Good morning,
I just got back from spring skiing out in Colorado and it was gorgeous weather but not so good skiing! My sister Barb just turned 50 and we had her husband and girls out for a birthday celebration and senior spring break. The girls were so excited to try skiing. They mastered the bunny hill in about an hour after instruction and an obstacle course to practice turning through, and wanted to head out to more challenging runs. This involved the chairlift and going up very high on the mountain.
Hilarious ride and exiting the chairlift with screams and laughter as they did it. They looked around at the view and could hardly believe how beautiful the mountains looked as far as your eye can see!! They soon realized they had to go down and it looked a bit overwhelming. Even the catwalk had one of the girls screaming, “I am going to die!” as she tried to stop with no success in traffic coming down the hill at her that seemed like HWY 494!!
We made one bad decision to go off the catwalk and every one of them let their fear make them forget how to do anything but fall as the way to handle the slight incline. Mercy, we had a good hour of laughter that night about the experience and how scared they had been and how it was funny now! My friend Marla was with us and at one point she took her skis off and slid down part of the hill on her butt like a little kid!!
One of the girls decided she wanted to keep going and ended up loving the experience and wanted to try it again the next day. She commented that the hill she was so scared of was really not hard at all the second day when she knew what to expect, and looked back at it, seeing it was not very steep at all.
Does this sound like any experience in life? We can be so scared of the unknown and think we will die… But once we get practice and instruction and apply that, we get good at it and love it because we know how to do it and we let go of fear and learn how to work with the experience, be it a sport, career, parenting…
The Bible is our instructor. We start out as inexperienced Christians not knowing what we have except salvation. Next, we try and apply our faith when kids go off to school or we want a sun-shiny day for a grad party or wedding. Next, we might have a bad habit or heartbreak of some sort and we muster up enough faith to believe God doesn’t shut one door without opening another. But, one day we have matured as a Christian and we realize the truth that is in the Bible and it is for us!
We have a part to play and it is to use our authority as a believer!
If you are facing a huge problem, say, “It is written.” Find a healing scripture and say the words in Psalm 91 for any kind of protection. Say, “It is written. By His stripes we were healed and made whole. Cancer leave so-and-so’s body.”
Even Jesus Himself used the Word to defeat the devil in the wilderness—“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4) The way to defeat the enemy is with: “It is written…”
My friend, there is no substitute for the written Word. God tells us that we will find life and health if we give our attention to His Word and keep it in the midst of our hearts. So, get into the Word and let God’s promises abide in you.
Love you, Teri
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