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Monday, October 29, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Despite breast cancer, I was not alone
Source: Tammi Reed Ledbetter - Baptist Press
There are some things Jeana Floyd still associates with her chemotherapy 18 years ago - red Jelly, red fingernails and, especially, red medicine. Yet, she prays she'll never forget the experience of having cancer.
"Even though I am way past diagnosis, treatment and recovery, having cancer is still very much with me and will forever be a part of who I am," she writes in her new book, "An Uninvited Guest," published by New Leaf Press.
Four years into a new life in north west Arkansas, USA, where her husband Ronnie had been called to pastor First Baptist Church in Springdale, Jeana Floyd enjoyed having her hands full and her schedule busy. Soon after the Christmas and New Year's celebrations settled down, she reflected on her harried schedule and thought of a few ways God might answer her simple prayer to remove the excess clutter from her life.
Nothing she had in mind included a cancerous lump in her breast.
After receiving results from a biopsy in early January 1990, Jeana Floyd began journaling her thoughts, prayers and lessons learned over the next year of her journey from cancer to hope. "These times of purging my heart and mind focused me on the simplicity of relying on God," helping her let go of her desire to control her world.
The American Cancer Society projects that at least 178,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. That news destroys any vision of a picture-perfect life, Floyd noted, though quick to add that God is never surprised or caught off-guard -- not even by cancer.
"I kept being reminded that every needle that stuck me went through Him first," she writes. "I was not alone.
"Floyd told of the feeling common to all cancer patients: Just about the time you begin to feel "normal" and the side effects are residing, it's time for another treatment. The challenge she faced became painfully obvious on Mother's Day weekend after she missed most of one son's birthday celebration due to sickness, then retreated to a staff member's home to escape the risk posed by a strep throat infection that her other son had gotten.
In the midst of her terrible struggle, God provided encouragement through friends who secretly delivered brownies to the mailbox, took her on a shopping trip for a much-needed wig and dropped by just to iron clothes and change bed sheets. "In all my years of trusting in God, it shouldn't surprise me that He sends such personal messages on our behalf. All we have to do is watch for Him to show himself and trust that He will.
"Being a "safe person" for "a hurting person" is an art, Floyd writes. "It's easy to toss out glib phrases such as 'I know how you feel' or "Everything will be okay,' but to really walk with someone the entire way along a tough road is not for the weak-hearted," she wrote, underscoring her gratitude for many who stuck with her for the long haul.
Floyd offers guidance to patients who begin to question God's purposes. When her Port-A-Cath did not stay in place, Floyd had to endure a second surgery and began feeling abandoned by God. "He patiently listened while I cried out to Him, and then He always answered back," she writes. "Sooner or later, His quiet voice whispered through my anxieties, letting me know He was still with me.
"Quoting Psalm 94:19, she recalls, "'When doubts filled my mind, Your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.'" By questioning God with an aim of knowing Him better, she learned to distinguish between the fear that paralyzes faith in God and a positive, respectful fear of Him. In that weak condition, she acknowledged her need of God, grateful for His love without which she would "really have something to be afraid of.
"Floyd recalls the experiences of Mary and Martha questioning God's purpose as their brother Lazarus was dying. "God is okay with your honest questions when they come from a heart that wants to see Him work in His way," she writes.
Her book offers hope to family members caring for the one who has cancer. Testimonies of other cancer patients are shared between the lessons Floyd teaches. She recounts favourite verses of Scripture that provided encouragement in the year of her treatment. Useful resources are listed with advice on distinguishing between materials that are helpful and those that are not.
While support groups are a common place to search for answers, Floyd found many groups offered therapeutic methods without "the real answers they needed to cope with their illness." Out of her experience, Floyd developed a local Christ-focused support group as a "network of caring and sharing Christ" to help those touched by cancer in her area.
Floyd began teaching patients a simple acrostic to describe how a cancer patient spells relief by using the word peace:
- Pray.
