May--The REAL Enemy

Charis Corner: Stories of Grace in a Broken World

By Kari Mahara

This was a frustrating week. I thought I’d run a few errands before picking up my son from preschool. Instead, my day imploded. I shattered my back windshield, because I tried to shut the back with the lawn mower handle sticking out. Then my car shut down and wouldn’t start (apparently, it has an anti-theft setup).  So after sweeping up the cubed glass and removing my children (and carseats) from the car, my mother-in-law came in and saved the day. I thought, “Okay, this’ll work. My misfortune gave her the opportunity to serve and love me. Everything’s good now.”

I was wrong.

My husband didn’t get anywhere with the van company, so he decided to remove the starter (which he was certain—as was everyone else he consulted—the problem). After dark. You already know the outcome. Starter works fine. Once he disconnected the battery (and reconnected the starter), the van started up no problem.

Then the loaner car from my (amazing) mother-in-law broke down while my husband tried to run the kids out to my mom’s place. So he had to unload all the kids and carseats and move them to his Jeep. By the time he switched cars with me, he was in a foul mood. And then I find out, he didn’t listen to one word I said to him last night or this morning—he sent the kids to my mom’s in p.j.’s with no clothes.

Anger flowed hot through me. Irritation and frustration battled for control of my tongue. My mind swirled with all those thoughts wives and girlfriends want to tell their significant others. But I kept my mouth shut. And prayed. And reached out to my close friends, begging for prayer for calm and peace. One wonderful friend reminded me of Isaiah 26:3: “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!”

It hit me. My husband is not the enemy. I’ll say it again. My husband is not the enemy. As much right as I have to be angry with him, he’s not the enemy. SATAN IS. Satan—with his “truths” that are really lies. With his manipulations. His emotion-pushing, sneaky-workings, and nasty-whispering. His goal is to isolate each of us, steal our joy, and snuff out our light. He knows if we withdraw from others, stuff down that anger and hurt, we’re easy to pick off. But when we stand together, pray for one another, and encourage one another in TRUTH, we become a bright light.

So when you encounter that whiney cashier, pushy coworker, and crazy (slow or fast) driver on the road, remember: they are not the enemy. SATAN is.

1 Peter 5:8-10: “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

April--Beyond Doubt to Hope and Cheer

Charis Corner: Stories of Grace in a Broken World

By Kari Mahara

2 Corinthians 10:3-5: “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

Life is an ocean. Water surrounds me, stretching in all directions as far as I see.

Sometimes it’s calm. The blue water is smooth, beautiful. The sun rises in the east and sets in the rest, its vivid colors bursting from the horizon across the sky and rippling along the water. I’m at peace. I don’t need a life jacket or floating device. I float on my back, content in my circumstances.

But then the storms come. The tumultuous clouds block out the light of the sun or turn red as blood in warning of what is to come. Waves rise and fall, tossing me about, a mere leaf in the arms of a tornado. Fear flies in with the wind, choking me. What can I do? Who can help me? The words I AM resound in my mind. God can.

I call out, and He wraps His arms around me in an instant, a life jacket strapped to my chest. I cling to it and wait out the storm. But what happens when the storm passes? Do I continue clinging to the life jacket? Or do I relax, take it off, and toss it the side?

I’m in the middle of an ocean. Yet sometimes I forget the danger of my circumstances, lulled into security when the waves are calm. Then the sky darkens. The wind whips my hair. The waves crash into me, and I frantically reach for my life jacket again, swearing this time not to take it off.

Until the storms come again. This time, I pray for deliverance and know this will pass. Each time, I choke on salt water and feel bruised by the waves. I surrender control, but it’s not enough. My anxious thoughts swarm me again and again, haunting me with their half-truths and lies. The enemy taunts me.

But this time, I’ve had enough. This time, I turn my gaze to the Heavens and reach out my hands. Jesus walks to me on the water. He waits for me. I pull myself up onto the surface of the water and call out, “Enough!” I claim Jesus’s words as my own. “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

When the winds die down and the waves smooth into ripples, Jesus’s smiling face fills my sight. For once, I didn’t let Satan’s lies consume my mind, but instead I stood strong in Him and resisted the enemy.

Psalm 94:19 (NLT): “When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.”