Thick Places
Recently, I shared information about Thin Places to seek out and find in our surroundings. Those thin places that lend themselves to getting close to God. A chair, a closet, a corner, or as the Wesley brothers experienced with their own mother, Susanna Wesley, an apron to throw over our heads. On any given day between 1700 and 1720, Susanna would quickly throw her apron up over her head with ten children running around, learning their facts, how to read, how to cook. She would find her thin place right amongst the little ones. It reminds me to reassure young parents homeschooling their children in this pandemic, you are not alone, your situation will not damage your children, in fact, as they see you lean on the Lord, they will learn themselves to lean into Him. Just look at John and Charles Wesley.
However, that brings me to the Thick Places we are all encountering today. Are these places harder for us than our ancestors? No. Are these places difficult to maneuver? Yes. Our ancestors had to learn to maneuver through them and we have to do the same. Every generation has endured hardship. These are the thick places I am referring to.
Some of the thick places that we are attempting to manage and live joyfully through are not just out of our control, but downright depressing. We have the Pandemic right now. Thank God we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel — yet, we are not out of the woods. We have the political positions of not just our country, but also other countries. We have the ugliness of murder and mayhem, the shame of sexual attack and dysfunction. We have children being exposed to inappropriate behavior and some stuck in homes with disheartened or angry parents. The thick places multiply.
How do we live a Kingdom driven life with so much energy being spent on picking our feet up and pulling them out of these thick places one-step at a time?
Continual prayer. It is the only way we are able to climb into bed at the end of our days finding the peace that passes all understanding. Allowing our minds and hearts to usher into our thin places with God the Almighty; the Three-in-one God as we are continually hit with another barrage of thick places is the ultimate challenge. Do we give up? No. We remember that even Christ asked for the cup of the cross to be taken away from him. Where did He look? Where did His help come from? It came from Abba, His Father. We have been given guidance by Jesus himself, “Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Give us this moment LORD. Get us through this with Your strength, Your knowledge, Your love. Give us the courage it takes to live expecting miracles from your hand, let us be brave enough to ask for what we wish in your name. Remind us that when we asked you into our hearts you came in and now reside in us and we are able to ask you to give us wisdom in every situation, in all the thick places we walk into all day long.
Let us fall to sleep every night knowing that you are in this place with us. You were in these places in the past with our ancestors and with all of the struggles they had to forge forward through, and you are already in the future where we are going.
As a believer of God, Lord and Savior,
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13
Because He IS the I AM, I am
Robyn Rochelle Cox
©RR&BC, LLC 2021