by Sharon O | Mar 4, 2010 | Uncategorized
Psalm 101: 2 (English Standard Version)
I will walk with integrity of heart within my house;
What a statement, and what a test.
In our homes, we are private.
No one knows what we do but us and those who we live with.
Integrity;
Dictionary.com says:
1. adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.
2. the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished: preserve integrity
3. a sound, unimpaired, or perfect condition:
The steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code a sense of “uncorrupted virtue”.
When the Psalmist says, I will walk with integrity in my home, it was a cry for a heart condition.
An ultimate personal test.
Where no one sees, no one observes, no one participates, but us.
As Christians we are accountable to ourselves and our God, for our integrity.
It is a choice.
What we read, what we watch on TV, what we subscribe to, what we view on the computer, even what we say to each other, it is all a part of the integrity process.
In our hearts..
yes in our hearts. It is a heart choice.
In our homes, in our families.
May we be true to the strict adherence of virtue and truth, so we may lead a life of integrity.
by Sharon O | Mar 3, 2010 | Uncategorized
I love the Psalms.
Psalm 90: vs 12
Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.
vs. 14
Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives.
vs. 15
Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery! Replace the evil years with good.
Isn’t it just awesome, that God delights in teaching us new awareness’s,
so we can worship Him.
I love the thought of rising in the morning with singing.
I love the idea that ‘HE’ can satisfy us the way nothing else can, and the verse says ‘every morning’ so it is continual.
Daily growing in wisdom and love.
Teaching us that life is precious.
I challenge us today.
To open up the Psalms and reach into them, for encouragement, answers, direction, hope and growth.
In that process may we all become more wise, as we realize every day is a gift.
Our choice is how we open it and respond.
by Sharon O | Mar 2, 2010 | Uncategorized
“You have made us for yourself Oh Lord, Our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
St. Augustine
As the Lord has been pressing me forward to share the journeys of brokenness that I had to walk through. He reminded me of something I had written down. I am not really sure where I got it from, a book or message from our Pastor, or a ladies meeting? “people won’t believe your message, until they know you are real.”
Reminding me of the childhood story, The Velveteen Rabbit.
The questions between the Skin horse and the rabbit in the nursery full of toys and blankets and childhood magic. Read with me:
“For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like Skin Horse understood all about it.”
“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were laying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having things that go buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”
“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”
“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.
“Sometimes.” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful.
“When you are real you don’t mind being hurt.”
“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or a bit by bit?”
“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse.
“You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
“I suppose you are real?” said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled.
“The Boy’s Uncle made me Real.” he said. “That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can’t become unreal again. It lasts for always.”
I believe the only way to be real is to be transparent and open.
Allowing others to see us and love us, in and through our brokenness.
As the Lord dislodged the pain that I carried, my ‘real self’ began to emerge.
His love saturated my heart and the woundedness of my soul.
I could never go back, to where I was or who I was.
Just as the Rabbit said. When we know He loves us.
It frees us to be, ‘who we were meant to be’.
The restless heart that was within me for most of my young life, could only be filled and calmed by the Love of God.
Our Pastor once said; “It is not knowing about Jesus, it is understanding through Him.
Fully grasping His love for Us.”
So God is showing me through this new transition of my life, the need to allow Him to help me to become who I was created to be. If it is through my writing that I am able to bless others.
Then I will write. If it is in speaking and sharing my story. Then I will do that also.
He will give me the strength and the words when the time is right.
The Lord said,”I will show up in your midst, my presence will be upon you, as you follow me and encourage others.”
Psalm 101:1-3 “I will sing of your Love and justice Lord. I will praise you with songs. I will be careful to live a blameless life – when will you come help me?
I will lead a life of integrity in my own home.” vs 6: “I will search for faithful people to be my companions”.
Psalm 95: 1 The psalmist says :”Come, let us Bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for HE is God. We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care. If only you would listen to his voice today!”
I encourage us all… as we journey through this thing called life, may we earnestly seek to listen to his voice. We must stop, and listen, for it is often in the stillness of the moment when He will whisper.
by Sharon O | Mar 1, 2010 | Uncategorized
Our pastor challenged us yesterday.
It was awesome. Thought provoking.
He talked about Shame.
Just the very sound of the word, brings feelings.
