Vision - Past, Present, Future Archives

August 17, 2016 by Laura Diehl Leave a Comment

Is Faith Our Golden Ticket? Part 2

Have you ever been told the reason something bad is happening in your life is because you either don’t have enough faith, or because you are not walking in your God-given Kingdom authority?

Yes, there are times those things are true. But having enough faith or authority does not mean we will never again be affected by this sinful, fallen world in a way that hurts or shatters us. Eventually, those who hold to this Christian “golden ticket” belief either become angry with God for failing them, or they condemn themselves when something devastating happens and try to figure out what they did wrong.

This article is actually part two of this discussion. If you have not read part one, I recommend you read Is Faith Our Golden Ticket to a Good Life? Part One and then return to continue reading Part 2.

As I said last week, there are many scriptures to support how our faith stops the enemy, and learning how to walk in our Kingdom authority is powerful and effective against the enemy’s advances against us.

But does that mean if something which is obviously evil and not from God hits us, we are at fault for not being strong enough in faith or authority to stop it?

Let’s look at the Word of God to consider an answer to this question.

Moses was instructed directly by God to go back to Egypt to release the people of Israel from slavery and lead them into the land they were promised (which had been promised 400 years earlier and instead they became slaves in a foreign land). As Moses obeyed God, it got worse for the people as Pharaoh came down hard on them before they were released (Exodus 3-13). After they got their breakthrough and were set free, God led them specifically to a place where they were cornered by the enemy, and once again things looked much worse after God stepped in and started leading them. They were very upset, not knowing that God had a bigger plan. God performed a miracle, causing the water to separate, giving the people an escape route (Exodus 14). None of these events had anything to do with the people’s lack of faith, and everything to do with God having a plan that could not be seen at the time of extreme difficulty.

Then there is always Job. Can you believe God called Satan’s attention to Job, and then allowed Satan to mess with him in such devastating ways? It didn’t matter how much faith Job had in God’s goodness; the Lord had lifted His “hedge of protection” from Job and let the enemy attack him time after time. He lost his wealth, his children and his health (Job 1, 2). And in the end, God restored Job’s health, wealth, and gave him more children (Job 42).

Okay, so those examples were under the old covenant. What about in the New Testament?

Well, what about when Jesus told Peter, “Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” (Luke 22: 31-31 NKJV). Jesus didn’t tell Peter, “When the enemy comes to attack you, just take your God-given authority and use your faith to cast him off and all will be well”. Yes, Peter was later filled with the Holy Spirit and grew immensely in his faith, but that was still not a golden ticket to a world with no trials or instant deliverance for any of the apostles.

And then there is the Apostle Paul. If there was anyone who knew how to walk in faith and his God-given authority, he was the man. Paul is also the one who wrote the most about our faith and our authority, instructing us to grow in these areas to defeat the enemy. And yet Paul, himself, tells us he has had “…far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.” 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 ESV). Was all of this because Paul had not yet learned how to have enough faith to keep these things from happening to him? I highly doubt it.

The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego has been brought to my attention several times lately (which is actually what prompted me to write this article). When threatened with death, their famous answer was, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Daniel 3:17-18 NIV). It seems these three gave that “cop-out” answer of “if it’s God’s will” which some of us have been told shows a lack of faith in God’s Word and stops Him from moving in our lives.

When I recently heard this story once again in a Sunday morning message, it caused me to think of those in Hebrews 11. This entire chapter lists out those who stood in faith and gained what was promised, and also those who did not live to see the answer they were standing in faith to see. What’s up with that?

I want to go back to what I said in part one of this discussion. Faith and trust can be interchanged. I can have a bold faith in scriptures I have picked out, believing God is going to do exactly what those scriptures promise. Or I can have a trust that comes from knowing my God intimately, so that when I stand on the promises in His word, I also turn the situation over to Him, knowing He is in full control, no matter what I see, feel, or hear.

Sometimes, I believe our faith can get in the way of God’s greater plan. Most of our growth actually comes through adversity. When God knows a greater good can come from the trial, sometimes He will trump our faith and authority with His greater good, especially when we have a heart that wants His will to be done over our own will.

In other words, God doesn’t need our opinions or demands (sometimes disguised as “faith”) in order to do His job. He needs our trust. He needs our belief in His ability to see, know, and do, what we cannot see, we cannot know, and we cannot do.

