The thing we love about our Nino is his courage and “let-me-at-em” attitude. For example, he HATES horses…we do not know why…. But he’s also extremely enamored with ME. That makes me very happy! He’s my little bud, named Nino, which by meaning is “God is gracious” (there is a story behind how we became his human parents, and hence the name. Remind me to tell you later…) He has been like the child I couldn’t have. When he is sad, afraid, or hurt, who does he run to? His Mommy, and he crawls into my lap and cuddles like a toddler and often falls asleep. He’s my baby and I would put myself in harm’s way to keep him safe.

So here he is, attacking a,”TV dog”, as we like to tell him. It’s not real. It’s just a figment of the imagination. But, if it was real, it would take him out in a heartbeat.

Do you have some of those skeletons lurking around? Are you really good at keeping them hidden? Putting on a perfect air, when, in actuality, you are falling apart inside? Or being burdened by fear or guilt because you cannot trust a soul on the planet to let it out?

How in the world did it come to this? Master of our emotions, always ready to answer properly, but inside ready to explode! We need help, for sure!

The Word of God says “There is none righteous, no not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.” Romans 3: 10, 11

This means we are all in the same desperate state. All have sinned against God and fallen short of His expectations! (Romans 3:23, paraphrased) Since this is written for everybody, stay tuned for the solution to this conundrum.

But first, a story for you. Two great bible heroes were thrown into prison for talking about Jesus (Acts 16:23 ff). This came after being whipped severely. They were placed in stocks, in traditional prisoner-keeping methods. Some would say they were naked as well. Naked, cut and bruised, and chained to a cold prison wall. What could be worse?

Unhappy times for sure. THIS is a pretty big giant, wouldn’t you say?

What did Paul and Silas do?

They sang songs to God. Yup, you heard me. They used what they still had and sang praise to the Lord on high. Pretty cool.

Then….

There was an earthquake.

The prison walls were shaken.

All the prison doors opened up.

In those times, if the jailor let just one prisoner escape, his punishment was death (another giant!), so imagine the jailor’s fear when he realized that the prison walls had tumbled down!

Paul called out with a loud voice, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here!”

The jailor came to where Paul’s and Silas’ cell had been and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

And he did!

Wow. I believe this is more than a story. This is recorded to encourage you and me that there is hope beyond cancer, beyond abuse, beyond trauma, beyond drug and alcohol addictions, beyond COVID-19, beyond marital discord, beyond job problems–you fill in the space with your own giant. To help you along in knowing there are some things you just cannot tackle on your own. I understand about facing fears head on and conquering them. I tell you I have done things that really took me out of my comfort zone: like the helicopter tour through the Grand Canyon, zip-lining in the jungles of Jamaica, traveling in several foreign countries without a tour guide, taking that first Acalabrutinib pill last week, for example. I am very very very afraid of heights. I prayed before and during all these things and thanked God for keeping me safe afterward.

However, there are things in life that have no apparent way out. All of the therapists on the planet, no matter how hard they try to solve the problems, cannot.

We all need help. We need a Savior bigger than the giant.

His name is Jesus.

You might be reading and have already given your heart to the Lord and are wondering, “Why am I still struggling? Trusting God should be easy peasy.” My advice is to always stop, drop, and pray. Turn off your mind, your media, your family (go to quiet place) and pray. Fasting is another form of worship and prayer for the believer. Everyone in the developed world can forget to keep things simple, because of god of this world has tried to make things too complicated!

For example: Some of Jesus’s friends were by themselves while Jesus took a side trip with His top three men and a desperate father came to them asking for help for his son who had a serious problem. Try as they may, they could not “cast out the demon [GIANT]”. When Jesus returned, he zip-zip handled the situation. The disciples asked Jesus later on privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing [emphasis added] but prayer and fasting.” (Mark 9:25-29) Remember, it is God who is doing all of this, NOT us, and that is what we must reckon with.

Tell God about your giant. He is listening and capable to handle everything that comes our way! Some of you know this one: “My God can beat up your giant!”