The Sweet Spot...

I woke up this morning with a line from Tamela Mann's new song playing on repeat in my spirit. "There's a place in God where we can all be free. A place where God can get the best out of me. There's a secret place in God where He covers me." I tried to move on but it was almost like I was caught in the middle of the Grand Canyon and the feeling of getting to that place was echoing all around me. You see, it's not the lyric that took my breath away as much as the idea of being in that place with God. I look back at the last 2 or 3 years of my life and I see a series of hills and mountains that I had to climb. I see battles that I had to fight and assignments that have come and gone. But today, God reminded me about the place that lies in knowing who God is and trusting Him instead of helping Him. It's that place where you know that you can't do it without Him so you stop trying. It's that place of being wrapped in security and peace, knowing that in spite of you and your insecurities and weaknesses, God both has you AND has use for you. It's your sweet spot.

I wish I didn't have to always talk about myself in these posts. It would be so much easier to shine the spotlight on someone else. But alas, that's not the way it's going to work today. When you write something like Rhema, people can be fooled into thinking that you have it all figured out. They expect you to have a word ready in all situations or that you are hiding your halo in your pocketbook. Ha! I wish that were true! The fact of the matter is, I can write Rhema because the opposite is true. I struggle with some of the same things that you do, but God has brought me to a place where no matter what I go through, I have to face it. A lot of my friends can attest to the fact that I would love to hide from those things but God doesn't let me. He brings them right to my face and I have to deal with them. Doesn't sound very sweet, does it? But, in actuality, it is! I've lived and seen how damaging avoidance can be. How about you? Are you an expert at not dealing with things? When you hide things so deep and pretend they don't bother or affect you, it builds walls that are hard to climb. It either hardens your heart or breaks it but what it doesn't do, is help. It's time to find your sweet spot.

The term "sweet spot" is generally used in sports for that place on a bat or on the court where everything is working in the athlete's favor. When God led me in this direction, I thought He was going to have me focus on Philippians 4:12 where Paul says that he has learned to be content regardless of his circumstances. I mean, that's pretty sweet when you are cool wherever you are. But nope! God sent me instead to James 1. "Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way." (‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭2-4‬ MSG) Ummmm what?! God, how in the world is this anywhere near SWEET?! He responded with shifting my perspective. When you are in the middle of a test or struggle, that's when He is molding you. When the grief is overwhelming you, that's when He is stripping everything that shouldn't be there. When your marriage is shaky and you are looking for stability, that's when He is upholding you. And when you get to the end of all of that, you will find that He has made you complete and whole.  Suddenly, it all came together! It's in the fire where you learn to trust and when you trust, the shift comes and the favor becomes evident. It's the sweet spot.

Remember that in the presence of God, there is fullness of joy. There is peace that is hard to understand and there is freedom that cannot be contained. In your most difficult times, God is a present help. He is all that you need and more than you could ask for. I've found that the sweet spot isn't necessarily about where you are at your happiest but rather where you are most in tune with God. If God is shifting you, He's also preparing you. Sweet spot! If God is testing you, He's also healing you. Sweet spot! If God is challenging you, He's also elevating you. Sweet spot! Don't look at the pain, look at the process. I bet you will find that the end result is sweeter than you  ever expected.

Amen...