Mirror Moments

06/24/2006

Have you ever had a Mirror Moment? I guess I kind of thought I was the only one who had, until just recently. In talking with two different individuals, just in the past week, they began to tell me stories that included Mirror Moments in their life.

Was this to be my next message? I was listening…

If you’ve never had a Mirror Moment, let me share three of them with you, and then we’ll see where this takes us. It may help you to recall your own Mirror Moment…a time when God got your attention and helped you move forward, as you came “face-to-face” with the realities of life.

Let’s start with a bit of Scripture that includes a mirror…

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man
who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away
and immediately forgets what he looks like.
James 1:22-24 (NIV)

My Mirror Moment came at a time when I was at one of the darkest moments of my life. I remember it well, as I stood in the hallway bathroom in our house and just looked into the mirror and began to talk with God. I was in agony on that day, deeply grieving the loss of our son, and I needed something to take away the pain in my heart. I had been praying, I had been seeking God and truly knew that He was with me, but it still hurt beyond what I thought I could bear. I didn’t think I could take one more minute…and so I remember looking into the mirror and saying, “God, I can’t stand the pain. I need something. I really want You to heal my heart. I really want You to do this, but if You want me to take something, I will. Maybe You want me to so I can understand others who need something more.”

It wasn’t a long conversation, but it was a moment I will never forget, and to tell you the truth, I can’t really remember ever questioning God again about taking some sort of medication to ease the pain. Maybe that’s all God wanted from me on that day, to bring me to the point of understanding those who do take the drugs, or drown in the alcohol, or whatever form of pain release they find along the way. Maybe God brought me to that point to get honest with myself and with Him about the path I was on in the grieving process. I don’t know, but I can tell you this, I didn’t go “away and immediately forget” this moment with God. It was a turning point in learning to depend on Him in an even greater way through the coming months and years as He healed my heart with His power and might. And I also know that without God, I could not have endured the pain that I expressed to God on that day. I would have needed something to ease it, because it seemed to me it was not humanly possible to withstand such agony alone.

God was with me on that day, He heard my cry to Him, and He answered my honesty with His honesty--His Words of Truth that have carried me through to this day. As it says in James 1, I could not just listen to the Word, I had to do what it says!

I never thought much about other people having similar Mirror Moments until now, until they seemed to pop up this last week in conversation. Let me share these moments with you, anonymously of course, because Mirror Moments seem to be a gut-level time alone with God when we find ourselves in some of the darkest valleys of our life, as it was in story number two of Mirror Moments.

Alone in the bathroom, it seems we are left to go places in our thinking that most times get disturbed by life in general—outside the bathroom door, the dog is barking, or the baby needs a clean diaper, the phone is ringing, or people are just around and we are tending to the needs of the day. How many moms will say that the only time they get to be alone is in the bathroom? I have lived through those days. And yet still, there might come that knock at the door… “Mom, are you in there?” Big sigh…. “Yes, I’ll be right out.”

As this second story was shared with me, I knew the life of this person had been hectic, and I was not surprised really that this moment came when looking in a mirror. There had been loss, and there had been pain and confusion and a seeking after God’s will in all situations--but decisions were needing to be made and struggles were seemingly overwhelming and the one person who might have been some help in the situation was now gone from this earth. And so my friend stood there, as I had done, and she talked to God in the mirror. I don’t know her exact words, but I do know that there was a realization that came to her in that moment that her aunt was really gone. That she was not there to help her, that my friend was now the matriarch of the family and she must take care of the all the things needing her attention--this all became so very real in that moment.

It had taken that time alone with God, in front of a mirror, to accept the realization of where her life had come to at that point, and to face it head on. She did not go “away and immediately forget” that moment, and she probably never will. I have to believe that she did not leave that moment alone either, but more fully embraced, supported and filled with the strength of God to carry on in some of the most difficult of circumstances. There was no time left to be “deceived,” but it had come to a time of listening to the Word and doing what it says, just as is written in James 1.

In asking permission to use this Mirror Moment story from my friend, I was not only given permission, but also these words: “It truly is where the truth comes to you…where you have to face the truth, face yourself, and face God. Maybe that’s what the purpose of the mirror was actually meant to be, not the self-consuming use we know it as in modern times…”

A Mirror Moment stays with us, as shared in this third story for today.

Sometimes being alone is good, sometimes that is the only time when we can get our thoughts straight, come to know our Lord as we should, find the rest we are needing, or simply breathe… But in this story, there was such pain, and such loneliness, that being alone was actually dangerous. This young mother was hurt beyond what she knew she could stand, and she was reaching out for help, but it was slow in coming. A call to a crisis center took three days before it was followed up, and then only because another call was made for one last desperate attempt to save a life…hers.