Dictionary.com says it is the arising of painful feelings, brought on by yourself or others, dishonorable, disgrace, improper or ridiculous.
It is an internal feeling inside our heart, rather than an external feeling.
It is deep. A core truth that we have chosen to believe.
I am bad and unlovable.
Pastor said; shame is not guilt.
Shame is more about who you are, not what you did, it is personal.
Guilt is more action, it is embarrassment or a revelation of ‘I did wrong, I am sorry’.
Guilt is freeing, a way to repent and start over.
Shame says, ‘I am wrong, I am not worthy, there is no hope’.
He talked about Moses, when he was on the mountain receiving the ten commandments from God, he also received a ‘glowing’ countenance. It was radiant, bright.
When he walked away from the presence of God, the glow went away. Moses put a veil over his face so the ‘people’ couldn’t see the change.
Exodus 34:27-30 the story is told, how Moses covered his face, over and over, to cover the shame of the ‘dimming’ glow.
Pastor said ‘how is that different than what we do with each other’?
We cover ‘ourselves’ so others cannot see.
The real ME.
We hide.
We sometimes cover more than just our face. He showed the visual of ‘covering our entire body’, so others cannot see the real ‘inside self’ of who we are, as he wrapped himself in a dark piece of cloth.
When I began my recovery journey, I was hesitant to say, ‘I am in counseling’.
Why? I am not sure, maybe it was a concern about ‘what would others think?’. Maybe I was hiding, my truth so I didn’t appear less ‘together’, than what I was presenting. Maybe I didn’t want to explain why?
I don’t know, but I do know now, as I am more mature in the process. I find it to be as valuable as going to the dentist or doctor. It is a point of ‘checking in’… is my health OK? am I thinking clearly?
Recent news has stirred me.
I find it fascinating and sad this weekend to see on the Internet and news. The headline:
Marie Osmond devastated by her son’s death.
Why would that even appear in the news?
Wouldn’t that be normal to be devastated as a mother, as the news came to you, that your child is now gone?
Why would they be ‘surprised?’ Why is that even worth mentioning or writing about?
Then they go on and say, ‘he fought a life long battle with depression, and wrote about it in a letter which he left behind’. Then they write about her divorces and how he was one of her 5 adopted children. Then they go on to tell how he had been in a rehabilitation facility and how she as a mom, did not want to discuss or disclose the reason why.
I just couldn’t believe what I was reading and hearing. So now you have a grieving family, and you place on them the ‘shame’, that you should have loved more deeply or more intensely.
It was like they were saying, ‘she saw his pain and couldn’t fix it’.
The end result was ‘his shame, of who he was’ and he committed suicide.
How horrible. How awful. How devastating to all who are involved and knew him.
I pray we do not assume it was a mothers love, or lack of it, that caused the hurt in his heart.
I pray that we stop the talking and pray for her and her family.
Shame probably did play a role in his heart, to do something that drastic.
The shame of ‘who he was’ that he couldn’t over come.
The depression and feelings that would not leave.
It was a heart hurt.
Suicide is never the answer, there is always hope when we look deeply for it.
God in your wisdom and mercy, I pray that we as a people never say cruel or mean things to others in their deepest ‘grief’ moments.
The media should feel ‘guilt’ over what they said. The media is wrong.
I don’t know Marie Osmond, but I would guess she is a mother who loved with a mothers heart. We as a people need to be thoughtful and pray for her. The words, shame, and suicide are ‘like salt and pepper’. They so often go together.
I pray, I pray, for the these families right now.
I also pray the media will respect them and leave them alone. It is a very sad thing.
This is just ‘something for us to think about’ today, as we move into a new week.
by Sharon O | Feb 26, 2010 | Uncategorized
Psalm 18:14
The human spirit can endure a sick body, but who can bear a crushed spirit.
The most difficult part of this week has been for me,
the opening up of parts of my heart and becoming transparent.
I didn’t plan on sharing about ‘me’ or my journey.
The Lord kept pressing and as a flashlight in a darkened room,
he brought close to me the words to share.
Illuminating them so I could see them for what they were.
A story.
Maybe to help someone.
Maybe to help me.
Candid words, openly sharing secrets that have been stored so deeply.
Not all secrets can be hidden forever.
Not all secrets can be shared, nor should they be.
