Living above our Circumstances

Last night, while teaching I said, "You know....we ARE seated in the heavenly places right now.  We are in Christ and where Christ is- we are.  And we know He is seated at the right hand of God.  In Him, we are also.  We are so focused on the temporal that we forget the most real part of who we are, our core being, our spirit, our inner man in reality exists in the eternal realm- in Christ- and now we are ABOVE all our circumstances."

It's been a long week.  I studied and prepared for the conferences/studies all day Sunday.  I work Monday, Monday night, Tuesday, Tuesday night, Wednesday, Wednesday night Patricia and I prepared together.  Up at 5am Thursday and leaving the house for the first study by 7:30am.  Got to work at 11:30am.  Cleaned a house.  Back home to start preparation for NEXT WEEK'S study.  Leave my house at 6:15 for the second study and home at 10:30pm.  So, I'm already pretty tired.  I get up this morning and pay the bills. I call to get Macey a vet appointment which is going to be quite expensive.  Our dishwasher has been broken for two weeks.   Cody has tried to fix the circuit board but....it was just too zonked.   So I found one at the Sears outlet in Greenville, scratch and dent for $250.  The truck won't run because it needs an alternator.  Last month was a month of unexpected and unplanned bills.  Batteries for two vehicles, a radiator for the Jetta, dog shots and heartworms, annual memberships for Christian Heathcare ministries.  It was just a big hit to a wallet that was super hit from Christmas.  And Nick and I are really really really working hard to pay off a certain bill (most of our money goes to this) by August which will be- oh my goodness- I can't even tell you what that will be.  Not just a relief but a huge accomplishment- through lots and lots of not only hardwork but dedication and commitment.  After that bill is paid we are going to do everything we can, Lord willing and providing, to pay our house off in less than 10 years.

But for now.  Here in the moment and mundane...

It's time to LIVE out what, not only what I teach, but I know to be REAL and TRUTH.

This stuff is temporary.  All of it.  Bills.  Macey.  Dishwashers.  Working hard to pay off bills.  Temporary.  But how I handle all of these things...inwardly and outwardly...are NOT temporary.  That comes from the eternal.  The Eternal One that lives in me.

I am above my circumstances, in Christ.  I don't have to live IN or UNDER my circumstances ANY MORE.

Get my mind, my heart, my will, my emotions around that truth.  And then I am aligned, again, with God...and His purpose and perspective IN these things...that is to conform me to His image.  To let Him, and His truth penetrate deep into my heart, then flow through me to others.

One of Patricia's friends just found out she has liver cancer and will die within two weeks.  One of Allison's friends from high school has a 4 year old with bacterial meningitis, and in a coma, in Texas.  One of Ben's friends little baby was born at 26 weeks and had to have his little hand amputated.  A man and his child was terribly burned in a house fire in Ky.  JT and his children are still trying to find a new normal while mourning Joyce's unexpected death a month ago.  These are the sadnesses, the heartbreaking and the tragic.  These are people.  Hurting and mourning.  People created in God's image.  The crown of all His creation.  These are the "things" that matter.  Not all the stuff that will fade away in this temporal realm.

This is the time to pray...to seek the Lord and intercede on behalf of the hurting.  Pray with our mind, will and emotions for them...not to have our mind, will and emotions consumed with the stuff of this world.

That's living above our circumstances.  Not in them.  Or under them.