I have not said all of this to discount faith, or to discourage anyone from growing in learning how to walk in our God-given authority. These things are a must! I have written this to remind us that God is still bigger than our faith and our authority. He is sovereign and has the final word on everything. If you have done all you know to do, trust God with the outcome. This is especially true when your faith is met with resistance, or the opposite happens of what you were believing in faith. Don’t’ quit and don’t blame God for being God.

As someone who knows what he is talking about has written, “Having done all, stand!”

Gems from the Crown is a weekly blog from Crown of Glory Ministries to strengthen and encourage believers in Christ in their walk with God, especially in the areas of vision, authority, and identity. If you would like to have Gems from the Crown delivered directly to you, please click here.

August 3, 2016 by Laura Diehl 2 Comments

Is Faith Our Golden Ticket to a Good Life?

Some believers in Christ are taught that being a Christian is like having a golden ticket to a good life. They are told when we trust God and “stand on His Word” nothing bad will happen to us or our family (based on Scripture verses), that we will receive an instant miraculous healing in our bodies (based on lots of healing verses in the Bible), that our finances will be overflowing with abundance (once again, based on Bible verses) and…well, you get the idea.

Some of us have been told if these positive things don’t happen, it is because we either don’t have enough faith, or we are not using our authority in Christ. Now let me stop and say before I go any further that I believe God’s Word is absolute truth! Every Word of it! And I also believe we have been given the authority of Christ on this earth, no doubt about it! And I also don’t have full understanding of God and His Word, just like everyone else!

Back in 1985, our three year old daughter was diagnosed with cancer, facing having her tiny left leg amputated and going through chemotherapy. I was convinced if I had enough faith, she would be healed. I told anybody and everybody she was going to be healed and not need the amputation. My thought process was the more I spoke it out in faith, and the more people I told, the more God would have to honor His Word and heal her. Our church also did forty days of prayer and fasting for her healing (along with two other women who had also been diagnosed with cancer).

The morning the amputation was scheduled, x-rays were taken, to make sure they knew exactly where to make the cut on her leg. I was sure someone would come back shocked, saying the tumor was gone, and therefore no need for the amputation or any further chemo.

That didn’t happen, and I can still picture her looking over the shoulder of the big male nurse who had taken her out of my arms to carry her back for the procedure, as she waved slowly to us. That memory still grips my heart and can bring tears to my eyes.

For a long time, I questioned what I did wrong that left my daughter still needing this horrible procedure which would affect her for the rest of her life. We also had some Christians telling us we must not have had enough faith, or that we needed to learn how to walk in more of our God-given authority. People were giving us books on these subjects to “help” us. (I look back at it now and think how awful a response that was from some in the Body of Christ!)

Guess what I have learned over the years? Faith is almost exactly the same thing as trust. As a matter of fact, in the Complete Jewish Bible, you will never see the word faith. It is always translated as trust. For example, Hebrews 1:1 says, “Trusting is being confident of what we hope for, convinced about things we do not see.”

This has given me a whole new revelation which has answered so many questions in the arena of my “faith walk”, including when my daughter died.

I have always felt like faith is something I have to figure out how to have enough of, based on what I do. Things like, “Faith comes by hearing the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). I have to either be speaking out the Word or listening to someone preaching a lot throughout my day to build up my faith big enough to have no more problems. But I can never quite seem to get to the point where I do it enough to have that perfect life some Christians say the Bible tells us we are supposed to have. Anyone else ever feel that way?

When I realized the truth, that trust can be equated as having faith, it changed everything! I no longer had to figure out how to conjure up enough faith. I just needed to learn how to trust God more. I can do that so much easier!

And so the adventure began of learning how to trust my Abba Father God, which was essentially learning how to rest in my Daddy God’s incredible and extravagant love for me.

As I said earlier, rather abruptly, my daughter died (twenty-six years later from heart damage caused by the chemotherapy). Once again, I felt blindsided, because I truly believed God was going to heal her heart (either miraculously, or through a needed heart transplant). But this time it was different. My faith was not an audacious presumption that God was a genie to grant my wishes, using the Bible as my lamp to rub. This time it was based on a precious trust I had come to have, in knowing my Daddy God in a very deep and personal way.

When I asked Him about the fact that my faith was not met with the healing of my daughter, He gave me the most precious answer I could have had. (And it was not the Christian cliché answer, “He did answer your prayer because she is healed now in heaven.”) He reminded me of Hebrews 11:6, that without faith it is impossible to please Him. And He told me that my faith – my trust – had brought Him so much pleasure! Wow! I was amazed and in awe that I would bring God pleasure by how much I trusted Him with my daughter’s healing!