- Enjoy each day.
- Accept this as "Father-filtered."
- Centre your thoughts on Him and His will for your life -- study His Word, the Bible.
- Expect to see God's hand move in your life during this time.
"There are worse things than cancer, and there always will be someone in worse circumstances than our own," Floyd writes. "From the stick of a chemo needle, to the tears of a neglected child across town, to the cries of a mother across the globe who lost her son in a war-torn country, we cannot escape hurts.
"Yet cancer was the venue God used to mold and stretch Floyd in new ways. "I thought I knew God's faithfulness before my cancer, but now I understand what it's like to hang on to His promises as if life depends on them. Because it does.
"Some of her new-found friends did not survive their cancer. She knows it could return in her own life. "This life isn't all there is," she writes. "In fact, it's barely a glimpse of the abundant life God has waiting in the wings for those who give their hearts to Him and accept His gift of salvation.
Source: Tammi Reed Ledbetter - Baptist Press
There are some things Jeana Floyd still associates with her chemotherapy 18 years ago - red Jelly, red fingernails and, especially, red medicine. Yet, she prays she'll never forget the experience of having cancer.
"Even though I am way past diagnosis, treatment and recovery, having cancer is still very much with me and will forever be a part of who I am," she writes in her new book, "An Uninvited Guest," published by New Leaf Press.
Four years into a new life in north west Arkansas, USA, where her husband Ronnie had been called to pastor First Baptist Church in Springdale, Jeana Floyd enjoyed having her hands full and her schedule busy. Soon after the Christmas and New Year's celebrations settled down, she reflected on her harried schedule and thought of a few ways God might answer her simple prayer to remove the excess clutter from her life.
Nothing she had in mind included a cancerous lump in her breast.
After receiving results from a biopsy in early January 1990, Jeana Floyd began journaling her thoughts, prayers and lessons learned over the next year of her journey from cancer to hope. "These times of purging my heart and mind focused me on the simplicity of relying on God," helping her let go of her desire to control her world.
The American Cancer Society projects that at least 178,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. That news destroys any vision of a picture-perfect life, Floyd noted, though quick to add that God is never surprised or caught off-guard -- not even by cancer.
"I kept being reminded that every needle that stuck me went through Him first," she writes. "I was not alone.
"Floyd told of the feeling common to all cancer patients: Just about the time you begin to feel "normal" and the side effects are residing, it's time for another treatment. The challenge she faced became painfully obvious on Mother's Day weekend after she missed most of one son's birthday celebration due to sickness, then retreated to a staff member's home to escape the risk posed by a strep throat infection that her other son had gotten.
In the midst of her terrible struggle, God provided encouragement through friends who secretly delivered brownies to the mailbox, took her on a shopping trip for a much-needed wig and dropped by just to iron clothes and change bed sheets. "In all my years of trusting in God, it shouldn't surprise me that He sends such personal messages on our behalf. All we have to do is watch for Him to show himself and trust that He will.
"Being a "safe person" for "a hurting person" is an art, Floyd writes. "It's easy to toss out glib phrases such as 'I know how you feel' or "Everything will be okay,' but to really walk with someone the entire way along a tough road is not for the weak-hearted," she wrote, underscoring her gratitude for many who stuck with her for the long haul.
Floyd offers guidance to patients who begin to question God's purposes. When her Port-A-Cath did not stay in place, Floyd had to endure a second surgery and began feeling abandoned by God. "He patiently listened while I cried out to Him, and then He always answered back," she writes. "Sooner or later, His quiet voice whispered through my anxieties, letting me know He was still with me.
"Quoting Psalm 94:19, she recalls, "'When doubts filled my mind, Your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.'" By questioning God with an aim of knowing Him better, she learned to distinguish between the fear that paralyzes faith in God and a positive, respectful fear of Him. In that weak condition, she acknowledged her need of God, grateful for His love without which she would "really have something to be afraid of.