When our dad left, our world was changed by one decision.
How does one deal with a dad who just walks away?
Abandonment was one of the first ‘real deep’ wounds given to our hearts.
Little children do not know what to do with it.
So they internalize that somehow; maybe if I had not been so bad, maybe if I had more value or worth, or been more funny or cute.
He would have stayed.
No, the reality as it has been explained to me in recovery and counselors offices.
It wasn’t about the children.
It rarely is.
Adults make choices that children have to live with.
We were 5, 7 and 9. Forced to be responsible for ourselves.
Little children who should have been playing carefree.
Now had burdens to carry.
The years progressed into more burdens. More weight.
In my 20’s and 30’s my body broke down after carrying inside, so much for so long.
My illness was mostly realizing the weight of our lives as children growing up,
in a crazy jumbled world.
My heart was not fine, and my body was breaking down
from deep grief never addressed.
I did not know yet, how the truth was crushing my spirit.
The doctors thought I had lupus a serious auto immune disease.
I would go into shock.
I had massive body pain.
I became depressed. I became very ill.
I felt like I was falling into a deep hole.
Full of darkness and hollow spaces.
It was frightening.
I even had meningitis. Tests after tests, wore me down.
During all this I had my own children to care for.
Life kept moving forward and the Lord kept challenging me.
The body remembers way before the mind does.
Memories began to flood me.
Like a dam full of tumultuous water, the power of it knocked me down.
I couldn’t stop it and I was down for many years.
As I began to rise, slowly and steadily, with the help of a marvelous counselor.
I saw purpose through the pain.
I didn’t question. I just trusted.
The sickness was a spiritual one. A heart hurt by a deep grief.
A very deep pain in my heart, that God could not heal, until it was seen by me and addressed.
I had to say it for what it was and allow Him to restore me.
God is a God of restoration and healing.
He brought beauty from the ashes, and joy from my mourning.
As I mentioned before, our dad is still alive and living with our mother.
I asked my counselor one time, “What impact will it be for me, when he is gone forever?” and he said to me with tears in his eyes, “You will miss what you never had, and can never have for those years are gone. You were not protected by your parents and that is a huge loss for any child”. I am not parent bashing. I am just saying the truth for what it was.
I have tightly guarded my heart for years not knowing it was a scriptural concept.
There was a purpose for that.
The Lord was protecting me.
So that the core of who I was, would not be destroyed in the process of all the pain put upon us.
God is a God who restores and brings wholeness and purpose to those who follow him.
So we can have a future and a hope.
Psalm 4:29 Guard your heart above all else for it determines the course of your life.
I hope you find this encouraging.
My desire has not been to talk about my ‘life’ so much, that I cannot minister or give hope to someone else.
The Lord through this process said to me “in order for them to be helped, they must know you have walked the road yourself”.
As I see it, it is something for us to think about.
We don’t appreciate the high places until we acknowledge and understand the low places we have been.
God bless you in your journey as you move forward with transparency and courage.
Let us encourage each other always.
by Sharon O | Feb 25, 2010 | Uncategorized
“A kind word can be as refreshing as a spring shower”
Last night when I was opening up a new sour cream container for our taco’s,
I noticed this little message on the inside label that sealed the contents.
How odd I thought, to see a ‘wonderful little blessing’ on a sour cream container.
We can find encouragement in the most unique and unexpected places.
If we look and pay attention.
Because of the ‘not so nice words’ I had as a child growing up,
it has been my goal to have kind words close to me most of the time.
It is just as easy to say something nice, as it is to say something mean.
Kindness is like a gift, to unwrap and behold its power, to ‘soften’ a hardened heart.
Proverbs 16:24: Kind words are like honey – sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.
When I was working full time at a pharmacy there was an senior gentleman who would often come in.
He was harsh and very rough around the edges.
I remember the first time I met him I said to him as he was leaving,
“Have a nice day” and he snapped back to me with his
snarly deep voice, “what is left of it”.
I quickly thought, wow you should be glad you have any days to be thankful about.
At age 80+ who knows how long he had left. I often think of him and his “what’s left of it comment”.
Is that similar to the glass half full or the glass half empty concept?
It is an attitude.
2 Corinthians 6:1 (a new testament book of the Bible)
As God’s partners, we beg you to not accept this marvelous gift of God’s kindness
then ignore it.
