Lions, and Bears, and Giants....OH MY!!!!

Samuel 17:34-37 (NIV)

34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you."

I've been praying about some things and reflecting on my life a lot over the past 2 weeks. I told my husband recently that I knew a God-shift was about to happen in our lives, because there is this feeling comes along right before the process begins. On January 15 I took on a challenge to stay focused on some key areas in my life and during this time God has revealed a lot to me.

One of the things he has shared during this time of revelation is that we all face lions, bears, and giants. More importantly, we face the lions and bears so that we can handle the giants. And equally as important, the giants that we face, eventually become the lions and bear of our past, as we go onto other giants.

If you are sucking air you are going to be faced with challenges...that is just a part of living. If you are a Christian you are going to be faced with some very trying challenges, that is just part of NOT serving the enemy. If satan has you in his grasps he can take a back seat to your perilous ride, because he really doesn't have anything to fight for. But when you are serving God, satan is now faced with the challenge of trying to get you to see things his way.

My personal testimony is full of lions, bears, and giants and my favorite part is the giants that are now just the lions and bears sprinkled about in the background. The prayers I prayed that I felt like God was simply not listening to. The struggles I faced emotionally, personally, and spiritually. All of the things in my life that create My Story.

But there are those things in our lives that will forever remain a giant, because they will always be that thing you will have to continue to pray through. My former giants are things like battling with depression. My emotions used to get the best of me and when they took a nose dive, I was no good to anyone. Especially when I faced the challenges that came along with being an 18, 19, and 20 year old wife and then throw in the fact that at 19 I moved to Germany (thousands of miles away from my family) . I had to learn some major coping and survival skills. Especially since my husband and I grew up in two totally different environments. I had a spiritual grounding that he didn't have and my family's problems weren't anything too terribly life damaging. My family was...functional (I used to say pretty normal, but if you've ever met them that statement makes you laugh. lol).

My emotional state was a lion or bear, but my husband's spiritual state will forever be a giant in my life. He's spent more years rejecting God, not overtly, but rejecting him nonetheless, than he has doing things his way. Look at my journals from the past 13 years and they pretty much look the same. I prayed for my husband's faith and it remained overall weak. On November 19, 2011 he dedicated his life to Christ, but that is an area of prayer I can never fall back on, because the spiritual demons attached to his personal and family history aren't going to just give up that easy. If I slack, they will do all they can to snatch him back.

My own faith walk has been a giant in my life. Especially my downward spiral in 2008. So many things happened ( I lost one of my cousins who I was very close to suddenly, one of my best friends who is only a few years older than myself was diagnosed with cancer, and a number of events led to financial issues for us, just to name a few). I had to overcome some huge hurdles spiritually and I thank God for the people he strategically placed in my life to pull me back into the right place. The lessons I learned during that struggle have prepared me to ride some bigger waves. Problems don't seem so huge now and when they do I just pray and tell God I will do what I can, but where my "I can" stops, he has to intervene. And, I've become a more joyful person in the process. My pastor once said "happiness is based off of what happens, but joy is in spite of what happens." I've learned to stop letting situations steal my joy. Some of the things that would have been giants in the past are now lions and bears that are preparing me for the day the giants show up.

I've heard people say, you can't have a TESTimony without a TEST. Your lions and bears are just the warmup for your giants (thanks for that husband). Don't miss the lesson, because on the other side of your giants there are amazing victories. The more giants you overcome, the more blessings God can lay before you (not just tangible ones). One of my former lions and bears was how I responded to my husband. I didn't respect him and often I didn't LIKE him (there is never a question of me loving someone, but liking them is what can be difficult). When I opened myself up to God in that area, he made some things happen and conquering that lion and bear has caused God to move in unthinkable ways. Remember my 13 year giant of praying for his faith-walk...that was conquered after God commanded me to make some changes in my life to combat my blatant lack of respect.

Be confident and prayerful about you lions, bears, and giants. They serve a purpose, ultimately for God. The crazy thing is conquering them really has nothing to do with our personal outcome, but how God will be able to use that victory so that others can see what he is capable of. People in close proximity have referred to our story as "out of the ashes experience". One blog is not enough to tell the story, but believe me...I know where the credit is due. God arranged some things so that others could have faith when troubles came their way. They know if God did it for me, he can do it for them too. Lions, and bears, and giants....BRING IT ON!!!!