| Sunday, September 20, 2009 |
| Turn away from it and pass on! |
Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn away from it and pass on. - Proverbs 4:15
I read this verse recently, and it made me think about many things in my life. Today as I settled on this verse I thought about a dear friend for whom I have been praying so hard. He's trying to straighten up his life and make better choices. In the process of stepping into a journey of healing, there always seems to be things that try to hold us back. I believe he mentioned one of those things on the phone one night. He was talking about how he was hurt over someone he was interest in. Apparently this person didn't stick around and wait for him as perhaps he expected. Instead that person decided to go back to a past relationship. The news hurt him so much that it almost made him compromise his own healing by taking his own backward steps. I felt disappointed to hear that, even quite upset...like why are you letting this hurt you so much? To compromise your own healing for someone who wasn't worth it from the first place. You know that agonizing feeling when you are talking with someone and you just get the urge to shake them and say "Don't be so stupid!" That night my words were so few, and that was a good thing because I didn't have the measure of grace that he needed from me. Oh, but I am so glad that God does.
I started to think have I ever pursued something or someone that wasn't good for me. Have I ever "known better?" Did I ever need someone to give me a good slap in the face and say, "snap out of it, wake up?" And how did I feel or react if they did? The truth is I have been where my friend is: Hurt over someone who didn't even care about me in the first place. At the crossroads between an unknown freedom and a (comfortable) known bondage.
There are so many times in my own life when God has put signs up that said "Turn away from it, and pass on!" "Keep moving straight ahead, don't look back!" In those times I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt, I can speak from personal experience, that it is God and God alone who can wake someone up to the fact. Oh and prayers...prayers... I have seen God answer this very own prayer of someone else for me. It was a terrible experience that I went through last year, but I have learned countless lessons. And, so here I am standing reminded. I have been there. There are so many things/people I'd like for my friend to turn away from, pass on! I can speak til I'm blue in the face, but it's God and God alone who can lift the blinds from our eyes and help us to see the truth of what is standing before us, of where we need to go, of what we need to do (or not do).
God, I move out of the way, so I don't become a big bush that is blocking the view of the sign that you are holding up for my friend. Please give him the extra measure of grace today that I didn't know how to give...that I can't give...that only you can give. Your grace is Your omnipotent help when we need it the very most!
I turn away from my need to control...I pass it on to the only one who holds the future and changes the present. |
sent to the stars at 4:28 PM   |
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| Friday, September 04, 2009 |
| Hold Me...Head and Shoulders |
Psalm 27:1-6 (The Message)
Light, space, zest— that's God! So, with him on my side I'm fearless, afraid of no one and nothing. When vandal hordes ride down ready to eat me alive, Those bullies and toughs fall flat on their faces. When besieged, I'm calm as a baby. When all hell breaks loose, I'm collected and cool. I'm asking God for one thing, only one thing: To live with him in his house my whole life long. I'll contemplate his beauty; I'll study at his feet. That's the only quiet, secure place in a noisy world, The perfect getaway, far from the buzz of traffic. God holds me head and shoulders above all who try to pull me down. I'm headed for his place to offer anthems that will raise the roof! Already I'm singing God-songs; I'm making music to God.
The other night I couldn't sleep. I was totally stressed out and there was no rest for my body or spirit. I was flipping the channels and stopped when I heard someone reading Psalm 27 out of The Message. I got hung up on these words: God holds me head and shoulders above all who try to pull me down. Are you get the image I am getting? If God is holding up my head and shoulders who can possibly successfully pull me down? They can try...and that's where I get stuck - overwhelmed with stress and anxiety over others' attempts to pull me down...to crush me...to kill every good thing in me. But if God is holding me head and shoulders then all they can do is try. They can kick me on every side, but I can't fall down...not unless I disconnect from the only one who can uphold me. At 3:00 a.m., this verse gave me much to think about. God is my only refuge...the only place where I can break free from all the noise of my life...all the voices in my head...all those things that I can't seem to "turn off" at night so that I can get a good night's sleep. He is my peace, my serenity, my hiding place from all those things that I really can't run away from - all those things the plague me and keep me up at night.
I'm thinking of Psalm 23 as if I'm "getting it" for the first time. He makes me lie down on green pastures. Think about that. He "makes" me. Why do we have to be made to do this? Think of fresh, tender grass on a spring day. Sky is crystal blue with not a cloud in sight. And we have to be made to stop and lie down and take it all in? Yes because we get swept away by all the busyness and all the stress. So we have to be made to stop. Made to rest. He leads me by the "still" waters. Still, quiet - again, the Lord is trying to get us to rest in Him. To find our calm in Him. He restores my soul. - And that's what I needed at 3:00 a.m. That's what I need right now. God to restore my soul. Because my spirit breaks. my countenance falls. I lose my peace in a world full of turmoil. I need Him to calm me down at night, and hold me head and shoulders through a day filled with things that will try to kick me to the curb. But they cannot. Because He is the one who holds me. His love, His peace, His strength, is what holds me. |
| sent to the stars at 1:28 PM |
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| No Passion |
| I have found it difficult to write another entry as my last one pretty much sums it up. I am still at that place where I feel like "I'm waiting for my life to begin." I feel like my well has completely run dry. I have nothing more to give within current circumstances. There is no passion. I don't have passion for anything I am doing...but...I desperately want to do something that I am passionate about. So what am I passionate about...many things...many that I won't even write on here. Some of my passions are: fitness (especially indoor walking), singing, writing, song-writing, poetry, counseling (although I'm feeling less of a draw toward professional counseling and feel more drawn to lay-counseling, life coaching, etc.) and really anything that makes a difference. I would love to see my love for fitness and counseling/life-coaching come together - perhaps through the opening of some kind of wellness center that concentrates on the body, soul, and spirit. And yet I have just as much of a passion to write, write, write....and a deep love to sing and to sing what I write...So what's my next move? Right now I feel like I'm still "waiting." And maybe that's exactly what I'm supposed to be doing... Labels: passion, waiting |
| sent to the stars at 1:11 PM |
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| Where To? |
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| View My Profile |
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| Favorite Books |
- The Papa Prayer
- The Power of a Praying Woman
- Streams in the Desert
- A Walk to Remember
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| Links |
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