Tag Archive | Significant Encounters

When You Were Seven

Jun12

This past Sunday our Community Hour Class began its summer session; “Proverbs; Making the Wise Wiser”.

During the introduction, we were each asked to answer a couple of questions around our table.

These questions were meant as kind of an ice breaker, and a lead right in to the topic we are studying.

Well they were ice breakers to be sure, but to me one of these questions was so much more.  It sent me on another journey, into the background that makes me who I am.

All of the time I have spent on introspection, I would like to think that it is all finished.

As we have spoken of in a previous post, it will not be finished as long as we are here on this earth.

However, our Merciful Father in Heaven will allow no more than we can handle at any one time.

Each journey into our background and back out again, carries with it another piece of healing, filling in the puzzle that is us.

English: Puzzle Svenska: Pussel

Have you ever been putting a puzzle together and many pieces go together quickly?

Have you noted that in the very same puzzle, some can take a long time to place?

Each of these remaining pieces needs to be inspected.

They perhaps need to be held in your hand, and placed and replaced until the proper

place is found.

If you do not enjoy the process, you probably will never finish the puzzle.

The question we were asked, seemed very innocuous at the time it was asked, but the more I reflected on it, the more I could sense that this would not be over, just because the class was.

This pieced would have to be investigated closely.

Here are the questions;

* How many lived in your home when you were seven?

* Who was the warmest person in your life at that time?

Harmless questions right?

Well as the others spoke their answers, I sought my own answer to the question “Who was the warmest person in your life at that time?”

What I soon realized, was that I could not remember even one “warm” person in my life.

Were people supposed to be warm?

The only thing that came to my mind was that during my very young life, we used to travel every Sunday to my Grampas house in the country.

While there, I would climb the apple trees in his orchard and visit the hay mow in the barn.

Life was peaceful if only for a short time.

After dinner, I can recall clearly, sitting on my Grampas lap in his big comfy chair, eating popcorn out of an enamel roasting pan and watching Lawrence Welk.

I believe that was the safest, coziest, warmest spot I ever knew.

When the show was over, it was time to load up and go home.

My heart longed for our return the following week.

Those visits came to an abrupt end, when there was a misunderstanding between my Father and my Grandpa that got me a beating that today would have landed me in the hospital and my Father in jail.

Father never apologized and Grandpa would not let him return until he did.

I never got over the fact that it was my fault that we could not visit any more.

My warm person/spot was gone.

Grampa came to town to live with us several years later, after my Grandma died, and my Mother and Father divorced, but our relationship was never the same.

I knew it was my fault.

I didn’t find out until much later why it had changed so drastically, and that was that I had grown up, and he didn’t feel that hugging or snuggling with a girl my age was proper.

So NOT my fault.

But the damage was already done.

So.  After class, I was compelled to come and go through the family photos left here by my Mom.

There I found snapshots of brief moments of family life.  Brief shots.  Brief smiles.

I also, sadly, noticed that in nearly all of the photos of that time period, the smile never went to the eyes.

That sounds strange maybe, but it was there.  I saw it.

Here are two photos I found of myself.  In one of them, my favorite one, I was four.  See the light in the eyes?  They twinkled.

I think this may have been before I found out I was defective.

See the second photo?  Age seven.  Sad smile.  No twinkle.

I’m still processing what I see.

I’m still examining every piece.

With God’s help, and His alone, I will be able to fully place the truth, and go on to another piece.

Ladies and Gentlemen; here is the truth;

YOU ARE NOT DEFECTIVE!

AND NEITHER WAS I!

Psalm 139:13-16 (NIV1984)

13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.  When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed body.  All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

 

Do not be afraid of the process.

Join me in placing the pieces where they rightly fit.

Let us hold God’s hands together,

And believe the truth.

John 8:32 (KJV)

32 And ye shall know the truth, and (He) the truth shall make you free.

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Distracted Encounters

Jun8

This is a re-run, but then, we tend to re-run.

Changing our default settings are never quite as easy as we would like.

-He invites us to encounter with Him

-So much more to see

-You fail me not

Selected words sung by Justin Rizzo –

Worship Leader for IHOP Kansas City

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Not so long ago, during a morning encounter with God, I had a sense in my heart that was so strong.