So let me summarize all this up for you.

Faith is not equivalent to using God as a magic genie to grant your wishes for a good life, using verses from the Bible as your lamp to rub.
Faith is essentially equivalent to trust.
You can’t trust someone you don’t know. That means in order to be able to trust God, you must get to know Him. Deeply and intimately.
The more you get to know God as your loving Abba (Daddy), the more you will know and experience His deep unconditional love for you, which makes it even easier to trust Him more, putting you in a wonderful circle of more love and more trust, aka “faith,” no matter what is happening in your life.

And the bottom line is, whether we like it or not, trust means unanswered questions. If we knew the answers, we would not need to trust Him. We would not have to increase our faith (our trust).

I want to encourage you to give God pleasure, by trusting Him more. Spend time with Him, in His Word, in intimate worship, in conversations with Him. The more you do those things, the easier it will be to believe that He loves you with an extravagant love so incredible, that He would give His own life in exchange for yours. Because that is exactly what He did!

With that kind of proof of His love, I think I can trust Him in this life to do what He knows is best for me. And so can you.

Remember those three young Hebrew men who were thrown into the fire, believing God would save them, “but if He doesn’t…”? What was that all about? Was it just an excuse in case they didn’t have enough faith (like those who tell us asking God for “His will to be done” is a cop-out for our lack of faith)? We will discuss this in the next article Is Faith Our Golden Ticket to a Good Life Part 2.

Gems from the Crown is a weekly blog from Crown of Glory Ministries to strengthen and encourage believers in Christ in their walk with God, especially in the areas of vision, authority, and identity. If you would like to have Gems from the Crown delivered directly to you, please click here.

June 22, 2016 by Laura Diehl Leave a Comment

Has a Tragedy Caused Your Faith to be Shaken?

We live in a fallen sinful world, and often get caught in the fall-out of that fact, while living here on this earth.

There are times something hits us, and it is fairly easy to give it over to God and let Him take care of it. Other times, we get hit hard, and the wounds run deep. It can cause us to question the goodness of God and be outright angry at Him for allowing something horrible to happen. After all, He is God, and we know He could have stopped it from happening.

Being a Christian does not give us a “golden ticket” immune to tragedy and heartache in our lives. Yes, Jesus told us to pray “Your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). I, myself, teach how prayer is taking those things in heaven (like healing), grabbing ahold of them, and pulling them down here to earth. We are told that “you have not because you ask not” (James 4:2,3) and there are several scriptures that tell us whatever we desire when we ask for something in the name of Jesus we have what we ask for.

So is God a liar? Have you prayed with faith, expecting God to move in the miraculous, and seen it go the opposite way? Have you been walking along joyfully, hand-in-hand with God, and suddenly been confronted with an unexpected tragedy that sucks the life right out of you?

I have, unfortunately, many times. Allow me to share something with you from the book When Tragedy Strikes.

I don’t remember exactly what it was, but many years ago I was asking God to change or fix something in my life. He asked me which prayer I wanted answered. I wasn’t sure what He meant. He reminded me of my consistent prayer for Him to do whatever He needed to get me where He wanted me to be. He then let me know that whatever this was I was praying against was something He wanted to use to get me where He wanted me to be.

So at that point I needed to make a decision. Did I want God to answer this immediate prayer and take me out of my misery, or did I want Him to answer the other prayer by allowing the situation to do a work in my life—getting me to where He wanted me to be? As I said, I don’t remember what that situation was, but I do remember I took the “fix it” prayer off the table and stayed with my prayer of “do whatever You want to get me where You want me to be.”

Over the years I’ve been faced with that same decision over and over again…

What determines God’s goodness? Is He good because He answers my prayers the way I want Him to? Is that what makes a person good? Because they give us what we want to make us happy? Or are they good because they know how to make right decisions for everyone involved? Are they good because they are not willing to compromise in the moment, but hold fast because they see and know the greater good further down the road?

I find it very sad when people walk away from God because He didn’t give them the answer they wanted to a prayer. God is not a vending machine where we put in the prayer, push a button, and the solution we want drops out for us.

We have a two-year-old granddaughter. She is being taught to say please and is learning that just because she says “pleeeeease” doesn’t mean she automatically gets what she wants.

