Rose-colored Glasses
At a recent women’s event, I heard the speaker ask, “How many of you feel like you’ve been fighting your whole life?” She was referring to the spiritual battles we encounter every day as part of our Christian walk. As hands went up around the room, my instant reaction was “not me”. That brought me back to the many times I’ve thanked God and asked why my life was so easy, when others around me suffered so much. Most likely the answer was due to my mother’s prayers. She was not a woman of great faith, she had many anxieties, fears and struggles, but she was a woman of prayer. In spite of that, she often told me to stop living my life through rose-colored glasses.
As a young girl, it was church on Sundays, catechism on Wednesdays, where I learned all about sin. So much so, that as a teenager, it became appealing to me. Yes, I was a disobedient teenager! I had taken so much for granted in my youth, especially my faith. I knew all about Jesus forgiving our sin because He died on the cross; it was ingrained into my being to the point of having no remorse over the foolishness of my youth. After all, Jesus already forgave me, so why worry about sin. Oh what little I really knew about Jesus, sin and humanity. I felt like a blessed, spoiled child of God, even when I wasn’t. But, He had a plan I didn’t quite know about yet.
I was indeed, very fortunate. My parents stayed together all of my life, in spite of their many hardships and arguments. I lived an easy life in suburbia on Long Island, New York. Although we were not wealthy, I lacked nothing. In my twenties, God entered my life in a powerful way. I was reintroduced to Him by my boss, a recovering addict who was impressed by my Jewish heritage. He wanted me to understand that my “Jewishness” made me special. I liked that, especially since I identified with my Jewish roots, being my “Jewish grandmother’s favorite’’. (My mother did not approve, but that’s another story.)
This recovering addict who was in love with Jesus, taught me about the need to be born again, and bought me my first Bible. That was the start of a beautiful relationship! Not a relationship with my boss, but a relationship with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This Catholic girl had finally discovered the truth about Jesus and how He could change her ordinary, happy-go-lucky life into something truly special and meaningful.
The rose-colored glasses finally came off, and “La La Land” became a thing of the past as I discovered the truth of God’s Word, His Promises and His faithfulness. The Bible was my seat belt on the roller coaster ride that was about to begin. BTW, I love roller coasters…as long as you can get off at some point. I was about to learn what it meant to fight (spiritual battles), and so it began.
“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 NLT)
Hardships Come and Go
My boss and I evangelized my Jewish grandmother (to no avail as to my knowledge). We celebrated many Shabbat dinners telling my Jewish dad about Jesus, reading the Bible and explaining God’s Word. Eventually, after leaving New York and moving to Florida with my former husband, the roller coaster got more intense. He left me for someone else, and we divorced. But that did not shake me to my core. Little did I know, God had already introduced me to the love of my life. Now, we are happily married going on 40 years.
Together, my new husband and I were baptized in the Holy Spirit and continued to evangelize my father. This was the greatest desire of my heart at that time, and it was granted, as my father accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior just six weeks before he died. Then, I watched in sorrow as my beloved sister had renounced her belief in Jesus in order to convert and marry into a Jewish family. It had become an earnest desire of my heart for her to return to Jesus. Once again, God was faithful. She too came back to Jesus shortly before she passed away. Though I was sad and distressed by her untimely death, I had joy in my heart even then, because I knew I would see her again.
My husband and I were granted the next desire of our heart, as our son finally arrived. Life continued to take twists and turns on that roller coaster while I learned about hardships and disappointments. But as my hardships increased, so did my faith because I pushed myself deeper into the Word of God.
The Bible is the Core of My Faith
“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 NLT)
When the wind and storms came, the chaff blew away as my faith remained strong. My core was getting stronger everyday. That sister in Christ who was speaking at the women’s event I mentioned earlier said “God’s voice shouts loudest in our pain”. Through the onslaught of struggle and pain that came, I heard God loud and clear through His Word.
There was no coincidence that it was a recovering addict who led me to Christ. Deliverance from the bondage of addiction for a loved one has become the most hard-pressed desire of my heart to date. And this stronghold has had a grip on my family for over ten years, in spite of faithful reliance on God. However, God is faithful, so must I be too.
No one said life would be easy. My mother was right about those rose-colored glasses from my youth. Now that I can see clearly, I can face anything that comes my way with the help of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. So, I praise God in the midst of my trials and tribulations.
Prayer of praise and thanksgiving: Thank you Father God for Jesus. Thank you for my Jewish heritage that brought me closer to you. Thank you for the promise of being an over-comer like Jesus. Thank you that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Thank you for your Word that speaks to me through the Bible. Thank you that You are faithful.
As for sin, well, I grieve over it now. I ask the Lord to search me daily and show me my anxious and offensive ways, that I may repent. I ask for the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart to be pleasing to our Lord (Psalm 139: 23-24). And God is faithful to hear and answer me. At times, the roller coaster feels like it’s never going to stop, but then, just like that, the rush of fear is gone and it’s smooth sailing… for a while. I won’t complain!
As a child in “La La Land”, wearing my rose-colored glasses, I thought roller coasters were fun. But, that was just a kiddy ride at the old Jolly Rogers on Long Island. We all have to grow up sometime and deal with the real world. I have arrived, and in some sense, one that only God can make sense of, it’s all good.
A New Perspective on Pain
What Jesus did on the cross for me now holds a more “heartfelt” truth. Though I grieve when I disappoint Him, through prayer, that wonderful gift of communication with God, I sense true forgiveness and newness of life everyday. Because of God’s Word, His promises and His faithfulness, I can still say my life is relatively easy. I give Jesus the hard things and He gets me through. I have a new perspective on pain. Sometimes it hurts so good, not in a physical sense that is sensual, but in a spiritual sense that is eternal. The Lord is stirring up His gifts in me and I am gathering eternal rewards. Like Paul said In 2 Corinthians 4, my suffering is light and momentary.
For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! (2 Corinthians 4:17 NLT)
Faith is the key, and the key to faith is God’s Word. You gotta believe! I believe in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and what He did for me. He did it for you too, if you just believe! Thank you for reading my blog. Please share it with someone who needs Jesus. Until next time, God bless you all.
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