When It's Foggy Outside

When I first became a Christian, I would have dreams from God. I would see things and then later on, they would become true. Not anything specific or something I would go preach about in a church; God gave me prophecies-if you will, about future things that would happen to me and reveal things in dreams to me about what was going on spiritually where I was. One dream I had I was driving in a car down a street, but it was very foggy. So foggy that I could barely see in front of me. I asked my mom about it after I woke up and she said, "God is telling you that things are going to get confusing or just so-so; nothing big is happening today."

There are a lot of times when I wake up and just feel "foggy" spiritually. For me, I am at the top of my game when I am passionately all over Jesus and I am in the mood to talk about it for hours and hours and all I want is to lie around and feel and enjoy his embrace and worship him and adore him. Today, is not really one of those days. I'm tired, a little worn out; so out of it that I just now remembered I brewed a pot of coffee 30 minutes ago that I can drink now. We all have these times with Jesus. As much as we want to jump onto him, there's something keeping us from it. It's something of ourselves. Our flesh. A "We do what we do not want to do" kind of thing moment. What is the remedy for this when God is close, but not too close, and we are willing, but it's just not happening? We must wait. And when we do, we will begin to feel God's pleasure again. Imagine this. You are sitting on a couch and Jesus is sitting right next to. Imagine getting down on your knees before him, taking his hands in yours, looking into his lovely eyes, and telling him softly but surely, "I'm waiting on you, my God." He will respond. It may be momentary, it may take a couple minutes, but he will respond.

Foggy days are when we turn a 180 inside spiritually, get a nice hot cup of coffee or tea, and cuddle up with the Spirit by the window and sit. [coffee update: I just grabbed my dad-like moose-mug to get a cup of coffee and found that I had brewed a hot pot of water; didn't bother to put the grounds in the coffeemaker-yeah, I'm out of it today] While we wait on our God to bring us out from the confusion and fogginess, what can we do in the meantime? What are some great remedies for a foggy day? What does the spiritual pharmacy at God's Walgreen's have for us?

1. Get together with your favorite brother(s) and/or sister(s) in this family of God. Go grab a coffee at Starbucks and talk. Pick up the lost art of conversation and enjoy someone else in this wonderful family we have from the Father. One of the greatest strengths we have from each other is that once we begin talking about God and our hearts/etc with someone else, they reciprocate and we immediately feel energized. The strength we can draw from one another is great.

Two are better than one because they have a good return for their work:

If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A chord of three strands is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. NIV

How true is that verse: But how can one keep warm alone? And foggy days usually aren't the warmest days of the year. Get close to someone else! Spend sometime with your best friends and let them know you love them. This is a wonderful way to "Seattle it up;" sit on the emotional docks of life and watch the fog go by with some friends. And make sure there's always good coffee nearby also.

2. Relax. Get a midweek sabbath, even if it's only for an hour or two. Sheer mental exhaustion is one of my number one weaknesses when Thursday and Friday roll around. By this time, I've had enough. Bring on the weekend. Usually the weekend is a day or two away when I start feeling foggy. I have a very packed schedule too. Which isn't good. Best way around this? Make time. Cancel something not too critical, and go chill on the porch with the Holy Spirit. Take a walk with God and tell him about your day. If there's nothing that can be absolutely canceled, make your own time with him. Wake up a little early, or go to bed a little late, and spend that time with him. Even if the will for passion/love/romance with Jesus is not too strong at the moment, our need/cravings/desires for passion/love/romance with Jesus is still, albeit under the surface, very active. We need him always. How true is this? Even when we aren't feeling him strongly, we need him. We desire him. In all things. He's our God, he's our Lover, he's the one we are spending an eternal marriage with, and he's our Best Friend. Suggestions for things to do with him on a foggy day? Snuggle up with him, have some popcorn, and watch a movie. Or read a good book. As long as there is snuggling with God :)

3. Walk with God, but watch where you walk. This is a very, very important thing for foggy days. When we can't see too far in front of us, demons are lurking in the fog waiting to ambush us. As soon as they see a crack in our armor, bang! They'll shoot an arrow specially designed to pierce into our hearts. Foggy days do not have to be a prelude to a storm, but Satan and his demons would like nothing more then to use bad weather to bring on a raging storm. "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." Proverbs 4:23 NIV. Don't let a thunderstorm break out when it is a day like this. These are the times that we must protect ourselves a little more near things that could hurt our hearts. We must have a little extra caution on a foggy day.

4. Dream. Always a good one. Remember what it is like when you are feeling incredibly romanced by Jesus, the feelings of overwhelming joy and God's pleasure at how much he is madly in love with you, the ecstasy of being in his strong embrace. We might not be able to see a foot in front of us on a foggy day, but we still can dream what it would be like if it was sunny and we were doing a cannonball into the pool with Jesus. Or spending the whole night on a romantic picnic with Jesus. Break away from the mundane daily grind and dream. Take off the headphones for a minute, break away from Facebook for 10, and remember. And through remembering, try to taste what rapturousness you were in when he held you, danced with you, told you he was never leaving you, told you he wanted to marry you. Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, when Jesus returns to sweep us off our feet and take us to his house to live with him forever. Read Song of Songs and find yourself in an ecstatic romance with God. Read a good Psalm and find how David felt the same way you do about a foggy day. Read Ruth, which is a good romance story about two people who didn't expect to find love and did in each other. Or read Exodus and get caught up in one of the world's greatest dramas that ever took place (then rent the movie! The classic one with Charlton Heston). There's so much to see and live and do in God's word and also just in our own mind with him. Daydream what it will be like when we finally see our God in the clouds when he returns. Imagine looking at our Beloved, finally! At last, living with him in our Father's house. God gave us a wonderful capacity to daydream, let's use it!

Foggy days do end. Then we are back, full-throttle with the Spirit and everything is perfect with him. We do get back on top of our game. God has not left us. He just wants us to get off the couch, sit with our knees on his feet, take his hands in ours, and tell him, "I love you and I'm waiting on you, my Darling."