A Time to Cry and a Time to Laugh

I was driving down the road recently and suddenly remembered that I forgot to take something to alleviate the pain in my foot. Twenty minutes earlier I was in my house and preparing to resume my shopping adventure after I made a stop at home to change shoes. But, as my memory is not quite as good as it used to be, I was distracted and forgot. I was already several miles from my house before I realized that I'd forgotten to take that ibuprofen before I left. {sigh}

I started to reason with myself. Okay, maybe the pain isn't bad enough for me to turn around and go home. I decided to just deal with it and be careful to not overdo it.

That's when a thought popped into my head. The purpose of pain is to warn the body of a problem. I was reminded of stories I'd read in the past people who are born without the ability to feel pain. Sounds wonderful, right? You might think so, but the problem is that they are susceptible to serious injury. The person who is unable to feel pain would not realize it when they grab a too-hot skillet or when they twist an ankle and keep walking on it until it breaks.

As I was processing these thoughts my mind recalled another kind of pain: emotional pain. There are many times I would have given anything to not have to feel grief, heartbreak, or hurt feelings.As I compared emotional pain to physical pain, it seemed to me that there were a lot of similarities. Both types of pains are indicators that something is wrong and requires attention. Just as the pain in my foot reminded me to walk carefully and take it easy, emotional pain should be an indicator to attend to whatever is causing that pain.

The trouble with the emotional pain is that society is uncomfortable with it. So, we're taught to shake it off, dry up the tears, and be tough. Carry on! Be a trooper! As with the physical pain, we seek ways to mask the emotional pain with some sort of pain killer. I won't go into all the ways we (as a society) tend to cover up the emotional pain. I think you get the idea. The point of this is to remind myself and others that emotional pain is a normal part of life.


Ecclesiastes 3:4 reminds us that there is...

A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance.

Remember Hannah? She was the childless woman in the Bible who felt years of emotional pain. Being childless in those days was considered a disgrace. It didn't help that her husband had another wife who was able to give him children. Hannah deeply desired to give her husband a child and she prayed about it for years. She cried and she even refused to eat. Each time she went to the temple, she prayed about her heartache. Hannah was so distraught that she became outwardly emotional about it as she talked to God. The priest was observing her from a distance and thought Hannah must have been drinking because she was that upset as she prayed!

The Bible reminds us that...

   The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose
       spirits are crushed. (Ps. 34:18)

   He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds. (Ps. 147:3)

   The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted
        and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. (Is. 61:1)

   Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians that "they were crushed and overwhelmed 
        beyond their ability to endure" but they learned to rely on God during this time.
        And he goes on to say in chapter 4, verses 8 and 9 that...

       "We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, 
               but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God.  
               We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed."


To be perfectly honest, my first reaction is not to embrace the pain and allow God to truly heal the emotional pain. More often than not I lean toward feeling overwhelmed and crushed. I want Him to take the pain away. I want it to just go away. God could take it away, but He may want to use the pain as part of the healing process. If I seek ways to mask or avoid the pain I may delay healing.

As I was drafting this post, I read the following quote in Streams in the Desert...

"God seems to use the pressure of pain to trample out the 

fulfillment of His promises and thereby release the sweetest juice 

of His winepress. Only those who have known sorrow can 

fully appreciate the great tenderness of the 'man of sorrows.'"

It's comforting to know that Jesus understands our emotional pain. He wept over the death of his friend Lazarus. He also experienced the pain of rejection. So Jesus can certainly relate to any sort of pain you or I may experience.

Endurance

I've mentioned before on this blog that whenever the Lord is teaching me something and then I write about it, I can usually expect a test to follow. Last week was one of those weeks.

Last week I wrote about praising God through the trials. Uh-huh...I bet you can see where this is headed. Every time I turned around it seemed one more thing was going wrong. Most of the issues ranged from minor to major annoyances such as: frozen/burst water line, pet rescue problems, a family member's health crisis hundreds of miles away, car issues, and work deadlines.

I try to keep things in perspective, though. As far as problems go, these were all manageable even though they were coming at like waves at the seashore--each one got a little larger. I kept my sense of humor early on. I kept praising God in the midst of it and was amazed at how He worked out many details. As the week wore on, the wearieness set in and the fussing. (For those who don't live in the South, fussing is another way to say complaining.) Finally an emotional cry out to God to carry me became necessary. I seriously needed Him to take over in the places where I could no longer do anything but pray and and asked for strength to keep going. I have to say that the problems didn't magically stop, but God was faithful to answer my prayer.

