LET'S BEND THE CURVE

LET'S BEND THE CURVE! 

This is what I sense the Spirit saying to me as I post a new scripture each day for our little tiny church during this Covid-19 crisis. As believers, we can bend the curve of fear, anxiety, frustration, anger, hopelessness, and this particular Scripture, which a friend shared with me yesterday, has three really great curve-benders:

     REJOICE IN HOPE - I'm old(er), so I remember the Hymns of faith we used to sing in churches and one of my all-time favorites says, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust a sweeter frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' Name! On Christ, the solid rock, I stand! All other ground is sinking sand." 

Where is my hope today? In a vaccine? In a government leader? In humanity? We need a healthy respect for all of these, but they cannot be the source of our hope. If they are, we will cave in to fear, anxiety, frustration, etc. etc. Just the word 'REJOICE' causes the corners of my mouth to turn upward. So I take a deep breath, hold it, let it out slowly as I feel the presence of my Lord and Savior filling me with hope - HOPE that does not disappoint. 

     BE PATIENT IN TRIBULATION. I am the first to admit I get way too frustrated these days, and patience is not my strongest attribute. But I am working on this. It is, after all, part of the hybrid Fruit of the Spirit we are to walk in... love, joy, peace, PATIENCE, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness. Pretty much in the middle is patience.... and then this hybrid fruit adds "self-control." I suppose none of the others will be evident to anyone, if patience flies out the window. I am reminded of this scripture:

"Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood." Hebrews 12:4 

No, I have not shed any blood as I have waited, and waited, and waited for things to be more normal. I've complained way too often. I've fretted and sweated the small stuff - but I have not suffered, as my Lord did so that I could walk in freedom. So I am working on this virtue, for your sake and mine, and I do believe working on this will bend the curve so the glory of God's goodness shines through even the darkest funk.

BE CONSTANT IN PRAYER is the crux of the matter; the place where the rubber meets the road. I have prayed more in these past four and a half months, but constant is such a strong word - endless, relentless, continuous, persistent. Intentionality, expectancy, courage and confidence are the driving forces which bend my heart toward the heart of the Father where a bending of the curve for everything takes place. Jesus told us this from the get-go:

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Matthew 7:7-11

Rejoice, be patient, be constant - I want to live to bend the curve from fear, hopelessness, anxiety, depression so the glory of God is visible in me and through me. Jesus told us the gates of hell will not prevail, and no weapon formed against us will prosper, but we have to know, grasp and use the weapons of our warfare effectively and fervently, and all the more so when times, like these, are upon us.

Bending the curve - one song of rejoicing, one deep breath of patience, one constant prayer on my lips - one day at a time. 
To God be the glory.