Stay in the Present......

Good day to you fine folks.  I hope the weekend was good to you.  I have a fever-filled boy at home with me today.  Every time Craig or I talk about his fever or give him his medicine we break with a robust version of "You Give Me Fever".  I am hoping that Noah's fever ("You Give Me Fever") will break soon.  My sweet husband and I were watching some kind of Criminal Minds show the other night.  It's the new one, something about Criminal Minds: Let's Get Into the Heads of Creepy People.  Craig loves these shows. I, on the other hand, watch them with him.  Hey, I owe him. He watches every new Hallmark movie that comes out with me.  I know your thinking "Laney, that just ain't right to do to that man", but we love each other. I watch creepy people shows with him and watches every sappy, ends the same way every time, Hallmark movie with me.  I don't want to paint a picture that it's all roses and berries (what's that expression??- I don't think it's berries for some reason) at the Marsh house, but by God's wonderful grace we are trying to do the marriage thing in a way that pleases Him. We have arguments folks.  I like to call them "growth opportunities", but we are trying.  Enough said about that stuff- back to the reason that I mentioned the Criminal Minds show in the first place. Hold on, I sorta forgot where I was going with this. OK, I got it now.  One of the dudes on the show was challenging one of the other dudes to "stay in the present".  That particular dude was letting something from his past keep him from allowing his focus to be on the case they were working on.  Don't we do this with Satan?  Don't we allow him to get into our minds and keep us from focusing on God?  My first thought when I heard "stay in the present" was how we can really mess up and that particular mess up can keep us living in the past for days, months, even years?  All we can think of is how we really did it this time, and surely God cannot even possibly get over this one.  So we just keep beating ourselves up about it.  If we are bound and consumed with the past, there is no way we can keep our focus and "stay in the present".  Now, I'm not talking about remembering what God has done for you.  One of my favorite things to do is to remind God about back in 1995 when He gave me the privilege of meeting Craig, and how in 2002 He gave us a position in North Carolina where my dream of being a stay-at-home mom was full-filled, and how in 2008 He made us say no to a church in Louisiana so we could soon after say yes to Fort Caroline Baptist Church.  These are just a few in the ten-trillion things that the Lord has done for me. Oh man, isn't He so good.  Nothing wrong with remembering the past like that, but when all of our focus is on our failures and how we can never ever have all of what God has for again, that is just a lie from the depths.  I can speak from experience. I have been here before.  I have spent way too much time wallowing in my sin.  I thought God couldn't ever love me again "the same" because of my past sin.  That's nothing but a lie.  God is perfectly capable of forgiving us and restoring us.  He's talented like that.  He's got mad skills. We have to come to a place where we ask God to forgive us and ask Him to give us the ability to forgive ourselves.  This is a verse that came to mind as I was mulling this blog post over in my head:

Lamentations 3:22-23 (The Message)
 ^22-24God's loyal love couldn't have run out,
   his merciful love couldn't have dried up.
They're created new every morning.
   How great your faithfulness!
I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over).
   He's all I've got left.


I am sticking with You God,  You are all I've got left.  Satan wants to kill me, steal everything from me, and destroy me, but You've come that I may have life and have it to the full.  I think, You Father, are awesome.  Thank You for loving me like You do.  Totally and completely.