My One Word for 2014: Endurance.

I chose this word shortly after the new year began. Little did I know that I would be applying that so soon! This word comes from a Bible passage that I've come to love.

Hebrews 10:35-36

So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. 
Remember the great reward it brings you!  

Patient endurance is what you need now, 

so that you will continue to do God’s will. 

Then you will receive all that he has promised.

The official definition of endurance is...

::: the ability to do something difficult for a long time
::: the ability to deal with pain or suffering that continues for a long time

As I look back at where I've been and forward to the year ahead of me, I believe endurance will be required. Here we go into 2014!

The Week in Review: Faith Testing

I try to stay consistent about posting on this blog even if it's only once a week. Last week was different. It's not that God wasn't teaching me anything--au contraire! Sometimes it's better for me to "Be Still" and just listen rather than write.

The past few weeks have been challenging in many ways. I won't go into all the details, but suffice it to say that we all have seasons in our lives that push us out of our comfort zones and stretch us in the faith department.

This morning I was working on a Bible study about faith and immediately realized that God used some of the events of the past few weeks to stretch me in the faith department. I wish I could say that I got an A+. Not even close! I had good moments and bad moments. There were times when I reacted to circumstances through my flesh by saying or doing things that were not so Christ-like. And then I had some Spirit-filled moments when I desperately prayed for God's help and turned to Scripture.

As I look back over the week, I can see that those moments when I turned to God and the Word were some of the most peace-filled moments of the week. Did my circumstances get better? No. Not really. But, I did feel peace that passed all understanding...

And the peace of God, 

which surpasses all comprehension, 

will guard your hearts 

and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

Philippians 4:7

...and when I did go to God and Scripture first, I found that things fell into place a little better than if I had tried to do things in my own strength.

Fear not, for I am with you; 

be not dismayed, for I am your God; 

I will strengthen you, I will help you, 

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

There's one other thing I learned this morning about my faith: It's been getting stronger over the years. I can now see how my faith has been shaped by my environment and other people since I was a child. My belief system has been rather limited in the past. My knowledge of Scripture was limited and therefore my knowledge of who God is and what He can do was limited. 

As I've spent more and more time in Scripture, I can see how my perception of who God is has been changing. The God I know right now is not the God I knew 10, 20, or 30 years ago. He's much bigger, He's much more loving, He's much more personal, and He's much more awesome than I would have thought a few decades ago. These are the kinds of things we learn only after spending years getting to know someone.

If you need a faith boost, read the 11th chapter of Hebrews. Faith is the confidence we need when we cannot see anything happening and it is by faith that we trust God, knowing that He is able when we are not.

Suffering: God's Way of Getting Our Attention

 

     I look upon suffering as one of God’s ways of getting our attention. In fact, C.S. Lewis calls pain “God’s megaphone.” He said, “God whispers to us in our conscience, speaks to us in our joys, and shouts to us in our pain. Pain is God’s megaphone.”~ Elisabeth Elliot


Link to: Held in the Everlasting Arms: A Message From Elisabeth Elliot


This is a link to a short message from Elisabeth Elliot. If anyone knows about suffering, it's Mrs. Elliot. I have blogged a lot about suffering and enduring through tough times. When I ran across this message from Mrs. Elliot, I wanted to share it on this blog to preserve it for myself and to share with any followers who may need these words of encouragement. By clicking on the link above, you can listen to Mrs. Elliot as she delivers this message or read the transcript. I'll end this post with how she ends her message...


      Therefore sin and suffering entered into the world and now we’re saying, “Why doesn’t God do something about it?”

      And the Christian answer is, “He did. He became the victim, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.”

      As the Psalmist said in Psalm 46: “Though the earth shake and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, God is our refuge” (v. 1 paraphrase). I speak to you as one who has desperately needed a refuge. And in that same Psalm he says, “Be still” (v. 10). And I am told it’s legitimate to translate that, “Shut up and know that I am God.” That’s the message. ~ E. Elliot


I am reminded of this verse in 1 Peter 1:6

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

 

Feeling Overwhelmed? Read Psalm 23

The twenty-third Psalm has to be one of the most familiar passages to--well, just about anyone. It's so often heard quoted at funerals and consequently used in those types of scenes in television shows and movies. So, even someone who may not be familiar with the Bible has probably heard this verse. It's really quite a shame that it's been relegated to funerals, though. The text is so rich and relatable to every day life!

