Monday 19 February 2018

D-Day






For all those Sesame Street Fans, today’s blog has been brought to you today by the letter ‘D’.



In recent months, I have faced more than the usual amount of disappointments in both my personal and writing life. I recognise that this has affected my level of positivity, and if we were looking at it on one of those mathematics graphs, it has dipped below zero into negativity a few times. Add to this the amount of negativity that is the side-product of what we see on the news every day, and the social and political tension there is on so many different fronts, my soul has become disturbed and at times disgusted. This puts heavy pressure on any positivity index, and I find myself staring at the negative side of the ledger. I realise I am not the only one like this, who has personal and creative disappointments, and unless we unplug completely from the news media, we all have the potential to be disturbed by the things that are swirling in the world around us.

I was heading out bush to the family farm (my favourite place to escape), and my father asked if I would bring the word to their country church the next Sunday morning. I’d done this many times before. There are not many folks out there in that church, but I still believe they are as important as if I was sharing with the larger congregations in the city that number in the hundreds. I was feeling down, to be perfectly frank, but I said yes anyway. It was Dad’s turn to share, and he has been feeling a bit blue himself of late. 

When I hung up from the phone call, I said to God: ‘What on earth will I say. I have nothing. I am feeling really down at the moment.’

As is usual for me, God always starts speaking to me with a thought and here is where it started:

The Downward Spiral

It starts with disappointment or feeling disturbed or disgusted.
Then it leads to:

  • Discouragement
  • Downcast
  • Depressed
  • Despairing
  • Disillusioned
  • Doubt
  • Deceived
  • Destroyed

In my state of negative mind-set, I thought how ironic that there were so many words that started with a ‘D’ leading to that place of destruction – no hope. Then I thought, I bet there are hardly any words starting with ‘D’ that will lead us back the other way.

I bet wrong. 

I teased this all out into a long sermon with Scriptures, but these are the dot points

  •   Decide – Do not keep heading further down. Stop and decide to face the other way, towards God and towards hope.
  •   Delight – Delight in the Lord. Bless his name in worship. Give thanks for every good thing (Yes there are good things. You’re breathing, aren’t you? Do you have clothes and food and water? Start there.)
  •  Declare – From a Scripture in Isaiah 45:19-24 “Declare what is right. Declare what is to be … present it.” There was much more to this point, but essentially, do you have Scriptures or promises from God? Speak them out loud in prayer.
  •   Divine Direction – Keep your heart and ear inclined to God. Let him speak to you. Let him give you direction. Be obedient when he tells you to do something.
  •   Divine Deliverance – Of course this involves the waiting part—waiting for God to reveal how he’s going to sort things out, because we all know, after our best shot, we’re still fumbling around in the dark. It is God who will bring the deliverance.
  •   Destiny – We might have made plans, and sorted it all out nicely in our head, but when it all comes down to it, God is the one who orders our path. He is the light to our feet. He is the rock upon which we stand. He is the one who is our strength when we are weak. If we are going to have a destiny, let it be in God. 


Meredith Resce is author of seventeen published fiction titles, including the ‘Heart of Green Valley’ series.


She is currently working on two non-fiction titles “When Hell is on Your Doorstep” and “Saints Sinners and Zombies”

To learn more about Meredith and her writing work, visit her website: www.meredithresce.com
Or contact her through her Face Book Author page

6 comments:

  1. Well done Meredith for using those tough times to declare what's true and to rise up and stand. Love the positive D's you have unearthed in order to bring order out of the chaos and hope out of the disenchantment. I found those positive D's a helpful tool I can use when dealing with my own downward spirals in thought so thank you Love the 'Delighting in God' part which is I think so crucial for doing life well. In every situation we can rest in the fact that 'He's got this too'. Every blessing to you Meredith as He turns your disappointments into divine appointments. He did that for us so many times over in the last 8 months - it was awesome to watch and my jaw has dropped several notches! :) And my faith has grown. So now I look back and realise I needed those very disappointments in order for my faith to be strengthened. Praise Him.

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  2. Testimony is not only great as a way to giving thanks, it also boosts the faith of others. Thank you Anusha.

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  3. I know everyone will understand - how God works in incredible ways. I am sure we have all had those moments. This is so timely for me. I was 'defamed' on Facebook. I asked the person to please remove the comment. She didn't so I sent a private message, repeating the request and explaining why. The answer was a torrent of abuse.
    I spent a lot of time praying for both of us. "Those who despitefully use us" and myself to show me if i was in the wrong. I was spiraling into the Ds. (From Discouragement to Doubt.)
    Thank you for solutions. When I was praying it came to mind 'You shall not bear false witness.'

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    1. Sorry to hear of this. Praying for God's divine direction.

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  4. So, so good Meredith. Mind you, a couple months ago I would have thrown my computer at the wall if I read that. Was in a similar head space and had to work very hard to pick myself up again. Thanks for sharing.

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  5. Sorry to hear you've been going through all of those D's Meredith, but so great that you were able to turn it around to bless that congregation. It's hard to hang on to all of God's promises when disappointment and the other D's set in, but it's so good to know he's there walking with us and one day we'll be amazed to see how it all fits into his plan. Thanks for your honesty in sharing. Believing in a double-dipping of delights for you. Take care

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