Circumstances have a funny way of flaunting themselves with the illusion of permanence when in truth they are just what they are called, circumstances. Circumstances come and go and are very flighty. Generally they do not last long but almost always they appear to threaten our future. This is why people so easily yield their emotions, thoughts, and decisions to it. Something that is merely temporal should not affect us so greatly, nor should it derail our day in such a way that we get off course and disheveled in our thinking.
I remember years ago when I was hit with a circumstance that presented itself with the threat of just that - permanence. I felt as though this situation had the potential to change everything that I knew to be possible in my future and all that was hoped for. Panicking and filled with anxiety, I called my friend because I couldn't understand why this was happening to me. The truth is, only a day and a half later the situation proved itself to be just simply a circumstance. It faded away and everything went back to normal. Calling my friend back, I joked, "turns out that mountain I was staring at was just a speed bump in my route. Apparently, I was laying nose to the ground looking at a speed bump thinking it was a mountain only because of my perspective".
It was now clear, if I had found a way to stand firm and upright regardless of what had happened, I would have recognized the situation for what it was, just a small bump in the road. Instead of being flat faced on the ground interpreting it as an immovable mountain, I would have responded sensibly. Way too often we look at circumstances and allow them to trip us up and put us flat on the ground. Scripture tells us that when we are rooted and grounded in Christ we have a sure foundation. It is in Him that we can stand firm despite what we are hit with in this world.
How do we stand firm? What does it mean to have a foundation in Christ? What does it look like to have a firm foundation? These questions rattled through my mind as I tried to understand what it might look like to be unshakable. I began to look at scripture as well as the word "foundation" to learn what God said about it (for more on how to study scripture in this way, check our book Milk to Meat). This is what I found, to be sure footed in a storm, grounded and rooted with a firm foundation in Christ, required me to spend time reading the word of God. You see, reading the word of God washes over our mind and it establishes truth in our heart that takes root and provides steadiness within our core. Our core being is our spirit. Our soul is built up of our mind, will, and emotions. When we are soul driven, circumstances shake us because they affect our mind, our emotions, and our decisions by result. Rather, if we are rooted and grounded in Christ by spending time in scripture and prayerfully pursuing more of His voice, we become more and more Holy Spirit led. In short, Holy Spirit led means that we are receiving our direction from a higher source than that which we can see. We no longer are effected by circumstances because the circumstances, rather than hitting our mind, will, and emotions first as the buffer and then coming to our spirit, the alternate happens. Now the spirit buffers everything that comes at us. The bad is filtered out as it moves through the scripture that we have planted in our spirit, giving us clarity in our thinking so that what does come to our mind, will, and emotions is truth.
Now that I have learned how to root myself in Christ by the washing of the word of God my response is much different. When circumstances rear their ugly head, I see them as just what they are, a trivial, temporal situation that I can look in it's eye and call it what it is - a bump in the road. I just keep walking, steady in my faith and moving forward toward my calling. I walk in confidence knowing that the bumps in the road cannot effect the truth that is rooted in my core, which is the truth of God.
The truth of God is found in scripture, it is in becoming grounded in the truth that you become unshakable and find yourself on a firm foundation.
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