We're Going on a Bear Hunt

On my son's first Christmas, I gave him the book We're Going on a Bear Hunt. In the back of the book, I wrote the following message:

Logan,
Life will bring challenges that you can't go over and you can't to under...you'll have to go through them. Just know that if you believe in yourself like I believe in you and you have faith in God, you will get through anything and you will come out on the other side even stronger.

I love you!
~Mom

We're Going on a Bear Hunt is a children's book about a family who decides to go on a bear hunt. Along the way they come up against "long, wavy grass", "a deep, cold river", "thick, oozy mud", "a big, dark forest", "a swirling, whirling snowstorm", "a narrow, gloomy cave" and at last, the actual bear that they had been hunting. With each challenge that the family comes up against, they say, "We can't go over it. We can't go under it. Oh, no! We've got to go through it!"

After having a conversation with a co-worker today, the Holy Spirit prompted me to remember the book We're Going on a Bear Hunt and the message that I wrote to my son several years ago. As I face challenges in life, I often want to complain to someone else, find an easy way out, get angry or just feel sorry for myself. One of my biggest challenges more recently has been managing my large and demanding caseload at work. I have complained. I have tried to find an easy way out. I have gotten very angry and I have spent plenty of time feeling sorry for myself...until a few weeks ago. A few weeks ago I decided to embrace my challenge. I decided to just go through it! I have been given this challenge so that I can go through it, completely "lean on God" and come out on the other side stronger in my own faith and shining my light on all those around me.

I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.--Philippians 4:13

Lord, I Need You

"When I cannot stand, I'll fall on You. Jesus, You're my hope and stay."-Chris Tomlin

So much of my spiritual journey is a result of God working through music. My radio station has been "stuck" on 91.5, WCIC (the local Christian radio station) for about five years. I listen to it every morning on the way to work and every afternoon on the way home. I listen to it every Sunday on the way to church and every time I take a trip to the store, bank, library, mall, etc... I even listen to WCIC when I'm working by myself in my classroom at school. I can't even count the number of times the perfect song has come on the radio at the perfect time...quieting my mind and comforting my heart. Many times, I listen to a song on the radio and then get home and promptly download it to my I-Pod so I can listen to it over and over. One song that I listen to over and over is "Lord, I Need You" by Chris Tomlin. The lyrics are perfect any day and any time. My understanding of how much I truly need God has been so limited until the last year. I truly do see how I completely "fall apart" when I turn my eyes away from God and how God is my "one defense" (my one and only defense). In fact, I look back on so much of my life and I see how I was truly miserable because I didn't keep my eyes focused on God and I tried to solve all my problems by myself. I "fell apart" on a daily basis! Back then, even when I asked God for help, I didn't completely trust God. NOW, I pray and trust God (even though I don't always understand why things are the way they are) and I ask the Holy Spirit to guide me through my day to day decisions ("every hour"). And, I am no longer miserable...I am free!!!