Too Much

Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning! (Lamentations 3:23, NLT)

Have you ever heard the phrase, "Too much of a good thing"?

Last week, my girls experienced too much of a good thing. We met with friends at the beach. They ran, laughed, played in the sand and surf, and boogie boarded.

When we were leaving the beach, Gracie had somewhat of a minor melt down. I thought that very odd because my girls are generally always very happy at the beach. Mikea was dragging behind slowly. Gracie was complaining because she had to carry out what she had carried in. Something just didn't add up. 

The rest of the day passed without much improvement. Both my girls were increasingly cranky until bedtime. The next morning, they were extremely hot to the touch, had chills, were nauseated, and had severe headaches. Both my girls were very sick, sicker than I had ever seen them. They couldn't eat and I had to force them to take fluids. They were very lethargic and slept 12 to 15 hours per day.

Mike, previously an army man and formerly a firefighter, explained they had sun poisoning. Sun poisoning? I didn't understand how that could be. We've lived in Hawaii over 14 years, I've always been extremely cautious with them in the sun insuring they always wear sun screen, uv shirts, reminding them to drink water, and not staying in the sun too long. 

As watchful as I was and with all my precautions, my girls still got burned.

I was reminded, all of us have been burned at one time or another. No matter how watchful we have been or how many precautions we've taken, if we've lived very long...we've still been burned by someone. Maybe we have been burned by a boy/girlfriend, spouse, pastor, family member, teacher, or our best friend. We've been burned by people in and out of the "church".

However, I have a good report! There is one who never burns us, "Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning!" (Lamentations 3:23, NLT)

Just as there are steps to recover from being burned by the sun, there are steps to recover from being burned by people in our lives.

• Forgive (Luke 6:37)
• Pray (Matthew 5:44)
• Forget (Isaiah 43:18)
• Press on (Philippians 3:14)

Thank God that He never burns us! (Psalm 100:5, John 10:10, John 3:16, Isaiah 5:20)

And an added bonus is to make another run through Dr. Larry Ollison's life changing book, "Breaking the Cycle of Offense". You can find it at www.faithman.org.

What have you done about your burns?

Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank You for always being faithful. You are faithful and gracious in all Your ways! Thank You for Your powerful healing love. We apply Your unfailing love right now, by faith, and allow it to permeate our every cell bringing wholeness and peace. Thank You for enabling us to forgive those who have burned us and for teaching us Your ways of forgiveness bringing healing upon ourselves. We determine to forget the former things and we press on to the new. We press on to the new in and with You! Thank You for making our path straight and ordering our steps! We love You Lord!