Last weekend this psalm came to mind as a multitude of concerns bombarded my thoughts. April has been a difficult month for friends and family. I've had sick friends, others having surgery, some have had tragic deaths or near-deaths. There have also been a few horrific events which have made the headlines. I have a "threshold" of just how many pressurized events I can process at one time before feeling overwhelmed. I get to a point of wanting to "Cry Uncle." Is that just me or does anyone else feel that way? When it gets like that, I just keep thanking God that He never gets overwhelmed by these circumstances. He's got it all under control.

When I thought of this psalm, the line that came to my mind over and over was verse four. I memorized this psalm in the King James version, so I heard this in my head...

Yea, though I walk through the valley

of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:

for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff 

they comfort me.

But, rather than thinking about this as a funeral verse, I pondered what David was really saying here. Basically, he is saying that no matter what--NO. MATTER. WHAT.--is going on all around him, he has absolutely no reason to fear the evil happening. Why? Because God is there.

I took great comfort in that verse several times this weekend. And to punctuate all of that comforting goodness, God decided to bless me with a few more reminders of this great Psalm. Two of my favorite Bible teachers posted about it on their Facebook pages today! So, I just have to share this quote from Tony Evans,

"It's 'yea, though I walk through the valley.' 

Not 'yea, when I sit down and whine in the valley.' Keep walking."

 

So, take a few moments and read this psalm with fresh eyes. Think about the love and care of aShepherd, for His beloved sheep (that's me and you). And even when we're in a dark valley, even when the news around us goes from bad to worse, we can talk to our Shepherd about it and He willingly and lovingly comfort us. He will lead us and renew our strength.  

 

Psalm 23... A psalm of David.

¹ The Lord is my shepherd;
    I have all that I need.
² He lets me rest in green meadows;
    he leads me beside peaceful streams.
³     He renews my strength.
He guides me along right paths,
    bringing honor to his name.
⁴ Even when I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will not be afraid,
    for you are close beside me.
Your rod and your staff
    protect and comfort me.
⁵ You prepare a feast for me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You honor me by anointing my head with oil.
    My cup overflows with blessings.
⁶ Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me
    all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the Lord
    forever.

New Living Translation

Wordy Wednesday: A Prayer

The past couple of weeks I have seen evil in the world. I have witnessed devastating explosions and fires via television and internet. Death and destruction. Sad doesn't begin to describe it. I have also seen a family's world turned upside down in a moment because of a wreck and injuries. It seems like each day there's more bad news in the world. The bad news won't go away. But, we are not without hope. Like David in this Psalm, we can cry out to God and plead for His mercy and trust Him to be there--our place of refuge--no matter what is happening around us. Hold onto Jesus.


Psalm 142

I cry out to the Lord; I plead for the Lord's mercy.
I pour out my complaints before him and tell him all my troubles.
For I am overwhelmed, and you alone know the way I should turn.
Wherever I go, my enemies have set traps for me.
I look for someone to come and help me, but no one gives me a passing thought!
No one will help me; no one cares a bit what happens to me.
Then I pray to you, O Lord.
I say, "You are my place of refuge. You are all I really want in life.
Hear my cry, for I am very low.
Rescue me from my persecutors for they are too strong for me.
Bring me out of prison so I can thank you.
The godly will crowd around me, for you treat me kindly."

More Than We Can Handle?

Today I want to share some really interesting quotes from the sample chapters of a book entitled Emtpy by Cherie Hill. These sample chapters were included in the eBook I've been reading called Hope Being Gone by this same author.

~~~

"God has never said that He won't give us more than we can handle. 

What He has shown is, throughout history, 

He always gives people more than they can handle." - Cherie Hill

This is the very thing I've been grappling with for months. I wrote about the topic of "burdens: how much is too much" before. You see, there's a phrase that's used a lot in Christian circles: "God will never give us more than we can handle." It's bandied about as a source of comfort when we're "under the pile" of life. It's said by well-meaning individuals and meant to encourage. Although the source of this saying is based in truth, it's been twisted a bit. 

The temptations in your life are no different 

from what others experience. 

And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation

 to be more than you can stand. 

When you are tempted, he will show you 

a way out so that you can endure. -1 Cor 10:13 

This scripture is about temptation, not trouble in life. The Bible is full of real people who experienced difficulties that were more than they could bear. Remember our man Job? He definitely endured a series of hardships that caused him to finally say it would have been better if he had never been born (Job 3). Then there's our friend Paul who was overwhelmed and crushed beyond his ability to endure (2 Cor 1:8-9). If you and I stop and think about it, we can probably cite a personal example of someone we know--even ourselves--who may be/or have been under the weight of severe illness or other extreme hardships. It seems more than they/we can bear on our own. How can this be? That takes me to my 2nd point to share...