How often have we been given a gift, and we put it away to ignore it
and never enjoy it as the giver intended us to do.
I was continually kind to the old man in the pharmacy each time he came in to purchase something. He eventually became kind to me.
It took time. I had to be patient.
Somehow I hoped that my ‘words’ would touch him
in the roughest place of his heart, and maybe he would “hear himself”.
Perhaps he did.
I won’t ever know.
But what I do know is kindness is something we all can do.
It is another one of those life choices we can make.
Proverbs 15:23 Everyone enjoys a fitting reply, it is wonderful to say the right thing at the right time.
Sometimes telling someone to have a nice day, is JUST what they have been waiting to hear.
by Sharon O | Feb 23, 2010 | Uncategorized
Following up on yesterdays writing.
Around 16-18 years ago, my mom and dad remarried.
I can’t really remember what year it was.
We weren’t invited to the ‘wedding’.
It was a strange and bizarre moment for me.
I was fascinated by the fact, that old age would bring them around each other.
Also interested in why, they would actually want to live in the same house again.
They seem to be happy now.
She is in her late 70’s he is in his early 80’s.
Familiarity seemed to be the reason they reunited. (dictionary.com says: the state of being familiar; friendly relationship; close acquaintance; intimacy)
Growing old alone is often a sad and empty place for seniors.
They knew each other, they had children and grand children together.
It was a natural choice for them.
It was a marriage out of convenience, and maybe a few other motives I won’t go into.
At least now with them being together.
I don’t have to wonder or worry about, where he is or whether he is alive or not.
I know where he lives and know how to find him.
I am not that close to either one of them. It is ok.
When we visit, it is a visit.
A slight tapping into a place in the past.
There have been many years of recovery and growth.
God is still working on my heart.
When I ask.
Why did all the suffering have to happen?
Just for them to reunite and be together in their old age?
There is no answer.
I just have to trust.
God is a God of restoration.
It can be a broken heart, or a broken marriage.
He restores what was broken and puts it back together in his time.
We just have to trust in the process.
by Sharon O | Feb 22, 2010 | Uncategorized
Jeremiah 29:11 vs – For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare (peace) and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
——————————————————-
Today is my mothers birthday.
The relationship between my mother and I has been long, painful, full of misunderstandings and woundedness.
It was not a ‘love’ relationship.
She would say ‘she loved’ and maybe she did, in the only way she knew how.
At a young age our dad left, and after that she was the only caretaker.
Not fully comprehending her responsibility, she checked out too, many times.
Responsibilities and concerns dumped on us,
like a load waiting for the laundry.
We tried to walk around them, ignore them, yet they still stayed.
We were three little girls, left to care for each other.
Like the story of the three little kittens without any mittens,
only we had no mother.
We did the best we could with limited abilities.
As a child, understanding why your world is broken, is not an easy thing to grasp.
Immaturity gets in the way.
The needs of a young heart, lacking skill.
To make sense of what was senseless.
Many times the choices she made for us, were not good.
We were the innocent in the way of adult decisions.
I don’t want to be mommy bashing or terribly negative.
What I will say is this; the world we grew up in was not safe, was not warm, was not comforting.
There was no rescuer.
Even though the ‘house we lived in’ was clean and tidy and perfect.
We had no ‘home’.
As the years progressed, the safety continued to be in question.
More decisions made by her, left us in harms way, left us to choose, who we will be protecting.
When a child is raised in a trauma filled household. The world is different.
I remember hanging out with ‘friends’ who had a mother and father, and daydreamed what that would look and feel like.
It was a strange fantasy.
I really had no concept of ‘family’ other than my sisters.
Oh we had grandma’s, but they were distant and unapproachable.
It was our journey.
Together, as sisters.
The relationship with my mother has been an experience, full of winding trails and hidden stories.
The Lord told me one day, “I am taking you on a journey, not too different from a backpacking trip or a mountain climbing experience.
I will heal you, as you let me see what is hidden and buried, under the rubble and rock in your heart. I am preparing you for a journey. I am not sure how long it will take, we are not going to care about that.
What we are going to care about, is your healing.”
As I backpacked and journeyed with the Lord, (after I found him in my youth) without a compass or map, he would draw me near to the painful places of my heart.
