Hello, friends! Please welcome back to the blog Hannah Clements, my dear friend who carries joy and wisdom like a mantle. Listen in as she learns a lesson in God's goodness from...her oven.
My oven is old, I like to think vintage, maybe an antique.
My oven is impossible to clean. It holds years of meals and burnt grease. When the oven light is off, it appears clean(er). It hides its stains and grime in the darkness. The oven light exposes its true character.
Today, the light exposed burnt spaghetti sauce, a popcorn kernel, and an occasional husky hair amongst its old grease. I saw the mess and was tempted to turn the light off and let it linger in the darkness, but I have dinner guest coming and a messy oven won't do.
While wiping away grease and grime, God reminded me that light exposes our sin.
"Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and dispose the motives of men's hearts, and then each man's praise will come to Him from God." 1 Corinthians 4:5.
We may think we are hiding in the darkness but nothing can separate us from God's love. Light pierces darkness:
"The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it." John 1:5
Praise Jesus because He doesn't just expose our mess and grime but He stays around to clean and restore us. Psalm 51:7 says, "Purify me from my sins and I will be whiter than snow."
Praise Him because He doesn't turn a blind eye on our darkness but He cleanses us - loving us too much to let us remain in the our dirty form.
Oh Lord, "Search me and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life." Psalm 139:23-24
But I know some kids that did. (I'm sure they have it lovingly stored away somewhere in their attics.)
I've been out of high school for 17 years this June. And since then I've been to lots of places. Just like Dr. Seuss said I would.
New York.
Vegas.
Disney World.
A garden wedding in the mountains on a hot July day.
A riverboat in New Orleans.
A stage, speaking His Word.
A Hospice room while she floated away.
The rubble of a burned down house, smoke filling my nostrils.
An emergency room, pain and loss and emptiness merging to create a new kind of grief.
At the ripe old age of 18 I thought my future was clearly mapped out: stars marking my stops, direct lines indicting my routes.
I learned quickly that in life we find ourselves in places we'd never map out. How did I get here? Have you ever, by chance, been to:
The State of Denial?
Rock Bottom?
Up the River Without a Paddle?
I hear these places are never lovely at any time of year.
But I also learned quickly that no matter where I tried to run, what escape passage I may have planned, the evacuation route I frantically followed, or the tunnels in which I'd hide-
He was there.
In every place.
In all the places I'd go, He was in every place.
I found myself overwhelmed with anxiety tonight. The road seemingly too long, the waters too rough. The way dreary and dark.
Oh how the doubt took the small flicker of anger that was in my heart and turned it into a wildfire.
I'm about to be mad at you, God. These things you've asked me to do are too much. The territory Satan has gained on my map is increasing. Are you doing anything about it?!
In obedience, I know what to do. I turn in prayer and literally lay at His feet in my brokenness on the floor of my prayer closet.
Praise You, Good Father. I love you. Where are You?
Child, I am in every place.
"Am I a God who is near," declares the LORD, "And not a God far off? "Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?" declares the LORD "Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?" declares the LORD. Jeremiah 23:23-24
Friend, there is no place you can go that He is not present. No place He will take you that He was not willing to go Himself.
Where are you, Father?
I am in every place.
I need you to hear today (and I need to hear today) that you are never alone. Through all the joy and danger and scary and happy and laugh till you're crying and cry till you're laughing -
He is there.
Because He is in every place His children find themselves.
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9
Today you may find yourself alone in the little town of Sorrow and Uncertainty. But if we look closer at the sign on the drive into the city limits you'll find it actually says Population: 2.
In every place.
Ah, there are some places in my travel log and pictures in my scrapbook I wish I could erase. But I never experienced these things alone. And this route I'm driving on now is no different.
So it goes with you, too, friend. While we may pray our travels take us only the safest, quickest paths to the sunniest and most beautiful places, let's change our prayer. Let's instead turn that prayer into a prayer of praise to Him who goes with us, thanking Him for never leaving us. Because after all,
I call in sweet whispers, 1 Kings 19:12
Return to Me, beloved. Joel 2:12
No one will love you like I do. John 13:34-35
I loved you first. I John 4:19
Before your own mother. Psalm 139:13
Before I even created the world,
I created you out of pure delight. Ephesians 1:4-5
I love you.
Through your faithfulness and obedience. John 14:23
In your steadfast hope. Psalm 147:11
These precious gifts you give to Me. 1 Peter 1:7
I love you still.
