Julie Luse | Eyes Wide. Heart Deep.

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How can we say that God is good?

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God good-

You’ve heard it before: an enthusiastic proclamation out of the mouth of (I can only assume) a Christian — “God is good!”

For a long time, this phrase made me mad. It seemed so cliché. Or lighthearted. When I heard it, I would think “Well, of course God is good, but the situation you’re talking about was one of human merit not of God’s doing.”

Or how about when you hear “God is good” out of the mouth of someone who seems to have had a fairly easy life. Steady family, plenty of money, lucky in love and life. Never lost a job. Praised for little things accomplished in life. Always had what was needed growing up. Never battled death, chronic disease, depression, or abuse.

And like a cynic you ask yourself, “What would that guy say if his life was rocked like so many lives have been? Would he still say that ‘God is good’?”

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How to conquer the fear of tragedy

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b57c3ac88f7ba27aaf69bf82adc73be8I write this with a heavy heart as the news of my sweet sister in law loosing her baby hits hard. She was full term, just a week away from delivery. I don’t know if it’s coincidental that I had this blog post already written. And while this is not a post on how to overcome tragedy, just how to overcome the fear of it, it doesn’t take away the sting of when tragedy actually does come. And it doesn’t make it less painful. And it certainly doesn’t help us with our fear of future tragedy.

 So what does it mean to conquer it then? To conquer it means that it doesn’t have control over you anymore, it doesn’t steal your joy and your life any longer.

I wrote the following points because they helped me when my anxiety of the unkown, of tragic events of loosing a child or my child loosing me, wanted to overcome my mind with fear.

 This year I will be talking a lot about fear. Fear has plagued me in many areas of my life, and I no longer want to be it’s victim. I believe the glory of God is a man or woman who is fully alive and free, and I believe that fear (and it’s lies) are the thieves who come to steal our freedom and our ability to truly live.

But first, we must understand, there are different levels or categories of fears. I will be unpacking those different categories the more we talk about it this year.

But this first fear – The fear of tragedy (death, loss, storm, crisis) falls under Legitimate Fears.

And you will find this fear as pretty universal – most everyone has these same fears. Even though, they are common to us, some will struggle with this fear more than others. For some of us they can leave us crippled, they affect our level of joy and our level of living.

howtoconquerthefearoftragedy

 HOW TO CONQUER THE FEAR of tragedy

We can never perfectly conquer fear, it will continue to come. But I believe we can overcome fear’s grip on our lives, or we can use our fear as a tool.

If the fear of tragedy is causing anxiety and worry in your life, causing you to avoid certain things or you find it produces a certain kind of behavior in your life, then you may be missing out on the abundant life that Jesus came to give you.

 Try this…

I call it PTA (Pray, Trust and Act)

PRAY.

When I’m having those anxious thoughts (that take my breathe away or keep me up at night), the bible tells us instead of worrying to pray.

This is where you pour out all of your insecurities and fears.

This is where you vent and wrestle, even in anger, and slowly let go of “the way things should be” in your eyes.

This is where your tears cause your heart to open and for more of Him to enter.

 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. –Philippians 4:6 (NIV)

 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. –1 Peter 5:7 (NIV)

TRUST.

Easier said than done. When we trust we believe that God is who He says He is. And we trust His intentions and His authorship. We trust that His story is our story, and that he owns the best version of it.

 This is where you ask yourself “what is the worst thing that could happen?”

And you let your mind linger there for a moment, you have to in order to truly face your fear.

And then you ask yourself “Is God still on the throne?”

and “If that were to happen, how would I get through it with God?”

And you take a deep breath and acknowledge that God can still bring good out of the most horrible events.

 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. –JOSHUA 1:9

 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; - Proverbs 3:5

 The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. –Deuteronomy 31:8

ACT

This is where the control freak and the planner can rejoice. This is where we can examine these feelings of fear and take note of the stones that are left unturned still. Tragedy will always be uncomfortable but I can do what I can to be prepared and I can do what I can to not have regrets.

 I realize that this is where fear can be a positive thing in my life.

I can use fear to be more intentional in my life and with my people.

I can be diligent to feed my family well and take care of our health.

I can teach them certain cautions.

I can write them letters so they will never forget how much I loved them

or record the lessons I still want to teach them should I leave too soon.

I can take advantage of all this time I have now to hold the people I love and speak love to them.

I can take a hold of the adventure in my life and life with a purpose.

 After PTA there is nothing more for me to do but to let go of the fear.

I’ve faced the fear head on and consulted with God and chosen to believe truth and I’ve done all that I can do and I truly must live this life I’m blessed with and stop missing out on it.

 Because this is the woman I want to be:

She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.

When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness.

She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness.

-Proverbs 31: 25-27

 

Oh how I desire

to be a woman

who can laugh at the days to come

instead of tremble in fear.

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This year we OVERCOME!

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So do you do that thing where you pick one word for the year to be your guide or your theme? What word did you pick? I’m dying to know and why you picked that? And how did you choose it? Was it based on the successes or failures of the year before? Or was it more of an idealistic approach to willing a certain quality into your life?

Okay, first, I know that. it. is. MARCH! heellloo! But you need to just get used to this part of my personality. I tend to procrastinate.

And not to place the blame on 2014 - but darn! It was a hard year for me to get over.

Literally. I brought a nasty cold into 2015 that ailed me for a whole stinkin month before a smart friend of mine kindly directed me towards a doctor. I guess if you have a cold for a whole month - it’s no longer a cold - it’s an infection. Yikes!

