What Are You Questioning?

 

(pinterest)

Seldom, but sometimes I sit down at my keyboard and ponder what to write. Usually, something is already itching at my fingertips and words come out without effort. Today, I pondered.

I consider myself a follower. Yes, I follow Jesus – and I love that I love my Leader!

But I’m a follower with leadership skills and abilities, so sometimes, when I’m following, I want to tell my leader(s) “better ways” to get the tasks done. Some call it being bossy.

Being a follower, one who can follow instructions – I crave instructions for the most complicated things in life. Don’t tell me how to better make a pan of lasagna, though I’m open to suggestions. But those complex things, like how does a person resolve anger issues or put their past to bed – those need step by step directions! Maybe implausible, because we’ll heal somewhat differently, even if there are basic principles that would help us all.

(clipartlibrary)

Sometimes I get frustrated with self-help books and want to scream at the author, “Just tell me what to do!”

Life doesn’t always work that way.

Even here with my blog posts, some readers may want answers to life’s great questions. I can share with you the answers I’ve personally discovered, but they may not be YOUR answers. The only One with all the answers is the One I hope to point you to with every post I share.

“It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter.”

-         Proverbs 25:2 KJV

And in case you didn’t know, you ARE a king.

Revelation 1:5-6 tell us that Jesus “loves us and washed us from our sins in His own blood and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

(newspring .cc)

God wants you to have all the answers, and He uses us to help each other. But the most important thing He wants from you is your heart and He longs to give you His. He wants to talk WITH you, He wants to do life with you. He wants to give you the best life possible, He wants to heal all your hurts. He wants to set you free. He wants to live in you – and He wants you to live in Him. He wants you to put Him first because He put YOU first. Yep – there’s that intimacy thing again.

I can point you to Him all I want.

(pinterest)

But till you sit down with Him and have those conversations you’ve been avoiding, you’ll still ache. You’re not hiding. Not really.

Is it time yet? Are you TIRED ENOUGH YET of carrying the weight of your troubles?

God isn’t mad at you. Not at all. Run to Him. Be healed. Get alone with Him.

Psalm 139 describes the God’s perfect knowledge of everything about you. Read it here:  Psalm 139

Comfort - able?

 

(picture from pinterest)

“I am filled with comfort…”  - 2 Corinthians 7:4 NKJV

Who doesn’t want to be comfortable? Our society has gone from wearing jeans to wearing spandex leggings, and even wearing pjs in public. On Thanksgiving, some of us are sure to wear our “big girl pants” so we can remain comfy even after overindulging.

Yet, we often push away comfort for our minds and our hearts. Why? Do we not deserve to be comforted? Do we somehow deserve discomfort or suffering or agony? We probably don’t hide it as well as we think we do, and it can come out as anger or disinterest, or rudeness and we can offend people without even realizing it.

How do you define comfort? Not that “from the comfort of your own living room” kind of comfort, but the comfort we need when we’re challenged in some way. Whether by grief, a loss or bad news of any kind, too many of us refuse to be comforted in the moment, as if putting it off till later will make it easier or more quickly resolved.

(from pinterest)

The internet tells me that comfort means: 1. A state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint or 2. The easing or alleviation of a person’s feelings of grief or distress. It goes on to say that the meaning of “true comfort” is “to give strength and hope to; to cheer; to console. And further, a biblical understanding of comfort encompasses solace, encouragement, and strengthening in times of hardship, often signifying God’s presence and support.

To comfort someone, we need to listen to them, to show empathy and sympathy, be kind and supportive and offer help, we need to let them know we’re there for them, we need to give them hope and strength.

Interestingly, the all-knowing internet also tells us that comfort isn’t just a feel-good word; it’s a complex psychological state. Researchers define comfort as a sense of physical or psychological ease, often characterized by feelings of relaxation and tranquility.

But enough of what others have to say on the matter. What do you think?

(from praisecharts .com)

We’ll need comfort over big hurts and little offenses. We need comfort more often than we realize We tend to tuck our offenses into the far-reaching recesses of our minds where they’ll pile up without much notice until we stumble from the weight of it all.

