Are you unwell?

Recently I had a friend visit who has been through a rather hard part of life lately, and as I prayed for this person, God reminded me of a verse we heard in Sunday School this week (mind you, in a trivia game, but still it is relevant and was put there for just this reason).

Luke 5:31 "And Jesus answering said unto them, 'They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.'"

Now taken in context, Jesus is talking about salvation, and that He came to save those who need saving, not those who think they're righteous on their own. It's an examply of humility.

I want to look at this verse a little more today. Jesus speaks a proverb about the need for healing. If we are not sick, we have no need to go to the doctor. In the same way, if we have it all under control, we have no need for the LORD, and therefore no need for the rest of His people. Again let me remind you that we are created for community within the Body of Christ, and this is often God's means for bringing about growth and healing.

We so often forget that we need anything. As Christians, we think that in order to be true to our LORD, we need to have everything all taken care of, and that any faulter in this makes us a bad witness. I mean, c'mon, if we are really good stewards of the grace given us, we should have it all together, right?

WRONG!!!

As I think of this particular friend, my own life, and the lives of those I hold dear to me, I see many places that we need the LORD's healing, but often have the wounds concealed. We think that if we make-believe that everything's all right, it will be and we can go about our merry lives.

If you had a friend with cancer, and they were in denial about it, how sad would that be. Would they ever seek medical attention? No. What about someone who could not see very well, but again was in denial? They'd never seek an optometrist for the glasses that might well correct the problem and allow them to see just fine. The friend with cancer would live a miserable existence until death, never seeking the healing that might just come from the medical attention available to them.

In the same way, we see day in and day out people all around us who need emotional and spiritual healing, I venture to say, especially within our church walls, and we're all in denial about it, including the one who's hurting. If we could only learn how much we need healing! We need to seek the only one who can heal us, and to come to Him with the pain of life. Thing's aren't OK, and it's OK, for that to be the case. It won't be OK until we seek healing.

So, I feel as though I've rambled around this point in this post, so please forgive the wordiness, but I feel so strongly about this that I cannot say it enough. I think back to when this blog first started, and how different it's become since then. Praise God!!!

Action points:

1) Recognixe things in your own life that need healing. Did someone close to you recently pass away? Are you battling with a sense of worthlessness? Did you merely survive childhood because of abuse? These are all things that need healing, and Christ offers this healing.

2) Tell someone you trust. If I've learned anything over the past year, I've learned that I cannot simply recognize it when I'm hurting, but I need to share it with others whom I trust and who can be the presence I need to find healing. This does not mean that they'll have the answers, nor should I expect them to. There are times I have had to say to someone "I don't know what to say, and I don't have the answers, but I am here for you." Be OK with receiving this as well as giving it. Don't be afraid of it.

3) When you see someone hurting, and the thought comes about that they should have it all together (you and I both know that thought will occur until we've corrected out thinking), go to them. Speak love and put your arm around them. Let them know that you are there and will listen (again, not that you have the answers. If God gives you something to say, do so, but don't feel as though you have to fix it.). This will mean more than anything to someone who's hurting and doesn't know who to talk to.

4) Reiterating what I've already said in the previous two points: You don't have to have the answers or to fix it. All we have to do is be present, available, a shoulder (or ear if it's over the phone). If we're there, and people know we will listen, they'll be more willing to seek the healing that God gives.

I realize this post is rather sullen, but it's my heart this morning, a heart that longs to see healing for my brothers and sisters, true healing, the healing that comes only from seeking the Physician. Last point, pray for those who need healing. This is important as it envokes God's answer. God will bring about healing, though we may not ever see it or recognize how it looks. He is the Great Physician.

What does that mean...Servant?

I recently had an opportunity to take advantage of a very teachable moment with a four-year-old. We were reading a book, and the mom tripped over the young girls toys in the book. Her next statement was the ever popular "I'm not your servant!" Now I happened to be reading to a little girl who is very curious and likes to know what things mean, or what they do. We had a conversation over lunch about the benefits of water, carrots, and corn. Not the topic of this post, but just an examply of her curiosity.

After I read the mother's statement, this little girl, we'll call her Sue, interrupted the story to ask what a servant was. I had a hard time to start because my mind was not on how we are servants of Christ and one another, but on the mother's attitude towards serving and how our culture often views serving. Well, little Sue wanted to know what this meant, and she did not at all seem to echo the mother's tone of voice. I gave some examples, and she even came up with her own from just a little while earlier. I asked her after talking for a few minutes if we could finish the story and talk more about being a servant after the story was done.

Well, I had completely forgotten. Not Sue. We finished and she asked immediately if we could talk more about what a servant is. We talked only for about two minutes, and then we proceeded to be servants where I was watching her. She helped me clean the lunch dishes and put them away, then we wiped down the tables and dried them off, and then we washed the wall near the light switch in the bathroom. We picked up all the toys in the living room, and the place looked great! She had a fascination with this and was trying to find as many things as she could to be a servant. She kept saying "Daddy will be proud of us," and since he's a theology professor, I was thinking, "Child, you don't know how true this is!" He was indeed!

