When It is Tuesday and the Week already Feels like Too Much

It's Tuesday, and some of us are feeling like we've had a full week squished into our week already, and maybe our spirits or brains are feeling a little squished, too. I have learned at this moment, I have two choices:

I can sit here and simmer in the squished and be miserable and feed this unholy headache.

Or I can stop looking at the squishing chaos and look at the saving Christ.

I know. That sounds so sickeningly Christian-cliche', but I'm not talking about some warm fuzzy, paste on a smile, and pretend it is fine Christ. I'm talking about the Christ that saves when the winds are whirling and the waves are crashing, and I feel like I am crashing in them.

This morning I was reading in Mark where Jesus and His disciples are crossing the lake, and the squall comes up and they freak out and accuse Jesus of not caring if they die, and He settles the storm and asks, "Where is your faith?"

He wasn't asking about their faith in His ability to calm the storm. He was as king about their faith in His character. He was asking, "Why don't you think I care about you yet?"

See, we often look at hard things or hard days and yell at God, "Don't you care if this kills me?"

But the real question is, "Do you believe He loves you?"

And I wonder if we can call it faith that God sent a Messiah who would die for us if we don't believe He loves us enough to be kind and not cruel toward us.

Here is the real the issue, the one that gets rid of the unholy headache and quiets the storm raging inside. The real issue is deciding that Christ is a Savior and not a sadist, that He is kind and not cruel. No one can decide but you.

The real issue is knowing God is for you and not just waiting fo an excuse to do something to you.

And I know you don't want to hear this, but that is a choice you make. You either believe Him or you don't. This isn't based on your momma or daddy or ex-whatever or what uncle so-and-so did to you or how the preacher who had the affair or whoever else. When it comes to believe who God is and how faithful He is to you, it is about HIM. It is about His character, His kindness, His word, and deciding no matter what the world and the enemy of your soul throws at you, no matter how high the waves, God is still God...in all the compassionate, kind, generous, long-suffering, gentle, forgiving, loving glory His Word says He is.

The only way to become unsquished by the stuff going on outside of you is to become unfazed in your faith, not in an outcome of a situation, but in the character of God.

And you know what you do when your Tuesday has already packed a wallup the whole week feels like it can't hold?

You write a FB post about the character of the God who holds you, so you remember and settle in deep and solid and bring anyone else who wants to come with you.

There is room. Come on.

Jerri L Kelley