Muscle memory saves the day!

Prologue

This is the story of one woman's 13-year struggle to come to grips with God, faith, and depression.

Intro

How would you handle the following situations?

1. Your tire blows at 70 mph;

2. While frying chicken on the stove, the oil catches fire;

3. Coming to an intersection, you hit a patch of ice just as you put on the brakes--the car sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiides toward another car;

4. Your paper is due tomorrow and your computer crashed;

5. The neighbor across the street needs help getting his stuck car out of the mud;

6. You and your best friend are being chased by a grizzly.

This charging bear with six claws was created by Apple's Image Playground.

How did you do?

• You had no idea;

• You remember thinking about these things many years ago, and hope you could remember in time;

• For most of these, you've thought about them so much that muscle memory kicked in almost immediately! I mean, be real--you know you plan to kick your friend and leave him or her to be eaten while you run away, right?!

This disconcerted brain with an odd number of fingers was also created by Apple's Image Playground.

Muscle memory is a powerful aid in handling emergencies. Pilots train for emergencies in the air, because losing an engine at 10,000 feet is no time to be figuring out what to do! Parents talk their teenagers through scenarios, and perhaps take them driving in the snow to practice doughnuts and driving on ice and fishtailing and so on. We prepare in advance because we want muscle memory to take over when we can't or don't have time to think.

The wise person has also prepared for spiritual, mental, and emotional emergencies. For instance, how would you handle these?

1. Your daughter just discovered her boyfriend has cheated on her;

2. Your best friend received the phone call that her father had a massive heart attack and died;

3. You have been fired;

4. That promotion you thought was in the bag went to someone else;

5. Burning the candles at both ends has left you burned out;

6. Depression has settled over your soul like a dark blanket, leaving you unable to get out of bed;

7. It's only Tuesday, and it feels like it's already been the worst year of your life!

Have you trained for these events well enough that your spiritual muscles know what to do when your physical brain does not?

Elijah

Last week's post (here), we watched as the Prophet Elijah--his life having been threated by Queen Jezebel--fled into the wilderness where he sat in isolation and awaited death (1 Kings 19:4). Picture his exile--he's in a desolate desert with no one else around, sitting under a bush, asking to die. It is in this request, however, that we notice Elijah's muscle memory kicking in, and in three significant ways:

1. Elijah is heading south. While this is AWAY from his family, friends, enemies, and all that he knows, it is TOWARDS "Horeb, the mountain of God" (1 Kings 19:8). Elijah is returning to the source of life, creation, and his calling as a prophet. In that sense, Elijah is returning home.

2. His request to die is made directly to God--"I have had enough, Lord …" (1 Kings 19:4b). He places his life in the hands of the Almighty. He echoes the Psalmist when he asks, "Who have I in heaven but You …?" (Psalm 73:25).

3. He instinctively knows to rest in the Lord. Honestly, sleep is often the best, first step for mental wellness! Finding himself at the end of his rope, having made his request to the only One with the authority to honor it, Elijah "lay down under the bush and fell asleep" (1 Kings 19:5a), probably hoping never to awaken.

Elijah's spiritual muscles knew to flee towards God. Elijah has been in dire straits before (see 1 Kings 17) and God has always taken care of him. There is a history of answered prayer and of God showing up and showing out (1 Kings 18). At the core of his being, Elijah knows this truth--"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever …" (Psalm 73:26), and even in his worst moments, he intuitively knows where to turn.

Jennifer

Jennifer's story parallels Elijah's exactly here. In the midst of her own desert experience, muscle memory activated. As a child in her parents' home, she had watched as God set her family apart as a witness to other family members and protected them all from the poor decisions of others. In college, Jen observed God acting faithfully in her life and the lives of her friends as she engaged in Bible studies, missions trips, and all the travails of college life.

1. She has stated multiple times that, when she knew nothing else, she knew three things: God loved her; I loved her; God had put us together. She always returned home to God.

2. Jennifer made many requests directly to God, placing her life in His hands multiple times. She knew, like Elijah, that there was no One else to trust in.

3. Consequently, she often rested in Him. In her words, "That's where I landed, and I just kind of sat there until I could find the next thing."

Having tested God, trusted God, and found Him to be true in her past, her spiritual muscle memory took over and landed her in His presence, time after time after time after time. There was, quite simply, no better place to run--"God is [my] refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble" (Psalm 46:1).

Not the end of the story!

Muscle memory movements are stored in the cerebellum, ready to activate when needed. How do we store spiritual muscle memory? We build spiritual muscle memory by engaging Scripture, the mind, and an action-reflection model of living until the movements become HABIT.

Next week--God shows up and how!