten God’s autograph.

(Ok, the celebrity metaphor just fell apart.  Wah-waaaah.)

We are significant because the One True God loves us.

That’s it.

God loves us beyond words.  We are infinitely valuable to Him.  He made us.  He desires relationship with us.  All of us.

Unlike celebrities, God is personally invested in us.  He delights in us.

God says in Isaiah 43:4 that, “[we] are precious and honored in [His] sight…and [He] love[s] [us].”

(New personal record for use of [ ]‘s in a single sentence.)

Zephaniah 3:17 says God delights in us and rejoices over us.

Significance.

It is not found in being David Crowder’s wife, though I am sure he is a lovely husband.

It is not found in speaking to David Crowder’s wife, though I am sure she is a lovely woman.

It is found in being the one in whom God delights.

And you, friend, are that one.