Does it make us stronger than our friends or the general public when we “buck up” and keep pushing through with everyday life even though we’re wounded? Or does it make us less effective in our everyday lives than we could be? Carrying grief and wounds takes tremendous strength and saps us of the energy we need to live extraordinary and successful lives.

(from Pinterest)

Just as there are different love languages, there are differing ways of giving and receiving comfort.

When I hear you’ve received bad news of any sort, my first impulse is to buy you a gift (probably a bouquet of flowers) to lift your spirit. But those flowers may be a waste of money in your opinion. When I need consoling you may feel the need to give me a hug, but that might not be so well received in the moment.

There’s a title given to the One Who knows how to comfort all of us in exactly the right way: the God of All Comfort. He wraps our hearts in their "comfy clothes".

His love can be the comfort we run from most, denying that we even need it. Maybe we think it will be too messy or that we don’t have time for comfort right now. You know, stuff needs doing, decisions need to be made, and others need our comfort…

So, it’s actually a choice on our part to walk around with the weight of all of our wounds. If you don’t feel comfortable accepting comfort right now – schedule time for it. God will meet you wherever and whenever you’re available. He longs for your company, alone time – with you!

(from delightindisorder .org)

Are you comfort - able? 

But what will His comfort LOOK like, what will it FEEL like

Let Him show you. 

       I hear He’s found of the phrase, “Come and see…”

 

“God, You hear the quiet parts of our hearts that cry, even as we wail through grief we hide from everyone else.

You tenderly treasure our tears because they're tokens of our vulnerability; our need for You. Cover us with Your holy comfort, fill us with Your peace, quench the torment that seeks us night and day.

You see the anxious trembling that grief and fear try to smother us with, suddenly and without warning.

We know that You've not filled us with a spirit of fear.

You flood us with Your Spirit of love and power and a peace-filled mind.

Move in and remodel my heart until You're completely comfortable here and free to do whatever You'd like.”

 

(from Pinterest)

“Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

-         Romans 15:5-6 NKJV

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

-         2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NKJV

“Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

-         1 Thessalonians 4:18 NKJV

One Big Step

 

(from homedepot .com)

Have you seen those baskets designed to be placed at the top or bottom of your stairs? They’re pretty clever and helpful to those of us who suffer from problems with forgetfulness. I no longer have any of these baskets. But, placed on the bottom step, you drop things in it to “remember to take upstairs when you make the trip…” And placed at the top step to easily take the contents downstairs. In theory, it should work. Unless, like me, you forget to grab the basket – SITTING THERE IN PLAIN SIGHT – and think of it when you’re already upstairs without the items you meant to bring up with you.

How often do we find ourselves lying in our bed at night, thinking [always thinking] of the concerns of the day? The very same things we knew we should turn over to God but didn’t. Maybe we started to, we “put them in the basket” but didn’t get around to taking the basket upstairs and handing it over to God. Maybe we didn’t even get around to dropping them in the basket! Perhaps we simply stuffed them in the pocket of our mind thinking we’d drop them in the basket the next time we passed by.

(from Amazon .com)

And there we are, lying there in bed when the rest of the house is quiet, and our mind is outrageously noisy.

Remembering to take my books upstairs or to bring my teacup from last night down the stairs is one thing. But taking the troubles of the day, or even worse, the troubles of tomorrow to bed with me can bring no good. They cause my mattress to feel lumpy and my pillow to look flat and the room temperature to seem too hot or too cold. Trouble begets trouble.

Tossing and turning as the troubles roll over in my mind never brings solutions. Surely if it did, I’d forget that solution before my first dream was over.

There is a perfect place for those troubles, in the safe keeping of our Lord. Yet we either forget to drop them there, or we put off doing so. We somehow instantly get busier and other concerns get in our way and we don’t notice until bedtime.

Sometimes, we’re even hesitant to leave them there because secretly, we’re afraid He won’t do anything constructive with them. In that case, it’s simply that we don’t trust Him.

Admitting that can be hard. We WANT to trust Him. We know that He’s trustworthy. Yet we hold back. Giving these troubles or burdens to God immediately will go a long way in helping us to sleep better every night.

(from Amazon .com)

We have stepdaughters, stepfathers, and step stools, so maybe it’s time to grab a step-basket, in our minds if nowhere else.

