Surviving the Whiplash

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts…you were called to peace” Colossians 3:15.

Have you ever been in the car with someone else driving and they suddenly slammed on the brakes? There is not a greater rush of fear than that moment with all it's uncertainty and jolt. I was reading this morning’s devotional from a wonderful book written by Lysa TerKeurst called Seeing Beautiful Again. I will caution you that a large part of today’s ELM will be dedicated to her words because both you and I desperately need them. Right out of the gate she caught my attention with this sentence, ‘It was like life just slammed on the brakes, and we were all reeling from the whiplash’ p.139. While she was talking about COVID-19 from last year, I couldn’t help but to think of that statement in broader terms.

How many of us are walking around with emotional whiplash? What circumstances have us believing we are destined for despair...paralyzed in our grief…terrified of our future? We all must be courageous enough to process our disappointments and disillusionments to come out on the other side both emotionally and spiritually healthy. Lysa encourages us to frame the loss by remembering the good we do have so we don’t get consumed by what’s been taken. ‘Be honest about what you need. And be mindful that though COVID [fill in your blank] changed a lot for us, it did not change God…His character…His love and care for His people…His plans to take everything we face and use it to grow us, mature us, and make us more prepared for a good future’ p. 142.

Another of Lysa’s encouragement is one we can all relate to in thinking about our circumstances. ‘Resist the temptation to write out worst-case scenarios. It can be so easy to let today’s disappointments get blown out of proportion and make you expect the absolute worst for tomorrow…mentally running too far into an unknown future and writing a script of a worst-case scenario. My negativity pulls me away from trusting God, loving people, and enjoying what today offers’ p. 143.

I can’t think of a better way than to turn tomorrow around by applying these attitudes today. We were created for peace and we will be void of peace until we allow the love of and trust in Christ to be the ruler in our hearts, especially when life has slammed on brakes.