Lies vs. Promises

I've been buying into some lies lately.  The last month and a half or so have been extremely hard on me.  I think the change of seasons plus November sneaking up on me have brought my grief back to the surface.  In my head though, I hear this little voice telling me "it has been almost a year...get over it already!"

I know that grief is a roller coaster--I have experienced that first hand.  Last winter I cried every single day.  As the days turned into weeks and into months, the tears flowed less frequently.  I have had some good days in the last year, days when I feel like I might just have this all under control.  But when the world tells me to "get over it" I start buying into that lie.  I frequently have been telling myself to not be sad, to not cry when I feel like it, to be strong and move on.  And that only makes the grief worse because I am not allowing myself to actually grieve.

In my Romans Bible study a couple of weeks ago, we were talking about Abraham and God's promises to him.  Sure, Abraham screwed up, but God never gave up on him.  His promises never changed.  Our leader asked us to write down what God's promises to us are....and as I was jotting them down, I was reminded that those things are constant. God has not forgotten about me or given up on me.  His promises are still TRUE.  He has the perfect plan for my life, and when I start listening to the "world's plan" that is when the enemy does his best work. 

Believe me, I do not have this all figured out....what I wouldn't give to go back to a year ago today, when Norah was still safely inside me.  Could we have done anything differently?  I think we did the best we could.  We made the best decisions we could have, and the outcome was just crappy.  But I can hold on to God's promises for me.  I can go pour back through the story of Abraham and see each promise fulfilled throughout the Bible.  And I think it is pretty amazing that those promises are meant for you and for me as well.

Romans 4:20-25 (NLT)

²⁰ Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. ²¹ He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. ²² And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous. ²³ And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded ²⁴ for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. ²⁵ He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.