Day 6: Love Your Bump

Love my bump ey?  Well while I do have a bit of a gut… I don’t have a bump because as I mentioned earlier… I am not pregnant… but thinking outside the box a little and determined to use as much of this love list as I can, I decided that while I don’t have a physical bump, I certainly have had, and still have some metaphorical bumps in that crazy journey that I am currently calling life.  So I thought that I would post about something I have been thinking about for a while… Embracing these bumps and moving on, and learning to love the person that they have made me become… which I guess by default is… ‘loving the bump’.  Some of you would know that over the last couple of years… Well maybe more than a couple, my life has been a bit topsy turvey, there have been some really crap parts and some awesome parts, and I think for the I have slowly been getting better at dealing with events such as these.

This year, yes I know it’s only the second week of Feb, has unfortunately been no different, the bumps they keep on coming.  Each time I deal with one and I am just starting to get my confidence back, it seems like there is another just sitting there, ready and waiting to pounce.  I have spent a lot of time thinking about the purpose for these bumps and I know for one,  they are making me stronger, in fact I often catch my self thinking surely I am strong enough… but apparently not, coz they just keep coming.

In my most recent bump I was reminded of something very important the way I respond both immediately and ongoing in a choice… I can either choose faith or fear…. Now despite the fact that I love and serve the king of kings, saviour of the world, all powerful, all knowing, omnipotent God, and I know that faith is the better response… my first reaction is usually not god, but fear.

Fear is something I have struggled with for a long time… Most of you probably already know this, in fact, in the middle of last year I preached about it, but once again it’s back and… once again I have had enough of living by it.  The thing is, most of the time fear seems like the easiest option, but more often than not, it just makes things worse.  So, in order to get on top of this fear and faith thing I have found my self seeking god in completely different ways than I normally would, I have been reading different books, listening to different songs and trying for the first time podcasts from churches around the world.  I have now listened to three podcasts from Bethel church in the states and surprise, surprise I have been learning… I know I shouldn’t really be surprised, coz in the bible it talks about the fact that if we seek, we will find and if we press into god, He will press into us, but I still am, just a little bit.  Anyway, in the first sermon I was reminded that we are called to be warriors of hope, and that it’s by our faith that we inherit the promises of god… Pretty cool ey? And then in the third one I heard something that I don’t think I had thought about before… That when you believe the lie, you empower a dis-empowered devil.  I know that the devil is defeated, but when I let the bumps get me down and cripple me with fear I actually just give the devil a stronger hold on my life.

So once again, I am taking a stand and making some decisions…

1.    The worry box is back… I will hand it over and let it go
Mark 5:36 – ‘Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe’
Philippians 4:6 – ‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God’

2.    I will be thankful for the bumps because they have made me who I am but I will not let them bump me off the track…
2 Timothy 1:7-9 – ‘⁷ For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. ⁸ So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. ⁹ He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time’

3.    I will choose faith. I will choose trust and I will not empower a die-empowered devil.
Romans 8:28 – ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.’
John 19:30(b) – ‘Jesus said, “It is finished.”’