Our Stories and The Real Enemy

I've been really missing this...WRITING, that is.  I still haven't found a way to carve out consistent time to let my thoughts fall into place and my fingers do the talkin'.  While I have expectations of myself to write more often, I'm going to throw out any shame in that, and just write.

Should I write about visiting my grandma Lucille's gravesite with my girls? Those visits always put life in perspective. Or maybe I should write that I now live in a cul-de-sac just like Emily Freeman, my favorite blogger, and now need to run to Home Depot to purchase a bench?  Or the beautiful Idaho sceneries that stunningly display God's workmanship? The trip to the zoo with my ten year old? She is the one who made the zoo come alive!

Or on a more serious note, the Armor of God study that is checking my spirit that I need to be more prepared for battle everyday, but there is a sobering truth that I'm often fighting the wrong enemy?  

Let's not forget the many moments of INJOY.  I can't forget about those. 

I had an opportunity a couple weeks ago to share a little bit of my story, but as I looked at the women's faces in the room, God reminded me they all had a story to tell too.  I wasn't anyone special.  I was just one of a handful given the opportunity to share some of the tough terrain of the journey we are all on.  Sadly, we often travel the path side by side without ever knowing the pain and struggle we each are going through. 

Too much.  There is just too much going on.  Just writing that sentence makes my heart sad and my eyes well up.  Why?  What's so real in that statement that triggers my heart?

Let's be honest here. There are neighbors to visit, lacrosse games to attend, practices to get to, friends to have over, dinners to make, Bible studies to get to, great ideas that never come to fruition, days to celebrate, emails to answer, a job to be done, lunches to make, grocery lists growing, unfinished projects, yard work, homework to help with, and to top it off we look at others and ask ourselves: "How do other women seem to have a good handle on all these things?  What's wrong with me?"

Now let's stop here.  It's obvious the downward spiral of those thoughts.  We know the dangers of them.  Yet we still feel it, and the enemy wins in several arenas.

His strategy is to discourage us from living in Christ's freedom and power - he has strapped me down with the busyness of good things and then puts a dagger through my identity, leaving me feeling inadequate, insecure, and not good enough.  Then he points out how good others are looking, how well they are succeeding, and tempts us to believe we are alone.  Satan loves to divide. The enemy wants me to forget my weapons each morning by distracting me with so many other things to do, that I forget to put on my spiritual armor. I'm then naked, vulnerable, and an easy target.  Curses, that Satan! 

What would it be like if we weren't racing down the path of life from one intersection to the next, but just simply walking the road and looking over at who is on the dusty path with us without assumptions nor judgements but just a curiosity of knowing their story? And what if we all willingly told our stories, not just the good ones we put on Facebook or Instagram?  The stories that make us look human and real, mistakes and all.  The ones that reveal a need for a Savior.  Stories that build our character and display His Goodness, not ours.

Would we see we are on the same side, and often times fooled into believing we are each other's enemy?  Would it bring us to the point of such irritation and anger, that we would finally decide to rally together in unity to fight the real enemy out to destroy us, our marriages, our families, our churches, and our ministry in this world?  It gets me fired up when I can finally see what God sees and knows and has been telling us all along.  

The enemy is not my husband, a co-worker, that friend, my neighbor, the boss, my children, the gal at basketball, my pastor, other believers, but Satan would love for me to think so and put all my energy and firepower in the wrong direction.

No more.  We can't keep being easy victims to Satan's strategies.  We need to stand together, intentional about how we live our lives and fight the good fight.

Dear God,
  May we be reminded of the God we serve, the power you give us to overcome the enemy, the wisdom to know the right enemy, see his deceptive strategies in our lives, our weaknesses and blind spots, and claim whose side we are on.  Show us how to be real in our stories, give us opportunities to present our worst selves to others, and bind us together through our pains and struggles.  We are not alone.  We are not victims. We serve the King who has already won the war, and He has given us an outfit to wear each day to protect us.  I pray we will put on truth, righteousness, peace, salvation, faith, and fight with His Spirit, praying at all times.  We need not fear.  The enemy is overcome by the blood of Christ and by the word of our testimony (our stories).