Imagine the Worst

Take a moment and take a trip with me-

For an instant, I want you to IMAGINE

Imagine the very WORST thing you can think up

Not what we have been taught as believers is it?

We’re always told to hope, to believe, to envision the promises of God manifest in our life.

I started thinking about this last week, knowing that I was coming up on the three year anniversary of my job ending. Today is the exact date - only three years later.

During these past three years, there have been many moments when I have benefited from thinking on the best, where I have done what scripture tells us in Philippians 4:8 ESV, '...whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.'

However, I have found that in the instant where I imagined the worst [or what I perceive to be the worst], it brought with it amazing clarity.

Allow me to explain

In the past five years, and even before, some unimaginable things have happened to me. I say unimaginable because they are not things I would have imagined for my life.

Growing up, my ambition was to get married and be a mom. Now some have scoffed at the thought of that being my sole ambition as a teenager – but that was my heart’s desire. Once I was married, the worst thing I could imagine would be getting divorced and having to raise my children on my own. Well, it happened. It did not kill me, I survived and God was still God.

Later in life, the worst thing I could imagine would have been losing my health. It happened. In 2006 I was diagnosed with Fibro-Myalgia, cardiac issues, a blood disorder and Lupus symptoms – to name a few – and experienced days I could not even walk. It did not kill me. I survived and God was still God.

Once I got sick, I started imagining what it would be like if I could not provide for my children. And I was so thankful to God that I had an excellent paying job. The worst thing to imagine as a single-parent would be to lose that job and not have income. Well, it happened. It did not kill me. I am surviving and God is still God.

During the past three years of unemployment, it would have been devastating to imagine these challenges compounded by the illness or death of loved ones. Well, all three of my sons faced significant medical situations in the past three years. Further I have sat by, even as I prayed for healing, and watched an aunt and an uncle go home to be with the Lord. As painful as these circumstances were, they did not kill me. I survived and God is still God.

Just recently my home was scheduled for sale at auction. That was a worst-case scenario that I did not want to imagine. But it happened. And it did not kill me. I have survived and, no surprise, God is still God.

And now, at this point, I believe the only thing I am left with is the threat of death. Yet this is not a threat for the child of God – for the one who has accepted the free gift of salvation and proclaimed Jesus as Lord and Savior.

We can take solace, because we know that Christ has given His life for us. ‘God so loved the world that He gave His Only begotten Son, that whosoever should be believe in Him – would not perish but experience eternal life (Jn. 3:16).’ We shall be with Him for all eternity and no circumstance on earth can change that reality.

The one who accepts Christ has put on incorruption!
Even if the body is destroyed, the spirit will live on in eternity.

'So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.’ I Cor. 15:54-58

You see, as a believer whose foundation is the Word of God – when you imagine the worst – you cannot help but to also realize the best.

When you have imagined the worst that you can think up – and it actually occurs – there is a comfort that comes when you see that it did not kill you. The world did not end. It did not destroy your relationship with God. Life can and does, indeed, go on and God is still God.

In that moment, you discover a strength and confidence you never knew you always had. You find a reason to smile, when by all human accounts, you should be crying. You find a reason to praise and you defy the enemy who thought you would curl up and die.

In that instant you realize and boldly declare:
'What can separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ Rom. 8:35, 37-39

Imagine That!