Cross the Line!

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Don’t cross that line” ?  I’m sure you have.  In fact, I had a roommate in college that put a belt on the floor and told me that it was the dividing line and then added, “Don’t cross that line!”  Wow!!  I was surprised and a bit hurt, but we were two very different individuals living in the same very small dorm room.  Although we had our differences, we were also the best of friends most of the time.   It’s easy to get our lines crossed when dealing with different personalities, but what about the line between right and wrong, or better stated.. truth and lies?  What happens when we cross that line?  Consequences, right?  Good or bad ones depending on which side you move to.

Have you ever tried to ride the line?  I have. I had my faith and my fear.  My faith was hanging in the balance.   It was a detrimental time in my life.  Early in my marriage, I would stay up all night because my husband worked shift work and I couldn’t stay alone.  I would go as far as to sit in his car while he was at work to avoid being at home alone.  This put a lot of stress on him and on me.  I wasn’t sleeping and he couldn’t understand my behavior.  Neither could I!  Trusting the Lord to protect me was a foreign concept at the time.   I was a Christian, but I didn’t allow God to be big enough in my life so that He could overcome this fear.  I was riding the line.  Riding the line means a life of non-commitment, a life of non-performance, a life of non-confrontation, and other things.  This gets you run over by everyone getting off and going to the sides they have chosen.

The bottom line was:  I either trusted God with my life, or I didn’t!  I had to make a choice.  I couldn’t ride the line anymore because it was destroying relationships in my life!  When we become Christians, we exchange the lies of this world for God’s truth, so in order for us to grow and journey to our destination, we must walk in that truth daily.  It’s a struggle, but if we want to grow, we must choose the side of truth and break through.

There were so many sleepless nights full of stress because of my fear.  I tried to overcome  the fear in my own power, but I kept staying on that line of non-commitment to Jesus. Then, one night, I was left alone, unable to accompany my husband to an event .  I remember sitting in the living room with all the lights on and listening to every car that would drive by.  My breathing was heavy, I was panicking and then I cried out to Jesus in desperation.  “Lord, Lord, Help Me!”  Guess what?  He heard me!!  I picked up my Bible, God’s truth, and I read these words from the NIV translation:

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” 3 Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. 4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. 5 You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, 6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. 8 You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. 9 If you make the Most High your dwelling– even the LORD, who is my refuge– 10 then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. 11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. 13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. 14 “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. 15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.”

I let these beautiful words envelop my heart.  Thank you Jesus for helping me cross the Line!  I was free at last.  I had peace.  God was preparing me for my future too because my husband became an international business man and I had to stay alone a lot in foreign countries!  No problem for God is too big or too small.  He is faithful to complete a good work in you and me!  Healing comes when we renounce the devil and we embrace the Father and all of His truths.  Now, as a child of God, who has suffered fear, I can speak to the hearts of those who fear and encourage them to listen to the voice of truth.   My prayer is that the side of Truth will speak to you and you will hear it’s voice.

What if you are on the side of truth, but your loved one isn’t?  What if he or she is  laying on the line because of fear or something else that is affecting their health?  In fact, you may have even tried to pick them up and lay them on the side of truth by coming up with solutions for them and trying to walk them through the process.  If you are like me, you never want to see your loved ones suffer, especially at the hands of themselves.  When I have tried to “fix” them, they usually lay paralyzed on the side of truth because I put them there and they didn’t get up and walk there by themselves.  Yes, we are called to help others, but not to “fix” them.  I am called to give God’s truth in love and pray. 

Listen to The Voice of Truth by Third day.  The lyrics are fantastic.