Then, of course, remember to use it and use it quickly!

The more quickly we give our troubles to God, the more likely we’ll see what He does with them, which will help us to trust Him better with each next burden.

Building trust is key.

When we give our trust too freely, too quickly, we’re often disappointed and lose that trust. Watching what someone does with the things we entrust to them, whether secrets or possessions, we learn whether we can truly trust them or not.

Your step-basket may look more like a journal. If you’re like me, you have more notebooks and journals than you’ll admit to, and the one you need is never handy. So, I’ve begun taking notes on the notepad app on my phone. Try it!

Write down your troubles the moment they come to mind and hand them over to God quickly, where they can be dealt with best! If you’re “too busy” which, let’s face it, we all are from time to time, keep that journal on your bedstand. Better to give it to God quickly but later is better than never. Eventually you can read back over that journal and see all the wonderful things God did with your “problems”.

(from Pinterest .com)

Do you have a story for me about giving something to God quickly vs not giving it to Him at all?

Exploring My Discoveries

(picture from fity .club)

I know I’m not even sure where to begin writing today. It seems like there’s so much to put together and make sense of that it’s a bit overwhelming. The fact that maybe it WON’T make logical sense to me looms on the horizon of my mind, as well.

One thing is clear, God is in this with me. I recently wrote about breakthroughs not yet wrapping my head around the reality of my own pending breakthroughs. Breaking through to what’s on the other side of the wall I’m standing in front of should not be a scary or intimidating thing, yet I find myself trembling at the thought of what I don’t yet see. In theory, the very next thing I see at any given moment could be something I’ve never seen before. Or – it could be something I see every day but, in a brand-new light, a light that will change my perspective and the course of my daily life. Am I ready for that change? Whether it’s a baby step or a leap of faith, I’m not as good with change as I used to be. I’m rather settled in my ways now. I’m comfortable. While that might mean wearing sweatpants more than dress slacks these days, it might also be a place where I’ve become far too complacent. Life shouldn’t just be endured, but lived fully every day. Every day should include some exploration, acquiring new knowledge and wisdom, operating in new understanding of the mysteries of God. One of my favorite Bible verses reads:

“And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” – 1 Timothy 3:16 KJV

God wants us constantly exploring Who He is – and Who He is to us!

(picture from ncte .org)

While talking with a few people of another denomination (religion, actually), they insisted they were right about all things biblical, and that the Bible could be understood with logic. Well, the Bible itself states that’s not correct.

“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” – 1 Corinthians 2:14 KJV

These “friends” came by weekly to share their convictions and beliefs with me. I was a new Christian and didn’t know the Word well yet, but God brought my attention to the verse in Timothy, and I loved it immediately. I wrote it out in fancy print on a piece of cardboard and taped it on the inside of the front window where anyone approaching my front door could see it. When my friends came by the next week, I watched from my living room as they stopped in front of the homemade sign and read it. They didn’t even bother coming to my door, they turned around and walked away, never to be seen again. I knew I couldn’t “argue scripture” with them, I didn’t know it well yet myself. God in His great love for me surely didn’t want to see me drawn away from His incredible Truth so quickly after coming into relationship with Him, and with a simple poster protected me from the lies of the enemy. Now I can hold my own, but then I was just a babe in Christ.

(picture from wallpaperflare .com)

God’s knowledge and our logic come from opposing starting points. He’s surrounded us with great mysteries to delve into, discovering new things all the time. A verse can speak to me on one level today and tomorrow it can open up a whole new revelation, as I continue to renew my mind by the Word of God. He doesn’t want us to conform to this world and its wisdom, He has greater plans for us than what the world can impart to us. But He will use the world He created to teach us all the marvelous mysteries of Life.

By the way, did you know that when we speak of Life, we are speaking of Jesus Himself? Often, I hear people discussing how tough life can be. It kind of makes me shudder on the inside. Life is not hard. Life isn’t scary or difficult at all. Circumstances can be tough, hard, scary and a wealth of other things, especially if we don’t know yet Jesus. But Life – no Life is GOOD.

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” – John 14:6 KJV

Jesus IS Life. Some may find it odd that I capitalize the word Life, now you know why. He IS Life. He’s my Life, but so much more. He’s Life itself.

