Three Instructions

Life can be incredibly frustrating for all of us sometimes.  It can be especially so when you are a three-year-old, like my granddaughter, Bella. So much is out of her control.  Her family has spent the last couple of weekends at our house, as they often do, and on several occasions on those days, I would hear her cry or whimper about something that was going wrong in her little world.  It could be as simple as not being able to reach something she wanted or a toy not functioning as it should.

Instead of letting her fuss about the situation or quickly solving her problem for her, I tried to teach her the same thing I taught her father and her aunt when they were young. 

These were my simple words. "Don't cry, ask for help, solve the problem."  If I said them once, I said them 20 times over a period of just a few days.  I'd dry her tears, remind her to ask for assistance, and then together, we'd figure out what to do to take care of the issue.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you may have noticed that it's been about six weeks since I posted anything.  There was no big crisis going on in my life.  I haven't been any busier than usual.  I'm not angry or depressed or sick or frustrated, yet I've just felt strangely disconnected - unable to hear from God.  With no insight from Him, there was no blog post to write on those Sundays. I didn't want to write out of my own mind - I try to only write from what God gives me.

Since I didn't understand why I was experiencing what I was going through, I just tried to ignore it and I distracted myself with my daily responsibilities and entertainments.  I was inwardly frustrated and whining, just like Bella.

After I'd repeated those words to her a handful of times, the Holy Spirit whispered to me, "Listen to your own advice!" What He was trying to tell me was that when I find myself in a situation I don't understand, a season that confuses me, that I should stop fussing about it, ask Him for help, and solve the problem.

I finally did that last Sunday morning.  Standing in a worship service, I breathed a prayer asking God to help me name what was happening in my life so I could stand against it, instead of trying to ignore it.  Just moments later, someone spoke a word over me assuring me that this time of dryness, of not being able to hear from God, was over - that very day. The emotional and mental issues that I hadn't even recognized in myself were touched and healed and a time of refreshing had come.

Psalm 34:18-19 says, "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all."

When those troubling times of confusion come, that's when the Lord is close to us.  We may be in the middle of a frustrating problem, but this scripture reminds us that the help we need is in God.  We need to shake off those tears and groans of whatever burden we are bearing, ask for help, and let the Holy Spirit lead us to the solution.