"Floyd recalls the experiences of Mary and Martha questioning God's purpose as their brother Lazarus was dying. "God is okay with your honest questions when they come from a heart that wants to see Him work in His way," she writes.
Her book offers hope to family members caring for the one who has cancer. Testimonies of other cancer patients are shared between the lessons Floyd teaches. She recounts favourite verses of Scripture that provided encouragement in the year of her treatment. Useful resources are listed with advice on distinguishing between materials that are helpful and those that are not.
While support groups are a common place to search for answers, Floyd found many groups offered therapeutic methods without "the real answers they needed to cope with their illness." Out of her experience, Floyd developed a local Christ-focused support group as a "network of caring and sharing Christ" to help those touched by cancer in her area.
Floyd began teaching patients a simple acrostic to describe how a cancer patient spells relief by using the word peace:
- Pray.
- Enjoy each day.
- Accept this as "Father-filtered."
- Centre your thoughts on Him and His will for your life -- study His Word, the Bible.
- Expect to see God's hand move in your life during this time.
"There are worse things than cancer, and there always will be someone in worse circumstances than our own," Floyd writes. "From the stick of a chemo needle, to the tears of a neglected child across town, to the cries of a mother across the globe who lost her son in a war-torn country, we cannot escape hurts.
"Yet cancer was the venue God used to mold and stretch Floyd in new ways. "I thought I knew God's faithfulness before my cancer, but now I understand what it's like to hang on to His promises as if life depends on them. Because it does.
"Some of her new-found friends did not survive their cancer. She knows it could return in her own life. "This life isn't all there is," she writes. "In fact, it's barely a glimpse of the abundant life God has waiting in the wings for those who give their hearts to Him and accept His gift of salvation.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Set your scales
Source: Charlotte Scanlon-Gambill
‘Differing weights and differing measures - the Lord detests them both’
(1) One of the challenges facing God’s people today is the challenge to stay consistent in an ever-changing society. At a time when people are constantly changing their minds, the church is faced with the challenge of staying innovative and continuing to evolve in its methods while remaining true to the fundamental principles we believe in.
Christ was a man of his time. He knew how to connect with people by telling contemporary stories which captured their attention but the truth of his essential message never changed. He didn’t have one set of values for the Pharisees and another for the crowd that followed him. He was always the same, his love was generously given to all and his compassion reached into every circumstance. He wasn’t moody and he didn’t keep changing his mind about the message he was bringing. Our challenge as his people therefore, is to model that same consistency. But sadly, today you can enter a church or speak to an individual Christian and find there a mixture of ever-changing values, which is something God hates.The scripture says: ‘Do not have two differing weights in your bag – one heavy, one light. Do not have two differing measures in your house – one large, one small. You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. For the Lord Your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.’
(2)This passage is talking about the way business people handled transactions in Old Testament times. For consistency of business dealings, they carried weights with them. So, if someone wanted to buy a pound of food or grain they would have a stone to represent that weight. However, some dishonest traders carried rocks of differing sizes, each marked as being the same weight and they chose which to use depending on who was buying from them.This principle carries through into our lives and churches today where we too can have differing weights and measures if we are not careful. For example, we can have one rule for one person and a different one for another. But our churches, business lives and relationships should not be conducted with differing weights and measures. The point is reinforced in Proverbs where it also says: ‘God detests differing weights and hates dishonest scales’.
(3) We need to pay careful attention to anything that God detests and make sure we are not guilty of doing something which is so against the nature and heart of God. So what are the factors that affect your ‘weights and measures’? What makes you alter your scales?The People FactorWhen I first entered church ministry there was a person who used to really intimidate me. They would constantly undermine and criticise me. I began to realise that even their presence in a meeting was affecting me when I spoke because I found myself watering down my message. I’d be a little less clear and say, ‘I think God might be saying,’ instead of, ‘I know God is saying’; I didn’t speak from the true conviction of my heart. God challenged me about this compromise and I realised that my whole destiny and usefulness to God was being brought into question because I was becoming a leader whose ‘weights and measures’ changed depending on who I was dealing with and their response to me. I was reminded of King Saul who led the nation of Israel this way and God couldn’t bless him because he was a people pleasing leader.
