Who's praying?

 

In the last couple days I have felt a surge of energy fill by frail body and let me tell you, it feels wonderful.  

Hubby and I walk a mile every other day so I know that is helping me gain back my strength.   He is a great couch because he stops when I do, allowing me time to get my breathe.  The days I think I can do more he remind me to take it slow.  If I try to push myself too much it only makes me worst.  It takes wisdom to get back in shape especially when you are older and did not exercise for a whole year.  

 But, in the last couple days I really have felt a surge of strength that I believe is a super natural touch from the Lord due to someone is praying for me in this area.  Felt it yesterday as I ran around town with my daughter and grand daughter. Then today as I walked I realized I was walking a little faster and a little longer between stop times.  It's a small thing but a huge one for me.     

I don't know for sure who prays for me but if you do, please keep it up.  Pound heaven on my behalf  please.  I know how hard it is to actually do prayer, it's my weakest link in my walk with the Lord. I want to be a spiritual prayer warrior but I know how easily I slip into just saying I will pray and never actually do it.  

So, let me say thank you again to those who are praying for me. Knowing that I am prayed for gives me encouragement to pray for others.  

 

Box

 

Sometimes I want to trade the box I am living in for someone else box.  It's those time I usually lose, not my salvation,  but I lose my attitude toward what ever is causes me to want to trade.  I become focus on me, me, me.   

I think you get the picture of where I am. It's been a couple of bad days because of my health which causes my box to stink of  self pity.   My box will probably get a little more shabby as I age, but it's the box God given me. 

One things that remains the same and brings me comfort, calms my worries, helps me deal with, "whatever"  my box, is the fact of being a child of God.

 Everything else may change but not who I am in Christ.  I may act like a brat at times but I am still His, bought and paid for by His precious blood shed on the cross.  He knows my box, He is in my box all the time with me, never leaves me.  

Just a look into others box and the heartaches it contains is enough to bring me out of my self pity box.  

I am not hiding out in  fear for my life and my family life.  

I am not on a respirator that is breathing for me. 

I am not crying with grief because someone I love has died.

I am not having to begging for food to feed my family. 

I am not living in a make shift tent. 

etc. 

If you are a child of God, you don't lose your status if you have a bad week. - Timothy Keller

I think I will play in my own box, how about you?

Trisha Yearwood - I’ll Carry You Home (Official Music Video)

Finding comfort while it seems like the whole world has went crazy can be found in scripture, a walk in nature, a good uplifting book, especially the Bible and also in music.

The below song has been my go to for comfort. I probably listen to it everyday. It's not a Christian song but there is an eternal aspect to the words. Knowing for sure when I die I will be going to my eternal home brings me comfort. The news depresses all of us, the middle east issues, Covid, mask, riots, random killings, evilness is everywhere and only seems to be getting worst. Even watching the weather reports now is depressing. All of this sends me to music a lot for comfort.

God is still in control of what seems like an uncontrollable world. There will come a day for me and everyone when we leave this messy world. Knowing where I am going and WHO has the power to take me to my eternal home gives me courage to face today and my tomorrows. What do you fall back on when you are discouraged and know you cannot fix whatever you are going through?

Can you see the end to our messy world? What does your eternal future hold? Does your peace come from this world or your future in heaven someday? Where do you get your courage from to deal with all that is around you that you cannot fix? Where do you get your comfort from? Do you have a song in your heart that comes to mind when you are discouraged that brings peace?

First World Suffering

 

This past Sunday I heard a message from a missionary to China that gave me a fresh look at suffering.   Got me to thinking about how we suffer in our first world country in comparison to how those who live in China, or Iran.   

Recently the gas to our place had to be shut off for a few days.  We still had electricity and water which made living without a cook stove easier.  There were times when we lived in Papua New Guinea we went without electricity for days and there was never a warning WHEN it would go off.  There was one small generator to be passed around for the 8 houses on the support center.  Each house would use it for a couple hours to run our fridges so not to lose our meat.  Eventually we were able to purchase a relay switch so when town power went off our big generator would kick on. 

If you are thinking, wow, Betty I bet you handled losing your cook stove for a few days easy.  Sorry, I wish I could say I did not complain or grumble.  I let the, woe is me  attitude over take me a little too much.  Still being sanctified. 

Comparison is not a good thing to do but after hearing this missionary stories of the believers in China I was convicted at my take on suffering.  Doing without a gas store for a few days is not suffering, a hardship yes, but suffering? 

 I read this somewhere and it struck  a cord in my heart.  In a first world country most people don't feel helpless with the conditions they live in.  Across the board that is probably true.  In a first world country we have the Red Cross,  Global Fund for Women, In This Tent, Action Against Hunger, Samaritan Purse, WHO, Lutheran Service of America, Heart to Heart, Go Fund Me, The Innocence Project, Hope for Women, Operation USA, American Civil Rights and that is just a few of the organization there is to turn to for help.  In China and some of the other countries the list is very short to turn to for help.  On top of all those I named is the countless churches in the USA.  Countless restaurant give out food to the needy, there are food banks all over America you can tap into for food.  I do think you get the point. Nobody kicked our door down for reading the bible or having a home church in the US. 

