Looking to Jesus

Yesterday I was out walking along the shoreline, listening to the waves as they broke and enjoying the smell of the ocean mist. It was peaceful and very quiet, except for the occasional cry of a seagull along the water's edge. My mind was moving like the water currents, back and forth over the events of my life and the lives of those I know; just like the water washing over the rocks before me. Many are going through rough times in this current economy and a lot of people are without jobs and struggling financially. I have many struggles as well and decisions which need to be made. Many times there aren't any answers in sight. We walk ahead hoping to find some answers, but we keep hitting dead ends and roadblocks. Sometimes we become so overwhelmed just by looking at all the problems.

Today is a new day in our Lord Jesus Christ! A day to quiet ourselves in His presence and to know His Love! I'm so glad for those years of illness, when He was all I had to turn to, the times when I learned the practice of drawing away from illness in my body and communing with Him in my spirit. Abiding in Him is such a soothing place to be, amid the struggles of the flesh. He brings health to the soul and instead of causing us to withdraw from reality, He gives us a new grasp on reality, which causes us to cope with those things too difficult for us to bear alone.

I was thinking back to the days when my children were still young. I was swamped with the everyday problems that can plague a wife and mother. I was so overwhelmed at some points. After all, there were all those things to attend to...cleaning, laundry, cooking and dishes. I was a homeschooling Mom, so there were lessons and teaching to do as well, plus all the other activities involved in child-rearing. Any of you who have raised a family can relate. Even though you loved what you were doing, there were some days that you could have pulled your hair out. Some of you may be in that stage of life right now. Others of us are now in new stages, but struggles and problems plague us all and are ever with us. It doesn't matter what our vocation is or what our path may be. It's all in where our focus lies.

As I was reminiscing about those earlier, overwhelming days, I mused within myself about a story a friend and I shared many times. We still always joke and laugh about it. It is the story of "I Will Not Look". One day I was so overwhelmed with everything that needed to be done, that I couldn't deal with a pile of clutter upon the floor of a child's room. I had to pass through that room to get to another room. Every time I needed to pass through, I would repeat to myself, "I will not look...I will not look...I will not look." I kept my eyes straight ahead to the goal and walked right through the clutter. Throughout the years since then, when one of us is overwhelmed, we reminisce about that time and say, "I will not look.". 

The whole key to keeping above that despair is having hope. The eternal perspective is ever before my eyes. It's that "I will not look" mentality. It isn't that we want to escape reality or that we don't face the reality, but we are looking to the higher reality....Our Savior Jesus Christ. If we keep looking at the details...all that mess strewn all over the place...we become so totally overwhelmed and full of despair. We need to look at it in the light of His reality. We need to come to Him and then we can look at it. Jesus tells us, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Be absorbed in Him and then look at those things which overwhelm you. Always keep things within that eternal perspective, with your eyes toward the goal. Look at the circumstances in the light of His Word and what the scriptures promise to those who believe in Him. In the First Epistle of Peter, in chapter 5, we read "casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." I was looking at that word for "care" in the Greek, "merimna", meiro means "to divide", and noos means "the mind" so the word would denote those things which would divide our mind (such as worries, distractions, burdens and anxieties). We are exhorted to cast those things upon Him, because He cares about us and doesn't want us to bear this load in our own strength, but to allow Him to hold it for us. Oh, what a relief!! What a release!!!!  May this be your experience this day! I'm looking at the next verse, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." vs. 8. It is very interesting that this follows, "casting all your care". I think I'm seeing some connections here. Can you? The next verse says to resist the enemy, steadfast in the faith. It goes on to say that our Lord is a God of grace and that after we suffer a while, He will perfect, establish, strengthen and settle us. How awesome is that!!!!! Oh, to hide ourselves in His Word and to know Him better. 

Let us look to Jesus....the author and finisher of our faith!!