(4) What kinds of people affect your weights and measures? Is it people who you find difficult to love? Do they get less time and grace? The Bible says, ‘If your enemy is hungry give him food to eat, if he is thirsty, give him water to drink’.
(5) This verse highlights that even if the hungry person is your biggest enemy, they still need feeding and you need to be consistent towards them. Maybe it’s your family who affect your weights and measures. David struggled with his own son Absalom who made his life a misery and even tried to overthrow him from the throne. Yet David let himself be blinded by this family tie. In the end David’s own men came to him in the heat of battle as David mourned the death of his son saying, ‘How dare you sit there crying over your son when we are risking our lives for you. You would have cut our heads off if we had treated you like this!’
(6) David was being inconsistent; he was treating his family different from everyone else even though they had betrayed him. Too many times I have seen people judge others harshly and then cover up and turn a blind eye to the sin or gossip in their own close family and friends. God sees it all and detests it. On another occasion we read about four lepers who were treated as outcasts because of their condition. They were expelled from the city and separated from their families because of their leprosy. However, at that time their home city of Samaria was under siege by an enemy which resulted in famine in the city, its people were starving to death. It got so bad that as a last resort they were boiling their babies and eating bird dung - I’d say that was pretty desperate!
(7)The lepers reasoned that their situation was so bad they may as well try and find food in the besieging enemy camp. They went to investigate and were surprised to find it empty, complete with comfortable beds, warm shelters and food. The enemy had fled and left everything behind. So, these four guys who had been so badly treated and expelled by their home community now had plenty; they were better off than those who had previously mistreated them. What would you have done? I think I would have said ‘it serves them right, God has blessed us and now it is their turn to suffer!’ But as they sat down to eat one of the lepers said, ‘it’s not right that we sit and enjoy all this, we need to tell the people in the city there is food here because they are starving to death.’ What an amazing response. He decided not to do to others what had been done to him. His largeness of heart broke the cycle of inconsistency that day and many lives were saved. We all need to have the heart of that leper.CircumstancesA second factor that can make you ‘alter your scales’ is circumstances. If life is going well some Christians are full of enthusiasm, they sit at the front in church and worship God with energy and passion. But just one week later you can find the same person on the back row, looking miserable and hardly singing a word. The only difference is that their circumstances have changed. Maybe they were made redundant or have had a row with their husband or wife. Last week they were saying they would go to the ends of the earth for Jesus but now their faith has taken a nosedive because something didn’t turn out as they had hoped. People will be inconsistent if they let their circumstances affect the ‘measure’ they use towards God. Handling our finances and tithing are another great example. God gave us a set ‘measure’ and clear guidelines for financial wisdom when he asked us to give a tenth. He was saying, let me help you out and set the scales so no one thinks this is dependant on how things are going or how you’re feeling. If you are ever tempted to change your ‘weights and measures’ because of your circumstances, just take a look at the life of Job and you’ll see what a bad day really looks like! One day everything is going well, he has a wonderful family, is a wealthy businessman and is respected in his community. The next day his circumstances go into freefall, he wakes up covered in sores and writhing with pain, his cattle are wiped out and all his children are killed. All this happened in just one day! But Job’s response was to say, ‘Should I accept good from God and not bad?.’
(8) He was not going to let a bad circumstance change his walk with God. However, when faced with the same change in circumstances, Job’s wife said ‘Curse God and die!’
