It’s day 15 of my cycle. My app sends me a notification to remind me of where “I am at”. It goes ahead to suggest that it would be a good time to tango with my non-existent lover. Or, explore in other ways.
I am grateful that I can fall back on it for the times when I am unsure where I’m at on my cycle especially when I have to accept an invitation or plan some other activity. However, today, like many other days, I didn’t need it to. These hormones were already doing a pretty good job.
I have come to learn that the older you get, the more active they become because they want you to reproduce. Like the Biblical command, “after your own kind”, haha. Perhaps, before you become extinct, lol. I guess they are more in a hurry than my circumstances would allow. And I know it would be easy for you to say “then just get married”. But we can have this conversation some other time or hopefully, you get the point by the end of this piece.
I digress.
Earlier, I received a text and a call from two different friends. One with a baby and the other, expectant and none of them married yet. The lady said to me, “I told God I made a mistake and have asked Him to forgive me. The guy responsible was the one taking care of me as I lost my job”. Circumstances pushed her into the embrace a worse situation camouflaged as “help”.
It takes endurance
I wonder to myself, for how long can I hold the fort? How long till I cave in? I think of the comprises along the way, the inappropriate conversations, friendships, media…
Today, while some still uphold virginity, it appears to be overrated sometimes because we have neglected purity as the standard.
I think about my life and the broad spectrum of “the sexual chaos”, in our world, some of which we have no clue what we are getting into. I begin to reflect on my relationship with God and my new found life in Him. For how long will I remain faithful and is this commitment real? Do I really mean it when I say I love you, Lord? I surrender?
Would I flee from Portiphar’s wife today, if I were Joseph?
I reflect on and question the genuineness of my love for God. And pray for the grace to love God enough not to waste the blood of Jesus. But God sends me an answer. A message by Jackie Hill Perry which I saved a week prior. He had given the answer even before I could think of the question. As I listen, she talks about how hard it is to do God’s will. And how it requires self-restraint and discipline.
She refers to Hebrews 11 and the record of the hall of fame of faith and the lives they lived. She mentions Noah and how easy it could have been then to forget the ark and just party with everyone else. Yet day after day, year after year he laboured, enduring mockery and insults. from people living the “easy life” of alcoholism, orgies, gossip…. Noah stayed at the Lord’s side, doing His will. Then there are the Gideons, the Abrahams and Sarahs.
We must lay aside everything that prevents us from coming to Christ
She reminds us that Hebrews 12:1, admonishes us to look at them and be encouraged. Like them, we must lay aside anything that prevents us from coming to Christ.
It takes endurance.
It then dawns on me that I had just meditated on the book of Hebrews and how alive it made me to stay at His feet. How I learnt about respect and honour for authority, the call to obedience and the need to persevere in faith, and the intentionality of mixing everything we receive from Him with faith on this journey.
The journey is not an easy one. Indeed narrow is the way that leads to Him (Matt 7:14). The weights we must cast down often slow us down (relationships, dreams and aspirations, money and the pursuit of it…). Then, the sin that ensnares us (social media, lust, theft, covetousness…). Really, the way forward is to cut the hand that causes us to sin and gorge out the eye that leads us astray (Matt 5:29-30).
In times of weariness, know that He gives rest (Matt 11:28). And when the burden of the journey becomes too heavy to carry, remember that the only city with foundation is the one built and made by God (Hebrews 11:10). Our God builds with coulourful gems, rubies, sapphires and precious stones (Is 54: 11-12). This city is worth the wait because whatever we do without Him is vain (Psalm 127:1).
In this wait, we have need of endurance so that we may receive the promise, having done the will of God (Hebrews 10:36).
So, dear friend, there are definitely days when it seems that adding another zero, calling that guy or girl, going to that place, saying that thing, leaving your marriage, holding that grudge or cursing them would solve “the problem”. There are days when giving up or letting go appears to be the only way out. Don’t.
Each of us has a cross to carry. Young or old, married or single, rich or poor… You may love God enough to want to please Him always. Yet, you cannot do without the power of Holy Spirit. Your own strength will fail you (Isaiah 40:30) but His strength will sustain you (Is 40:29). Press in to God. Hold on to the assurance He gives that He will carry you (Is 46:4) and trust Him (Proverbs 3:5) to keep His word.
Remember, “walk by the Spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh” (Gal 5:16). Where you’ve fallen, confess your sin and accept his forgiveness and restoration (1 John 1:9).
No matter how long the length and no matter how difficult the journey, keep your eyes on Jesus
Jackie Hill Perry
Jackie reminds us that our Jesus understands our journey (Heb 4:15). We ALWAYS have a need for the help of God. It is coming to His feet that we can obtain mercy and the help that we so desperately need (Hebrews 4:16).
“No matter how long the length and no matter how difficult the journey, keep your eyes on Jesus” – Jackie Hill Perry
God bless you and may you receive grace to stay at His feet all the days of your life.
Amen!
