Soak in the Solution

02/14/2007

Is there anyone who isn’t searching for an answer about something in life? If not today, maybe yesterday we were, or tomorrow we will be…it’s a part of life. Every day we come up against things that need a decision to be made, or we meet up with difficulties that need to be worked through, or we’re struggling with something in our relationships. We just can’t seem to escape it—it’s the trap of, “What to do…what to do…what should I do?”

There is a solution, and we can soak in it—and I’m not talking about a good hot bath, although that’s a good place to be also. I’m talking about soaking in the presence of God—stepping into the place where He dwells, and spending time with Him there. I just heard an old song on the radio and the words were, Wherever you go, whatever you do…I will be right here waiting for you. That’s our Lord, He is like a hot bath that has been drawn for us, and He is right there waiting for us whenever we need Him.

I love your sanctuary, Lord, the place where your glorious presence dwells.
Psalm 26:8 (NLT)

When I was deeply grieving the Home-going of our son, I needed to soak in the presence of God about every two hours. The pain would build to such intensity that I could barely breathe. I would catch myself gasping for air, and I knew I needed to get away again and spend some time refocusing on what this life is all about. I was home a lot during that time because I did not have the strength to be very social. So most times, I would retreat to my room, close the door and step into the flowing water of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, and He would soothe my deeply hurting soul. I would be still, and allow Him fill up the huge hole I had inside, bringing peace to a situation that I couldn’t even fully comprehend at that time. How could our son be gone…he was just here…he was so young…how will I live through this pain…?

Slowly, but surely, the love of God would start to soothe my broken heart. I’m sure He must have sent His angels to strengthen me, as He did Christ in the garden of Gethsemane the night before His crucifixion. (Luke 22:43) I could not see them, I wasn’t aware of them, but how else can I explain the transformation that took place during those times “in soak” with God? It was truly miraculous!

There was no quick fix to my problem, there was no escape hatch to crawl through, there was no earthly prescription to cure what ailed me—our son was gone from us and I didn’t know for sure what I was to do about it. I needed an answer as to how I would go on, and I found the only way through it was to soak in the solution of God’s love. Only then would the ache in my heart start to dissipate, and my breathing return to normal. During those times of prayer, I would start to feel that I could go on again—and yet I knew when I left that time, when I opened that door and walked back out into the world, the pain would creep back in at a steadily increasing rate. I hated to leave those times with God, but I knew I had to go back out and rejoin the world, so to speak. I couldn’t hide away for the rest of my days.

It might have seemed a vicious cycle, if not for the progressively longer periods of time between needing those intense times in God’s presence. As the weeks and the months and the years passed, I could go a day, then a week, then a month without gasping for air and thinking I was going to lose my mind. I was still spending time in God’s presence, but I was not suffering so when I went back “into the world.” I was finding that God and time were working together to bring me through those dark days.

In all of that, I share this once again only to bring to light the greatest lesson God teaches us in the most difficult, confusing, hurting, lonely times in our lives, and that is that He is the Solution we are needing, and by soaking in His presence, we will be healed, we will be strengthened, we will find a Friend, and we will begin to find some resolution with the “What should I do?” questions that can plague us.

Lately, I have been spending some time in prayer with a friend, searching for some answers. Normally, we go about this by pouring our hearts out to God about our situations and then asking Him what we should do about them. But that’s not the only way to spend our time with the Lord in having a good soak. Another way of approaching His throne of grace with our disquieted spirit is by taking our troubled mind to Him and just resting in Who God is… By stepping into the only water that will quench our thirst and drink Him in—allowing Who God is to soothe our soul during those times. By recognizing God’s character, by praising Him for His all-knowing, all-caring, all-seeing, all-everything qualities, we can start rest our lives in His hands. We will start to experience His living water flowing freely into our lives, giving us peace of mind even in the midst of all the questions we still have.

You may say, but you don’t know what I’m dealing with here. You don’t know my situation, my problems, the ways I have been wronged, the decisions I need to make…AND SOON! No, I don’t, but God does!

In entering into a good soak with God and seeing the world through His eyes, miracles happen. Fogs lift. Burdens ease. Troubles diminish. The things that once seemed HUGE, can become small. We are given a new set of “reading glasses” from our Lord, and He’ll usually turn on a light that illuminates things in a whole new way. Sometimes we get wrapped up so tight in the way we are thinking about things, we need a good long soak to unwind and relax and allow God to put things back into their proper perspective. Plus, we can be assured that if God’s answer for us is ready to be revealed, we will not fail to hear it during these times with Him.

God is not freaked by any of our situations! Whatever we are going through, He already knows. He knows what we need to know before we even know we need to know it! He’s the very One who placed us where we are at this point in our life, knowing that we would be troubled or afraid, or happy and full of peace. He knows where we’re going from here, why we’ve been here, what we were to learn here, and how we’ll get out of here, and when. He’s way ahead of us and He’s just waiting for us to find Him in it, to know Him more through it, and to move on from here to the next set of circumstances where He will teach us even greater things about His ways!

