Cling To The Cross

Adult life has been hitting me hard lately.

Marriage hit me.

Finances hit me.

Loneliness hit me.

Stress hit me.

They just form waves and crash over me, and suddenly; I began to drown in it all.

And it comes without a warning, which is typical.

Life likes to hit us out of nowhere; it is as simple as that.

It smacks us like a ton of bricks and all you can do is deal with it.

You try to run and hide, but it doesn’t work that way either.

Again, all you can do is deal with it.

Today it feels like the weight of the world is on my shoulders.

Everything is just not going in the direction I had thought it would.

It’s life.

Life recently hit me with a deployment.

It came out of nowhere, hit me in the heart, and drowned me in my emotions.

I can’t make it go away.

I can’t run and hide from it.

I have to deal with it.

But, dealing with it has been pretty difficult.

How do you prepare yourself for another goodbye when you are still recovering from the last?

I have learned though, that you just cannot prepare when dealing with the Marine Corps.

You cannot have a plan or a list because things are constantly changing.

Our life is a constant time bomb.

No, we aren’t going to explode, but the time we think we have will suddenly disappear.

We didn’t plan on this.

Actually, we didn’t even plan on deployments period (his original job was supposed to be non-deployable), but life just hits ya.

Things change.

And of course things change just as you were getting used to things.

I was just getting used to his job schedule.

I was just getting used to the new apartment.

I was just getting used to Jacksonville.

I was just getting used to married life.

But it is all going to change now and I catch myself becoming so negative and angry about it.

It seems unfair and feels like the worst timing.

I have to stop myself though and approach how I feel in a different way.

I have to see it as a part of God’s plan.

I have to choose to be positive.

I have to believe that the glass isn’t half empty, but half full.

I have to remember that my God is with me and “if my God is with me, whom then shall I fear?”

I can’t keep clinging to my emotions and to the negativity I become so full of.

Instead, I need to cling to God.

I need to cling to the cross and the promises that came with it when Jesus Christ died upon it.

I need to keep Him with me and nothing more.

In life, it becomes so easy to adhere to our emotions, feelings, negativity, doubt, and worry.

We fix our eyes on things that are doing us absolutely no good.

We are so blinded by the things of this world, that we forget that the cross stands right in front of us.

And we forget how powerful that cross really is.

That cross is our peace.

When Jesus died, His blood was shed for you and for me, and from His blood we are given peace.

We can only know peace by fixing our eyes upon that cross.

When we embrace the cross, we embrace peace, but when we embrace other things in our life we begin to lose that peace.

Our life is so easily disturbed by destructive things, and it is so easy to grip onto those things.

Change that.

Grip onto that peace Jesus Christ gave to us.

That cross is our confidence.

When we see that cross we are reminded of what Jesus did for us.

We are reminded that because of Him, we are forgiven for our sins past, present and future.

We are reminded of that promise of eternal life and that right there is a huge confidence booster.

We are confident in the fact that we have been saved!

When we look to that cross we should see our sins fade and the love of Christ grow stronger in our eyes.

Through the cross we see His grace, mercy, long-suffering, abundant goodness, and truth!

We shall remain confident of this.

This is the type of confidence we should hold onto during life’s bumpy roads.

Not the confidence of comfort food, or our own emotions.

Not the confidence of a magazine article or a sappy movie.

No, we should remain confident in Christ and in the promises He left for us on the cross.

That cross is our courage.

When we turn to the world, we are not doing ourselves any favors.

We are immediately brought down.

The world fills us with bad examples.

They cause us to be discouraged and give us false hope.

But, when we cling to the cross we will be encouraged by the example of the one who died on it.

When we turn to Christ we are motivated by the great love He demonstrated when He died for you and for me.

The cross is our hope.

When we look to the cross we are reminded of light!

It was once hidden by darkness, but now the sun shines above it!

This is a reminder that even when you feel stuck in the dark, HE will bring you into the light.

The cross stands for hope in every situation.

He finds a way to remind us of the light through our darkest situations.

Choose to cling to that cross!

Choose to find peace, confidence, courage and hope through it rather than through the world.

Choose to seek God through every wave that hits you.

Choose to let Him work in you and in your situation.

Psalm 63 reads:

“You, God, are my God,

earnestly I seek you;

I thirst for you,

my whole being longs for you,

in a dry and parched land

where there is no water.

I have seen you in the sanctuary

and beheld your power and your glory.

Because your love is better than life,

my lips will glorify you.

I will praise you as long as I live

and in Your name I will lift up my hands.

I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;

with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

On my bed I remember you;

I think of you through the watches of night.

Because you are my help,

I sing in the shadow of your wings.

I cling to you;

Your right hand upholds me.” (1-8)

Thirst for the One who upholds you!

His love is better than the life that surrounds you.

Glorify Him!

Call out to Him!

Think of Him during your darkest nights.

Cling to Him!

These few verses from Psalm 63 make a beautiful prayer in times of trials. It is also a beautiful reminder of why we should seek Him and not the world.

Life has been hitting me a lot lately and I know that it will keep hitting me, but I remain confident in the cross!

I will keep it with me wherever I go.

I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown!

I am taking my faith with me until I cross the finish line.

I will keep it close until He says “it is finished”!

I want to hear the words “well done!” and the only way to accomplish that is by living out what God has planned for me, and living in a way that demonstrates my confidence, my courage, my hope, and my peace in the Lord!

The Lord has a plan for me.

The Lord has a plan for Logan

The Lord has a plan for our marriage.

And the Lord has a plan for it all through this deployment even though I may not see it yet.

I will find peace during this time in Christ.

I gain confidence through this in Christ.

I will remain courageous for this in Christ.

And, I will be hopeful until the end in Christ because I know that on the other side of this mountain, there is a view!

It will be worth the climb and the struggle.

This is only a season.

This is only temporary.

This is just a storm, and just like every storm, this too shall pass.

In this post's opening image, my cat is clinging to the cross! Let's cling to the cross just like he is

Cling to this reminder:

Remember that even though life hits you, God hits you harder, in a good way of course! When life throws you upsetting news, a degrading compliment, or something troublesome, God hits you with truth! God reminds you who you are in Christ! God smothers the lies and protects you from hurt! He ‘hits’ you through it!

Love you all!

Have an a m a z i n g Monday!

MKG

#FillingUpFaithfully #Faith #LinesOfFaith #ClingToTheCross