The exploration of years never spoken and shared.
The stones were not moved, without us moving them together.
The long paths to dark and hidden places, were not easy or kind.
It was treacherous just like a mountain climbing trip.
The backpack I wore, felt so heavy, it weighted down my spirit many times.
My body raging with pain,
my heart breaking every time I saw,
the truth for what it was.
Jagged stones, cutting into my soul, leaving woundedness, and scars.
The truth was full of pain and sorrow.
God said to me, “This journey is necessary for you, so I can take you where I want in your future”.
In time, I began to understand, that without the deep deep valleys,
I would not value the high places.
My walk with the Lord began when I was 15 or 16 years old.
I didn’t understand Love, so when they said ‘Jesus loves you’, I said ‘oh that means he wants something from me’, or ‘he will leave’.
For My experience with ‘love’ was adhered to other experiences.
It was not easy for me, yet at the same time it was very easy for me.
To accept a ‘father who would love me unconditionally’.
I didn’t have to be perfect.
I understood his ‘kindness’ not really knowing why.
I understood, his safety and actually trusted it.
The first time I trusted anything.
As I trusted …He began to heal… the hole in my heart.
He drew me in.
Reaching into the deepest darkest places of my soul, and
whispered to me,
‘I have loved you’.
You are important to me.
Rest here, and listen as I show you… you were not ever alone.
He drew me in as he showed me the reel to reel movies of long ago.
Rest here, and listen….pulling me closer and closer, until I would reach out for him.
Jeremiah 31:3 – The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: I have loved you with an ever lasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.
I don’t have to try to understand my past.
I heard a speaker one day say, “Instead of writing off our past, or discounting it, we should authenticate the role it has played in our life.”
I am who I am today, because of my past.
My husband has often said to me, “I wish I had a testimony, a story like yours,”
and I say back to him, “I would rather to have had, a family like yours, and no testimony to share.”
God is the God who heals broken hearts, and He healed me.
The speaker said, “My life experiences have defined me. Who I am and who I will become.”
Because of my story:
I can walk alongside wounded people and really truly understand.
Because of my story:
I can be a child advocate and can say. I was there too, I understand the sad heart.
Because of my story:
I can be a better mother and grandmother.
Because of my story:
I understand the tears of abandonment and abuse.
Because of my story:
I know what a broken spirit is.
I am not angry or embittered, because of what I went through.
I am beginning to understand.
GOD knew I would become a whole person, able to serve him, with a purpose.
He allowed some difficult things to take place.
It took me a long time, to understand it.
How could he allow it? why would he?
My past has purpose and there is meaning to my story.
Without the pain, the story would be different.
I met my husband in high school and we married when I was 18.
A young bride trying to do her best to be and do what was foreign to her. We have been married for 36 years. The days have been filled with many ups and downs.
We forged together and became a family.
Jeremiah 2:2
“I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through land not sown.”
The back packing experience between God and I, was necessary.
It was hard. It was rough.
It is continual at times.
Once in a while he will say to me in a very quiet way;
“I need to walk with you again. There is more to discover”.
The journey between my mother and I continues.
She is still living. Still the same person only older.
I can see her now as an elderly aging lady, kind of like my neighbor.
NOT the mommy I grew up with.
Maturity tells me, “because of her inability to be in relationship, with anyone.
You never would have received, what you needed as a child”.
Just as our dad checked out. She did too.
I am not holding it over her head anymore. I can talk to her, as an elderly lady and keep the ‘feelings’ away.
What the enemy meant for bad, or destruction. God made it for good.
Today is my mothers birthday.
I hope she has many more. She deserves to have a peaceful calm life in her old age.
Thank you God for saving me and keeping the angels close.
Thank you for protecting me, as I developed as a baby when she carried me, when she had German measles and I should have been injured.
Psalm 139 tells me you loved me before I was known.
You had a purpose, before I took my first breath.
You were there protecting me, all the days of my life.
You are a God who saves, who heals and who loves.
You are a God who I love to journey with.
Help me always to be willing to go.
When you say to me, “there is more to discover, come walk with me.”
by Sharon O | Feb 20, 2010 | Uncategorized
Today’s reading is from Philippians 4:4-8
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Let your gentleness be evident to all.
