My Soul is Crazing

Crazed is a multiple meaning word. It can refer to someone being wildly out of control or a network of fine cracks on a surface.

My grandmother’s plates are my favorite plates to use, and I cherish them. I noticed recently after washing one that it was crazing. Fine cracks spread out across the surface of the plate. Still usable. Held together on the outside by the glaze…but crazed.

In the new Mary Poppins film, every second Wednesday of the month things turn upside down for the character, Topsy. Literally. Everything in her home flips upside down for the entirety of the day. Topsy tells her cousin that she can’t possibly fix their broken bowl on this day, because everything is upside down.

My house hasn’t flipped upside down, but within the span of a few weeks, my life has been flipped upside down.

My soul is crazing.

It’s in the midst of these times of chaos or change that the enemy’s work is at its finest. In reference to I Peter 5:8 and the enemy’s prowling, a previous pastor of ours said, “He will chew you up and spit you out in a country minute”.

I identify with that statement. Great predators stalk, searching for areas of weakness in their prey (or spirit in this case). Our adversary is stealthy.

But our Sustainer? The conjunction, but, shows opposition. There’s a way to live right side up in an upside down world of circumstances by presenting our crazed souls into the hands of our Father one verse at a time.

Psalm 34:19 (NIV) “The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all”

Psalm 73:26 (ESV) “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength[a] of my heart and my portion forever.”

Isaiah 40:30-31 (NIV) “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

In each of these verses, trouble, failing flesh, and weariness threaten to derail. But God deliverers, strengthens, and renews.

These days are unprecedented. Unpredictable. Uncertain.

May this hope rest within our crazed souls and reclaim our certainty in Him. But God delivers, strengthens, and renews.

Father God, You alone are supreme. Help me to zoom out of the laser focus on current circumstances surrounding me that make my soul craze. Center the lens of my heart’s desire on the truth of Your Word and Spirit. Thank You for being our Strength and Deliverer. Guard our hearts and minds in You.