Crippled

Ever think about what it's like to be crippled--physically unable to get around? This week I read the story of the crippled woman whom Jesus healed, and it struck me how much she and I have in common. Shocking? Perhaps. But there are things in my life that cripple me as desperately as her disfunctional legs hobbled her walk. Sometimes it's an unnamed fear that trips me up. This creeping unease and discomfort ravages the horizon of my peaceful thoughts. I have let the "what ifs" eat up the joy of the things that truly and inescapably are. For example, I am a child of God who draws on His strength and power to protect me. The unnamed fear is just a lie that steals my peace, and like the crippled woman I hobble through life when I could run. Sometimes what cripples me is the failure to notice unclaimed blessings. Do you ever get still and realize that you forgot to thank someone for this huge favor that person did, something that really got you out of a tight spot? After I got back from the mission trip to Arizona last week, I started taking stock of all that God had provided for me in the weeks prior to the encounter with Him there. My daughter somehow enrolled safely at a university in another country and has made friends and a new life there. A friend and her husband paid for my entire trip to Sells, Arizona, primarily before I had even signed up to go! How's that for an unclaimed blessing! There are tons more ways that God had been working, and I was crippled by my spiritual blindness and failed to be grateful. I was limping when I could have been laughing in the Spirit. Other times, I am not fearful or ungrateful, I am just living in the past, trapped in the mire of unresolved issues. Those ghosts from our past haunt us, even though we have "moved on." I wonder if we have completely moved to our new address in Christ. We are in Victory and we still left some stuff in Defeat. For me, it's like I forget where my new house it, who my new King is, how His children dress. You get the picture. I need to move into Restoration and stop renovating my old ways. Finally, there are times that I refuse to let unexpected joys interrupt my life. I can remember getting a blessing as a teen and saying to my mom, "But I didn't ask the Lord for that!" She would laugh and say, "Well, isn't that the definition of a gift? You didn't ask for it. He just gave it to you out of love." Sometimes the interruptions are the REAL life, rather than the agenda we make for ourselves. For me, I can look back and see missed opportunities and run right over the next blessing because I am focused on life's rearview mirror. No wonder I am not supposed to be in the drivers' seat. God has circular vision; circular love; circular rainful of blessings; and circular peace. He's not looking away, taking a break, or too busy to bring the joy. Let's name our fears and give them to Him; claim the blessings He is showering on us; resolve the past by focusing on the bright hope and future He is building in front of us; and expect the joys to overwhelm us, rather than tripping on them on the way to our own deadlines. No more hobbling along. Just mount up with eagles' wings, no rest required because we are no longer weary, soaring on the winds of Love that was so good He had to die.