(picture from wallpaperaccess .com)

While I embark on the upcoming changes to my little world, pray in agreement with me if you will, that I walk boldly with God and embrace all that He has for me. I’ll pray the same for you.

What walls are you standing in front of right now? What’s holding you back?

Perceptions and Misinformation

 

(from medicaldaily .com)

The way I saw it then must be completely different from the way I look at it now. I’ve changed glasses so many times, each pair with new lenses. Aging will do that to you.

Perhaps, as we get older, forgetfulness can be a blessing. I don’t think I really remember how things came together and fell apart in my childhood. That was so very long ago.

How a child understands, and processes things varies with the world they see and how they see it, sometimes based on how they are told to see things. It’s crazy to think that sometimes we process what we’re seeing through the lens of how we think we’re supposed to see it because that’s how we are told it works.

Maybe it was unintentional, perhaps we just overheard something or picked it up from a television show, or even in a song like, “Big Girls Don’t Cry” – a classic song we can still hear echo through our minds.

Or maybe we have vivid memories of hearing the phrase, “Do you want me to give you something to cry about?”

Maybe we recall a scene from a movie where we saw a girl painfully stifling her tears, insisting that she cannot show weakness, vowing she’ll “never let them see her cry”.

(from parentingwithunderstanding .com)

We may not even remember where we learned some of the silly notions we still keep filed away in our minds.

Ideas such as these may have taught us that tears equate to weakness (which is so far from the truth it’s mindboggling).

We may also have learned that it’s prudent not to cry, or that people like us better when we don’t cry.

It’s easy for busy and distracted adults to, intentionally or not, manipulate young children, especially those who are too eager to please those around them. Children often learn to do this to each other, as well, most likely not realizing what they’re doing – but that it somehow makes their lives “easier”.

There are outcomes to falling for something that isn’t true. Sometimes they’re unintended consequences. Other times, they are very intentional plots of deception.

For example, as manipulated children become adults, we’re often trapped in the mindset that pleasing others is more important than learning to establish healthy boundaries.  The very people who helped solidify those dominating thoughts and feelings certainly have no healthy boundaries of their own, whether they realize it or not.

No doubt, I’ve mentioned that I often find myself exploring “the lies we believe”. It fascinates and frustrates me that our minds can believe things that we should or could know are not true, or that we decide that something is true based on a lie or misinformation.

(from linkedin .com)

Big girls do cry.

It can be fear, pride or stubborn determination that keeps us from showing weakness or vulnerability.

It may make us “easier to deal with” when we don’t cry, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong to cry under any circumstances.

There are plenty of great reasons to cry, whether they’re tears of joy or tears of sorrow.

Tears have much value.

“…You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” – Psalm 56:9 NLT

Crying is just the example I’ve used to make my point. I could have used a myriad of other examples.

(from stir.ac.uk)

My point to ponder today is this, what are we believing that isn’t actually true?

While we grow up and mature, we uncover some of these things incidentally. But to discover others, we must purposefully look.

What examples can you share?

(from youtube .com)

Trusting You'll Breakthrough

(picture from startcaving .com)

I believe that “breakthrough” is simply the breaking down of the walls that separate us from God's perfect will in our lives. I also believe the bricks of those walls are made of the lies we believe.

Imagine being trapped in a mine cave-in, a wall of rubble stands between you and your freedom. From inside you feel helpless until you recognize you're not alone. Your best friend, your most trustworthy friend, is there showing you which rocks to push and which to pull to prevent further cave-in and make a hole in the wall. This is Jesus revealing the lies in each rock. We can see the rock (the lie) but choose not to move it, perhaps out of fear - because it LOOKS like moving that one will cause the rest to come tumbling down on you.

We get to choose to listen to His voice or fall back on our own wisdom, becoming our own voice of authority; the voice that failed us in the beginning.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.” (NLT)

“Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him, and He will make your paths straight and smooth [removing obstacles that block your way]. (AMP)

(picture from mediqus .com)

When we listen and obey, we remove one rock at a time, or rocks tumble away because we obediently removed the right one. Aha moment! “Sonlight” bursts through the darkness! (God has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.  1 Peter 2:9 ) Fresh air comes through the passageway providing refreshing, rejuvenation and hope.