So, what I take away from this is, first, take every opportunity to learn and to teach. In teaching this little girl what it means to be a servant, I learned as well, because I watched as she wanted to do whatever could be done, and she was not upset about it as the mother in the book, she was delighted to do it! Oh that my heart would be glad at every opportunity to serve, and that I would seek them out and not be satisfied when they're halfway done.

Secondly, it a lesson once again in seeing through the eyes of a child, and having the faith of a child. Her faith that I knew what I was talking about, and her innocence in following me as we went about what needed to be done was astounding, and I long for that kind of faith that will propell me to action (yes, even relational action, which is far more my style). I'm learning lately even more of what it means to be relational and to seek to meet those needs in others. It's my way of serving.

I'm looking for the opportunities to serve people's hearts, and I'm seeing God's provision in new ways as I serve Him in this capacity. Looking forward to many more teachable opportunities this semester with this little girl...

Missing a Friend?

Have you ever missed a close friend? Someone you really connected with and who was now a far distance away? I have one of those friendships, a friend I miss, and I know she misses me as well. She was my one and only college roommate, and my best friend. She now lives in a different timezone, and we communicate mainly by email, though it was good to talk on the phone this week.

Today I was thinking about how I will, within the next few years, and trusting in God's direction in this, be moving to Colorado, where she and her husband now live. I was particularly thinking about how she tells me often that she wants me there now, and I'm blessed to know that I'm wanted. I know that she genuinely wants me to be there, not just as a matter of family. I have had family tell me they want me to live closer, but we all know that sense of family obligation, that feeling that they have to say that, or something like that. My friend doesn't have to say that! She says it because she means it, and I'm floored everytime I read it.

As I was thinking about how I am wanted as a friend it made me think on my relationship with God. We have a relationship, we talk through prayer and His word, but it's not the same as seeing Him face to face and being completely in His presence as we His children will one day be. While living on this earth, we are still akin to sin, and there are still desires in our hearts that at times shadow our desire for God. I know this, you know this, and God knows this. I can't help but think that He's in heaven right now longing for us to join Him, but though it's within His power to take us there now, He also has plans for us before we get there. There are things for us to learn about His character and His purposes, and tehre are lives He wants us to touch. I rest and marvel in knowing that we are wanted, and that God loves us so much that He is willing to patiently wait (2Peter3:9) for His will to be done before making us complete in our desires for Him alone. He sees our longing to know Him more, and I know I am ready and waiting expectantly for the day when I will no longer have warring desires, but can focus all my attention on worshipping the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is worthy of our affections, and I long for the day when I can fully and completely live that out, in eternity with Him.

So, as I think more on this, I look forward to moving to Colorado and seeing once again a good friend, but I look forward even more to the day I will be in heaven seeing the best friend any of us have, Jesus Christ! Know today that you are loved, and that Jesus sees the hurts and confusion and whatever else is in your heart and wants to make you whole. Let Him share that with you today, and rest in His arms of love and faithfulness!

Old Poem, Still thinking

WOW! Two posts in one day!

I ran across this poem the other day when I was cleaning my room, and even though it's old (like around Christmas time, 2003), I thought I'd share it with you. For those of you who have read much of this blog, you know I've dealt with some rough spots as I find God's healing from past emotional scars, so this poem comes directly from a time when God was working in my life to bring some of that healing. I hope this will be a blessing to someone else who needs that healing too. Here goes:

Those Words

How many times have I head those same words?
And yet it seems those have become these, so deeply ingrained in my mind.
I've never thought of rejecting them.
No, I would rather allow them to pummel me than to fight that hard battle sure to leave scars.

Besides, these were all I knew of myself:

I was useless, hopeless, undeserving.
I was the object of shame andn nothing would ever be right...

But one day I met someone who did care.
Could it be true, someone cared about me? Cared about who I was?
WOw, I had to learn to accept love in a whole new way
A way far beyond any love I'd known before.

I was useless, hopeless, undeserving
I was the object of shame, and nothing would ever be right
But then He looked upon my filthy rags,
He saw the words and over them did write:

"You are beautiful, my precious daughter!
You have so much potential to become just who I made you to be!
I love you, you are mine, my joy,my child!"


Though it's been nearly seven years now, I'm just beginning to know who I am.
I've spent much time trying to be what I could
within the confines of these workds, but...
Finally these words have become those words and no longer control my mind and life.

I am useful, hopefull, worthwhile.
I am an oject of grace, and all things are now new and right
For when He looked upon my filthy rags
He saw my sins and over them did write:

"You are beautiful, my precious daughter!
You have so much potential to become just who I made you to be!
I love you, you are mine, my joy,my child!"

(Dec. 23, 2003)

Hopefully this will help someone know there's healing in God's hand, and in time it will come. It's not easy, and here lately I've been struggling once again with some of the past, but I know He's there to heal me, and I know it's going to take time.

