Facing my Giants

For those of you who know me well, you know that I recently experienced a pretty tough trial in my life. It was a time when my faith in God was truly tested. I certainly won't go into any detail but I will say that I have been facing some pretty scary giants in my life since then. Although I didn't know it at the time, what I was experiencing at the height of my situation was only the beginning of the struggle I would face in rebuilding myself as a person through learning to truly let go of my control over my own life and allow God to completely and totally overwhelm me. It has been a real test in my ability to completely surrender to God.

Some days I pass. Some days I fail. Which, I believe, has prompted God to lead me David.

Much like me, sometimes David passed. Sometimes he failed.

David was a real person. God didn't perform any great miracles through David. He allowed David to be ordinary in the most extraordinary way.

God himself called David a man after His own heart. He never made another statement like that about anyone else in the Bible. Not Moses. not Paul. Just David. God saw something extraordinary in David's ability to completely surrender.

David did one particularly extraordinary thing. He faced a giant and was victorious. When no one else would stand against Goliath, David picked up a flat stone and with nothing more than a sling and his sincere and unwavering faith in God, he became a conqueror.

I am reading a book by Max Lucado that I would sincerely recommend to anyone who has a giant to face. Its appropriately titled Facing Your Giants.

In this book, Max compares Goliath to the giant that you are facing in your own life, whatever that may be.

"Your Goliath dominates your day and infiltrates your joy. He awaits you in the morning, torments you at night."

Then he shows how David, in his short battle with Goliath, never gave much thought to Goliath. He, instead, "discussed no one else but God. More than David versus Goliath, this is God-focus versus giant focus." Max reveals how David was able to zone in his focus on God and allow his faith in God to attack the giant for him. He spoke of God's ability to win the battle, not his own.

"The people knew his taunts, size, and strut. They have majored in Goliath. David majors in God. He sees the giant, mind you; he just seeds God more so."

"Giants. We must face them. Yet we need not face them alone. Focus first, and most on God. The times David did, giants fell. The days he didn't, David did." --How powerful is that? God is really speaking to me here. He knew exactly what I needed to hear. His love amazes me.

I believe right now God is teaching me how to take my focus off of my giant. I know that it will still be there. There is no magic spell to make it go away. Only time will heal the wounds that are left in my heart and my spirit. But I can't allow that giant to rule my life. I have been allowing the giant in my life to win. I have been living in the shadow of doubt. I have been slowly allowing Satan to defeat me with fear.

Not anymore.

"Focus on giants--You stumble.
Focus on God--Your giants tumble."

"Lift your eyes, giant-slayer. The God who made a miracle out of David stands ready to make one out of you."