Can we trust our friend with the next few rocks? One hole in the wall won't lead to freedom unless we make that hole big enough to pass through. With refreshing and new hope, we are encouraged to push or pull the next rock He points to. If we stay with it, the hole will eventually become big enough to make our way through. Sometimes, God may even instruct us to make that breakthrough passable to all who come that way, removing even more of the rocks as we make our way to freedom.

We might be able to exist in the cave with our friend, Jesus. But He wants to take us all the way out of the cave, into His glorious creation - physical AND spiritual. There's so much we haven't even seen or been exposed to yet.

If you’ve been in the cave a while, it’s familiar. Familiarity can be sneaky because we're already accustomed to our compromised position.

(picture from cftministry .com)

When Peter stepped out of the familiarity of his boat (that was already sinking) into the fiercely wind-whipped waters in obedience to Jesus calling him to Himself (which looked impossible to do), where was Peter safer? In the boat that was going down, or stepping out in faith, even though this was something he’d never done before? He’d never seen anyone walk on water – till then.

Jesus didn't build a sturdy bridge for Peter to step onto; He needed Peter to trust Him.

What walls do you need to breakthrough today? Will you trust Him?

It might require doing something you’ve never done before….

The Excellence of the Guard; My Conclusion

(picture from pinterest .com)

Our hearts hold untold treasures. Go ahead, try to list them. That's sure to renew your joy!

We’ve also stored plenty of memories in there; we’ve buried feelings and emotions there.

How can we guard it with excellency?

God said to “Guard your heart above all else,” Why? “for it determines the course of your life.” – Proverbs 4:23 NLT

He doesn’t tell us to do anything we’re not able to do – with Him.

I believe our hearts are that hidden place where our spirit and soul come together; the place where God lives, if we let Him. Just as we have a triune God, we are triune beings. We ARE spirit, the part of us that is redeemed from the sin of the world; the part that joins into union with God Himself. We HAVE a soul (our mind, our will and our emotions) and we LIVE IN our body till we leave this world. When we come to Christ and invite Him to live in our heart, it involves submitting ourselves to Him completely. Many of us want God to save us from hell’s destruction after we leave this world but have absolutely no desire to become one with Him and submit the smallness of our humanity to the only all-knowing, all-powerful, omnipresent God.

Whether we know Jesus or not, we can guard our minds. We can be disciplined and hyper-vigilant about what we take in, at least for a while. We can stive to watch wholesome entertainment, we can study certain topics while deliberately avoiding others. We can limit who and what we surround ourselves with.  But plenty of garbage gets past us. We’d have to live alone on a deserted island to not get input from others. That’s not where we live.

(picture from pinterest .com)

Whether we know Jesus or not, we can guard our bodies, though few of us have the discipline or perhaps resources to do so. Some are very determined to have healthy bodies. We do the best we can with what we have. But we all have unwelcome input that makes its way into our bodies, via our food or the air we breathe or the water we drink. To not get that input, we’d again have to live on that island and now it would have to be an island that could provide for healthy body requirements.

Only when we DO know Jesus are we supernaturally empowered to adequately guard our heart. That power comes from being united with the source of ALL power. By guarding our hearts, we become better equipped to guard our soul and our body.

The ONLY way to guard our heart is to follow biblical instruction, given to us in Romans 12:1-2 (NIV). “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

This means submitting ourselves to God, renewing our minds (spending time with God and His Word) and putting our hearts in His hands. Does doing this mean we will never suffer attacks? No, we’re promised attacks. But the more quality time we spend in His Word, the more easily we’ll recognize the assaults the god of this world and come against them. With God, we are the most excellent of the Guard.

(picture from youtube .com)

With God living on the inside of us and being joined together with us in the most intimate way possible, we can tap into His power. When we do OUR best, we weary ourselves. There’s so much to pay attention to around us. All our energy is consumed by constantly being on guard. We lose our creative energy and abilities to glorify God. By joining WITH GOD, we become capable of guarding our hearts, (where our being comes together), and doing it well. We are too weak to do it without Him and the struggle will make us weaker. The excellence of the Guard comes only through relationship with the God Who created our heart in the first place.