Call It What It Is

Last night I stayed up late watching the movie, "Let's Give Them Something to Talk About," with Julia Roberts and Dennis Quaid. The movie is forever old but last night was the first time I have had the opportunity to see the entire movie from beginning to end. I think it's a cute little movie but I'm biased because I'm a Julia Roberts fan. I don't want to ruin it for you just in case you haven't seen it and you plan to in the future so I want tell you what happens at the end but I do want to talk about the beginning.

The protagonist, Julia Roberts, finds out that her husband, played by Dennis Quaid, is cheating on her. She sees him on the street kissing another woman and immediately her life is turned upside down. After confronting him later that night she takes her young daughter and moves in temporarily with her sister. She is dealing with so many emotions and she is questioning whether or not her marriage is over. I felt so bad for Julia's character but it helped normalize the situation of my life for me. Almost a year ago when my life changed drastically, suddenly, I felt like I was the only one going through it. In my mind it seemed like everyone else was living life as usual while I was the only one going through changes, but that's not the case. Car accidents, a partner filing for divorce, unexpected pregnancies, unexpected illnesses, unexpected deaths, unexpected marriage proposals... There are so many things that happen to people everyday that change people's lives around for better or for worse. I suddenly felt so silly for feeling like I was the only one going through... I'm not the first one to have to deal with life changing circumstances and I won't be the last. Although what I'm going through and what Julia's character went through has no comparison to what he went through, these situations remind me of 'ol Job.

As always I would encourage you to take the time and read the scriptures for yourself but I'm gonna give you a little synopsis of what happened in the book of Job.

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So what happened was... Job was chillin' at his house in Uz. The Bible explains that he was a good dude. He was described as being blameless, upright, God-fearing, and as shunning evil. He lived with his wife and 10 kids and he was very wealthy so he had thousands of animals and a lot of servants. Then the story moves to heaven where the angels are about to present themselves before God and Satan is rolling with them. The Lord is like, "Satan, where you coming from bruh," and Satan is like, "Man, You know how I do. I've been roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it." Then the Lord is like, "Say, did you ever consider my servant Job? He's a really good dude, real talk." Satan responds, "Man You been protecting and blessing that dude that why he gets down with You. Watch, if he loses his stuff he'll curse you to your face." The Lord responds, "That's a bet. You got this but don't hurt him." So then Satan dipped. Next thing you know Job loses everything. His children, his servants, and all of his animals are either killed or stolen and his house is destroyed. Job immediately goes into grieving but He praises the Lord in spite of everything that he has lost by saying, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." (NIV- New International Version.) Satan's plan didn't work because Job did not sin by blaming God.

Chapter 2 starts off with the angels going to see the Lord and again Satan is going with them. Once again the Lord asks Satan where he had been and once again Satan replies that he has been roaming the earth. Then, Job's name comes up again. The Lord again asks Satan if he has considered Job and says, "even though you tried to ruin his life he still kept his integrity." Then Satan gets crunk and starts yelling, "Man that's only because he's still healthy. A man will give up all he has for his own life. I bet if you attack his body he's curse you to your face." (See this is where yall need to be happy God is not one of us... The minute the devil got mad and starting yelling would have been the last time yall heard from the devil. It would've been like, "Boy who you yelling at!?! Don't you know I'm God?!? You better recognize who you're talking to..." Neck rolling, finger waving... all of that. Thank God, He's God. LOL.) The Lord's response was, "Aight then. He's in your hands but don't kill him." So then Satan left the Lord and the Bible says he afflicted Job with painful sores all over his body. His wife comes to him and is like, "Why are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!" Job responds, "Woman, you talking like a fool. Are we just supposed to accept good from God and not trouble?" Job still did not sin by what he said.

Next thing you know, here come his three so-called friends. They heard about all he was going through and went to go see him supposedly going to sympathize with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a far they could barely recognize him and they cried and mourned with him for 7 days. They didn't speak that entire time because they saw how bad he was suffering.

The next 28 chapters are spent with Job "agonizing over his situation" according to my Bible. His friends try to explain to him that he must be suffering because of some horrible sin he committed so they try to get him to repent. Job argues that he has done nothing and does not deserve what is happening to him so then they begin to accuse him of even worse things. The commentary in my Bible says that there were partial truths in what they were saying, however, they were wrong to assume that he was suffering because of sin. Now I could keep going and talk about hot messes who call themselves friends but I'll stop here and make my point.

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In this story each everyone had their own opinion of what was going on and their own answer on how to fix. None of them were there when God had the conversation with Satan and neither were we but this is what we do know... The devil has one job. 1 Peter 5:8 (NIV) tells us, "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." Satan is the thief Jesus is referring to in John 10:10 when he says, (NIV) "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full." Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) reveals God's plan for us. "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" So there it is. Satan's plan is steal, kill, and destroy and God's plan is to prosper you, not harm you, give you hope and a future. Now when situations arise in your life occur and someone or something threatens to steal, kill, and destroy in your life CALL IT WHAT IT IS- an attack from Satan. You read it for yourself. That's what he does all day, everyday- searches through the earth looking for people to mess with. Now when you recognize who it is attacking you you can respond accordingly. YOU HAVE POWER OVER THE DEVIL AND HIS ATTACKS- USE IT! Jeremiah 15:11 (NIV) says, "The Lord said, 'Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose; surely I will make your enemies plead with you in times of disaster and times of distress.'" And if He did it for them He will surely do it for you. When you pray remind God of His Word and patiently wait for Him, believing that He will do what He said.

Last weekend I was in Macy's and my friend's mom saw me. She tried to get my attention by whistling and waving at me but failed to do so until she called me by my name (well actually she called me, "(insert my momma's name here)'s daughter" Yall don't need to know my mom's name if you don't already know it. =) ) I said that to say that a lot of times negative situations arise in our lives and we try to address it all kinds of different ways but if we just called it what it is and sought the Lord about it we would be more effective. We have to vigilant and recognize when Satan is attacking our lives so that we can defeat him every time. We want to prosper, be safe, and to have hope and a future just as God plans for us to and when we find ourselves protected and prospering call that what it is to. Recognize when God has his hand on your life and praise Him in the good times and the bad times just like your boy Job. Satan had a plan for Job but God's plan won. Job's health was restored, he had more children, and he became wealthy again. He was even more blessed before the devil attacked him and if God did that for him, how much more can He do for us in our lives today...

So remember call it what it is and bounce back when you find your life turned upside down. I probably said this before but I'll say it again, it may be a surprise to you but it's never a surprise to Him. Romans 8:28 (KJV- King James Version) (shout out to my follower who loves Romans, you still the "one girl" =)) reminds us that, "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose." So no matter what happens, it's all good. Love yall. God bless! =)