after blessings

So I love the movie The Dark Knight. I won't even mention how many times I've watched it over the last 10 days (In my defense, 5 of those days were spent inside because of ice and sleet and whatnot). Yeah, I know. It's ridiculous. And I hardly ever watch "comic book movies". But seriously...stick with me. I'm going somewhere with this.
I was thinking the other day about why I like Batman so much. What is it about him that is captivating? I came up with a few answers.
1. He fights people/things that are evil.
2. He protects people.
3. He's fierce.
4. He's pretty consistent.
There's this part, where the new District Attorney and his girlfriend (who also happens to be the object of Batman's affection) are each tied up and strapped to multiple explosive devices and a bomb timer by the Joker, who is actually at this point captured and being interrogated (or tortured) by Batman. The Joker tells Batman that he can only save one of them, and then tells him the addresses of where they're at. With no hesitation, and absolute determination he is going to go save his girl. (This is where the illustration stops being useful because the Joker lied and mixed up the addresses so....she dies. sorry if you haven't seen it).
The Point: I realized that Batman helped me see that this is what the Lord has been trying to tell me for a very, very long time. That HE will fight for me. He will fight those things that are evil. He'll protect me. The Lord isn't a passive bystander...He's the fiercest fighter that there is. Batman is pretty consistent....but the Lord is constant, never-changing. He would drop everything and forget all else to rescue me from whatever situation I was in.

Ridiculous that I discovered this from Batman? Yes. Applicable? Absolutely.

I feel like this revelation came at a perfect time, and that if I had to pick a theme for my last few weeks, it'd definitely be some kind of battle/warrior/fighting theme. Fighting battles against temptation, lies, all those things that satan likes to throw at you. Fighting off fear and anxiety of starting a new job. Fighting worry about not being able to pay for things. And then that revelation came along and I was like YEAH. I have Someone FIGHTING for me.
Then, things went really well for a bit and I kind of reached this "high point." It was awesome. I'm reminded of a Steven Curtis Chapman song where he says "Faith flowed like a river free and deep, and grace was not so hard to be believed..." and then the next day, I woke up and felt completely empty...and the song continues..."but that was yesterday...and what was close enough to touch now seems a world away." Couldn't have said it better myself. So I got frustrated and thought "well what was all that for then!?" Didn't expect to get an answer so quick.
The devotion for that day in my "Streams in the Desert" book (which is amazing) was about how the Lord will put you in a "desert" of spiritual sorts sometimes after what you might call a spiritual "high". But it said that He doesn't do it because He's casting you out, or doesn't think you're doing it right...it's because He sees you as fit to withstand the test of faith. The quote said "After blessings comes the battle...yet it is a period that always ends in certain triumph for those who have committed the keeping of their souls to God." Mind.blowing. All that revelation WAS for something: that I would know that in this new "battle" the Lord would still be fighting for me, even if I couldn't FEEL it like I did the day before.
I wanted to share this random, random yet extremely significant thing with the world just because I'm sure that others have gone through something similar. Maybe it can be an encouragement of sorts.

So today's devotion in my book mentioned airplanes and flying.....and, well, THAT is just a different story altogether.