I'm also in the process of writing a song from this poem. I'm doing some adjusting of the lyrics to make it fit musically, but this poem needs music. Also, for those of you who might wonder, I no longer think I'm useless, though there are times I doubt myself, I know God is making me more and more what He wants me to be everyday! I'm delighted to know He's been at work in my life.

He Owns the Cattle on a Thousand Hills...but will He ever run out?

Recently in my time with God I was praying about a rather pressing thing, and God pressed me further to explore a way of thinking that needs to be changed. I am beyond stressed about finances right now, and though I've seen him provide for a recent mission trip, as well as for all of the gas money to drive to my brother's wedding, I find it hard to ask for the regular things, like car payments and insurance.

As I was praying this morning, He challenged me in my thinking. Here's how it used to go: If I ask for something now, and it was set aside for later, I will be robbing myself from having it for later, and asking for the need to be met in the wrong time.

Here's what I heard God saying: "You have not because you ask not." "I own the cattle on a thousand hills." "I am able to do more than you could ever think to ask or imagine possible." These are right out of scripture!

Now I'm not traveling down the path of expecting that as a Christian I should be rich. Jesus wasn't anything near financially wealthy. What I am saying is that when I come to God and ask for help, I go back to how my family was and seek Him with the understanding that if I ask now, and He says yes now, I'll have to hear no later.

Again, God responds to this: When I ask for God to provide where I can't, and I see His provision, it should empower me to come before Him more boldly in the future knowing that His mercy never runs dry, and that He is the Creator, owner, and giver of all good gifts. He delights to know we are His children and that we seek Him to be our Father in heaven. He delights to know that we talk to our friends and tell them of His work and love for us, on our behalf, in His perfection. He delights to have us simply rest in His arms thankfully for His tender care.

Take-away? I'm trusting God to move in a mighty way to answer my prayers. I believe He has enough to cover the things I cannot do right now, and He has much more in store for me than I could ever have imangined. I have asked for His provision, and I ask you to pray for me as well. I know the old ways of thinking will be difficult to break, but I will continue to pray and ask that God will make in my mind a new way of thinking that comes in line with His character of faithfulness. My encouragement for you? Trust Him. Really dig hard when you pray and understand that God will likely change the way you think about prayer and His faithfulness, and listen for His answer. I spent an hour listening yesterday morning, and not until today did I hear what He would say to me. Maybe my ears were clogged, maybe I needed to journal my prayers to let Him move my hand, maybe there was a battle going on in the heavenlies that prevented the answer from coming right when I thought it should. One day as compared to three weeks? Those angels must have been powerful to have gotten here so quickly. Either option, God answers, and I'm glad He does so tenderly!

The Sensation of Pain

OK, so I've been thinking on this one for a while now. A few months ago while getting a massage my massage therapist said something about the pain that a massage brings that is actually helpful in loosening the muscles. Now thinking about that, isn't it true that when you stretch before a workout that there is a certain point of pain in those stretches that lets you know you are stretching the muscles? Now there is a difference between a good stretch feeling of pain and when you actually injure something, but I think most of us know the difference and can follow me on this point.

I've thought about it for quite some time, years even, that it might have been that some of the things we equate as pain today were once only a regular sensation. I think to when God first created mankind, and then to the fall. In Genesis 3:16 God tells Eve He will "multiply" her sorrow, or pain. In this I wonder if there was already that sensation of pain, not to the point of injury, but a sensation unlike anything I can explain. We know that because of the fall things are much different than they were at creation now that sin has entered into the world. Things that were once meant for good, now are spoiled and used for evil.

Think about it: man was told that his labours would be more difficult, not that now he had to work. There was work before the fall, but it was enjoyable, a daily part of life walking with God. Sex, which was once a pure act that God provided as part of His plan for the earth, is now misused and maligned in the world. Music, one of the most well known ways we worship God, and mentioned in scripture as such, now contains profanities and suggestiveness that does not honour God. Do we see the things in our world today that were once good and seek to recapture them for God, or do we simply throw them out as wasted and forget the gifts God gave to us at creation?

So how does this apply to pain? Well, I think of my own life and the lack of physical activity I do simply because I know I will feel "pain" afterwards. What is the purpose of pain? Think again of those stretches. It gives you a reference point for where you need to stop, and it helps you to know you're gaining flexibility and using your muscles. I know I'm often sore after a good hike or softball game, and that's a sign to me I'm using the muscles God created within my body for His glory. Pain also serves as a warning that there is danger. If you start to feel pain when you step on a nail, the first slight pain warns you that if you step further onto that nail, it will impail your foot. My dad complained once of pain in his chest to me on the phone. I knew that to be a warning of possible heart attack, and sternly told him to go to the emergency room. Pain serves as a warning. Again, I wonder what it was like in the Garden of Eden. Did Eve feel a pain in her heart at hearing the words of the serpent? Did Adam feel pain when Eve offered him the fruit? My mind rambles on...