~~~

"God always gives us more than we can handle, 

in order to reveal what He is able to do through our faith in Him.

...Without situations in life that we can't handle, 

we'd never need God to show up. 

Why would we even need to pray at all?" - Cherie Hill

Interesting. Paul says that his own weakness demonstrates God's great power (2 Cor. 12:8-10.) It's at this point that I have to bow to God's soveriegnty to know how much is too much for any one person to handle. He knows just how much pressure it will take to accomplish what needs to be done. He created me and you and knows us even better than we know ourselves. I won't pretend that this is an easy subject to explain away and I'm not trying to do that here. Suffering is a bitter pill to swallow. I feel as if the Lord is challenging my thinking about this faith walk I call life. Keeping the Word in context of scripture is vital to understanding.

~~~

My final thought to share is not a quote from the book, instead it's an explanation of the difference between a cistern and a well. I've read the following verse about cisterns and even studied it briefly in the past. For whatever reason (maybe being a city girl), I never really understood this verse.

For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me,
The fountain of living waters,
To hew for themselves cisterns,
Broken cisterns that can hold no water. - Jer. 2:13 

A well

A cistern is an artificial reservoir--sort of a modern-day rain barrel. It's usually above ground, but it can be placed underground. A cistern is designed simply to store water. But, it has to be filled by an outside source. As we all know, a well is dug in the ground, with supporting walls, and usually has a natural source--a continuous flow--of fresh ground water. The cistern water doesn't have that continuous natrual source of water. It can will dry. If it's cracked, the water will leak out. We can never be completely satisfied with water from a cistern. Water in that cistern can get stagnant. Yuck. In life we often fill our "cisterns" with things that may satisfy for the moment (money, relationships, drugs, food), but eventually all of those will leak out through that broken cistern. It's only when we go to the source of this Living Water that we will be truly satisfied and refreshed. That source is Jesus (John 4:11). I think really understanding the difference between these two vessels and the sources of the water helped me. I hope it helps you.

Wordy Wednesday

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. - Romans 8:28



No doubt, you are familiar with this verse. Sometimes familiar verses are easy to just gloss over because we've heard it so often. This verse is often quoted to us following a disappointment or time of testing. Internally I say to myself, Yeah, yeah, heard it before.

Take a moment to look at it with fresh eyes (and I say this to myself most of all).

We know.
All (every single thing that happens)
Works for His good (not necessarily my good)
For His purpose.

Whatever is going on right now, today, has already been filtered through God's loving hands, and He has a plan that fits His purpose. If you've royally screwed up, God will use that somehow, some way. That's a promise. You may still suffer the consequences of that major mess, but if you love God and dilligently seek Him, He will work it ALL for His good--and ultimately your (and my) good.

Wordy Wednesday

The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed,

a refuge in times of trouble. 

Those who know your name trust in you, 

 for you, O Lord, do not abandon

those who search for you. 

 Sing praises to the Lord who reigns

in Jerusalem. Tell the world about

his unforgettable deeds. Psalm 9:9-11

Wordy Wednesday

Burdens: How Much is Too Much?

Burdens. Heartbreak. Affliction.

All of these words bring about a heaviness on my soul when I hear them. Perhaps it's because I can clearly identify the emotional struggles that go along with those words. I've witnessed it firsthand in friends struggling to care for disabled family members or severe health issues and people with extreme financial problems. In my own life, I've experienced these burdens when a succession of problems and tough times were dogging my every waking moment. It's that point when I started to cry "Uncle." The weight of the burdens were too much to bear on my own.

I've been thinking on this issue for many months now. After a friend confessed that she felt as if the Lord will sometimes give us more than we can handle, I really wrestled with this issue. After all, I don't like to see people struggling under the weight of those burdens.

There's a prevailing thought in the Christian community that God wants us to always be happy and free from difficulties, living an abundantly blessed life. Sounds very appealing, but I don't buy into that sort of theology. After all, the scripture clearly says we will have trouble. I've written about that in a previous post.