In the meantime, this young mother had a Mirror Moment that helped her wait until that call could be answered, a moment that helped her wait to take the pills she had set aside to end her misery…she stood and she looked into the mirror and she spoke to God also, and what was reflected in that mirror was a picture of what the life of her young daughter might look like without a mother…and so she waited, and she sought help, and help came, and God came, and little by little, a life that seemingly had nowhere to go was set on a level path and put back together by a loving God.

After having been invited numerous times to attend church, this person knew it was time to say, “Yes,” to the offer and go. Sunday after Sunday, verse by verse, week by week, healing came. And now, this mother looks back at her Mirror Moment knowing that God was there, in the bathroom on that day, meeting her right where she was, and saving her life because He had better plans for her than what she had planned...

This woman did not go “away and immediately forget” what she saw in that mirror on that day. It was imprinted on her heart, and even though times have not always been easy since that day--because what part of life is?--she has never been back to that deep pit full of self-destruction since. In fact, upon sharing this message with her and asking her okay to use her Mirror Moment in this story, she answered back with: “I am now in tears reading my story, however from a different perspective. I now live with the LORD in my heart and praises on my lips, and the tears that run down my cheeks are tears of joy and gratitude.”

That’s the awesome God we serve!!

Mirror Moments, I’m starting to believe, are healing moments where God meets us right where we’re at, and begins something anew in our life--perhaps because we stopped long enough, got quiet enough or were desperate enough to hear His still small voice and follow it into our futures.

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.
Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
1 Corinthians 13:12 (NIV)

When we find ourselves having a Mirror Moment, when it seems we have no hope, no future and no help to see us through, it is but a “poor reflection” of all that God has planned. It’s easy to look back and see the path we have been on, it’s much harder to look forward and see no path but take a step forward anyway. The way seems dark, scary and deserted of all that we need, but in reality it is filled with the things of God that we cannot yet see.

We cannot know our future, but Jesus knew His. He knew He was headed to the Cross, and He went forward anyway. He took a step into the future knowing the pain and suffering that awaited Him. He looked beyond what He saw and into what we cannot, the Glory of God and the inheritance that awaits all those who will believe.

“Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me.
Yet I want your will, not mine.” Then an angel from heaven appeared and
strengthened him. He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of
spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.
Luke 22:42-44 (NLT)

Maybe when we have our Mirror Moments, an angel is sent to strengthen us and help us through what we must endure. Just because we can’t see them, doesn’t mean they aren’t there. In Hebrews 1:14, it talks about angels, saying they are spirits sent from God to care for those who will receive salvation. (NLT)

The reflection those in the Bible saw in any mirror was poor, to say the least. The mirrors of old were not the same as they are today. Sometimes the verse in Corinthians that talks about our reflection might be hard for us to understand since our mirrors are of such high quality now. We see clearly in them, we see the new wrinkles and the tired eyes. We can see it all, and sometimes it is not a pretty sight. But sometimes, it is! How I love to hold our new grandson up over my shoulder and look back into the mirror…to see his bright eyes and his bobbing head trying to hold its own. How I love to see his hair sticking straight up! He is a joy, and his reflection is clear…new life, new hope, new fun! Perhaps these are new Mirror Moments in my life. Moments to remember the joy reflected instead of the pain that once filled my heart. Moments I could not have imagined when I stood in the bathroom by myself and talked to God about an agony I could not endure alone. Then I saw only in part, having no idea what God had in store…it is good.

Just as these stories share the pain, so the new stories that come after can share of the hope that has been restored in each life that is given over to God. A life that is willing to be putty in His hands while He molds and shapes and forms us into His image.

Sometimes, in these moments, things may seem to be a big mistake, a huge mess, a hurt that was unnecessary or cruel, but through it all God is watching and He has a plan. He will meet us in those moments and bring us through them when we focus on Him, and not just the reflection of what’s before us.

I remember years ago, I was being taught how to clean a bathroom, and specifically, how to clean the mirror. My mom was very particular and she wanted no streaks left when I was done. I tried my best, but was not always successful. A young woman, who was all of 14 at the time, was living with us when I was busy cleaning my first mirrors. I thought she was so much older, and so much wiser, and she said an interesting thing to me one day, which has stayed with me all these years. She said, “Don’t look at the mirror, look into it, and you won’t see the streaks.” I liked that idea…the streaks were instantly gone then, and it seemed I had done a good job. I’m not so sure my mom was convinced…

If we won’t focus on the streaks there on the surface of our lives, but instead will stare deep and steadily into the face of our Lord, seeking Him in our Mirror Moments, He will change what we see in our lives into a closer walk with Him. There will come a time when we will think back on those Mirror Moments and see the turning point they were in our lives. They were a moment designed by God on our journey, helping us find our way to Him.

It’s good to know that whatever it is we experience in this life, we are not alone. Not only is God always with us, but those who have come before us, and those who are journeying alongside of us each day have stories to share that resemble our own. I am grateful for those that shared their Mirror Moments with me this week.

No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course
of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that
God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past
your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (The Message Bible)

God will meet you in your Mirror Moments…you can count on it!

Diane