(9) In the same way we must choose our response when faced with difficult circumstances. God can build on a consistent response like Job’s, but the other is ruining the church and our integrity as God’s people. FeelingsFinally, feelings can make us alter our ‘scales’. We all have feelings. The truth is that some days you will not ‘feel’ like getting up, smiling or worshiping God. Feelings will lie to you, rob you and leave you contemplating choices that God never put on the table of your life. We have to understand our feelings and learn how to manage them or they will manage us. The feelings of some Christians don’t just cause inconsistency in their own lives, they use their feelings to try and manipulate the ‘weights and measures’ of others too. Before speed cameras arrived, I never had a speeding ticket; I was immune from them because I could trade on my feelings. I once remember having an awful day. Steve and I had just moved into a new house and were busy sorting everything out. I nipped out to the nearby shop to get some paint; I was in a hurry and didn’t even notice the police car that had followed my speeding car home until it parked behind me on my drive! I explained to the policeman how sorry I was, how everything had gone wrong that day, I began to cry as I let him know how I felt about the situation. In the end he didn’t give me a ticket, he was just glad to escape from this mad, emotional woman! My feelings manipulated his decision that day. However, speed cameras are different. The ticket just arrives through your door with its penalty points and fine. You can’t sit it down and explain why you don’t deserve it because they have eliminated feelings from the equation. They don’t feel sorry for you and you can’t reason with them. They have a set ‘weight and measure’ for every person that drives past them above the speed limit. Spiritually, many Christians and even entire churches need to fit spiritual speed cameras that show to all who enter their sphere that this is a zone with a set way of operating, this is how we do church and we are not open to manipulation. Even the friend of God, Moses, let his feelings get the better of him and he ended up disobeying God because of it.
(10) The context of this story is important because Moses’ sister had just died and the people of Israel were grumbling once again. I think Moses was feeling a bit fed up that day and when God told him to ‘speak’ to the rock to make water flow out, his feelings caused him to ‘strike’ the rock; his feelings took him outside of God’s instruction and sadly he lost his destiny of entering the Promised Land that day. It seems harsh that after all the amazing things he had done, this one incident should change his life forever. But feelings can cost you your destiny – just imagine if Jesus had let his feelings determine whether or not he went to the cross. We know he didn’t feel like it because he said, ‘If it is possible, may this cup be taken from me,’ but he chose to override his feelings by saying, ‘Yet, not as I will, but as you will’.
(11) There aren’t buildings big enough to hold the people who will come to a church where God’s people are consistent, where no prejudice or injustice exists in the ‘weights and measures’ of their grace, mercy, and inclusion. Examine your ‘weights and measures’ today; set your scales this year and observe what God will build on a consistent life.
References:
1 - Proverbs 20:10
2 - Deuteronomy 25:13
3 - Proverbs 20:10
4 - 1 Samuel 15:24
5 - Proverbs 25:21
6 - 2 Samuel 19:5-7 (paraphrased)
7 - 2 Kings 6:24-29
8 - Job 2:10
9 - Job 2:9
10 - Numbers 20:1-12
11 - Matthew 26:39
Source: Charlotte Scanlon-Gambill
‘Differing weights and differing measures - the Lord detests them both’
(1) One of the challenges facing God’s people today is the challenge to stay consistent in an ever-changing society. At a time when people are constantly changing their minds, the church is faced with the challenge of staying innovative and continuing to evolve in its methods while remaining true to the fundamental principles we believe in.
Christ was a man of his time. He knew how to connect with people by telling contemporary stories which captured their attention but the truth of his essential message never changed. He didn’t have one set of values for the Pharisees and another for the crowd that followed him. He was always the same, his love was generously given to all and his compassion reached into every circumstance. He wasn’t moody and he didn’t keep changing his mind about the message he was bringing. Our challenge as his people therefore, is to model that same consistency. But sadly, today you can enter a church or speak to an individual Christian and find there a mixture of ever-changing values, which is something God hates.The scripture says: ‘Do not have two differing weights in your bag – one heavy, one light. Do not have two differing measures in your house – one large, one small. You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. For the Lord Your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.’
