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Guest Post: “So That is Why This is Happening to Me!”

This week I’d like to share a blog post from a guest, Dr. Jeff Shreve, of From His Heart Ministries.  He opens by asking

“Have you ever had something very difficult, painful, and heartbreaking come into your life—and the problem seemed to last for a very long time?

1. Perhaps it was/is some illness like cancer that requires endless rounds of chemo and radiation.

2. Perhaps it was/is an ongoing drug problem with one of your children that tears at the marriage bonds and rocks the very foundation of the family.

3. Perhaps it was/is the pain of dealing with a bitter ex-spouse or controlling in-laws.

4. Perhaps it was/is the care of a dying loved one who lingers in a debilitating state for years.

When we have ongoing problems like this, we naturally ask God, “WHY?!! Why won’t you fix this, God? Why are you so slow in answering my prayer? What is the purpose of this prolonged agony?!”

While God does not often answer the “why” questions, He does want to answer the “what is the purpose” question….”

Dr, Jeff Shreve shares God’s answer in a post titled ‘So That Is Why This Is Happening to Me!” May you be encouraged by it!

From his website:
From His Heart Ministries is the TV, Radio and Internet broadcast outreach of Dr. Jeff Schreve who believes that no matter how badly you have messed up in life, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

Lord, I have cried unto Thee, hearken unto me; attend to the voice of my supplication when I cry unto Thee…”  Psalm 143, from the Orthodox Christian Vespers Service

 

 

 

 

 

 

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When We Let Go of God

WHEN WE LET GO OF GOD…

He Keeps Holding On

Sometimes our life burdens are too heavy for us.  We try to pick them up and keep going, but they just weigh us down. We think, “Where is God when I need Him?”

When I was a child, I would place my hand trustingly in the hand of one of my parents.  But as I got older, I rebelled against doing this.  I would pull my hand away from theirs, and want to go running off to do my own will.  Sometimes that will was dangerous: running into the middle of a street, climbing a tree not safe to climb, or trying to pick up a load that was too heavy for me. 

My parents would stop me, firmly take my hand again, and not let go regardless of how hard I pulled, tagged, or balked. They did it because they loved me.

Maybe you can’t identify with that. Maybe neither your parents nor anyone else in your life, has ever lovingly but firmly taken your hand and not let go. If that’s the case, there is Someone who loves you and will take your hand and not let go.

One Old Testament writer testifies,

“For He [God] Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you”

(Deuteronomy 31:6,8)

King David, the Psalmist, wrote,

“When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take care of me.” 

(Psalm 27, verse 10)

Be comforted.

Tell me a story in the comments, of a time when someone – literally or figuratively – took your hand and didn’t let go.  I’d love to read it.

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Depression, Suicide, and Mental Health

Why Should I Live?

A long-time friend of mine, Anna Glass,  recently posted her story of fighting depression and of her past suicide attempt.   If you are battling depression or have attempted suicide, please click the link above to read her story and see that there is hope in Jesus Christ – and help (see below).

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Patrick Snavley: a story of mental health

Patrick’s story (also on the Joy of All Who Sorrow blog space) gives hope to anyone who has struggled with or been hospitalized for bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or other “mental illness” issues.  There is hope for a better future.

 

If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please reach out for help: The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a national network of local crisis centers that provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 1-800-273-8255 or https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/. 

Not suicidal, but need help with anxiety or depression? Go to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America: https://adaa.org/.

 

To those feeling alone

From those who love you:

Thank you for staying one more day.  

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Practicing Forgiveness

“Every Moment is a Chance to Practice” – Charlie Gilkey, ProductiveFlourishing.com

Recently I read a post with the above title, from Charlie Gilkey’s Productive Flourishing website.  Charlie is the provider of some of my favorite weekly project planning forms, all aimed at creative types whose lives are project (not appointment) centered.  While Charlie was speaking of other things, his title reminded me of a principle I learned decades ago:  I must choose every moment to practice in seemingly small ways, what I may someday have to do in a much larger way.

What do I mean? 

  • To run a marathon I’ve never run, I must run smaller distances on a regular basis before running 26 miles.
  • To run, I must first learn to walk.  
  • To walk I must first take baby steps.  

This truth also applies in our Christian spiritual lives: Those of us who are Christians often say “I have surrendered my will to Jesus Christ.”  But if we actually live our daily lives choosing our own will, demanding our own way in everything, how will we suddenly obey Jesus’ will when He requires it?  On a daily basis we have practiced doing our own will and demanding our own way until it has become a habit.  When the crunch time comes, will we not be much more likely to do our own will, than to do His will?  

Jesus has indeed given us a command, to forgive others (“If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” Matthew chapter 6 verse 14), therefore we must, on a daily basis – sometimes on a minute by minute basis – extend forgiveness to those who offend us.  Even a seemingly small situation requiring us to forgive is not some lightweight, sweet and easy thing, but often a difficult act of the will, out of obedience to Jesus, that goes completely contrary to what our heart wants to do.  

