REAL Man’s Toolbox
When your world turns upside down
People are always searching for the meaning of By Leo Hellyer life, the worth of life, and yes, the joy of life. It can Many men strive to plan their lives out in advance. be difficult to be joyful when you feel like a prisoner In most cases this is out of a sense of responsibility in your own home. If we spend a good portion of as well as a sense of needing to be in control of their our time concentrating on what is wrong in our life, own destiny. I think it is fair to say that during the what is difficult in our life, we will more than likely last four months, whatever plan we had has been not have a very positive attitude about the quality drastically changed by events beyond our control. of our life. However, if we will really take a good How we adapt to the changes in our lives shows what kind of men we are deep down in our core. amount of time to honestly examine our lives and What do we do when our foundation is shaken? search for what is good in them, we will see that we What, or who, is our foundation? are truly blessed. We need to turn the negative parts There is a great secular business book that many of our life over to God and let Him take the blinders of us have read before, and possibly should read off of our eyes so we can see how good our lives again. “Who Moved My Cheese?”, written by Spenreally are. As we go through troubling times, as we cer Johnson, M.D., explains the truths about dealing experience bad things that come our way, as we even with the stresses (changes) that happen in our lives. experience the loss of someone close to us, we must Leo Hellyer The course of action that we take greatly influences remember that we are not alone. In Psalm 34:18 Dathe quality of life that we experience. vid writes that, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves When our cheese is moved, when our plan changes beyond our those who are crushed in spirit.” control, when our world seems to be dysfunctional beyond our The wisdom of God is on the pages of His Word. The more we control, we must remember one basic thing that sometimes is hard to bathe ourselves in His Word, the wiser we will become. When we try really accept in our humanness: God is in control! to survive the challenges of life in our own strength and understandGod is always in control. The closer we are to Him, the more in ing, we fail miserably. Our life experience would be so much more control we will be. Now we may not be in control of things around enjoyable if we would learn to seek God in all areas of our lives to us, but we will be more in control of ourselves and our emotions if begin with. we are as close as we can be to God. When life gets the best of us, Those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and we get nervous, anxious, or fearful, we need to run — run into have a loving Heavenly Father who only wants the best for us. We the arms of God. There is nothing wrong with these emotions; we are loved unconditionally. He loves us so much that He will not force just need to make sure they are dealt with in a godly way. In 1 Peter Himself upon us. He waits for us to come to Him. 5:7 we read, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for There is no virus, earthquake, storm, no leader and no country that you.” Jesus Himself tells us, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I is more powerful than our Heavenly Father. At the first sign of trougive to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your ble, anxiety, illness, whatever challenge we face, we need to humble hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27) ourselves before our Lord and seek Him. It is time for us to let God In times of turmoil, it is easy to be taken off of the path of righteousness and onto the path of destruction. To stay on the right path, wrap His loving arms around us and love us, guide us, protect us, and fill us with His Spirit. to keep our minds on what is good, we must control what we let into If you feel like there is no love in your life, then turn to Jesus Christ, our mind; said another way, we need to be careful who we let rent or return to Jesus Christ, because He Is LOVE! Remember this: space in our head. What we see, hear, and say has a huge influence He Loves YOU! n on how we act and feel. If all of a sudden we find ourselves on the wrong path, we need to right our course. Solomon teaches us in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all Leo Hellyer is a non-staff pastor with a local church and has been married to his wife Norma for more than 45 years. The couple volunteered with the Boise your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your FamilyLife Ministry Team for 20 years. They are both employed by Boise Rescue ways submit to him, and He will make your paths straight.” We need to go to God in prayer and worship; we need to study His Word. Mission Ministries, Norma at City Light Home for Women & Children and Leo at River of Life Rescue Mission. Leo is also the President and Chief Firearms Just as David loved godly music in times of trouble, we should saturate our ears with godly music in difficult times. If we go to sleep at Instructor with Helping Hands Firearms Training LLC. If you have questions night listening to God’s message through song, He can minister to us about Real Man’s Toolbox, or need other assistance, Leo may be reached at silverthrough those instruments, voices, and harmonies, even in our sleep. plate426@msn.com or 208-340-5544.
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14 May / June 2020 | Christian Living
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