I am taking a well-earned rest between jobs at the moment. Whilst I am fully believing in God for a new start and career, I am trying to seize moments to have fun. One day my Dad turned around and asked if I would like to go with him to see if we can spot a Mink.
For those of you that do not know, a Mink is a small, dark creature that looks a little like a weasel or stoat. I was intrigued and decided to come. Besides, it was a lovely, sunny afternoon and I felt like some time in the fresh air.
My dad has a new mobile phone and was charging it in the car, whilst we were driving. On checking to see that the phone was connected to the charger I noticed that, during an hours’ drive, it did not charge very well. It stayed at a low percentage. I asked my Dad about this as I wanted to make him aware.
He responded by saying that he had bought a model of charger that he was not happy with and probably thought was a fake, rather than the real deal. When I was faced with this, I wondered how true this is of our lives; that we can charge ourselves up – only to be disappointed because it is not “the real deal”.
Just what is real?
I do feel like I am quoting a bit from the Matrix here. One thing that I noticed during that film was how the main character was given a choice about what pill to take. One pill would allow him to see what is real and the other would allow him to forget what he had just seen and go back to his life – how things were before.
When I compare this with my Christian walk, it can feel a bit like that at times. God is loving and gives us choice. Either we can go through our day not knowing how we affect others in our actions, or in what way his heart is broken, or how the things that get us through the day are actually not helping us. Alternatively we can take a different medicine and get “real” with ourselves and our lives and ultimately be in a reality that, whilst being perhaps more painful is more true. That constant choice and dialogue between our fiction and the painful truth is what I battle constantly. These last few weeks have given me the chance to slow down, raise up my head and consider or ponder my actions – see things more like “reality”.
Consider the fake.
When my dads’ charger was plugged in, I did not think to check if it was the proper and real deal. It looked like it was. When we started to chug to our destination I did not monitor the phone to see if it was charging. I assumed that it would do its job. It was only when Dad mentioned to me a few miles in that it he suspected that it was not a proper charger that I noticed it and indeed, the phone would not charge.
I tried pushing it in harder, talking loudly to it and nursing the phone on my lap; peering at the screen every five seconds. None of this worked. How often can we do this with the things that are meant to charge us up? Be it exercise, a box-set or a chocolate binge, we can fall into the trap of thinking that these counterfeit goods are going to fill up some kind of empty space in us that can really only be filled by God.
I confess to you all that I have struggled at times to fill the time in my day. I am getting better but I still find this challenging. There was a time when I was watching episode after episode of a series that I really enjoy. For four nights running I binge-watched and felt really tired the next day. It also left me feeling slightly sick as I had an inkling that I was trying to fill a hole, but not feeding myself properly. I knew this but still did not change. This meant that I was causing myself harm, unwittingly and on purpose too. Not so good!
Fully charged battery.
So it goes without saying and being obvious that the only charge worth having is Jesus. He is the one that can bring the energy you need on a daily basis. When I have done that and charged my life batteries with him in mind, be it through listening to a song, recalling a verse or just reminding myself what his presence is like, I find that I am fully charged up to cope with the demands of the day. That is really all that matters.
One final aside I see in my phone is that it seems to lose its charge at the end of the day. Which means that, in order to use it I have to top it up again. We should treat our bodies and minds and souls with the same respect that we treat our electronic kit. We should not expect ourselves to run on empty. Get yourself some serious charge today. Make sure that it is real – not a fake.
It was a while ago now that I got the phone call no one ever wants to get. A dear friend of my mine was having some severe complications from a miscarriage. I did not know the extent of the troubles until I arrived at her house and realized that they wanted me to stay with their children and the ambulance was on its way.
I helped as much as I could, I started to pray when I heard my friend had gone unconscious and was losing a ridiculous amount of blood. I basically let the Emergency crew do their job and waited till they left with my friend and her husband.
Once they left, I was trying to grasp the seriousness of the whole ordeal and that is when I remembered that there would be a few terrified children in their rooms waiting for answers. I crawled into the girls room and that is when I got the question. With tears rolling down her cheeks, my darling niece asked “Aunty Gen, is mom going to be ok?”
Truth is the only way
This is possibly one of the most difficult questions you can answer a child. Especially when it doesn’t look good and seeing at how my friend left and what was going on I seriously didn’t have a clue.
Yes, her mother knows Jesus and is saved and she will be fine no matter what happens, but in that moment this child wants to be reassured that their mom is coming home tomorrow.
What do you do when you don’t know? I did the first thing that came to mind and I gathered all the children into one place and told them the truth. I hugged each one of them and reassured them that their mom was in great hands but more importantly that God is sovereign and He knows what is best and no matter what happens we know that God has her and us in the palm of His hands and that we will be ok.
Then we did the only thing we could do to help their mom and us, that was to pray. While their mom is being rushed to the hospital we bent our heads and prayed.
We prayed that God would give wisdom to the emergency crew, that the right doctor would be able to help, we prayed for mom’s healing and then I prayed for the peace of God described in Philippians 4:7 ‘that the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus’ for the children.
The moment the peace of the Lord fell.
What happened next was incredible. Words cannot explain it justly. The Lords peace fell on that house, on each one of us in almost a tangible way. And we began to praise God, laugh, tell stories and knew that no matter what the outcome was God was with us. Had someone walked in they would have thought it was a normal day which is so amazing. All the kids were able to go to bed and were fall asleep quickly and without fear.
As someone who struggles with worry, I was so amazed that the peace of the Lord was so clear that I actually fell asleep and had a good night sleep as I put my trust into the Lord’s hands. My friend did recover from her ordeal and is happily home with her children now.
Lean not on your understanding.
The truth is that every day people are faced with trails in life whether it be financial, emotional, or physical and as believers we are commanded not to worry. God doesn’t just tell us not to worry and leaves it at that, He provides His peace for us during our trials and tribulations. We are not to be like the world and griped in fear and anxiety but rather we can have His peace and abide in it.
The best way to get the peace of the Lord is to stay in His Word. Learn it now so that when the trials come we know it and can speak it out. Recently I had a health scare and it had the potential to be very life altering, I found myself in the Word. Even as I waited for scans and doctor report I was thick in the Pslams.
Seeing how God was with David and how he was with me. We need to run to God when we have difficult situations that are far bigger than us and even if the prognosis does not look good. Our God is a mighty God who is working out His plan for the glory of His name. We have a hope and we have something to help others with. How amazing it that we do not have to go through our trials alone but we have a loving God who leads us through them and who grants us His peace.
Genevieve Wilson is a happily married stay at home, home-schooling mum of 3, whose passion is to see people come to know Jesus. She is a seminary wife to her amazing husband and has worked 8 years as a missionary with Youth with a Mission (YWAM). She has a heart for justice.
Rosie Robinson is an English young writer.