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A shoe on the wall? Shouldn’t be there at all. Oh, wait … that’s another story! This is not Wacky Wednesday by Dr. Seuss, but it has been a What’s Wrong  Now Week at the Wright’s.

Hard to say where it began but maybe with two sick grandchildren last week. One had a report from school that tells us we need to work hard to help him catch up with his class. Our brand-new car received a significant dent. We’ll leave that story for another time.  We woke up Sunday to our bedroom ceiling showing signs of tearing apart at the seams. Right over our bed. We went to church and Sunday School as usual, and picked up a grandchild along the way because his parents were taking his brother to the doctor for what turned out to be a nasty staph infection. After church we headed to the bicycle shop, 4 Season Cycle about 45 minutes away, to have our new rack installed on our car. The owner of the shop had put it together upside down and backwards. His wife, who is his partner in the shop, said he never did that before. So we laughed and left it for another day. My husband went to the dentist to have a new crown installed. After the dentist finished his drilling, an equipment failure delayed completion for an additional fifteen minutes as he sat open-mouthed and stuffed with cotton. We went to a friend’s house and enjoyed the afternoon outside in the beautiful fall weather. Then the grandson became quite ill after we dropped him at home. Then we showed signs of illness. Then the snake showed up. Had he been here all along? He was in the bedroom, wriggling around on the tile floor, which has nothing but a bed and two nightstands on it. It will always be a mystery how he ended up there. Mr. Wright woke and saw him and relocated him. Also a mystery if he was in the vicinity when Mrs. Wright stumbled out of bed in the dark. The cat knew. She spent the night in the living room. 

So we’re waiting for the other shoe to drop! What’s next? We don’t know, we never know. No one does. We can laugh at our predicaments, because we are so blessed to have these first-world problems. We have a new car and a new bike rack, even though there’s issues. We have the ability to bicycle often, and have enjoyed it for years. We live in an area saturated with beautiful bike trails weaving through God’s country. We have a roof over our cracked ceiling and heads (for now!) Even if it’s falling apart, we have the means to fix the ceiling. The grandson struggling in school is a hard worker and has made breakthroughs in his understanding. We have doctors to care for all of our illnesses. We have our bicycle rack now, because the bicycle shop owners are conscientious. They could have just let us struggle with putting the thing together to begin with. We get to live in a peaceful setting, surrounded by God’s creation. So sometimes that creation visits us a little closer than we’d like. We’re blessed to have our sweet little cat. So many blessings. We’re healthy enough today to crawl up into the space over the ceiling and see what’s going on. When the ceiling is fixed we’ll update the rest of the room. God is good. We’re grateful. We trust Him.

John 16:33 tells us: ‘I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.’

John’s advice served us well in our heavier troubles. We have faced cancer, aneurism, accident recovery, and our home intrusion. Our book, Instead by Grace: dark to light, addresses those events.

When trouble lands in our laps, the sooner we take courage from God, the better off we’ll be, and we’ll find peace. Anxiety and gratefulness can’t easily occupy the same space. So when you wake up in the night and find yourself fretting, turn your thoughts to gratefulness for your blessings. Then focus on trusting God. Philippians 4:6 tells us, ‘Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.’

We know we are not suffering, here at The Instead. But there are many suffering in this world. We hope and pray to be a blessing to them, to bring peace to them, to walk with them. We offer our book, Above and Beyond: radio silence, to raise funds for veterans and first responders.

With a massive Christian worldwide revival underway, many are asking about how to serve, how to get involved, how to grow spiritually. Start where God is working, and jump in there. 

Isaiah 6:8 tells us:  ‘Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking: Who should I send? Who will go for us? I said: “Here I am, send me.”’

 Charlie Kirk gave a talk about this. He points out the various Biblical characters who responded to God by saying, “Here I am. Use me.” You can catch his 15-minute talk on his podcast here. 

