Eyes Up

It has been a helluva week, complete with a trip to the ER. Yay.

No, really tho … seriously, yay.

Because God – for whatever reason – has been using life lately to remind me that there’s a legit spiritual war around us … and this has only caused me to gird up with the word of God even more. Not to mention see God’s power made gloriously perfect in my weakness … over and over and over again.

So for that, I praise God and count every trial that has come my way a gift and joy.

I have been sensing a lot lately the enemy’s attempts to devour, distract, and destroy by using circumstances to keep eyes on weeds instead of on God and His absolute truth.

The Enemy Prowls Around Like a Lion

In just the last week, frustration, hurt, grief, fear, anxiety, worry, and doubt pulled at my core. I’ve had to wrestle hard by taking my thoughts captive so that I wouldn’t drown under lies.

Because in these moments, it’s easy to be tempted to fight in my own power and with my own logic.

But I have also learned over the course of my life that is futile and a waste of energy.

This is what Satan wants – for us to camp out in our circumstances, to believe we can fix situations on our own, to let emotions take over and control our actions. He makes bad look good, and good look bad, and muddles everything in between so we can stay distracted and doubtful and down.

Most importantly – he wants us to forget who is really over ALL THE THINGS: our Almighty God.

But God is Our Refuge and Our Fortress

This snap of our crew’s time of at the Tetons is resonating with me right now. It was the year that practically half our country was covered in wildfire and the majesty of these mountains were veiled by the unrelenting smoke.

We were pretty disappointed about nature’s conditions and had to fight for thankfulness over the simple fact we were even able to come and marvel at one of the more iconic mountain ranges in our nation. Ash and fumes tried to detract from its beauty and grandeur, but even then, the Tetons stood resolute in their glory.

In the same way, the enemy makes hullaballoo with all his take-down attempts, but God stands unshakeable, indestructible.

This is the God we serve if you have called Jesus your Savior and Lord. And this is the God who we need to turn our eyes to, when not-so-great circumstances encumber us.

We don’t have to do anything but seek refuge and simply rest in who He is … surrendering and submitting to Him and His authority … and then letting the Holy Spirit do His work in our lives for our good and His glory.