"Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him." ~Colossians 2:6-15 (NASB)
It is easy to look at current circumstances and get bogged down in the here-and-now. Currently, my daughter is in the NICU after being born 5 weeks early. My son is home being taken excellent care of by my mom about an hour away. No matter where I physically am, my heart is torn in two between my two precious children. It is easy to feel "incomplete" when my family is separated like this.
The verses I have studied this week through our Good Morning Girls study have challenged me to have an eternal perspective rather than focusing on my circumstances here-and-now. The truth is, I have reason to be "overflowing with gratitude" because of what Christ has done for and in me. He makes me complete, not the physical location of my family members or anything else. He took the punishment for my shortcomings and made this possible. He is working in me to cut away my fleshly concerns and desires and to raise me to new life in Him.
When I choose an eternal perspective, I can see that the trial I am currently enduring is part of His plan to refine me. It is teaching me to rely on His strength, to find joy and contentment in Him, to trust that He is in control of this (and all other) situations, and to rely on the truth that He is working everything together for the good of those who love Him (whether I understand it or not).
I wrote the following to my GMG group in an email earlier this week and was reminded of it this morning as I was struggling with emotions due to having to leave my almost 2 year old at home yesterday in order to return to the hospital to be with my newborn;
Today has been a challenge. Lanie Kate has hardly eaten anything on her own all day and after yesterday's amazing progress I am really disappointed and frustrated. I can feel the emotions welling up in me and it feels like I just might not be able to keep it together at times. I have to remind myself that in the grand scheme of things, a few more days in the NICU is nothing- it hardly takes an eternal perspective to know that. When I consider eternity though, I realize that not only is this just a speck of time that will be over before I know it, but the difficulty of the experience for me brings the potential for God to really grow me spiritually which will not only pay dividends for me, but also for my children (one of whom is the reason I am so emotional). If God uses this time to mature me and teach me, my newly developed character will influence my family (and potentially others) as a natural result. So please pray for me that God will not only give me the strength to get through this but that He will also use the experience for spiritual growth and character development- cut away my flesh and raise me to new life giving me an eternal perspective!
LK still hasn't made any progress towards coming home in the past 4 days. We are just waiting for her to have the energy to eat all her meals on her own without a feeding tube. We have no idea when she will decide to do that and are just hoping and praying that it is sooner rather than later!
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