I often fail in the battle to obey and forgive.  Sometimes it takes days, weeks, or months to bring myself to the point of forgiving. When I do, I get up, dust myself off, and try again, in the hope that someday my forgiveness muscle will be strong and ready for action, and I will have trained my will to do Christ’s will, not my own. 

When I’m whining and having a pity party over the “injustice” done to me by someone who infringed what I considered to be one of my rights, I remind myself that Jesus set the bar high when, after having every human right violated, and being tortured and nailed to a cross, He said “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Please leave me a comment below on how you struggle with forgiving others.

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“You’re pre-qualified for The Forgiveness Act”

The other day I saw a message that began “You’re Pre-Qualified for the Forgiveness Act.”  Did you know you’re “pre-qualified” for forgiveness?

Think about it: what have you done in your life that you wish you could be forgiven for?  Have you asked for forgiveness and felt like you weren’t?  Maybe you felt like you had to earn someone’s forgiveness?

Or maybe it’s like buying a car: you can walk into a car dealership and try to convince them that you are worth taking a risk on, based on your word that you will pay each month.  It will take a long time, and you may be embarrassed by being turned down completely, out loud, in view of other customers.  Or, you can go to your bank, fill out paperwork, talk to a representative of the bank, and be “pre-qualified” for a certain amount.  You then go to a dealership that accepts pre-qualifications, and can actually talk car choices instead of whether or not you are qualified to finance one.  That’s what “pre-qualified” means: “before qualified.”  Whether or not you are qualified to receive a loan has been decided before you go to the car dealer, by someone who has the right credentials to determine if you’re qualified.

But who of us is “qualified” to receive forgiveness from someone?  And who has the credentials to say to us “you’re pre-qualified” for a positive response before you ever ask for forgiveness?

What if you feel like you’ve offended God? How do you obtain His forgiveness? He’s the creator of the universe, the only righteous judge, the king of kings, etc.  And we think a king, queen, president, or judge of the U.S. Supreme Court is intimidating! How then do we approach God when we’ve offended Him! How do we find someone who can “pre-qualify” us to approach God to ask forgiveness?

Maybe that’s how this tax collector I heard about felt.  Tax collectors, even today, are not particularly liked.  But this was back in Roman Empire times, when the Romans assigned a person from any given people-group to collect the taxes from their own people.  They were often considered traitors to their people. In addition, tax collectors apparently had a lot of control over how much they could collect: so long as Rome got their exact amount, the Roman government didn’t necessarily care how much above that amount was collected and kept by the tax collector.  And the methods of collection weren’t necessarily rigorously controlled either.  So in the process of collecting taxes from their own people, the tax collector might do many things which he later came to regret.

We don’t know what happened to touch this particular tax collector’s heart, but something did.  He may have been Jewish, collecting taxes from Jews, as he showed up in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, standing in the same large space with a Pharisee, one of a then-elite sect in Judaism.   But while the Pharisee appeared to be acting as his own advocate, telling God all the righteous things he did to earn God’s approval, including thanking God that he was “not like this tax collector,” the tax collector himself,

“…standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to Heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’ ” (Luke, chapter 18, verses 9-14)

The tax collector didn’t have a LinkedIn connection who worked with God and could introduce him to God.   He didn’t have anyone with him who could be an advocate for him before God. All he could do was cry out to God directly, and hope he would be heard. As the Old Testament put it

“For…who will oppose Your judgment?…Or who will stand before You to plead as an advocate for unrighteous men?” (Wisdom of Solomon, ch. 12, verse 12)

The interesting thing is who was telling the tax collector’s story: Jesus Christ, a real human – who also claimed to be God in the flesh.  What if He was?  Wouldn’t that give Him the credentials to “pre-qualify” us to approach God?  He could be our advocate, to introduce us to God, and maybe even put in a good word for us with Him.

There are several instances where Jesus said to someone “your sins are forgiven.”  Those Jewish leaders who heard him gasped in horror, as only God could forgive sins.  If Jesus was just a man, His saying this was blasphemy and worthy of death (no nonsense about Jesus being “a good teacher” here!) But Jesus, through His works, proved that He was indeed sent by God to forgive sins. As the Apostle John said,

“…if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” (1 John, chapter 2, verses 1 and 2)

The entire human race has been “pre-qualified” by God Himself to be the recipient of His “Forgiveness Act”, sending His own son to become, in some mysterious way, human, while still being God.  Jesus’ birth was announced by the angels, saying “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill toward Men.”  God’s goodwill toward humans: that’s you and me.

We’ve been “Pre-qualified for The Forgiveness Act” that was a once-in-history occurrence.   You can read about what that act was, and how you can receive forgiveness from God, in the Bible’s New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.