With or without YOU

Dear friends,

if you grew up in a proper, Christian home and if your parents were good at keeping you from the evil and temptations of the world and its music, this will not ring a bell –  but if you are a wretch who’s just been saved –  like me (pun intended!) – you will immediately hear the melody of this song playing in your head…

I looked up the lyrics:

[Verse 1]
See the stone set in your eyes
See the thorn twist in your side
I’ll wait for you
Sleight of hand and twist of fate
On a bed of nails she makes me wait
And I wait without you

[Chorus]
With or without you
With or without you

[Verse 2]
Through the storm, we reach the shore
You give it all but I want more
And I’m waiting for you

[Chorus]
With or without you
With or without you, ah-ah
I can’t live with or without you

[Bridge]
And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give, and you give
And you give yourself away

[Verse 3]
My hands are tied, my body bruised
She got me with nothing to win
And nothing left to lose

[Bridge]
And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give, and you give
And you give yourself away

[Chorus]
With or without you
With or without you, ohh
I can’t live with or without you

[Outro-Chorus]
With or without you
With or without you, ohh
I can’t live with or without you
With or without you

And don’t get me wrong, this is not to promote worldly music, GOD forbid!, even though it is the second post in a row which is inspired by a tune made by the enemy, my goal is the absolute contrary to what he wants you  / us to do or where he wants to lead us when he puts those waves out there in the air… pilot of the airwaves… or the prince of the air…

The above song is about the agony of a toxic relationship.

At least that’s my understanding of it.

I don’t know if the author has had the knowledge and the wisdom to conclude that this relationship he was describing was most certainly toxic, but one thing is for sure, he definitely knew that this “thing”, this connection made him suffer, either way, if “she” was there or absent and he knew that both ways, it would never work, all it would ever do, the only outcome this would ever have is hurt.
He understood that nothing she would ever give would be able to heal this, he was aware that she was giving herself away… with no gain, no effect , no cure.

Listening to this song made or still makes us melancholic, sarcastic and perhaps even doubting love, doubting life and its purpose and meaning, for we have all experienced this more or less, something which (or someone who!) hurt us and still we were attracted to it, something we wanted so bad and yet we knew at the same time that it was not “right”, that it was not for us.
And when this song comes on, we remember this time in our life when things were dark and hopeless –  perhaps we even go back into the mood of doom, the helplessness we felt back then.
And if we sometimes still feel this wound and have not fully recovered yet, no matter what it was, if it is not fully healed yet, songs like these may make us wonder if it ever will be, if we will ever get over this thing, this person, the effects of this betrayal, this loss…

This is exactly what the enemy wants us to do.
Waste our time with worry, with dwelling in bad memories, with reliving and re-uploading old pain – and let it prevent us from moving on, from creating a positive future, from stepping out of the darkness and into the light, the light of OUR LORD.

Why I remembered this song today was a completely different outlook on the phrase “With or without you” though.

And I feel like sharing this outlook with you.

To remind you of who OUR GOD really IS.

To encourage you if you are feeling low or if you believe that something has a hold on you instead of you holding the solution in the palm of your hands.

I remembered that I was like that.

And the emphasis is on WAS.

Right now (or even for quite a long time), my outer situation has been quite challenging. If I wanted to use “doom language”, I could describe it very drastically. Just one aspect to give you a slight idea (I don’t like to confess too much drama, because I want GOD to turn it all around for me and I know that HE can!!!): At this moment in time, I don’t know where my next rent will come from.

And I am not saying this to fish for sympathy or prayers or pity – prayers are always very welcome, but I also know that GOD will provide!

And I am calm.

Not completely at ease on the outside, but on the inside, I know that HE will take me through.

How do I know that?

First of all, because HE told me.
And then, because I trust in HIS word and in HIS promises.

And this is what I wanted to share with you.

With HIM, everything is different.

With GOD, things are not the way they LOOK, but the way HE says they are.

And that’s the difference to “without HIM”, to my old life, to before I got saved… if I would have to come up with a new job or some other way to pay my rent by the end of next month, I would fail, because there is no way to make enough money that quick, applications and interviews and then decisions take time, it takes at least 2 months to have a new job and if it was me who had to solve this problem, I would fail miserably and I would freak out by now and rightly so!

Not WITH GOD.

I am not lazy or doing nothing, that’s not what it is about – I am waiting on HIM!

HE takes care of me.
Always has and I have lacked nothing  –  at least not since I got saved, there was always food and a roof over my head and enough money for transport or other needs.
And that is the only reason why I am calm and composed and confident.
Not because I believe in ME – I do in a way, but I am not so full of myself that I think I can come up with solutions all the time, my life has taken turns I would have never, ever thought of and I have come out well every single time –  that’s not MY doing.
It is GOD’s.
And this knowing changes everything.
It changes the outlook on life itself.
Yes, I, too, do get melancholic or discouraged sometimes, but only until I remember who GOD is and who HE is to ME.
MY FATHER, MY SAVIOR, MY REDEEMER, MY REFUGE, MY FORTRESS, MY ROCK, MY PROVIDER, MY DELIVERER, MY FRIEND, MY BROTHER, MY HUSBAND, MY TEACHER, MY HEALER, MY COMFORTER, MY MASTER, MY WAY, MY TRUTH and MY LIFE.

JESUS.

There IS no “without HIM”.

Not anymore.

Not for one single moment.

HE never sleeps.
HE never closes HIS practice or switches off HIS phone or goes on holidays or excludes me from anything, no closing date, no answering machine, no out of office agent…
HE is ALWAYS there for me.

My entire life, every minute of it, is WITH HIM.

There is nothing more healing, reassuring, comforting, sustaining and satisfying than that.

WITH HIM.

I think the counter-song to the above is