Shame is NOT God's game....

We've been down to the bottom, stories we've got em

When we hit rock bottom

If you been there put your hands in the air

So let the lost know that someone cares

Superchick

I've been thinking a lot about shame lately. In that Karen Kingsbury book I finished last week the main character was overwhelmed by the shame of a ten-year old sin. She even fretted God would punish someone if she prayed for them, because her sin was so grievous.

You know what? We've all got sin. None of us is exempt. We all have something we wish NO ONE knew, and we fear EVERYONE will find out. And trust me... God is not put off by our ickiness... "While we were still sinners...." (Romans 5:8) That's when Christ died for us!

Shame is just such a silly waste of time! God doesn't want your shame or guilt. He wants you to be convicted. He wants you to turn away from your sin. But wallowing in shame.... That's the devil's game... Not God's.

If you have a sin in your past (or even in your present) don't waste time on the shame game! Confess it! Turn away from it! And start your journey away from it. That's God's game.

NOT the only one to walk on THIS road!

I've been there too, when everything falls apart
And the best you can do is get through each day wondering will this never end?
Is it always gonna be this way
And the greatest lie you ever been told
Is you're the only one to walk on this road
And that you'll never see the light of dawn
So we came together to say... hold on
Cuz we've been there and found our way home
We promise you that you're not on your own
One day this will pass
God will see us all through
God will see us all through
God will see us all pass through

Again I’m tapping into the lyrics of the one and only, the greatest band EVER: Superchick. Yesterday as I sat in the hospital praying and waiting for John’s angiogram to be done, I listened to Superchick’s Stories (Down to the Bottom). The above lyrics hit me HARD!

This summer we have been through a grueling, excruciating and debilitating set of circumstances. I am pretty confident that no one else in the world has ever been through this exact sequence of events in such rapid succession; however, that being said, we are still not “the only one to walk on this road.” Even if no one else has experienced the specific traumas we have in the brief span of less than three months, we are NOT the only ones to have walked down the road of pain and suffering so unbearable one can hardly stand up under it.

Satan wants me to believe we are. Satan wants me to wallow in the self-pity of, “Why us?” Satan wants me to justify my sinful reactions by thinking, “Well no one else has ever had to deal with ALL this.” Satan wants me to indulge and rationalize and wail. You know why? Because when I am doing all that, I am stuck in the pain, in the agony, in the misery. When I am doing all that, I am NOT passing through. God will see us through, but if I get stuck in my circumstances, if I allow myself to indulgently partake of the pain and agony and misery, then I cannot move on.

The summer of 2009 has been the Summer of Suffering for the Kastners. However, we are NOT the only ones to walk down a road of suffering, and if I realize that and move on, I WILL pass through. God will see me pass through!

We need all of you more than we ever in our lives have. My dear friend and close confidant told me yesterday, I am praying for you more than I am praying for anyone or anything else right now. It is so encouraging to know that so many are lifting us up in prayer. I know without a shadow of a doubt that God WILL see the Kastners through this most recent struggle; however, on this side of the trauma it is all still so overwhelming.

It is my prayer that today, one of you will read this blog and realize that in your current struggles you are NOT “the only one to walk on this road.” I pray that one of you will read this blog and realize that you WILL see the light of dawn, you are NOT on your own, and God will see you pass through your current trial. May God bless you and take care of ALL of your needs today.

This day is a blessing....

Today I read an old blog my sister wrote. Just as I have in the past, she tapped in to the great wisdom available to us all via the lyrics sung by the one and only Hannah Montana: Life’s what you make it so let’s make it rock! I also received a text from a dear friend about how she has been studying about having “intoxicating joy.” She was ministering to me if intoxicating joy rules our life, then no specific circumstances will matter.

Again I don’t claim to be the brightest bulb in the batch; however, I did not just fall off the turnip truck either. I started to see that God has a message for me today. I recalled how last week another friend ministered to me through the lyrics of my FAVORITE band Superchick:

Waking up to another dark morning
People are mourning
The weather in life outside is storming
But what would it take for the clouds to break
For us to realize each day is a gift somehow, someway?
So get our heads up out of the darkness
And spark this new mindset and start to live life cuz it ain't gone yet
And tragedy is a reminder to take off the blinders
And wake up and live the life we're supposed to take up
Moving forward with all our heads up cuz life is worth living

We live we love
We forgive and never give up
Cuz the days we are given are gifts from above
And today we remember to live and to love

God’s message to me was clear: live this day! Don’t worry about tomorrow! Don’t wish away this pain! This day is the only day you have been given, and THIS day is GOOD! This day is something to be grateful for. This day is a blessing from God.

I awoke this morning to breakfast in bed, cooked by my amazing husband who had the night before collapsed into bed in grave pain but had awoken this morning determined to push on through his pain and take advantage of this day he had been given. We spent the day with just Noah home, doing chores, spending time together, praying, crying, sharing, and loving. (Okay fine! We did a tiny bit of fighting too!) But this day was a BLESSING! In and of itself, whether there are any more days to share or not, this day was a BLESSING! We are all still a family. We have a roof over our heads. We have food to eat. We have a car to drive. We have jobs. But even if a day comes in the future where we have NONE of that, we have our salvation, and no one and nothing can take THAT away.

Closing tonight with words from I Peter 1…

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. (vs 3 – 7)