(2)This passage is talking about the way business people handled transactions in Old Testament times. For consistency of business dealings, they carried weights with them. So, if someone wanted to buy a pound of food or grain they would have a stone to represent that weight. However, some dishonest traders carried rocks of differing sizes, each marked as being the same weight and they chose which to use depending on who was buying from them.This principle carries through into our lives and churches today where we too can have differing weights and measures if we are not careful. For example, we can have one rule for one person and a different one for another. But our churches, business lives and relationships should not be conducted with differing weights and measures. The point is reinforced in Proverbs where it also says: ‘God detests differing weights and hates dishonest scales’.
(3) We need to pay careful attention to anything that God detests and make sure we are not guilty of doing something which is so against the nature and heart of God. So what are the factors that affect your ‘weights and measures’? What makes you alter your scales?The People FactorWhen I first entered church ministry there was a person who used to really intimidate me. They would constantly undermine and criticise me. I began to realise that even their presence in a meeting was affecting me when I spoke because I found myself watering down my message. I’d be a little less clear and say, ‘I think God might be saying,’ instead of, ‘I know God is saying’; I didn’t speak from the true conviction of my heart. God challenged me about this compromise and I realised that my whole destiny and usefulness to God was being brought into question because I was becoming a leader whose ‘weights and measures’ changed depending on who I was dealing with and their response to me. I was reminded of King Saul who led the nation of Israel this way and God couldn’t bless him because he was a people pleasing leader.
(4) What kinds of people affect your weights and measures? Is it people who you find difficult to love? Do they get less time and grace? The Bible says, ‘If your enemy is hungry give him food to eat, if he is thirsty, give him water to drink’.
(5) This verse highlights that even if the hungry person is your biggest enemy, they still need feeding and you need to be consistent towards them. Maybe it’s your family who affect your weights and measures. David struggled with his own son Absalom who made his life a misery and even tried to overthrow him from the throne. Yet David let himself be blinded by this family tie. In the end David’s own men came to him in the heat of battle as David mourned the death of his son saying, ‘How dare you sit there crying over your son when we are risking our lives for you. You would have cut our heads off if we had treated you like this!’
(6) David was being inconsistent; he was treating his family different from everyone else even though they had betrayed him. Too many times I have seen people judge others harshly and then cover up and turn a blind eye to the sin or gossip in their own close family and friends. God sees it all and detests it. On another occasion we read about four lepers who were treated as outcasts because of their condition. They were expelled from the city and separated from their families because of their leprosy. However, at that time their home city of Samaria was under siege by an enemy which resulted in famine in the city, its people were starving to death. It got so bad that as a last resort they were boiling their babies and eating bird dung - I’d say that was pretty desperate!
(7)The lepers reasoned that their situation was so bad they may as well try and find food in the besieging enemy camp. They went to investigate and were surprised to find it empty, complete with comfortable beds, warm shelters and food. The enemy had fled and left everything behind. So, these four guys who had been so badly treated and expelled by their home community now had plenty; they were better off than those who had previously mistreated them. What would you have done? I think I would have said ‘it serves them right, God has blessed us and now it is their turn to suffer!’ But as they sat down to eat one of the lepers said, ‘it’s not right that we sit and enjoy all this, we need to tell the people in the city there is food here because they are starving to death.’ What an amazing response. He decided not to do to others what had been done to him. His largeness of heart broke the cycle of inconsistency that day and many lives were saved. We all need to have the heart of that leper.CircumstancesA second factor that can make you ‘alter your scales’ is circumstances. If life is going well some Christians are full of enthusiasm, they sit at the front in church and worship God with energy and passion. But just one week later you can find the same person on the back row, looking miserable and hardly singing a word. The only difference is that their circumstances have changed. Maybe they were made redundant or have had a row with their husband or wife. Last week they were saying they would go to the ends of the earth for Jesus but now their faith has taken a nosedive because something didn’t turn out as they had hoped. People will be inconsistent if they let their circumstances affect the ‘measure’ they use towards God. Handling our finances and tithing are another great example. God gave us a set ‘measure’ and clear guidelines for financial wisdom when he asked us to give a tenth. He was saying, let me help you out and set the scales so no one thinks this is dependant on how things are going or how you’re feeling. If you are ever tempted to change your ‘weights and measures’ because of your circumstances, just take a look at the life of Job and you’ll see what a bad day really looks like! One day everything is going well, he has a wonderful family, is a wealthy businessman and is respected in his community. The next day his circumstances go into freefall, he wakes up covered in sores and writhing with pain, his cattle are wiped out and all his children are killed. All this happened in just one day! But Job’s response was to say, ‘Should I accept good from God and not bad?.’
