Return to the Lord

 Return to the Lord 

Life is hard and messy. Sometimes we wonder why we go through the things we go through. Sometimes we feel like we are stuck in a rut. Then life continues to throw things at us, and the rut gets deeper and deeper. How do we get out of this rut? Well, we need to change course. What we are doing is not working for us anymore. How do we change course? I believe it starts with the decision to do something different. 

I was having a conversation with my friend Andrew. I joined Andrew’s program, BAD in 90, about 7 weeks ago. I needed help with cutting sugar from my diet. The first two weeks on the program were great, but then I started to struggle. I think Andrew could tell I was struggling. I didn’t want him to know I was struggling. I didn’t want anyone to know I was failing again. After he reached out to me the third time to see if I needed any help or had questions about the program. I told him I was stuck in a rut.  

He stated that ruts are hard to get out of. I have been in a rut for a long time. This year has brought more trouble, and the rut has become deeper. I have been sick at least four times this year. I’m talking to where I was in bed for a week sometimes more. Which has brought on more trouble. Trouble with my finances, trouble at work to where I was threatened to be fired. It has been a mental and emotional struggle. 

However, I believe it has all been part of God’s plan. I know that everything that I have been through has led me to this point. It’s time for a change. Time to step up and be who God has called me to be.  

One of the best things that happened this year was that I got baptized in June.  The week prior to my baptism I was praying about it and I heard God say remember who you are. Well, you know that made me think of the Lion King. Which is so relatable because of what Simba went through. The enemy lies to us and makes us believe that we are at fault and that we are not worthy of what is ours. So like Simba we run away and hide we try to live our best life when down deep we know we were meant for greater things. That story line has been my whole life. I have believed the lies of the enemy, falling into his trap, running away, and hiding trying to live my best life. When all the while I knew down deep that I have been meant for something greater. God wants us, no He needs us to take our place for His kingdom. It is time for all of us to figure out who we are in Christ and take our place, where God needs us to be. 

At that time God also told me you are Sylvia Vera which is my maiden name. I didn’t know what He meant by that. So, on the day of my baptism when the Pastor was talking and praying over me, he called me Sylvia Vera. When he said it, it caught me by surprise. No one ever calls me that the only place I use my maiden name is on Facebook. So, I wondered how the pastor knew my maiden name. I am not friends with him on Facebook. I don’t even know if he has a Facebook. I was praying about it the following week, and God revealed to me that when I was born, I was Sylvia Vera. I was born with a purpose that God had for me, but life and life choices took me down different paths and took me away from God’s plan. Now it is time for me to take my place and be who God intended for me to be when I was born as Sylvia Vera. 

I was sitting at my kitchen table. It is the place where I sit every day and have my coffee and talk to the Lord. Sometimes I just don’t know what to read in the Word, but I knew and felt in my spirit that the Lord wanted to speak to me.  I opened my bible to Joel 2:12-17. The title of that section is Return to The Lord. I think one side of this is repentance, but the other side is taking our place. We can no longer let our shortcomings, sin, and sufferings hold us back. God is ready and waiting for us to take our place in His kingdom. Vs. 13 “…. And He relents over disaster.” That jumped off the page at me. The disaster is that we are stuck in a rut. He wants to bring us out of the ruts we are in and bring us back to Him. It is where we belong.  

My life is at a crossroads. Am I going to continue on the same course and continue to dig myself deeper and deeper in that rut? No. I have decided to take the high call of my Lord and Savior. I know it is not going to be easy, but I am ready for a change.  

“I don’t know where you are with your relationship with God, but His power is unstoppable. His forgiveness is available. He is writing a story for you, right now. The most important thing you and I could ever do is to make sure that we’re friends with the author. We don’t get to choose where we started, but we do have something to do with making choices that lead to where we end up. You may be filled with uncertainty about the future, doubts and fears about your faith. Not sure why God put you here and what’s going to happen to you after you die. I can promise you this that if you make friends with the author, who is writing your story, He will give you wisdom. He promises that, and He never breaks His promise. But you must have faith. Trust, rely and depend with all of your heart on the one who hung the stars in the sky. The one who knit you together in your mother’s womb, and the one who promises to never leave you or forsake you. If you will lean your full weight upon His character and goodness.” ~Kirk Cameron 

“It’s not the critic who counts. It’s not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done it better. The credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena. Whose face is marred with blood, sweat and dust. Who at the best in the end knows the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, he fails daring greatly.” ~Theodore Roosevelt 

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and He relents over disaster. Joel 2:12-13