Tag: Christiantiy

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Yet I Will Rejoice

Habakkuk 3:18
yet I will rejoice in the LORD. I will be joyful in God my savior.

When depression, anxiety, and PTSD hit, they take me down, down deep into the pit. I feel like I am drug swiftly and hard. I grab for anything around to hold on to, but it breaks within my grasp. I can see I am losing touch with reality, but I cannot stop it.

The weight is heavy on my heart and mind. The darkness surrounds and swallows me up. It is too late. No turning back now. I must survive.

How long will it last?
How deep will I go?
Will I find my way back?
Am I lost forever this time?

I don’t know. I need to focus on surviving this moment.
I need to laugh. I need to smile. I need to fight back.

I’m too tired. It hurts. I have nothing left in me.

Then, I hear it, a small distant voice. I am not sure if I am imagining it. It is so faint. “Let Go. Let me hold you.”

Soon, I catch a glimpse of a very faint light. A flicker. It takes all my remaining strength to focus on this beautiful sound and light. I fight the urge to turn away. Then I let go. I don’t fight. I just sit and wait.

A familiar peace starts warming my soul. The light brightens. The voice gets louder. It soon repeats in my heart, “yet I will rejoice in the LORD. I will be joyful in God my savior” (Habakkuk 3:18).

My lips tremble at first. My voice is silent. No air passes my vocal cords, not even a squeak. I am being choked and cannot scream out for help.

I press on with determination from deep within. “Let your voice be heard” starts pounding now, in my head. LET! YOUR! VOICE! BE! HEARD!

My lips part. They begin to move, “yet I will rejoice in the LORD. I will be joyful in God my savior.” Again! AGAIN! A-G-A-I-N!

My voice is now booming. The darkness struggles to hold on. It loses its grip. It scrambles and tightens its talons, but I slip through.

My strength returns. I stand up tall and straight. The light around me is so bright. The voice is loud and harsh and together we dispel the darkness.

I AM FREE!

             Black Canary Cry ~DC Comics

Copyright © 2018 Tabetha Frick All Rights Reserved.

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Just Be Held

Isaiah 26

Key Verse: Isaiah 26:3-4 You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.

I was deflated when I read the words “whose minds are steadfast”. With mental illness, there is no steadfast in my head. Anxiety, depression, PTSD swirl around forever. Darkness, death, and what feels like pure evil are always a single breath away.

Then, I stopped and researched the word steadfast. In this verse, the original Greek word is samak. Its meaning was not what I thought.

Webster says steadfast is an adjective that means loyal, faithful, committed, devoted, dedicated, dependable, resolutely, or dutifully firm and unwavering.

Samak, on the other hand, is a verb that means to brace, to lean upon, rely upon, gain confidence, refresh, or strengthen.

The Greek word for mind in this passage is yeser which simply means an inclination, disposition, motivation, or desire.

With this little bit of knowledge, I now look at these verses an entirely different way. God is not telling me my mind has to be committed or dependable. No! He is telling me to take an action. I need to be trying to lean on him, rely on him. This reminds me of my favorite Casting Crowns song, Just Be Held.

We need to let go and just be held. Being held is the perfect peace God is giving to those, in this passage, who learn to lean on Him!

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Copyright © 2018 Tabetha Frick All Rights Reserved.

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Christians Practice What You Preach

1 Peter 4

Key Verse: 1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply because loves covers over a multitude of sins.

Christianity is not a restaurant and the bible is not a menu. You don’t get to pick and choose what you want and when you want it. You can’t choose one verse to judge or condemn someone and then another to set you free.

You have no right to hate anyone for any reason. You have a right to disagree. You have a right to not participate. you even have the right to an opinion. You DO NOT have a right to not love one another (1 Peter 4:8), not to offer hospitality to one another (1 Peter 4:9), or not offer grace to one another (1 Peter 4:10).

Jesus didn’t just hang with other Christians and shun everyone else. As a matter of fact, the only people he shunned and rebuked were the hypocritical, holier than thou, religious leaders. Read that again! THE. RELIGIOUS. LEADERS.

Wow! Hold the bus! You mean Jesus didn’t go around hating on the sinners? Nope! He hung out with them. He loved them. He showed them what being a Christian was supposed to look like, LOVE not hypocrisy!

There is a good reason the story of the woman brought to him by those so-called “religious leaders” is in the gospel of John (8:1-11). They came to ask him to condemn her. He chose to teach them a lesson on grace, love, and forgiveness.

We have been on both sides of the fence in this story. We have been the woman so ashamed we thought for sure even Jesus himself would turn his back on us. We have also been the religious leaders, poised with a stone high above our heads ready to pounce and judge someone else.

Jesus offered grace, love, and forgiveness to the woman. He also offered it to the religious leaders. He gave them a chance to walk away from their lives. He told them to go ahead, throw that stone, but you better be darn sure you have no issues in your life because you will be next. However, walk away now, recognize your own faults and grace, love, and forgiveness are yours also.

Where do you stand today? Are you going to throw that stone or are you going to accept your own need for grace, love, and forgiveness? The best way to receive it is to offer it yourself.

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