Inside of every living thing is the instinct to survive. Survival is ingrained in the core of our human existence from the very function of our physical bodies to the complex systems that regulate the function of our mental and emotional systems. The Bible says that God breathed into the nostrils of man and he became a living soul. Sister Peg Dolan said “Each of us is a word of God spoken only once” and I’ll take it a step further and say that His word does not return back to Him void. The breath of life is also the calling to live… To survive. We expose our bodies to various conditions some of which are harmful and our bodies, understanding their assignment, make adjustments or compensations to the perfectly “designed” systems so that we can survive. It’s like having a fever. The fever isn’t the illness, although it’s uncomfortable. The fever is actually your body fighting off the infection or virus that’s trying to harm you. I broke my left ankle twice within the last 15yrs. Both fractures have completely healed and have been healed for years now but I went to the nail salon and got a pedicure and my technician pointed out that I had callouses on my right foot and that it was rougher than my left. Before I could even finish trying to figure out the puzzle, she said you walk heavier on your right foot. Did you injure yourself? I was shocked and quickly admitted to breaking my left ankle 2xs. Turns out my body had compensated for the injury all by itself (without my conscious decision). If a person has diabetes, the symptoms of an elevated glucose level are excessive urination (the body’s way of dumping out as much of the extra glucose from your body as possible), if you drink too much alcohol and you begin to vomit, it’s not because of the bad combination or something greasy but it’s your body trying to get rid of the toxins that can kill you, because your body understands the assignment… To live! Sometimes we get so distracted by the uncomfortable feelings or pain that we don’t realize that they aren’t a sign of defeat but the symptoms of victory.
I could talk about the physical implications of this for a long time -there’s no shortage of examples but let’s touch on the mental and emotional ways that we survive. Three words… fight, flight and freeze. These are the ways that our minds protect us and help us to survive. When something happens that raises safety concerns (real or perceived), our brains switch into survival mode and depending on the environment, situation, personal history and support or lack of support, a person will respond behaviorally in the best way to prevent further damage or harm (physical, mental, emotional) to themselves. The problems and disorders result from the inability to return to a pre-event state. Issues arise when you begin to live in survival mode (we’ll delve deeper into survival mode in a future post).
There’s NO reason for this my friend. There is no button that God presses every morning that wakes you up. There’s no alarm for your next breath to happen. God is not a micromanager. He’s a big God! Not so big we can’t get to him or so big we can’t reach Him. He’s so vast that we can’t miss Him (if you seek you’ll find him) and He’s so big that He’s everywhere all the time all at once. He’s never too busy. He’s always available and always waiting for you to remember Him. Only God knows the plans he has for you. Nothing is an accident If you’re still alive that means there’s more for you… and THAT is the victory!
*Devotion – Jeremiah 29:11 / Proverbs 16:3 / 1Corinthians 2:9 / Matthew 6:33 / Matthew 7:7-8
Be ever encouraged.
I love you but not more than God.
Lovingkind Counsel 
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