No one is too young, too old, too troubled to be used. God can use us all. God can use you in ways you never dreamed of. Ask Him. Then keep your ears and eyes open to see where He leads you. You can be His hands and feet to help alleviate the suffering of ‘image bearers of God’. That’s everyone. Everyone in the world is created in God’s image. How about the courageous Christians in Nigeria? They are hunted, killed, their churches burned. Still they praise God. 

How about Erika Kirk? The woman has displayed immense courage in the face of the most vile evil. 

Jesus suffered not just the worst sort of betrayal, malevolence, and death as a perfect person, but faced daily torment by those who would seek to destroy his mission. Some things don’t change with the passage of time, they only morph into different faces of evil in each generation. Note: evil is NOT present when someone voices their opinion that doesn’t agree with everyone’s view. Evil IS present when love and truth are set aside for an agenda.

Don’t allow the evil in your generation bog you down. Evil will make every effort to distract you, deceive you, and deny you. Choose instead to focus on Philippians 4:8-9 ‘Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things. Do what you have learned and received and heard from me, and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.’

Eve made the mistake of focusing on the source of evil intent in God’s garden of Eden. Satan questioned the moral order, helping her to decide she could say what is right and wrong, what is moral. (Genesis 3: 4-6) Then she led others into her sin (missing the mark). We continue to make that mistake. We don’t get to decide morality, it comes from God. If it came from any human entity, then humans can take it away. God’s way works. We fall short, we miss the mark, which is called sin, when we try to reason out our own moral code. Circumstances don’t change God’s will. He’s outside of time. When you grasp that concept, you begin to grasp His greatness.

God gave us The Ten Commandments through Moses in Exodus 20. This is your blueprint for life. There are several easy ways to remember the commandments, such as videos teaching hand movements. 

Proverbs 16:25 tells us, ‘There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death’. We do well to follow the blueprint God laid out for us.

Ephesians 6: 10-19 tells us to get and stay prepared to face the world. ‘Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. Put on the full armor God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospedl of peace. In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the word of God. Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints. Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me whan I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospedl. For this I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough to speak about it as I should.’

We’ve hit some of the basics, but you can spend a lifetime mastering these concepts and connecting the correlations between different verses, and between the Old and New Testaments. The best and fastest way to become all that God intended you to be is to let the Holy Spirit in. The Holy Spirit is your guide and comforter, sent from God. Galatians 6:22-23 tells us, ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. . . ‘   Sounds like a beautiful soul, doesn’t it?

Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1 tell us that God created the Universe. Yet He cares about the details of our lives. Psalm 37:23 tells us,  ‘A person’s steps are established by the LORD, and he takes pleasure in his way.’

We only need to be still and listen for God’s leading of our steps.

Oh, and set aside our selfish pride. We live in a self-centered time. It’s the opposite of love.  Proverbs 16:5 tells us, ‘Everyone with a proud heart is detestable to the LORD; be assured, he will not go unpunished.’ Pride was Satan’s great downfall, and plays out today in the myriad of lies he is still whispering to his victims.

Proverbs has 31 chapters, perfect for reading one per day, corresponding to the date. Psalms comfort and guide us, music for our souls.  Try reading a chapter or a few verses per day. Playing worship music will give you rest. Holy Groove music is soothing, and reminiscent of David playing the blues. Listen for one minute and see if you agree. The kids love to listen to  contemporary Christian music. Lots to choose from there. Old-timey hymns may put you in touch with your spiritual roots. We live in a time when it’s easy to immerse ourselves in worship and song, drowning out the chaos Satan is using in our times to manipulate our beautiful God-given world. God created us to be in community with other believers. It’s not an option, it’s a necessity. We help to keep each other moving along God’s path, even though we are broken people walking together.

Why do we worship God? Because He is that awesome, in every aspect, that just like our natural inclination to a moral code, we know by instinct and intuition that He is worthy of praise. Think (deeply) about it.

Then spend your time being grateful and trusting God. God gives us courage for our daily walk, through His grace. Always has. Always will.