The Lord is near.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
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So it is telling us to rejoice in the Lord always. Does that mean ‘always’? Through the good and the bad? How do we do it?
Recently, I went through an intense waiting season for 16 weeks, to see if I was going to be eligible for unemployment. I even had a hearing with a judge, which was nerve wracking and anxiety producing. I prayed, others prayed, and we waited. I felt confident I did a good job representing myself.
The answer was NO.
So I am told in this passage to rejoice always, even when the answer is no.
When the questions remain unanswered.
When I feel like I am not heard, and my heart is confused.
When Life is not fair.
I am told to rejoice. Not once but twice.
So the writer is making a point. REJOICE.
When your heart is hurt, even when you feel unappreciated or misunderstood. REJOICE.
It is a choice. That is how we do it, we choose.
We take action with our hearts to rejoice.
Then the writer says, in the midst of your rejoicing, let your gentleness be evident, to all around you.
Our gentleness, even when we want to be angry or not so pleasant, our gentleness is to be observed by all, who are watching and walking the journey with us.
Just as we choose to worship, we choose to
REJOICE.
Then he reminds us ‘The Lord is near’.
Now I know in my heart if the Lord is near, rejoicing is a reaction we all will have.
We will naturally move into worship towards our God.
So is he telling us to remember ‘The Lord is near’.
To remind us,
you don’t walk this path of life alone.
That is a wonderful reminder that He doesn’t leave us, even when we may feel like he did.
The Lord is near.
Then the writer moves to encourage us.
To be not anxious. Be prayerful. Be thankful.
The end result will be PEACE. A peace that we won’t understand, can’t understand because it is from God.
Read it again with me.
“The peace of God, which is beyond our understanding, will guard our hearts and our minds if we walk in the presence of Christ Jesus.”
He will guard our hearts. So when we are wounded or attacked we will stay safe. The core of who we are, our heart condition, will stay clear and focused, even when we don’t understand.
The answer might be no, but IF we walk.. in the presence of Jesus He protects our hearts and our minds. He protects us.
Isn’t that an awesome promise?
The rest of this chapter continues the thought.
Vs 8, “Finally brothers (and sisters), whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practise. And the God of peace will be with you.”
I hope this brings encouragement to you.
When life brings us struggles, and we don’t understand why it is not fair or just.
We can hold onto the the thoughts, that the Lord is near and in control.
We don’t have to understand everything.
We just have to Trust in the one who does.
by Sharon O | Feb 18, 2010 | Uncategorized
Romans 12:1 (The message) vs 1-2
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life- and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.
Instead, fix your attention on God.
You’ll be changed from the inside out.
Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
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I read this today and it stirred in me a new thought.
This is saying, give an offering of our lives to God, daily.
Dictionary.com said the meaning of offering is : ‘it is a show of intention.’
So this means we intentionally offer our lives to the Lord. Intentionally.
Dictionary. com said ‘it means, deliberately or willfully, done with intention or on purpose, by choice.’
So we choose to give all that we do, to the glory of God.
Is that possible always? Some days are not so good. We all have bad days, I certainly do.
The verse says to us “you will be changed from the inside out.”
As we choose to fix our attention and heart towards God, and embrace what HE wants for our lives, we grow and we change.
We become mature in our thinking.
We become discerning in the ways of our world and culture.
Yes we have to live here, yes we have to work and do every day things, the challenge for us, is to decide what do we want to embrace?
What values do we want to hold onto.
The verse said “readily recognize”, that means we choose to look with our spiritual eyes.
To recognize something, we would have to know it already. It is a place we have been before.
That would mean, we have experienced it and have a memory of it.
I see it as a ‘God moment’–Oh now I realize God is doing something here.
To be changed from the inside out is an intentional act.
Our choice to embrace the good and the bad.
As he moves us to a mature direction.
The beginning of the verse said “God helping you”. That means we ask.
We can’t receive help unless we are willing to accept it.
I think we all can relate to our ‘cultures desire’ to pull us down. Turn the TV on and you will see and hear all kinds of messages. They are not necessarily positive or good for us.
If we embrace those messages we loose the message of God.
Let us not compromise our purposeful intent. Let us allow God to change us from the inside out. So we can be strong in his word, spirit, and truth.
May we encourage each other always, as we allow God to bring out the best in us.
