There are Giants in their Land

I don’t think If I lived to be one hundred years old I would ever not go through times of dealing with personal Giants. By that, I mean the things that come into all of our lives that we have to deal with.

Disappointment is one of my biggest giants. Right on the flipside of that is discouragement when things take a turn for the worse in my life. Things that in the back of my mind I knew might happen but hoped that they didn’t.

One of my giants involves a friendship that has gone haywire many times before and yet God keeps resurrecting it over and over. Maybe you have that friend that you love with all your heart, and they keep disappearing from you. I’m a very hands-on kind of gal when it comes to my friends. I text, email daily thoughts, reach out when they have gone silent, and then…Wham! My heart gets a punch that I don’t see coming. I should know by now how it goes but if you are like me you keep thinking, “This time it won’t happen!” And yet it does.

I have to learn to get my cry out of the way and settle back down so I can hear from the Lord. He already knew that this was going to happen again, so He was not caught unaware. I’m the one that feels blindsided.

Ugh! This flesh of mine of just too sensitive for this world. My heart hurts for days, and I have to keep bringing my hurt feelings back for the Lord to apply the Balm of Gilead on it once again.

Today when the problem arose again I ran to the Word! I have to. I can’t let a lot of time go between having the Lord rescue me or I suffer for far too long.

I sat and listened to a Charles Stanley message that came to my attention (it was the Holy Spirit leading me) and it couldn’t have been more perfect.

It came from the book of Numbers the 13^th and 14^th chapters. He began talking about how the children of Israel were knocking on the door of the promised land when the report came of giants being in the land. Of all the spies that went into the land only two, Joshua and Caleb gave a good report. All the rest spewed fear into the people and they became afraid. They began to murmur and complain and cry about wishing that they had stayed in Egypt. EGYPT!!! They had just cried to be delivered out of their life there under all the brick building and suffering and God had heard and here they were now ready to go into a land of milk and honey with God’s promise of going before them and taking care of them.

It’s easy to judge Old Testament characters but when we do, we are no different. I have to admit that right in the middle of being so incredibly happy with moving here into my promised land and seeing my giants, I fell prey to the same humanness. Maybe I should have stayed in Ohio.

Then I snapped myself out of it and ran for the Word. What am I thinking? God is the one who brought me here. He opened the door miraculously, answered one prayer after the next, and here I sit.

One other thing Dr. Stanley said that they neglected to do was to remember everything God had already done for them. I need to have my head examined if I forget even one of the amazing ways in which God has already taken care of me over the years. The fact that I am still alive these two years since my health issue in itself is nothing but a HUGE miracle!

Dr. Stanley went on to say that the fearful report of the other spies not only hurt them but hurt all the other people. So much so that it caused them to wander in the wilderness for forty years and they didn’t get to go into the promised land when they were standing right on the edge of it.

Boy, this Word hit me exactly where I needed it to today. He closed with this other scripture that he said he has lived with since he began to preach.

Joshua 1:9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord, thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

If I believed in tattoos I’d have this tattooed on my arm so I could look at it every day; instead, I’ll opt to just print it out and tape it on my desk.

I’m sitting in Florida because this is where I know I belong. I need the grace and help of the Holy Spirit to weather the attack of the giants and continue to trust God. He’s not going to leave or forsake us just because of a few giants. Maybe the giants in your life are screaming at you too and threatening to destroy you but God has already, through Jesus, given us the victory. We just need to keep standing and trusting God.

Giants today…POOF! Gone tomorrow.

I hope this blesses any reader who comes by directed by the Lord whose heart is under attack. Please ponder what you have read, take it into your heart, and stand strong. God has not forsaken you or me; we need to remember this.

I bless you.