Ok, so back to the word. (drumroll) my word for 2015 — OVERCOME!

overcome w- julieluse

I actually let my children vote on it. Personally I was leaning towards CONQUER or COURAGE. But since they have a healthy obsession with Mandisa (your welcome girl, my kids chant your lyrics like everyday — and for that I want to HUG YOU! -no seriously I put that on my bucket list. realistic i know).

The funny thing is, I always am doing these crazy speeches at dinner to the tune of “this year let’s change ya’all” thinking they just have tuned me out by now. But no joke. They were buying it.

“So this means, guys, that this is the year we #OVERCOME all the things that are holdin us back from truly livin.”

“This is the year we try new things…things we’ve been afraid to do…things that we think we won’t like - but we don’t really know.”

I was on a role. I wish you could have been there. They were -eating-it-up! In my mind I couldn’t help but pride myself with my new way to get them to eat stuff they don’t like (#momoftheyear material).

But just then, my inspirational montage music playing in the background (in my head) came a halt: My 8 year old had his hand raised.

“So this means I need to go to school naked - cuz I’m afraid of that - and that would be different?”

Uhhhhh.

“Ok so let me lay some ground rules on our 2015 theme here. We are still Christians, and we still need to respect others and the rules and THE LAWS!”

oh, ok. With that I thought we were good to go.

But I have to tell ya. This word has already impacted my family. My kids really are trying new things for the sake of trying new things. They are opening their eyes to the kids around them that they see may need encouragement and were afraid to do something about before.

They walk around the house chanting “Don’t quit, don’t give in, you’re an overcomer” it gets increasingly loud during times when mom has seemingly lost her mind. It’s a nice reminder. sort of.

Okay. But all jokes aside.

This word is very real for me. (this is where the post turns from lighthearted to serious face).

2014 was a roller coaster. A coaster that stopped at unbelievably high to unbelievably low - not much in the middle. Sure I could blame it on being preggars and hormone craziness and then having a baby and going through post partum depression (yep, more on that later when I get the guts to talk to you about it).

Let’s just say by Jan 31 of the this new year. I was FED UP with the after affects of 2014. I finally declared that I had been living in a state of UNWELL (physically, mentally and spiritually) for so long that is was becoming my new normal. I decided that this year, something’s got to change.

I believe Jesus in bible when He says that He came to give us LIFE and LIFE TO FULLEST!

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. - John 10:10 (NIV)

The thief had come for me. He was hiding under my bed.   He was camped out on my front lawn. I gave him permission.

There were times this last year where I experienced a deep joy in my life and some cool accomplishments (even though millions of women accomplish having a baby a year it is still a HUGE accomplishment). But all of it, sadly, overshadowed by this feeling of defeat and failure.

Why do we do that as humans? Fixate on the negative, in the midst of so many positives?

I don’t know the answer YET!

I’m on this journey this year to figure it out though.

This is the year I (we, if you wanna do it with me) OVERCOME.

Overcome the things that steal joy

Overcome the things that attempt to trump the truth

Overcome the fears that tangle up our feet and duct tape our mouths

Overcome the ideals of culture that teach us how to hate ourselves

Overcome the pressure to conform to the world’s idea of community with others

In this world  you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. - John 16:33 (NIV)

Are you with me? Oh please say you are! This would be so much more fun together! I don’t want to stop talking about this. I may be obsessed. I love this journey that is before us. I love it already though I don’t even know how it unfolds. Which makes it an adventure.

And you never know. I just may be able to cross this off my list by the end of the year:

#27 Give Mandisa a nice long squeeze hug! 

Here’s to the whimsy ideas that make us giggle! :)

click here to watch Mandisa’s offical Overcomer video

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You know that awkward silence…?

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If you are like me, you squirm in a small group meeting when the room grows silent. I fantasize myself something like the mysterious woman who waits until the perfect moment to speak - and when she does her listeners are captivated but that never quite happens something bubbles up inside me and I…just-have-to-say-something!

Or let’s say I haven’t seen a good friend for a long time. My mind gets overwhelmed with things to say because it’s been so long.

Where do we start? What have we missed? How can we get caught up?

And it’s like those first few moments are schizophrenic, jumping from one topic to another, tangent-city, trying to get caught up.

That’s what I’m feeling about this blog post. It’s been months. And before that, it was months. It’s like our blog-friendship (aka blogship) is severely undernourished.

 

How do I just start again?

And why did I stop?

And what have we been up to? (more on that later)

 

I’ve never been good at ice-breakers to be honest. Small talk makes me break out into an invisible rash.

I’m that awkward girl in the room when everyone is talking about weather, and I just dropped the whole “what is the meaning of life” bomb.

I’ve killed light -hearted conversation.

I’ve held onto a certain topic through interruptions like babies crying, phone calls, even someone needing to leave to no avail.

Sometimes I think I am the weirdest girl you may have ever met.

But there is this anthem inside me that sings about how we are all weird.

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Let’s Be Honest…

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Let’s be honest…it’s hard to break the silence when you haven’t blogged for a couple months!

Let’s be honest…it’s hard not to listen to those voices in your head that tell you that you failed, that you let somebody down, that you disappointed, that you don’t measure up as a blogger, that people think you’ve been lazy.

But let’s be honest - those voices are NOT the truth!

And let’s be honest that nobody just sits around and thinks bad thoughts about you - they’re all doing the same thing, worrying about themselves and what others think of them.

Let’s be honest…the Lord must laugh at our mental conundrums that we dream up with our vivid imagination and then have the audacity to believe as truth. I can only imagine his response, well, who told you that was the truth?

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