What I have Learned Over the Past Several Weeks

ABIDE

Stay in relationship with Him & with others even when it feels painful and hard

REPENT

Simply repent of my stubbornness, when I don’t know how plead with God to be broken

BELIEVE

Know without a doubt I am loved by Him and by others and that they both want good for me

DREAM

See beyond today and when I can’t get past today let others dream for/with me

SACRIFICE

Be willing to give up something today in order to have something better tomorrow

STRETCH

Risk taking one step at a time even when it feels out of my comfort zone

Refocus on Him

"Go gently through this day, keeping your eyes on Me. I will open up the way before you, as you take steps of trust along your path. Sometimes the way before you appears to be blocked. If you focus on the obstacles or search for a way around it, you will probably go off course.  Instead, focus on Me, the Shepherd who is leading you along your life-journey. Before you know it, the "obstacle" will be behind you and you will hardly know how you passed through it.

That is the secret of success in My Kingdom. Although you remain aware of the visible world around you, your primary awareness is of Me. When the road before you looks rocky, you can trust Me to get you through that rough patch. My Presence enables you to face each day with confidence."

 "Jesus Calling" Enjoying Peace in His presence, by Sarah Young

This was sent my way this morning by Sue Raymer. Isaiah 26:7 was one of the passages attached to this devotional. What is interesting is that Isaiah 26 is the chapter that contains verses that I have continually turned back to over the years. Good words for the path I am on right now. Thanks Sue for forwarding this to me.

ISAIAH 26:  In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts. Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith. You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal. He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust. Feet trample it down— the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor.

The path of the righteous is level; you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth. Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness. But when grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do not regard the majesty of the Lord. Lord, your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people and be put to shame; let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them.

Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us. Lord our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone do we honor. They are now dead, they live no more; their spirits do not rise. You punished them and brought them to ruin; you wiped out all memory of them. You have enlarged the nation, Lord; you have enlarged the nation. You have gained glory for yourself; you have extended all the borders of the land.

Lord, they came to you in their distress; when you disciplined them, they could barely whisper a prayer. As a pregnant woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pain, so were we in your presence, Lord. We were with child, we writhed in labor, but we gave birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth, and the people of the world have not come to life.

But your dead will live, Lord; their bodies will rise—let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy—your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.

Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by. See, the Lord is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed on it; the earth will conceal its slain no longer.

We is All Homeless

“I found out everybody’s different – the same kind of different as me. We’re all just regular folks walkin down the road God done set in front of us. The truth about it is, whether we is rich or poor or something in between, this earth ain’t no final restin place. So in a way, we is all homeless – just workin our way toward home”

Denver Moore, Same Kind of Different as Me

Just finished reading this book last night. A great read about how God works in the lives of those He is pursuing with little regard to the things would see as important: money, shelter, education, status, etc. I love that it is a true story, although it felt a bit cleaned up "or Christian" in places. I think true darkness would have allowed more of the true light to be seen, Still a great book overall.

Thanks to Tyler Loomis for recommending this book to Jake Poyner, whose mother Sue then recommended it to me.

Peace in the Darkness?

And when we want peace – we only need to say yes to God’s purposes.

- Ann Voskamp, A Holy Experience

This makes it sound so easy! I am trusting this is true when all around me there is only darkness, trying to keep saying, "yes" and then holding on for the ride.

Shadow Work

I am afraid that the closer you get to the Light, the more of your shadow you see. Thus truly holy people are always humble people. Christians could have been done a great service if shadow had been distinguished from sin. Sin and shadow are not the same. We were so encouraged to avoid sin that many of us instead avoided facing our shadow, and we ended up "sinning" even worse--while unaware besides! As Paul taught, "The angels of darkness must disguise themselves as angels of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14). The persona does  not choose to see evil in itself, so it always disguises it as good. The shadow self invariably presents itself as something like prudence, common sense, justice, or "I am doing this for your good," when it is actually manifesting fear, control, manipulation, or even vengeance. Did anyone ever tell you that the name Lucifer literally means the "light bearer"? The evil one always makes darkness look like light--and makes light look like darkness.

Invariably when something upsets you, and you have a strong emotional reaction out of proportion to the moment, your shadow self has just been exposed. So watch out for any overreactions or overdenials. When you notice them, notice also that the cock of St. Peter has just crowed. The reason that a mature or saintly person can be so peaceful, so accepting of self and others, is that there is not much hidden shadow self left. (There is always and forever a little more, however! No exceptions. Shadow work never stops.) This denied and disguised self takes so much energy to face, awaken, and transform all one's life that you ave little time to project your fear, anger, or unlived life onto terrorists, Muslims, socialists, liberals, conservatives, or even hate radio.

FALLING UPWARD, Richard Rohr

Interesting thoughts, especially when he talks how our shadow selves are exposed when we have an overreaction to something that has upset us. That has happens a few times recently and my focus was more on how someone else had hurt me. I wonder now what was being exposed at those times. Definitely room for more thought or perhaps a different direction of thought when it happens the next time.