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Dear Jesus,

I am so done. The treadmill of this world with all of its expectations is going at a speed I am incapable of mastering. It has made me tired, and I’m getting off today.

What’s that You say? Your yoke is easy, your burden is light (Matthew 11:30)? Oh, that sounds so good. No, I haven’t forgotten this is no invitation to an easy life, (Matthew 16:24) but anything is better than the demanding, dragging, sleep-stealing, merciless driving, competitive life I’ve been living. It made promises it never kept; always extending the pay-off to another day or year. It’s so unlike You, Lord, Who made me promises impossible not to keep (Numbers 23:19).

Yes, please give me some of that peace you patented (John 14:27). I’ll soak in that tub brimming with the identity you say I already have as your child (Colossians 2:10). Thank you that I don’t have to sweat for it it because you already bled for it.

Toss me that tailor-made purpose You designed to fit only me. You paid a precious price for it, (Ephesians 1:7) and I’ll wear it with joy, Lord. I never fit anything the world stuffed me into anyway.

I’m feeling better already. The lightness is so refreshing, Jesus. I love you for it! I anticipate many moments relishing the thought of You rejoicing over me with singing ( Zephaniah 3:17). I am giddy about our future. It’s going to be fun to ignore and refuse to dance to anybody else’s tune but Yours. I’m sorry I lost my way, but I’m back now. Shine through me, use me, and show the world what You can do in a renegade come home.

“Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead–since he was about a hundred years old–and that Sara’s womb was also dead. Yet He did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised. ” Romans 4:19-21

My heartbeat speeds up every time I read the passage above.

Everyone one loves a story where the underdog triumphs over incredible odds. I have noticed that overcomers use their two natural eyes to look at the bare naked facts. They don’t dabble in denial and tell themselves they don’t see what is staring back at them. But while they view the facts with their natural eyes, they also have a third eye, the eye of faith.

Do you have three eyes?

People call us crazy, pie-in-the sky Pollyanna’s because of our third eye. They think we are not living in reality. But we are more realistic than the pessimists because we know once God has said a thing, it is as real as if it already happened. We remember that God sees the past, present, and future simultaneously. Humanly speaking, it’s like seeing yourself as a baby in one room (that’s the past), your present age in the next room, and you living in what God has promised just one door down. Because God cannot lie, what He has promised has already happened. You’re just not in that room yet.

What has God promised that you are tempted to doubt? Resist the temptation to look at your present circumstances only with your natural eyes.

Maybe your third eye is getting blurry? Is your faith faltering? Verse 19 says that Abraham was strengthened in his faith. Where did his faith find its strength? In the power of God! You don’t have to muster up faith if it’s faith in God because God’s promises are backed up by who He is!

If your third eye is getting blurry, you may be looking too long at the circumstance and not enough at the One who is greater than your circumstance.

Maybe the exercise below can strengthen your third eye if it is growing weak.

Put your name in place of Abraham’s and your circumstance in place of his and see what happens!

Without weakening in her faith, (your name) faced the fact that (insert your facts here). Yet she did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God but was strengthened in her faith…being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised.

Talk About It: Share what your third eye sees that is just one door down. Or what promise has God made that has already been fulfilled? It may encourage the rest of us who are still waiting.

“Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.” Psalm 141:3

I was having an ordinary moment with a family member the other day when he alerted me I’d crossed a line. The rebuke was so gentle that the sting mirrored it. I hadn’t meant to hurt or offend, and I rushed to say so. “I know you didn’t,” was the loving reply. I offered an apology, and his gracious acceptance gave the incident a peaceful burial.

Upon reflection, two thoughts have sprung from those few uncomfortable moments.

First, sometimes it’s not what we say, but how we say it that’s wrong. Frustration or anger have a way of turning the most benign words into weapons. I thought back to a few other things I’d said in recent days that I could have delivered with more sensitivity. (Forgive me, Lord.)

Second, oftentimes people don’t tell us that we’ve hurt them, but it doesn’t mean we’re not guilty. Sometimes only the Holy Spirit makes us aware of what we’ve done. I’ve tried to duck the conviction because no one actually said anything, but no, I can’t use that as an excuse. If ever my words could have had a gentler expression, to that degree I am guilty of harshness to the delicate and unseen part of the recipient’s emotions. It is not the way of Christ, and I want to be like Him.

If this is your heart’s desire too, may we pray this together:

Dear God, make my mouth an instrument of love, not of hurt. I ask that Your Spirit change my heart so that gentleness flows from my lips. Let meekness control my tongue so that it takes the time to construct the best words to say in the best way. Amen!