We usually think we need to have an answer to life’s problems, but in reality, we just need to know our God...and He knows that!! The reason it hurts, or seems huge, or confuses, or causes anger is because those are the very stages of life where we have the greatest opportunity to fall more deeply in love with our Savior. Those are the times when we’ll have a sort of stormy time in the water, not a peaceful soak. A time when the water will get sloshed from side to side, so to speak, while soaking in the solution we have been talking about.

Not long ago, I was angry about something. I felt I had every right to be, because I thought I had been wronged. I wanted to strike back, to let it be known, to make things right in the way that I felt things should be. But see the words there, felt, thought, wanted… Also the words, I…I…I…I…I Where’s the real truth here, and where’s the other side of this story? It is strangely missing isn’t it? What was going on with those I was dealing with, what was their struggle, how did they view it, what had they really meant by what happened, could I be misinterpreting their motives? I believe so…

In days gone by I would have handled this anger differently, but I have learned some things over the years, and so instead of retaliating in my fit of anger, I did as Oswald Chambers says to do, I “wrestled” it out before God. Oswald writes:

“The battle is lost or won in the secret places of the will before God, never first in the external world. The Spirit of God apprehends me and I am obliged to get alone with God and fight the battle out before Him. Until this is done, I lose every time…I must get the thing settled between myself and God in the secret places of my soul where no stranger intermeddles, and then I can go forth with the certainty that the battle is won. Lose it there, and calamity and disaster and upset are as sure as God’s decree.” (My Utmost For His Highest, 12/27)

So that’s what I did, I wrestled the anger I felt out before God, and the battle of my anger was won! It was a sure victory! It was like God was the Referee, and I had this whole wrestling match going on in front of Him saying…But I feel this way, but maybe that’s not right, am I being selfish, but don’t I deserve more, what about my feelings, what about theirs, could I have acted differently, could they have, should I have said something, what about what they said…it went on for quite awhile, and without getting too personal here about this situation, a resolution was found and I realized that my thinking was wrong. I was making it all about me. I was looking for something in others when I should have been looking for that in God alone—I needed to refocus and get over my pettiness.

Instead of taking this battle into the external world first and having it become ugly, experiencing calamity, disaster and upset with all the parties involved, I got it settled with the Lord first—He brought clarity to the situation, peace to my heart, and life went on without the disruption the enemy would have liked to have seen happen.

God’s side: One!
The enemy’s side: Zero!!

There are different ways of soaking in the solution, so we should never be surprised what those times with God might look like. Our main objective is just to go there, and then let that time of soaking in His presence be whatever it is supposed to be so that our lives can best be lived out in the most Christ-like way. If we won’t take the time to get alone with God and settle things there first, we’re headed for certain disaster in our relationships and in our own emotional health, and the peace of God in our hearts will be disturbed by the life that is going on around us. We might as well realize that the things of life won’t quit—they’re like that little energizer bunny that just keeps going, and going, and going… The day life quits, is the day we do!

Jim and I have been having some fun lately with a way of looking at the timeline of our lives. We heard a pastor named J.John describe it this way. He said life is three score and ten. (Three times 20 years, plus ten.) That’s the average life span for most people. He said, “If that’s true, then I’m on Friday…what’s your weekend looking like?”

Wow! That puts the length of our lives into perspective, doesn’t it?! So we started to work it out, with the first day of the week being on Sunday. Sunday is ages 1-10, Monday is 10-20, Tuesday 20-30, etc… Which brings us to Saturday, which is ages 60-70. We think J. John had it starting on Monday as the first day of the week, but with it starting on Sunday, it seems to make more sense. Sunday, you’re a child—you pretty much rest that “day.” On Monday, it’s back to work—the teenage years when things are pretty tough. (We talked of how Phil went Home sick that day from work.) Tuesday, being in your 20’s, things are just getting started. Then comes the 30’s, which is Wednesday, sort of the hump day in the week and in life. Thursday, the week is wearing on you a bit in the 40’s. By Friday, the 50’s have come, you’re ready for the weekend, but you’ve got a bit of the workday left to get through. Saturday, you’re in your 60’s, time to retire and have that fun you’ve been putting off—and by late Saturday night…the party’s over. Now, there will be those who continue on after Saturday, for sure, but they’re into sudden-death overtime! Oh…that’s a gruesome way of looking at it! Forgive me there! That’s a sport’s nut for you!

This is just a bit of fun we’ve been having, thinking about this, and since we’ll both be on Friday very, very soon, we’re wondering how our weekend’s looking? So far, we’re pretty excited about it, but that’s because we know when the party’s over, it’s okay. It’s fine. It’s all-good. Heaven is waiting and there’s nothing better than to meet our Lord face to face. If we have taken the time to get to know Him here on earth, we have nothing to fear on the other side of this life!!