The modern definition of “first world” is used to classify countries that are highly industrialized and with advanced economies. First-world countries include the United States, Canada, Japan, and Western European countries.. 

=But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. I Peter 5:10

I like the last part of what the above verse says suffering will do, settle me.  Knowing what to expect helps settle a person even before suffering comes. I have met people who are settled with the lot God has given them.  They are a comfort to be around and their quiet ways comfort me and give me courage to accept suffering.  To not waste it. 

I wasted the  time grumbling about my lack of cooking gas recently and trust me it was not a settled astrosphere in our house.  How about you, have you wasted any of your suffering lately?

• 
  

 

 

Thought I would take a chance on this series on HBO.  Of course the language is horrible at times but the stories of the people who go to this therapist are not horrible. In fact I am finding as I listen I can easily see myself in certain mindsets.  It's a revealing listen as the therapist works to draw out from each one the pain in their life.  

Back a couple years ago I went to a pain therapist who was able to help me sort out some of the emotions from my childhood that still cause pain in the present.  That emotional pain showed itself in my body in the form of  fibromyalgia and chronic insomnia. 

I know I will never be free from the memories of my growing up years but they do not own me.  I use them often in working with others who have suffered emotional abuse.  But, sitting in the therapist office weekly knowing I could say anything and it was a safe place was just the start of getting freedom.  

If you had ask me when I was from 20's to 50's I would have told you I did not need therapist.   Really it was after I became a Christian and read a lot that I realize how my mental health was.  Yet it hard to talk about any mental problems in Christian circles. To take an anti depressant, or anti anxiety meds is a big no no in some circles.  Thankful for the Christian doctors I have had that understood the importance of mental along with our physical issues. 

• And do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs], but be transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His plan and purpose for you]. Romans 12:2 AMP
• 
  
• We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.” 2 Corinthians 10:5-6 MSG

I am also thankful that God cares about my mental condition.  He speaks to the battle that rages for our mental health. To deny it is to allow room for the enemy of our soul to destroy us.  

Take care of yourselves mentally.  Need to talk, find a therapist, if not possible then find a lay person who will listen well and help you work through the issues.  Be brave and admit you might need help to gain freedom from some things.  God loves you completely, body, soul and spirit,  and He wants us to commit it all to Him.  

Below is a great article on mental health.  

https://www.mentalhealth.gov/basics/what-is-mental-health

Rocks

 Our son children  brought the  smooth rocks on the right to me from a trip they took to the ocean a few years ago.   They knew I had kind of have a thing of using rocks to decorate the yard with.  I brought them  with me to Northern Minnesota when we moved.   The rough rocks I pick up  the other day as hubby and  took a short walk on a wooded trail near where we live.  

I decided to display them on a small table that I see all the time to remind me where God has brought me from.  

When I started my walk with the Lord at 35 year of age, I was rough around the edges. As my pastor would tell me, I was a diamond in the rough.  That worldly rough wisdom I had learned from the world God would use to show me what didn't work in life.  From the minute I became a believer He begin to knock those rough edges and dirty place off me.  

As I walked with Him on a daily bases and especially through some tough trials He begin to smooth the edges off me and clean me up.  The Bible calls this the process of sanctifications and He does this for every believer.

I see me now in those smooth rock my grandchildren gave me.  The ocean  change the look of rocks,  as they  wash over and over  and  changed their appearance to be more pleasant to look at.  They are certainly are easier to handle then those rough dirty jagged edge ones on the left.  

 Sanctification is the process of becoming more like Christ in our conduct and character. The objective of this pursuit of moral integrity is to be holy as God is holy (1 Pet. 1:15, 16). 

In his recent book, How Does Sanctification Work?, David Powlison gives us five factors towards our sanctification:

1. God. “It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13)
2. Truth. The truth of God’s word taught, sung, preached, studied, and read is one of the surest means by which the Spirit brings about change in our lives
3. Wise people. God mediates our change “through the gifts and graces of brothers and sisters in Christ.”
4. Suffering and struggle. Though we don’t relish it, suffering and struggles work towards our growth in Christlikeness. Difficulties prompt us to rely on God. Writes Powlison: “People change because something is hard, not because it goes well . . . Struggles force us to need God.”
5. You change. Scripture calls us to actively believe, obey, trust, seek, love, confess, praise, and take refuge. We are not passive. The mystery of faith is that we are 100% responsible, yet 100% dependent on outside help.

How these factors play out in each of our lives may look drastically different. The Spirit is at work, applying the objective work of Christ, yet that work touches us all differently. While journeying towards the same goal, each believer will have a distinct path which they will tread.

__________________________________________________________

I heard this said, some grow like turtles, getting run over a lot.  Others grow like a rabbit, off to fast start but stops to eat a lot.  Either way the goal is to be like Jesus in the process.  

Which one are you, a turtle or rabbit?