The “Stuff” Bags are Made Of
When I was younger, riding the bus to work or school, I would see countless women carrying, in addition to their purses, a least one other bag. Some women would have more than one, and I would always wonder what in the world did they have in all of those bags. Then I grew up and got a few bags of my own!
It is absolutely amazing how much “stuff” we can amass and cram into those bags. It is the same way with our lives. We amass a lot of stuff over the years that we separate and put into those bags. Every time something happens in our lives, whether good or bad; especially the bad stuff, we find a way of holding onto it by stuffing it into the pouches of our minds until they are just overflowing. So much of that stuff, no doubt most of it, should be put into the dumpster instead of constantly finding bags to hold that useless contents. Why do we want to hang onto it? What satisfaction does it bring us when we open those bags to look inside? We already know what’s inside of them; pain and suffering, loneliness, and fear! All of the kind of stuff that we tend to want to hold onto can be separated into those three compartments. That is the very type of stuff those bags are made of! We should not want to hang onto it, but we do!
I too, carried around a lot of stuff in my bags. Once I knew what the bags were actually for, I started cramming them to the top! I carried around the pain of past hurts; the loneliness brought on by those pains, and the fear of letting it all go and living without the bags. Okay, so I still have a few bags. We all do! But I am learning to get rid of them and give them to Christ to dispose of. I just don’t have the courage or knowledge to let go on my own.
We have to learn that by carrying around all of those bags, we are holding onto stuff that weighs us down. We cannot even move because the weight keeps us pinned down in one place, a place that we do not need to be! A place that we can escape from if we would only give those bags to Christ, He can handle them in a way that we cannot!
Let us together explore those bags and see how we can properly dispose of them forever!
Bag of Pain and Suffering
It is hard to put a painful past behind us...to look beyond the hurt and disappointments. We tend to hang onto them and erect barriers around our hearts to protect us against further pain. We find bags to hold our disappointments of the past; but by holding onto that extra baggage, we carry a reminder of what we have determined as lost hope. We constantly pick up those bags, look inside and become engulfed in the old suffering. It eats at us, pulls us down and sucks us up into that pain-riddled vortex until we are fully consumed. Don’t you know that God wants to help us get through the tough times in our lives? He has said in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never fail you, I will never forsake you.”
I am reminded of a time in my life when I thought the pain was unbearable. My husband of more than twenty years had left me with four daughters to take care of alone and I had recently gone back to school to work on the degree I had given up to get married. So here I was back in back to school, working full time and part-time, and trying to take care of four girls; two teens and two “new” adults. In addition, I was placed squarely in the middle of my daughters’ constant fighting against each other, and me. My bag of pain became larger, heavier and more and more cumbersome. But I just couldn’t seem to empty that bag. I didn’t want to empty that bag! It was too familiar. I needed to have a constant reminder of how unfair life was and how angry I was at God for allowing me to suffer so unnecessarily. As we all do at some point in our lives, I asked the age-old question: “Why me? Why was this happening to me? What had I done that been so bad? Why was I being singled out?” I was drowning in pain and self-pity.
We are often told that we suffer in life because of the choices we make, and that is certainly true. How could I have known that my choice in a mate would cause me such terrible, terrible hurt and grief? There had to have been signs! Now as I look back over my life, I recognize the signs. Signs that literally smacked me in the face but I simply refused to acknowledge them because I wanted what I. Guess what? I got just what I wanted! There is an old adage which most assuredly rings true: Be careful of what you ask for, because you just might get it! Had I just waited on the Lord; had I just let Him chose and lead, had I just sought His council, no doubt many of the things I endured would ever have happened. But that’s another story for another time...letting God lead, that is! None-the-less, that choice, among others is the reason I can confirm to you that God cares about our pains. We may not readily see the answer to “why me”; but sooner or later, it becomes apparent, even if it is years later! “And we know all things work together for good of those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28 NKJV)
I am reminded of Psalm 22, in which David is experiencing so much pain until he feels that God has left him, as he cries, “My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me! Why are you so far from helping me and from the words of my groaning? O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; and in the night season, and am not silent.” (Psalm 22:1-2) How many times have we felt the exact same way as David did? How often have we felt that God has abandoned us? There have been times in my life where the mental pain was overwhelming and it seemed the more I prayed, the worse things became. I was convinced that God had abandoned me. I became very angry; at myself, at my friends, at my family, and especially at God! I struggled with those painful demons that threatened to devour me alive! I believed that God was unfair. Here I was trying to be “good” and literally “going through hell”. Where was the justice? I sank into a deep depression while my girls continued to fight each other, and cut me into pieces with their harsh words. I felt a nervous breakdown knocking at my front door! “To You I will cry, O Lord my Rock; Do not be silent to me. Lest, if You are silent to me, I become like those who gown to the pit. Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to You, when I lift up my hands toward You holy sanctuary.” (Psalms 28:1-2)
Also during that time my oldest became pregnant; a twenty year old who had no sense of what it took to be a mother. Then one day I was holding this this sweet little boy with huge chocolate eyes, pleading with me to get well so that I could take care of him. God knew! He knew that, that innocent, tiny being was going to need me. Was this my salvation? No, it was not the answer I was expecting or even wanted! But God does not always give us what we think we should have. His answers to our prayers can come in many unexpected forms. My question to you is: Can you realize the answers when you receive them?
The common meaning of
the still is quiet, silence, calm and soothe. To know is to be familiar with;
develop a relationship with by spending time, and being aware of. When we are
truly still – calmness envelops us like none other. If we are in pain, hurt,
going through trials and tribulations, we are soothed through the ensuing
quietness. Being still is equated with meditation, and meditation takes us to a
quiet, calm place. When we meditate on the Lord, we find a calmness that cannot
be described. During those moments, time stands still, the sheer communion with
God is like none other than can be felt in any other way. God’s presence is
undeniable and the feelings provoked during that mediation, that time of
stillness can only be described as tearful beauty! Psalm 104:34; Philippians 4:8; Psalm 119:15; Psalm 19:14