When you ask someone for something, they have a choice to say yes or no. When we ask God for something, He has the choice to say yes or no. Did I want Him to say yes and allow Becca to stay here on this earth? Of course I did, with every fiber of my being! As a matter of fact, I believed He was actually going to heal her heart, either through a miracle or through a heart transplant. As I stated earlier, I was totally blindsided when she died—even though she was very sick. Once again I was forced to face that bottom-line prayer I have prayed almost all my life, of giving God permission to do whatever He wanted to do to get me where He wanted me to be. And this time it cost me an extremely high price.

Do I believe God killed my daughter to use it in some way in my life? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Do I believe that God allowed the natural consequences of a fallen and sinful world to take effect, not stopping it, even though many people were praying for her healing? Yes, I do. Do I still give Him permission to do what He wants to do as God, instead of what I want Him to do, because He can see so much more than I can see? ABSOLUTELY!

I have chosen not to change my thoughts and beliefs on who God is just because I did not get a prayer answered the way I wanted Him to, no matter how painful it may be.

So what can we do when life throws us more than just a curve ball; one that hits us and knocks us down (and can even take us out of the game for a while)?

Make the choice to forgive. It might be one person, or it could be a long list of people who had a part in the traumatic event. This can include yourself, God, and even someone you loved who caused your deep pain (such as someone who caused their own death, either on purpose or through negligence).
Get past the paralyzing question of “Why?”
Give yourself lots and lots of grace. And give that same grace to others in your family who are handling the tragedy (which includes grieving) differently than you.
Connect with other people who have faced a similar situation who are walking in hope and light and life again. They need to be people who won’t try to push you out of your grief, but help you walk through it.

Unfortunately, this article does not have time to dig into the “how” to do these things. Plus, these are only four of several steps you can take to work your way out of the pit of darkness and back into the light of living again.

If you want to dig further into these things, or if you need someone to walk with you, offering the hope you are desperate for, you may want to consider purchasing the book When Tragedy Strikes. It was written after the death of our daughter, specifically for other grieving parents, but I am being told by more and more people how it has helped them in other places of tragedy and darkness as well.

Here is an example of what people are saying about it.

“Reading her book is like having a friend who has been there walk alongside you as you try to make sense out of tragedy.”

“This book has not only helped me in coming closer to God and trusting him more. It has helped restore my faith.”

“Her words inspire you to find your way out of the darkness; then know the hope and healing!”

“So much in these pages really spoke to my heart about my own pain…I believe it can and will help others get through that dark pain of the soul.”

“She gives hope for healing and methods to move further along in the healing process.”

When Tragedy Strikes will be released in stores July 5, 2016. But it can be preordered at almost any book retailer right now (such as Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Powell’s Books, etc). And if you preorder the paperback by July 4, 2016, I would love to say thank you by blessing you with 13 other books by 13 different authors for FREE! (These books have a value of over $120.) To find out about this special offer, or more about the book itself, just click here. And please use the social media share buttons provided to let others know about it this limited opportunity to get 14 books for the purchase of one book.

Some people accuse Christians of using God as a crutch. I tell people that isn’t true for me. I use God as my wheelchair! I don’t know how anyone gets through this life without depending on Him.

May God be your wheelchair, and may the seed of Hope be watered in your shattered heart, bringing life from the depths of darkness and death. After all, that is God’s specialty; bringing life from death!

Gems from the Crown is a weekly blog from Crown of Glory Ministries to strengthen and encourage believers in Christ in their walk with God, especially in the areas of vision, authority, and identity. If you would like to have Gems from the Crown delivered directly to you, please click here.

June 8, 2016 by Laura Diehl 2 Comments

Who is to blame?

We all have things happen to us that are unfair; things that are just plain wrong.

Our natural tendency is to find who is to blame for it. We want to take our anger out on someone, and we can hold on to that anger and blame for days, months, years, or even a life time.

If our anger and blame go deep enough, we will even hate that other person. And when we refuse to let go of that anger and hate, it eventually spills over into other areas of our lives. We become a cynical, bitter, and resentful person.

When you blame someone for something, you give them the power to run your life and you disempower yourself. You are making something they did in the past be responsible for the events in your life now. When you make someone else responsible, you are unable to respond on your own to make the shift.

Response – ability. Responsibility is the ability to respond. You can’t accept the ability to respond when someone else is in control (by blaming them) because that person becomes the force who shapes your life.

