How Long Will You Stay Derailed?

It was a bad day. I could feel my body succumbing to flu-like symptoms, I was tired, and the last appointment of the day was a disaster. I felt like such a failure as I drove home in the rain. 

“What could I have done differently, Lord?” 

The question was a whisper as I fell into a troubled sleep assisted by a strong dose of cold meds. I woke up feeling drained and still troubled over my last appointment from the day before. The person had needed help, but I hadn’t been able to help. I could feel the guilt growing. Then, other thoughts began to crop up…despair, fear, doubt, and the like. 

“LORD—where did I go wrong???”

Do you ever allow yourself to be derailed by someone else’s actions or words? I’m ashamed to say that there have been times when I’ve spent entire DAYS train-wrecked without attempting to rectify the situation by listening to God and applying His Word. However, we DO have a choice about how long we stay derailed!!! And when we strongly desire to live in God’s presence, we know that no one wrecks His train. But man, sometimes the struggle to stay on track is so real! We must remind ourselves…

God is supremely confident in HIS purpose and HE ALWAYS KNOWS EXACTLY WHO HE IS—and to live in His confidence, we must stay close to Him.

God said:

“I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done. My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose, calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.” 

Isaiah 46:9-11

No one else (except maybe a delusional person) speaks with this much confidence about who they are or what they can do. The supremely confident words of our Heavenly Father, combined with the experience of His presence, can give us a greater sense of security than anything in the world. 

When we get close to God and experience His presence, He more fully empowers us to change the way we think so we can change the way we act. We can have the mind of Christ. God gives us confidence—not in who WE are—but rather, in who HE is! And when we grow in His presence, we also build a tight inner circle of folks who reinforce our confidence in Him.

Then, when someone tries to wreck us, God and our God-loving friends—are quick to set us back on the track.

We live in a suffering, fallen world with over 8 billion bad choices being made every day—so—we are guaranteed conflict. But our mind can remain clear. We can have God’s peace. We can have the victorious mind of Christ and keep from being caught in the snares of our enemies. In fact, we have a bank account with 4 trillion worth of forgiveness, and we can draw on it everyday without EVER running out.

Remember, salvation doesn’t free us from the conflict of sin, but it DOES free us from the chains.

God broke the power sin over us and gave us the CHOICE to be free. We can live unmoved by the forces of evil. The Psalmist wrote:

“For the king trusts in the Lord, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.”

Psalms 21:7

So in my despair, this is the reminder God gave me. I bared my heart to God. I asked Him to reveal if I had sinned against this person. Had I failed to show enough compassion, had I failed to give the truth in love, or was there something I needed to apologize for? I was ready to do whatever I needed to do. My friend, this is where we need to live—fully surrendered to God, ready to do whatever it takes to fulfill our Divine purpose to glorify Him. He gently places us back on the path of peace and reminds us that no one wrecks His train!

As I asked God to show me where I’d gone wrong, this answer came to me…

”You can’t fix everyone, child; in fact, without ME you can’t fix anyone! Sometimes I use your words to help, but not always. There are times you must lean into ME and simply pray. I am the ONLY miracle worker. I know the heart of every human. Let it go. Give it to ME. Get back on track and don’t you miss out on even one of the opportunities I’m giving you today!”

Ah, such peace in God’s presence. Such a sweet satisfaction in knowing we can cast all our cares upon Him—even the ones we don’t understand. We don’t have to sort it all out. If we’ve sinned against someone, we should apologize to them and ask for God’s forgiveness as well. Our pride is never worth the forfeiture of the peace of God’s presence.

When we experience God’s steadfast love, our despair is replaced by His freedom. He reorders our thinking so we lose our need to think WE need to try to save anyone or be their Holy Spirit. We learn to not waste much time in the crash-heap of fear, doubt, or pain caused by those who have lost their way or—who have never known their Heavenly Father. 

My friend, when we are determined to keep our heart right with God, He frees us from the ditches, sets us back on track, and we fly free down His path of peace.

“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

James 3:17-18

“Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; for the future of that man is peace.”

Psalms 37:37

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