I do agree that God does want the best for his children, but the word best is key to this issue. For one person, best may mean all those great things for a season. For his next door neighbor, best may mean struggling to make ends meet.

There are a variety of reasons why we end up in these situations. We might be thrown into the situation by someone else's choices, our own actions may bring about consequences, or we may not know why this side of heaven. It's really a soveriegnty issue because God wants to accomplish something different in everyone. Who am I to say that I know better than God what's best for me?

The good news is that we don't have to bear these burdens on our own. See Galatians 6:2 and Matthew 11:28-30.

I recently read a very good article by Dr. Charles Stanley on this topic. I think he does a very good job of explaining what burdens are and how believers are to respond to them. Please take a few minutes to read this short article called Taking Care of Burdens.

Adversity: Major Trouble

I’ve been working on this particular post for several weeks while I processed the things I studied and tried to put things together in my mind. I had this post just about done when this horrible, tragic mass shooting occurred in Connecticut a few days ago. I was thinking of postponing this article but realized that there’s always going to be something adverse going on in our lives or in this world. So, for what it’s worth, this week’s article is about adversity which was written about the life difficulties we experience. It's not meant to address this unexplainable tragedy, so please keep that in mind as you read.

One thing is certain in this life: We will have adversity. Call it what you will—trouble, trials, challenges—everyone experiences them. If you are not experiencing adversity now, maybe you’re just getting past a bad time or about to head into it. The Bible teaches us that we will have trouble in this world.

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33 (NIV)

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. - James 1:2-3
 
So I wonder why we’re always surprised (me included) when adversity comes our way?

Adversity comes into our lives from a variety of reasons. It could be caused by unwise choices that we’ve made, other people may do something to cause it, Satan may be the source, or God may have allowed adversity into our lives. However, if we think of adversity as a tool, we might have a different perspective on it—a God perspective. 

Imagine a gardener working in a flowerbed. The tools used to dig up and rake the ground loosen the packed soil to make it receptive to the new seeds. All of the useless matter is pushed away—dead leaves, roots from dead plants, weeds. What’s left after all that digging is the prepared soil. With careful attention and watering, a few seeds will produce a plant which will grow and bloom.

God uses adversity in our lives to for reasons such as: producing endurance, to test our faith and devotion to Christ, to purify and equip us, and to show us His greatness and love for us.

What it boils down to is this…

Adversity serves a bigger purpose—a Kingdom purpose.

We may think that annoying neighbor down the street who complains about everything serves no purpose except to upset the delicate neighborhood ecosystem. But, it does produce patience in us. It also reveals—shines light on—those hidden thoughts in us that we’ll just call “unloving.”

Another type of adversity we may encounter is when we are waiting on answers to prayer. A delay in fulfilling our desires may be more important to God, serving a purpose to prepare us. In that way, it produces a form of adversity. Paul was an example of this. His “thorn in the flesh” was a desire to he wished to have removed. He asked God to have it removed but that desire went unfulfilled. Although nobody knows for certain what this thorn in the flesh was, I’m sure it was something that caused Paul enough concern that he actually mentioned it in his letters. He had a legitimate desire to have that “thing” removed. Paul also spent a lot of time in prisons and fearing for his life. Even so, God chose to use those hard places in Paul’s life to advance His Kingdom and to teach Paul things that could not be learned any other way.

Sarah Young, author of Jesus Calling says, "In the darkness of adversity, you are able to see more clearly the radiance of My (God’s) Face." This is so true. If God really is light, then His light will shine during those dark times. And we know from Scripture that God is light. In John 8:12, Jesus describes himself as “the light of the world.”

I know this is true in my own life. Adversity has produced fruit in my life that may not have come about any other way. I have seen God’s light in the midst of those dark times and I have felt His comfort during those times I felt I could not go on. I’ve called out to God and He rescued me many, many times. God is always faithful to answer.

Then call on me when you are in trouble,
    and I will rescue you,
    and you will give me glory.” Psalm 50:15