Though you labor and spin. Luke 12:27
My voice saying, Return to Me, beautiful one. Song of Solomon 2:10
I will never leave you or betray you. Deuteronomy 31:6
Are you listening, my dearest? Jeremiah 33:3
I'll love you through it. Isaiah 43:2
Through betrayal, loss. Psalm 3:3
When you lay to rest treasures both good and bad. Matthew 6:19-21
Though all may be taken from you. Isaiah 58:11-12
My love will never be. Romans 8:38
I love you in truth. Ephesians 6:14
In grace. Psalm 103:8
In mercy. Psalm 86:5
In gifts I freely give, beloved. Romans 8:32
My heart is for you. John 13:1
Rend your heart for Me. Joel 2:13
The day I shaped the earth out of a dark void
I made everlasting marriage vows to you: Ephesians 1:4
I will love you forever. Psalm 136
I will never be unfaithful. 2 Timothy 2:13
I will never leave you alone. Psalm 100:5
Those who seek Me lack no good thing. Psalm 34:10
Good things like faith, hope, and love. 1 Corinthians 13:13
The promises I make to you are bound in who I AM. Exodus 3:14
Who else can say this to you? Psalm 89:34
I am your first. Revelation 2:3
Your best. Isaiah 41:10
Your last. Matthew 28:20
There are times I will be your only. Psalm 62:5
But I am all that is necessary. Luke 10:42
Sweet darling, I am all you need. 2 Peter 1:3
I am perfect love
because of my perfect love for you. 1 John 4:18
I am perfect love
because I am love. 1 John 4:8
I've sent you a love letter.
Written by the Spirit. 2 Timothy 3:16
And proven by the ages. Acts 5:38-39
Seek Me and you will find Me in these words. Jeremiah 29:13
Read this letter daily, write it on your heart. Hebrews 8:10
And know that you are loved so much
That I would give anything for you. John 3:16 Love, God
Have you ever lost a game you were sure you'd win? Maybe literally. Maybe metaphorically.
But you woke up one day feeling on top of the world and by day's end that world was totally shattered?
I am a die hard Panthers fan. I have loved and followed them since the early 2000s when my then-boyfriend and now-husband watched every game with fierce intensity.
The success of my team this year has been celebrated, criticized, marginalized, praised. Most sports commentators and pundits believed the Panthers would come out on top in the big game Sunday night.
Cam is a force to be reckoned with, NFL MVP. Our defense and their record speak for itself.
As a city, Charlotte was celebrating a victory before Sunday was even here. Not out of arrogance, but out of sheer belief that no one was better than our Panthers.
But then Sunday night came and something was off. Be it the officiating, turnovers, dropped passes, etc.
I was so sick to my stomach over the loss that I couldn't bring myself to watch the after-game ceremonies.
I woke up this morning to footage of a devastated Cam walking out of a press conference and a crying Josh Norman.
And oh my...I know how these fellas feel.
See, this is where football can teach you about life. And that anything...even something as trivial as the loss of a game can point you back to Jesus.
Because I've been there. I've been sailing through life, happy, free, obedient to God and then in the short span of one day, my life got rocked, rolled, and broken into pieces.
And all of the sudden you're sitting in the rabble and smoke-rising mess and thinking How did I get here?
I'm doing my job, Lord. I'm playing my best, my joyful best. I'm succeeding at the plans You've given me to accomplish. Lord, why did things not go my way?
Friend, I am in no way equating the trials and losses of your life to a lost football game, but I am saying there's a lesson to be learned.
When we don't win the game. When life crumbles around us in totally unexpected ways: We have to make peace with it.
This is where you are now. The shattered today is where you stand, not the perfect yesterday.
And that...man, that stinks. But it's where you are.
So the question is: Where do you go from here? Do you rehash, reexamine, replay all that could have happened differently? Maybe. Maybe for just a minute.
But then you move on. Because the only way through a shattered, unexpected mess is through.
To get through it, you've got to walk through it.
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts."
Isaiah 55:8-9
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
Isaiah 43:2
I try to live my life in a way that sees Jesus in everything. I look for Him in everything. So last night as I was cleaning up our Super Bowl party, my prayer was this:
What did I learn? God, help me to see what I learned.
And here it is. Just as art imitates life, so does football. The crushing blow to Panther fandom serves as a poignant reminder of crushing, more real, more devastating blows to our lives.
And those millionaire football players will shake off the loss, take some time to heal, and look at the game through a different lens.
We've got to do this, too. Regroup, heal, and learn to see life differently. And as hard as our hurts and losses are, they are ours. We can't deny them.
So let's use the loss. Let's let it redefine us as we walk through it, let it mold us into something stronger, larger, and bolder.
Because I want to walk in His higher ways, travel His higher paths. And higher definitely doesn't mean easier. Most of the time higher means harder.
And that's okay. My Panthers will come out of this loss even better.
And we will come out of our losses better, too. My prayer is that we use our losses in such a way we will be thankful for them.