(8) He was not going to let a bad circumstance change his walk with God. However, when faced with the same change in circumstances, Job’s wife said ‘Curse God and die!’
(9) In the same way we must choose our response when faced with difficult circumstances. God can build on a consistent response like Job’s, but the other is ruining the church and our integrity as God’s people. FeelingsFinally, feelings can make us alter our ‘scales’. We all have feelings. The truth is that some days you will not ‘feel’ like getting up, smiling or worshiping God. Feelings will lie to you, rob you and leave you contemplating choices that God never put on the table of your life. We have to understand our feelings and learn how to manage them or they will manage us. The feelings of some Christians don’t just cause inconsistency in their own lives, they use their feelings to try and manipulate the ‘weights and measures’ of others too. Before speed cameras arrived, I never had a speeding ticket; I was immune from them because I could trade on my feelings. I once remember having an awful day. Steve and I had just moved into a new house and were busy sorting everything out. I nipped out to the nearby shop to get some paint; I was in a hurry and didn’t even notice the police car that had followed my speeding car home until it parked behind me on my drive! I explained to the policeman how sorry I was, how everything had gone wrong that day, I began to cry as I let him know how I felt about the situation. In the end he didn’t give me a ticket, he was just glad to escape from this mad, emotional woman! My feelings manipulated his decision that day. However, speed cameras are different. The ticket just arrives through your door with its penalty points and fine. You can’t sit it down and explain why you don’t deserve it because they have eliminated feelings from the equation. They don’t feel sorry for you and you can’t reason with them. They have a set ‘weight and measure’ for every person that drives past them above the speed limit. Spiritually, many Christians and even entire churches need to fit spiritual speed cameras that show to all who enter their sphere that this is a zone with a set way of operating, this is how we do church and we are not open to manipulation. Even the friend of God, Moses, let his feelings get the better of him and he ended up disobeying God because of it.
(10) The context of this story is important because Moses’ sister had just died and the people of Israel were grumbling once again. I think Moses was feeling a bit fed up that day and when God told him to ‘speak’ to the rock to make water flow out, his feelings caused him to ‘strike’ the rock; his feelings took him outside of God’s instruction and sadly he lost his destiny of entering the Promised Land that day. It seems harsh that after all the amazing things he had done, this one incident should change his life forever. But feelings can cost you your destiny – just imagine if Jesus had let his feelings determine whether or not he went to the cross. We know he didn’t feel like it because he said, ‘If it is possible, may this cup be taken from me,’ but he chose to override his feelings by saying, ‘Yet, not as I will, but as you will’.
(11) There aren’t buildings big enough to hold the people who will come to a church where God’s people are consistent, where no prejudice or injustice exists in the ‘weights and measures’ of their grace, mercy, and inclusion. Examine your ‘weights and measures’ today; set your scales this year and observe what God will build on a consistent life.
