Michiganders are familiar with the early symptoms of hypothermia. We experience them each February when we step out the door to check the mail. However, the more advanced stages might be less well-known: lethargy, drowsiness, irritability, confusion, hallucinations, stripping, burrowing, and coma.
Stripping? As in removing clothes? Yes. While deep in the process of FREEZING TO DEATH, people are known to remove every stitch of clothing. Many have been found blue, stiff, and nude, their clothes several feet away. At some point during the process, they felt extremely warm. For some scientists, this is a mystery. Others believe that the organs that have been trying to keep the body alive stop functioning and release blood into rest of the body, creating an over-heated feeling. Regardless of the feeling, the fact is that the person is freezing to death and removing a vital source of heat retention. They treat their feelings as facts, even though they contradict the truth.
We allow many false feelings to override the truth.
I had faith in God as a child, but I lost it shortly after I hit double digits. My list of questions about my life, value, and purpose began to grow, as well as my doubts. I doubted that God was there, that He loved me, and that I mattered. I began believing that I was alone, I had to do everything on my own, and I couldn’t trust anyone to help me. I began looking for my value and purpose in the wrong places. By the age of 19, I had a 2-year-old son. I was also engaged to be married, and during pre-marital counselling, the pastor who was officiating our wedding asked if I wanted to give my life to Jesus. At this point, I knew that I was really good at messing up my life, and I did not want to do that to my son. So I said yes. Pastor Al prayed with me. When I opened my eyes afterwards, my vision had changed. The room was brighter. I could also see my life more clearly. When I looked back in time, I could see how God had been with me all of those years. I had never been alone.
Regardless of how you feel, you are not alone. God is there with you. He always has been. When you were hurt, He was hurting with you. When you were happy, He rejoiced with you. He has been waiting for you to acknowledge Him, turn to Him, and allow Him to take all of the broken pieces of your life and shape them into a beautiful mosaic. He does that. He makes beauty from our ashes.
Now you know, and you have two choices. You can continue to strip off your clothes in the cold darkness, denying the truth, living as if you have to do it all on your own, or you can acknowledge Him and step into the warm light of His love. Are you going to continue to live life based on a false feeling or are you going to respond to truth?
“Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.” Psalm 139:7-10
“Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge Him. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” Hosea 6:3
Words Lived 