The other day as I sat with a friend, we were talking about life and death, and everything in between. Some might say I have an obsession with death, but that’s really not true. I have an obsession with life, but because that is not exclusive of eternal life, it’s all the same to me! Most don’t like to think about their own mortality. It’s a scary thought, one better off avoided at all costs…but what are we missing when we do that? If we don’t think of death as an end, but as merely continuing on in the best “retirement village” ever conceived in the mind of man, why would we not want to talk and think about it as part of the life we live today? Most of us plan for our retirement—where will we live, how will we afford it, what will it be like, will we be close to the kids/grandkids? Our Father has it covered!

But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
Hebrews 11:16 (NLT)

And we don’t have to save up for any of it! We don’t have to wonder if the measly amount of Social Security we’ll be getting will cover the costs! I joke with my daughter-in-law that I like to help her out with the dishes after we’ve had a meal at their house because then when the time comes when I have nowhere else to go in my old age, maybe they’ll let me live with them!! We all think about it, especially when we get to about “Friday” in our lives! Just last night we received some paperwork with what our income will be with the years we have worked and the amounts made, and it’s not looking very good! Oh, I could do all right if Jim leaves first—but he’ll get a total of $230 a month out of me being gone, so it’s hardly worth it!

These are things we really don’t think about on Sunday when we’re a child—or on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or even much on Thursday, but come Friday, we’re starting to wonder how our weekend’s looking. And some of our weekends aren’t shaping up too good! We’re already seeing health issues creeping in, cancer could be right around the corner for us, it’s already hit some of our friends, our kids aren’t able to afford big homes with the prices these days, so unless they hit the lottery, it looks like we’ll probably not have a room there. Other states could be more affordable, but that’s so far away from our families, we hate to make that move… So, what am I saying here? It’s time for a good long soak in the solution to all of life’s situations!

Wherever you go, whatever you do…I’ll be right here waiting for you.

You see, God’s got it all covered. He already knows, and He doesn’t want us to worry about any of it. Jesus said, “Look at the lilies…(Matthew 6:28). He also said, “Don’t worry…” (Matthew 6:31) And the only way to do what He says, is to go where He is and spend some time with Him there! To soak in His love, and let His solution for everything soothe our souls until we are at peace, no matter what surrounds us, or stands in front of us, or lies behind us.

It can’t be so easy, some may argue!
Well, the hard part is making the decision to “soak.” Once we get there, the soaking is so soothing! When we’re soaking, we’ll usually find it doesn’t change a thing except the way we view it, and that’s everything! When we walk back out into our lives after soaking in the Lord’s presence, it all doesn’t matter quite so much. The sharp edges have been removed. The mountains look like molehills. The reasons we were angry, upset, confused…have been smoothed over by the living water that flows from the Spirit of God. Bottom line, it helps, and who doesn’t need that? I know I did, and still do, very much!

If you’ve never witnessed a miracle in your life, here’s your chance! Grab your Bible, grab a nice cold drink (or hot one in the winter) and spend some time soaking in the solution for a while. Sometimes you’ll need to go in and slosh up the water a bit, wrestling with whatever you are struggling with before God, until He helps you clear up the trouble that’s brewing. Sometimes you’ll need to tell Him your needs, present your questions, and seek an answer. Sometimes, and these are the best times of all, you’ll simply come to God and tell Him how much you love Him and appreciate Him and need Him and desire to know Him more, and through praising and worshipping and thanking Him, your heart will start to burst with the goodness and forgiveness and gentleness of our Lord and you’ll wonder why you don’t do this more often…

This week has been especially cold in the Bay Area. I know, for those who deal with really cold weather, the 20’s at night are nothing, but for us it is! And when you live in an RV, like we do, it makes a difference. You see, our water is fed into our home through a long hose…one that will freeze in these conditions. So, sometime in the middle of the night, the water stops flowing into our home! We wake in the morning to faucets that no longer work, and that makes showering a bit of a problem until things warm up and thaw out! It can all be worked about in different ways, and one of those ways is to shower at night, as I seem to remember we did as kids, only it was called a bath!

The thing is, it’s a hassle. It’s easy to jump out of bed, hop in the shower, and then get dressed. For some reason, it’s harder the other way around—probably just being creatures of habit. But, like all things, God can surprise us, and I have to tell you, a hot shower on a cold evening can become a real treat instead of a chore!

It’s the same in our times with God. If we are not in the habit of soaking in His Presence, it can seem like a hassle. We don’t have the time, it feels out of sync to what we’re used to, we’d rather not be bothered…but when we get there, it’s such a treat! It warms the soul. It creates a clean heart. It refreshes our minds. It’s hard to leave, once there, just like a hot shower on a cold night. We wonder why we don’t do it more often…?

Are you wondering:
  What to do?
        What to do?
              What should I do?

Start with a good long soak in the presence of our God, and go from there. I promise—the aches, the pains, the struggles, the anxieties, the missing, the loneliness, the questions, the life we all are living, will find some relief.

Rest Everyday Life In Eternity’s Freedom

In Him,
Diane