Elijah has a varied career as a prophet of God, highs and lows, miracles and ordinaries, and a whirlwind with chariots of fire. There were times he was discouraged and depressed and felt overwhelmed by his circumstances. His life mirrors our own, with the notable exception of the fiery chariots lifting us out of this life and possibly the miracles he performed. He had powerful enemies who were out to get him and he had feelings of being abandoned by God.
I chose to read this book because there are circumstances in my life I didn't sign up for. I have cancer--the ultimate "I didn't sign up for this" kind of thing. It is treatable but not curable and I will be under treatment for the rest of my life. Next week, I will be undergoing still another kind of treatment to add to the others already tried, all of them only palliative for relieving symptoms.
Often we look at our spiritual circumstances and the spiritual battles as those things we didn't sign up for, but once we surrendered our lives to Christ, we actually did. That moment we signed on for a life-long battle and all of the fall-out that comes from the fight. I have the loss of my health, others have wayward children, others have addictions, and one friend has special needs children.
The rest of the story is that while we didn't sign up for these things, God enrolled us in His School of Spiritual Strength and Reimaging. In this school, we are being reformed and remolded into the very image of Christ. We have to go through these things to become more fully like Christ. We only THINK we didn't sign up for this, but in the end, it's all worth it. Aaron Sharp has written a great book to help us navigate those detours life takes us on in the process of reimaging us into the very likeness of Christ.
Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a Fiery Chariot
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