Redefining The Golden Years

Have you seen the movie “The Good Lie”?

If not, I highly recommend you get it on On-Demand. It is the story of Sudanese refugees who come to America. They survive great suffering and loss; yet, their commitment to God and each other grows deeper through their pain.

In the movie, the refugees are asked what their birthday’s are but they do not know. They are then all assigned the birthday January 1, “because there will always be a party.” I think of their new beginning and fresh start and I celebrate with them! No matter what season we are in, there is ALWAYS room for fresh starts!

When we begin to settle for the status quo, I believe we have forgotten this world is not our home! As long as we are breathing, we are on mission. There is no “retirement” when it comes to sharing Christ. The Golden Years are defined as “the time of life after retirement from active work.”  I would like to propose redefining “The Golden Years.” I say The Golden Years are NOW! They are the moments we choose to see the world through the filter of Christ and all that remains is GOLD! Not that everything is good, because God knows it’s not, but that God can and will bring “Gold” from everything if we let HIM!

My Birthday is actually December 31; so, beginning a new year has always been very significant for me. Literally, I roll up a number on January 1, along with my Sudanese brothers and sisters in Christ. I have faithfully, not perfectly, been walking with the Lord for the past 7 years and I have no doubt this “New Beginning”(year 8) will be full of even more JESUS adventures!

I can remember all the empty promises I made through the years: “this year will be different”. I would set New Year’s Resolutions that demanded faultless self control but before January was even over, I would have failed miserably and simply thrown in the towel.

I WAS a girl “too worldly to enjoy being a Christian” and “too Christian to enjoy the world” and that made for a miserable, fence-riding, wobbly, joyLESS, peaceLESS existence. However, most who knew me would have never known the ache behind the heart, due to years of playing a “joyful” role.

Don’t get me wrong.  Remember, my aching heart was still signed and sealed (just not delivered:); therefore, the Hope of the World was still living and breathing within me.  I have some amazing memories and beautiful mosaics that were birthed in the wilderness.  I heard God-whispers all along the way and in the still of the night, I would hear HIM wooing me to complete surrender.  For the life of me, I wanted my unhealthy desires to miraculously disappear and my feet to dance along paths of freedom but I somehow thought there would be no work required of me.  When we pray for God to change us, HE gives us opportunities to change!  We actually have to participate in deliverance.  Salvation is a free gift through faith but deliverance requires that we walk out of the cell.  We want to change but God wants to EXCHANGE for something way better!  The EXCHANGE will not take place until we completely LET GO and LET GOD (cliche I know, but true)!  HE allowed me, HE allows us, to wrestle with HIM, until we are tired enough to give HIM 100%.  If HE is not GOD of our ALL, then HE is not GOD AT ALL in our lives! (Mark Batterson wrote a book “All In”.  It is a great read that I highly recommend!)

As I’ve referenced before, December of 2007, everything changed! I quit riding the fence and embraced my faith walk “face to the SON” first! January 1, 2008 a “free” girl finally walked out of a self-imposed prison cell! The doors had been open since I asked CHRIST into my heart at a Billy Graham Crusade, when I was 8 years old, but I believed the lies of the enemy and set up shop in my shackles until I was 38!  I remember doing a study by Beth Moore, “Get Out of That Pit”.  She talks about cleaning up, hanging pictures and decorating our pits but a pit is still a pit!  They were meant to be “empty” not “decorated” !

I was reminded of God’s faithfulness this year in a new and surprising way. Each time I received a Happy Birthday Message on FACEBOOK, I felt like CHRIST was smiling and reminding me that HE is still in the business of making things new! After all, if HE did it for me, HE will do it for you!

I pray that those reading this blog are walking in freedom, restoration and fulfillment, but just in case there is one person barely hanging on, I pray this gives you hope!  Today can be your “Birthday”, the day you ask Jesus into your heart for the first time or the day you walk out of the open prison cell that has entombed you for way too long!

Below is the THANK YOU that I posted for my FACEBOOK friends. I decided to share it on “The Blog” because it is my prayer for all who read Psalm8110 as well!

I am a few days late responding but I wanted to say a tremendous THANK YOU to everyone on Facebook for the Happy Birthday messages!

Having a birthday on New Year’s Eve used to make me feel overlooked. As I have grown up and continue to grow in my faith, I have come to realize I am (you are) never overlooked! In fact, we are “looked over” every second of every day by The One who made us.

“God saw ALL that HE had made (that includes me and you 😍) and it was VERY GOOD …” (Gen 1:31)

Happy New Year! My prayer for myself and each of you is that we see ourselves and the entire world around us through the lens of Christ! When LOVE becomes our filter, we only see the GOLD!

THE GOLDEN YEARS REDEFINED

GoGod