Take it Easy… on yourself!

With Piper turning sixty-five (can you believe that!) in a couple of weeks, I’ve been busy working on getting her set up for her senior medical care insurance.  I was familiar with the process as I had studied out the various options available about six months ago when I prepared for my own admission into the coveted Medicare Card Club!  Piper’s though, was to be a little different since she is on Hospice care.  Medicare covers the Hospice expenses in entirety so we didn’t need a supplemental care policy like I have, but would most likely need a prescription drug plan.

Since she has one particular prescription that she takes twice a day which cost over $1700.00 for a thirty-day supply, I figured a Rx plan would be a good addition!  So, with that all acquired and ready to go at the beginning of this month, we met with Piper’s Hospice Social Worker and her case nurse on Tuesday to take her off Hospice care under the old insurance policy and then sign her back up with Medicare.

We’ve worked quite closely with both of these two individuals over the last year and they are like family to us!  They’ve always given Piper the best of care with great compassion, love and dignity and have listened to me on many occasions as I’ve opened up my heart strings to them.  As the nurse was giving Piper a thorough exam and the Social Worker and I were going over all the new paperwork, I shared with them that at times I feel so helpless when Piper is having a rough day like she had that morning.

Those feelings of helplessness and the uncertainty of my doing my utmost best for her also at times, enters into my faith life when it comes to our stand of faith for Piper’s healing.  There are times that I question my own faith as well as my own spiritual, physical and emotional strength when it comes to my commitment to what we mutually agreed upon back in 2007 as our stand on God’s Word… no matter what the physical circumstances may be exhibiting at the moment. 

I get angry when doubt and unbelief knock at my door and I tend to be my own worse critic!  I tell myself that “I can do better!” and that “I will not entertain thoughts different than what we are believing for.” That “the strong man of faith that I desire to be would not give in but always be strong like the great men and women of our faith were in Bible times!”

But you know?  That’s a hard standard to set for oneself… especially when you begin to see in the Word that the “strong” men and women of faith chronicled in the Bible went through many of the exact same things that you and I face!  I’ve been looking at one of the references to Abraham’s faith as captured in the book of Romans chapter 4, verses 18-22 just before turning out the lights at night the last two days and when I studied it out this morning, I was amazed to see some common threads between Abraham and me… REALLY!  Abraham and Jim… Abraham and YOU!

I won’t copy all the verses here, but it would be good if you read the story in your own Bibles!  I’ve always remembered this verse as translated in the King James Version but I caught a different look from quite a few other translations that state:

“And without being weakened in faith he (Abraham) considered his own body now as good as dead (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb; yet, looking unto the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief, but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was able also to perform.” (Romans 4:19-21 ASV)

Some translations including the King James place a “not” following the word “considered” but when you read the context of all the different versions, they are all actually making the same point.  The American Standard and many of the newer versions just seemed to make the point exceptionally clear to me!  As I read that the other night I had to stop and sit up in bed as I spoke aloud my thoughts saying, “He considered the physical facts of his situation… he acknowledged them… he most likely had to fight negative thoughts of helplessness and doubt… and yet kept focused on the promise of God and did not waiver!”

Wow!  That is the exact same reactions that I’ve had to face over the last ten years!  Wow!  Abraham the great father of our faith had to fight the same things I do!  Romans 4:20 in the English Standard Version relates that when faced with the difficult thoughts that attacked him, “he grew strong in his faith…”  This tells me that it was very personal to him!  The previous verse in the God’s Word translation tells us that “Through faith he regarded the facts…”

Abraham looked at the facts every day – just like you and I do.  He probably had people around him telling him to give up and let go or that what he was doing wasn’t going to work, or that he needed to follow their advice in order for what he was believing for to happen… but he did what he believed God was telling him to do!  Abraham depended on his own faith and as one of my favorite versions of this story in The Message Bible says: “didn't tiptoe around God's promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. (but) He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God…”

Well, I want you to know that seeing how our Christian forefathers operated within the scope of their faith has made me to see that my personal struggles are not something unique or even a sign of weakness or defeat… but a normal process that every sincere and God-seeking Christian has and most likely will go through as they walk in this world with Jesus at their side!

How about you?  Where do you fit in with this story?  I think that at times my worse enemy is myself… but then I take a look at Romans 8:1-2 and I feel a whole lot better about me!  Take a look at those verses when you need some relief from personally induced condemnation!

Have a great weekend as you walk victoriously through the trials and tribulations that attempt to block the pathways you take in your daily life.  And as you do, keep asking yourself… “Am I expecting to live my life like the great men and women of our faith did?” (and if so… then… What’s the problem?  Go easy on yourselves!!!)