I am not saying that person is not responsible for the bad thing (or absolutely horrendous thing) that was done to you. But continuing to blame them for the way you are now, is keeping that person in the driver’s seat of your life.

Let’s look at it this way. Your beliefs drive your thoughts. Your thoughts drive your emotions. Your emotions drive your actions. In other words, when you take an action (or react) to something, it is because of your emotions. The emotions that you have are a result of your thoughts. And your thoughts come from what you believe.

It doesn’t matter if that belief is the truth or not. Believing a lie is just as powerful as believing the truth.

Can you think of a time when you were in the exact same situation with someone, and yet both of you had a totally different view of whatever happened? I know that has happened to me several times, as my mom and I discuss conversations we had or events that happened as I was growing up. My perspective as a child is completely different than my mom’s as the parent. I am now finding the same thing to be true with me and my children. At times I am shocked to find out something I did with love ended up wounding them, because as a child, they couldn’t see the full picture – the “why” – like I could.

If we believe that keeping the pain of the wound of how someone hurt us will punish that person, we are very mistaken. All we are doing is crippling ourselves. Not only that, we are usually poisoning those around us with bitterness, anger, resentment, etc. as it surfaces in places that don’t even make sense to why we are reacting the way we are.

And what about God? Sometimes deep inside we can resent God, blaming Him for allowing this horrible thing to happen to us. How can God really be good? The answer to that question can have an entire book written about it (and there probably are a few out there). But for me, the simplest answer is that God is not a magic genie in a lamp that we can rub and get our wishes from. If that were the case, I would be bigger than God, because I could make Him do what I wanted Him to do. I don’t want a god so small that I can order him around. I want my God to be able to see the big picture, and be in complete control, both now, and for eternity! And that means I might not understand it or agree with it (just like a child and a parent…hmmm… maybe He really is a perfect Father…)

So, if believing a lie is just as powerful as believing the truth, how do we know if we are believing the lie or the truth?

Because the truth sets you FREE!

No person, or what they have done to me, is powerful enough to keep me chained to my past, stopping me from going forward in freedom. The only powers great enough to keep me from living out my kingdom inheritance here on earth are the lies and deception that someone else is to blame for my thoughts and my actions. And it is the same with you.

I once heard a story of twin boys who grew up with a very abusive drunkard as their father. One of them became a very successful business man, the other became a drunkard. When someone asked each of them what they attributed the direction of their life to, they both had the exact same answer. “What do you expect with a dad like mine?”

If you refuse to work through the pain of your past, not letting go of what was done to you, you will remain stuck to your past, and will never be able to come into the fullness of life, joy, peace, and everything else God has for you.

Obviously, if you choose (and yes, you can choose) to stop blaming someone in your past for continuing to make you who you are today, all of those things will begin to unfold in your life (fullness of life, joy, peace, and everything else God has for you). You will stop feeling like you just exist in a shell, holding on day-to-day trying to survive. You will begin to thrive.

And it will not only affect you directly, but will have a ripple effect. You will be leaving a legacy of love and fullness of life, not one of defeat with no purpose, blaming someone else for what you did or did not do with your life.

If you have spent your life blaming someone in your past for the life you are living now, ask God to give you the desire to release them. Then ask Him for the strength and grace you need to grab ahold of your own life and start taking responsibility for the way you respond and the decisions you make, no matter what others have done to you in the past.

No one is to blame for those things but yourself… remember, the truth will set you FREE!

Some of this article was based on one of our Tidbits from the Throne, a short weekly word of encouragement sent out to our Crown of Glory community. If you would like to be part of this growing community, which includes receiving Tidbits from the Throne, (and free access to our members’ library) just click here.

May 18, 2016 by Laura Diehl Leave a Comment

How to Find a Place of Rest in the Tsunamis of Life

Have you ever felt like you have been swept away by a tsunami in your life? It seemed like everything was going fine, and out of nowhere, a huge tidal wave you couldn’t outrun took your legs out from under you, and life was out of control.

I have had the blessing of that happening several times over the last 35 years or so. No, it was not a blessing at the time; far from it. Each time one of those huge waves hit, it caused fear, panic, an overwhelming sense of uncontrollable chaos, and lots and lots of deep pain.