References:
1 - Proverbs 20:10
2 - Deuteronomy 25:13
3 - Proverbs 20:10
4 - 1 Samuel 15:24
5 - Proverbs 25:21
6 - 2 Samuel 19:5-7 (paraphrased)
7 - 2 Kings 6:24-29
8 - Job 2:10
9 - Job 2:9
10 - Numbers 20:1-12
11 - Matthew 26:39
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Stained Pains
Source: ASSIST News Service - Martha Wade
As a child I had an outward, perceived beauty and innocence. However the depths of my soul pained from realities that no one could see. The average person was not enlightened to hidden truths and untold secrets that played out loud behind closed doors.
A warped sense of self developed when a church elder, who was also a Sunday school teacher, groomed me as his sexual mate. I became defined myself through my sexuality and how I could please others. This tainted love affected most interpersonal relationships, but especially marred the love I should have had for myself. The destructive nature of sexual abuse starts at the core of how we perceive ourselves. It expedites the downward spiral where self-admiration turns into devouring ourselves with biting criticisms. We once were free to enjoy who we were, without evaluation or disapproval. We had a sense of wild abandonment, because we were so confident in whom we were created to be. Yet, at some point most of us lose that ability to love ourselves. Such self-confidence becomes perceived as arrogance. We cower at the thought of actually saying that we love ourselves, but in order to receive an authentic love from others, we must start with affirming our own self-worth. Negative self-talk will eventually destroy who we are meant to be and will absolutely make it impossible for us to be loved and be loveable.We are each a beautiful work of art in the making that was created to be admired and understood.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross enlightens us to this concept when she states, "People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in; their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within." Darkness invades our lives. What we do with that pain either evolves into a sense of flawed beauty as a ray of hope shines through that experience or weighs us down with guilt and self-hate, which masks our true beauty. We have a choice. We need to love ourselves and even appreciate the trials we endure, for it is those pieces of broken stained glass that cause stained pain or become a stained pane to behold. In Nelson Mandela's 1994 inaugural speech, he captured the essence of embracing yourself and the potential light that emerges through your struggles in life. "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' " Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let out own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." Live an enlightened, liberated life. Your beauty starts with your love for yourself.
NO living creature has the right to rob you of the love you are worth.
Source: ASSIST News Service - Martha Wade
As a child I had an outward, perceived beauty and innocence. However the depths of my soul pained from realities that no one could see. The average person was not enlightened to hidden truths and untold secrets that played out loud behind closed doors.
A warped sense of self developed when a church elder, who was also a Sunday school teacher, groomed me as his sexual mate. I became defined myself through my sexuality and how I could please others. This tainted love affected most interpersonal relationships, but especially marred the love I should have had for myself. The destructive nature of sexual abuse starts at the core of how we perceive ourselves. It expedites the downward spiral where self-admiration turns into devouring ourselves with biting criticisms. We once were free to enjoy who we were, without evaluation or disapproval. We had a sense of wild abandonment, because we were so confident in whom we were created to be. Yet, at some point most of us lose that ability to love ourselves. Such self-confidence becomes perceived as arrogance. We cower at the thought of actually saying that we love ourselves, but in order to receive an authentic love from others, we must start with affirming our own self-worth. Negative self-talk will eventually destroy who we are meant to be and will absolutely make it impossible for us to be loved and be loveable.We are each a beautiful work of art in the making that was created to be admired and understood.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross enlightens us to this concept when she states, "People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in; their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within." Darkness invades our lives. What we do with that pain either evolves into a sense of flawed beauty as a ray of hope shines through that experience or weighs us down with guilt and self-hate, which masks our true beauty. We have a choice. We need to love ourselves and even appreciate the trials we endure, for it is those pieces of broken stained glass that cause stained pain or become a stained pane to behold. In Nelson Mandela's 1994 inaugural speech, he captured the essence of embracing yourself and the potential light that emerges through your struggles in life. "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' " Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let out own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." Live an enlightened, liberated life. Your beauty starts with your love for yourself.
NO living creature has the right to rob you of the love you are worth.
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