The Sharks Teeth

LOL part 4
Mindy recently launched into a new relationship with God. No more just “doing” church for social life. She was now experiencing real life, understanding truth and grace as God’s child, friend of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit who lived in her. “I believe in God” was a term she once used but nowadays she believed God and there was a difference between the two. Recently she had experienced victories through trials by learning to walk by faith and not sight. She desperately desired the eyes of her heart to be fixed on Jesus, not wanting to be one who “holds to a form of godliness but denies its power” (2 Tim3:5). Her marriage, family and friendships seemed like battle fields at times. Often she felt lonely, broken, and battered but at the core level she was being held up by Christ’s strength.
She sipped her Starbucks coffee latte and reclined on the cushioned chair just to see her friend Breanna walk out the door past the large storefront window. She felt safer without gossipy ears, and then leaned over and quietly revealed to our friend Agnes, and me her innermost thoughts. “Honestly, there are times when my focus becomes muddled and I fall into discouragement. I just don‘t have all the answers and life can sometimes feel scary.”
“We will all have hardships in life which lead us to believe lies from the enemy,” Agnes reaffirmed her. “Have you ever seen an optical illusion?”
“You mean those pictures that hang on the wall that make people look like idiots by blank staring until finally they see a hidden picture?”
“Somewhat… I am thinking of the kind that deceive you to think there is something there that isn’t. I imagine that if there can be optical illusions with our physical eyes there can be with our spiritual eyes as well.”
“What do you mean by optical illusions, Agnes?” I inquired.
“Satan deceives us when we plunge into believing there is no hope.” Agnes began with a detailed story about her young family who had set off on a lovely jaunt one Sunday afternoon. They had walked the two mile hike downtown to investigate the summer art festival on display. On the return trip they happened upon a sidewalk painting which blocked their path toward home, something her three year old daughter had never seen until then. She described it.
“ The painting portrayed broken bricks in the sidewalk which opened up to a deep sea and a large shark leaping out. The illusion appeared very real to all of us but especially to my two and a half foot tall daughter who screamed and ran to her daddy for safety.

He picked her up in his strong arms, quietly and calmly spoke to her, telling her it wasn’t true. He explained, ‘We will walk right past this “so called“ shark, even on top of it as we head towards home.‘ “He knew the truth she could not perceive with her limited knowledge and experience. Her childlike trust was tested. She whimpered as he took her closer to the delusion. It took her daddy one step onto the broken bricks and she scrambled to higher ground, twisting herself to the top of his shoulders. Her wide frightened eyes scrutinized the top of the water. When they stepped right onto the sharks head she finally could see with the perspective of her father. As he jumped up and down holding her far above its sharp teethed mouth she too could see how flat it really was. The stillness of her body showed us it had lost its power over her. Finally with eagerness she too wanted down to step on the sharks head.” “I wonder if she had continued to believe that lie without the security of her father’s arms would she have ever moved in the direction towards home?”
“Unlikely,” Mandy and I said simultaneously.
It was a terrific story but Mindy’s cool nature expressed she was a little stumped. It was not connecting to what they had been talking about.
Agnes moved on, “So too it is the same as with the eyes of our hearts. It’s as if there is a scene that projects onto the screen of our minds…a misunderstanding of the present circumstances, a child perhaps in rebellion, or husband veering toward seclusion, maybe those whom you’ve served faithfully in church walking out the door, never to return….and its hard to understand. Perhaps the shark we see is our perception of what the future holds. The friend holding unbelievable bitterness toward you becomes an image in your mind that leaves you insecure, vulnerable, or exposed. Or that husband that won’t speak to you becomes a setting of future loneliness, without relationship, significance or love.”
Mindy finally blinked, scooted back to settle more solidly in her chair and lay her hands in her lap showing she was computing the data. “I know the evil one also loves to play scenes from the past… like a movie being played over and over again so that it grips you from ever moving forward.”
“Absolutely, Mindy. And does your movie come with audio?”
“Oh yes.”
“And what lies are whispered in your ears from the enemy?”
“He tells me I’ve blown it too big to ever move forward. The screen depicts too high of a wall between myself and my husband. ‘Nothing can really ever break that down’ says the devil.” She lowered her head and took a sip of the coffee.
“Do you believe it to be a fortress too strong to break through?”
“At times.” There was a moment of silence. “Do you have any truth to give me?”
Agnes leaned over and rested her forehead onto her palms. One would think we had confused or frustrated her, but Agnes lifted her face a moment later. She pierced us with her serious expression. “Listen, girls, I am no counselor but I do know the best counselor there is. The Holy Spirit who lives in you. Who better than the one who knows you best.” She paused. “He does not promise quick solutions and answers to all of our problems. Sometimes the best answer in a given moment is ‘patience.’ “He uses His precious word and yes, people like us to help you walk through it, but don’t let a person stand between you and Him. God did not make everything easy for us. It‘s all about relationship. We must seek Him for the answers and in the process we get to know Him better.”
“Now back to it. Reflect for a moment on the details of my story: My daughter, Jill had to pass the shark if she wanted to keep heading home. It was the father’s arms she ran to for security . Her daddy carefully carried her into the trial in the direction toward home. Do you see the connections? We must pass through certain trials in life in order to ‘head towards home’ …that is …to be conformed to the image of Christ….to perceive as the father perceives. Jill’s perspective changed after seeing from her father’s viewpoint. And her experience gave her a greater understanding of how her eyes can be fooled to believing things which are not true. Isn’t that the same with us when we encounter spiritual roadblocks? So my advice to you is first to run to the Father’s arms. Let Him lift you up with scripture and truth so you can gain his perspective. I love God’s word in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 ~ ‘For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
She took a deep breath and added “When I take every thought captive in reference to the verse I also like to include ‘demolishing arguments and every point of pride ~ toward those He lives in’. Thus I train my mind to love, trust and believe in my family of God. ”
“I heard it once said that we are to recognize the wallpaper of lies lining the walls of our minds, tear it down and then put up new wallpaper with God’s truth.”
“Yep. But do understand this is all done by His grace. He knows that becoming like Christ is a process, not an event.”
Agnes took a little pouch out of her purse and emptied the contents onto the table. Several little pieces scattered toward the edge of the table which were stopped by her quick hand. We looked closely at all the pieces trying to guess what they were? “Do you always carry crazy little pieces of metal around in your purse?”
“Hee hee!” she laughed with amusement at the disturbed looks on our faces.
(to be continued)