The first time I remember that kind of a wave hitting me I was 16 years old, and it tried to take me under when my parents divorced. Yes, I know that is fairly common, but not for me and my family. I spent many years growing up as a preacher’s kid. A few of those years, my dad even traveled as an evangelist for children, doing things like kids’ camps and VBS’s. I went with him as often as possible. I loved being the daughter of “Uncle Bob,” watching him use magic tricks as object lessons (way before it was the “norm” in children’s ministry and before that term even existed) and be a ventriloquist with his dummy, Timothy.

Next huge wave? Shortly after getting married, our three year old daughter was diagnosed (on my due date with our second child) with bone cancer in her left leg, rendering it useless. She had her left leg amputated (how do you explain that to a three year old?) and went through nine months of chemotherapy.

Over the next several years, there were many smaller waves, compounded on each other. Some were what I would call the normal ups and downs of having a family with five children. Unfortunately, some of the bigger ones were within the Body of Christ. They included finding myself caught in the middle of a nasty church split (like a deer in the headlights) and then a few years later, when I was not responding to the replacement pastor’s flattery, found myself being accused of trying to divide the church. Yes, ouch! Deep wounds; I think many of us have them from “the church.”

Another one of them was finding out that a long-term effect of one of the chemo drugs used for our daughter’s treatment caused heart damage, which had to be constantly monitored. Eventually, she had to be put on medication to counter the weakness. After getting married and becoming pregnant, she ended up in the hospital for a few months, with a 50/50 chance of surviving through the labor and delivery. (She lived, and gave birth to a beautiful little preemie girl who is now 13 years old.) Shortly after that though, she had to have open heart surgery to repair one of her valves.

During that time, because of bad judgment, one of our sons ended up in the county juvenile detention center. There was a trial, and our son had teachers and other adults (including the workers of the detention center) plead on his behalf. They all recommended for the judge to send him to a boys’ home and not be locked up, because it was so obvious that he was a good kid with a good family support system, who had made some very bad choices and needed help. But because there were some things that tied the judge’s hands, at age 15, he was incarcerated for two years in a juvenile corrections facility. (There is a lot more to this story, but you get the idea…)

Then there was the 18 months where our oldest daughter was in the hospital more than she was out. She had her second and third open heart surgeries during that time (one to put in a pump to run the right side of her heart, and the other to take it out when the driveline to the pump got sliced and the pump was shorting out, shocking her heart every time it did). She had a stroke (leaving her left arm fairly useless), Sudden Cardiac Death (from which the EMTs were able to start her heart again after about 15 minutes) and septicemia (blood poisoning with a 20% survival rate). She had a dozen ambulance rides and three emergency helicopter rides within that time period.

Then suddenly, her heart gave out for the last time, and she was gone. Just like that. I can’t even begin to tell you the darkness that came with watching our three sons carry their sister’s casket and burying our child. That just isn’t supposed to happen! It caused a horrible chain of events that I never even thought was possible, which I have since found out is actually fairly common when a child dies.

Okay, so by now are you asking, where is the place of rest in all of this????

It is in learning how to trust, and to surrender. I have found it is one thing to tell God you are giving Him your life, and another thing to actually do it.

Giving our lives to God does not mean our lives will become a bed of roses. Too many people use God like some magic genie who is supposed to grant us our wishes to not have anything bad ever happen to us in this fallen, sinful, crappy world. So when those big waves hit us, we blame Him as if He caused it, and then turn our backs on the only One who can give us true peace, comfort, and direction on how to get our footing again and not be overcome.

It is during these times that we find out if we have truly given our hearts and our lives completely to God, or if we have done it with conditions.

Over the years, each time the next tsunami hits, I have learned to run to Him harder and faster, and I hang on to Him with everything I have! And every single time He has been more than faithful to get me to the other side. And not in just a half-drowned wet mess, but in total amazement at how He has been at work in my life, using the storm to strengthen me and to deepen our relationship.

Plain and simple, I trust Him. I have learned to surrender to the process. Because of my allowing Him to do whatever He wants to do with my life, God has been able to not only sustain me, but bring me to a place of victory, each and every time.

Has it been easy? Of course not! And it doesn’t happen quickly, either. (Wouldn’t that be nice?) This trusting God thing is a life-long process.

But once we stop fighting, and choose to surrender and rest in the arms of our Daddy God, He can transform us through the painful trials into a beautiful and rare gem.

(Just a note: I have written about several of these life events in my book Triple Crown Transformation, which is available from our ministry or several book outlets. Click here if you would like to know more about this book.)