I Can Do This!

A few weeks ago I woke up on a Sunday ready to start my usual morning routine, but quickly realized that at some point during the night my apartment building had lost power. My womanly survival skills immediately kicked into gear. “Okay,” I thought, “I can do this.” I have been on 4 overseas missions trips and survived days before without my hair straightener, certainly I could manage this powerless morning. So I turned on my shower and discovered that the power had been out long enough for my neighbours to use whatever was left of the hot water. With teeth grimaced I got in the shower just for a quick shampoo and rinse. Freshly showered (and now freezing cold) I moved on to my next endeavor – makeup! My bathroom is lacking in natural light so I lit some candles and began the process. But really girls, how straight can eyeliner go on when it’s done in candlelight? So grabbing a small mirror I constructed a makeshift shelf near a window, crouched down into an awkward position and finished my makeup. At this point it was still unclear as to whether the power outage was just my apartment or if it was citywide. So hoping for the best I packed up my hair dryer and straightener and headed for the Church.

It seemed like a glorious gift to arrive at the Church and find that it had electricity; however our Church building was not designed for a woman’s morning routine. But after using a few extension cords around the building, blowing a couple fuses, and ironing my clothes on the floor of a closet, I was ready for the day. I walked out of my office and said hello to people as if it was any other regular Sunday morning.

Later in the day when I was back at home thinking through the chaos of my morning and how pleased I was with my ingenious ways of getting ready, I began to look at the day differently. I realized that I had managed all on my own, without the usage of the power that is usually available to me, to pull myself together. I had presented myself to those around me as if everything was fine and normal so that no one knew the chaos I had gone through. My moment of clarity came when I felt the Lord speak to me and challenge me with the question, “How often do you do that with the chaos that is going on in your heart?”

I began to think about how often I have lived in survival mode. You know those times that you put on a smile in order to hide those tear filled eyes? The truth is I have gotten through a lot of difficult days and situations simply based on my own creative knowledge of how to survive it. God has blessed us with knowledge, but we have used it to try to answer our own problems apart from Him. And we have gotten pretty good at pulling ourselves together in such a manner that no one who know the chaos that is going on in our own heart.

But here is the key… The power is available to us. We just have to turn it on. God has given us His Spirit, the power of God. He is readily available to us as our source, strength, wisdom, hope, faith, and victory. And yet I’ve spent a lot of days fumbling in the dark, rather than just flipping the switch and walking in the power of the Spirit.

I realize in writing these words that I don’t know your situation and I can’t understand through a computer screen the difficult days you have walked through. I don’t mean to make it sound simple or easy, but maybe it is simpler than we think. Maybe we have made our situations more difficult than they need to be because we’ve been using human tricks and our own creative ways just to survive, instead of tapping into the power. The Holy Spirit is not a magic trick to make everything perfect, but He is the gift Jesus promised to us to fill us with His presence and power.

Can I encourage you today and challenge you as I am challenging myself? Let’s stop being dependent on our own ways of covering up the chaos and instead live in the power of the Holy Spirit. Our reliance on Him allows us to live the life that God intended for us. Not an easy life, but a life that is led by and sustained by and strengthened by the power of the Spirit.

On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

Acts 1:4-5, 8