The sense was that the more I know Him, the more I love Him and that the more I love Him, the more I want to know Him.

Does this make sense to you?

You’ve been there too right?

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I heard Chuck Swindoll say once that “The problem with our being a living sacrifice is that we keep

getting up and crawling off the alter”.

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And so we find ourselves, a few months down the road wondering where the closeness went.

We still love God with our hearts, but somehow, that passion has cooled.

   ————————————–

Little by little.

Just a little shorter quiet time today.

I’ll just read this email first.

Oh wait, was that today?

Just a few more winks.

Little by little.

God gets hedged out.

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UNTIL …………………

There is some sort of tragedy or drama or event that sends us to our knees.

This is when we try again to regain what has been lost.

The closeness.

The encounter so close that we could hear His heartbeat.

At this point the distractions scream louder than ever.

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This is where I find myself now.

I want to encourage you and myself.

Be intentional.

Don’t let the distraction keep you away from what is most important.

You know.  I know.  We know.

That if we put Him first, He will always make everything else work.

In His way.  In His time.

And we know that we did our part.

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He really made our part simple.  Not easy, but simple.

Seek Him.  Love Him.  Glorify Him.

Let our light (Jesus in us) so shine before men.

Let’s do this together.

Push back at distractions and lean forward into the Presence of the Everlasting God.

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You are fearfully and wonderfully made.

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The Soundtrack of Our Lives

Jun4
Notes

Notes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

The Sound Track of Our Lives

One of the first times I heard of Graham Cooke,

was several years ago at a conference for Aglow International. 

A phrase he used was “The soundtrack of our lives”. 

Those words stuck in my heart like an old song. 

They caused me to begin an investigation of my heart and life so profound that I had no idea where those notes would take me. 

I have spent no small amount of time picking apart my “soundtrack’ and learning how to place each note firmly into the lap of Jesus. 

Here is a quick list of just some of the things I discovered along a not so quick exploration of what was underneath that “soundtrack”. 

There is only room for one headline.  

We are prone to only being able to process one trauma at a time. 

When we become assaulted with trauma after trauma,

our minds have an amazing ability to protect themselves.

If the “soundtrack” is loud enough,

we can drown out the pain and confusion of those assaults.


We convince ourselves that we are strong enough to handle it all alone.

If we cannot handle it alone,

our tendencies lean towards placing blame on others; 

If someone else would have….. then we could have….. 

If someone else didn’t ….. Then we wouldn’t ….. 

We can fill in the blanks however we need to. 

The fact remains that we aren’t facing our own trials and tribulations.

If there is no one else to blame,

we deny that there is a problem at all.

Denial sends our trauma to the deepest part of our hearts.

It hides there and plays quietly over and over and over again,

until something happens to bring it all back to the surface again.

When this happens, we continue to hear that “soundtrack”. 

We keep on hearing that one track over and over,

which diverts our attentions everywhere except where it needs to be.

Dealing with our trials and tribulations head on.

This can take the form of any kind of compulsive behavior, excessive habit or addiction. 

From sleeping to eating to drug and alcohol abuse. 

From over working, over exercising, over vacationing,

over internet-ting, over hobby-ing, over TV/movie watching,

over anything.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think any of these things are inherently bad.

It is in the over use of them that they become a dangerous continuous loop.

I know that this is just the short list of things that play constantly in the background of our lives.

These are our own personal “Soundtracks”.

Everyone’s is a bit different,

But they are good place to start.

 

So.  What’s the answer then?

How can we change the our tune? 

How can we get to a different station?

 

We have tried just about everything. 

These “soundtracks” made us think we were getting better,

getting past the trauma.

The truth of the matter was,

these fixes only last a short time before the distracting “soundtrack” begins again,

Each time, louder than the last.

Personally, I have found only one thing that works,

And that is the Word of God.

Which is the very thing that my “soundtrack” wants to cover up.

Since God’s word speaks in a still small voice,

His voice is easy to miss.

I have to be really intentional about hearing it.

I have to place myself in a position to hear His voice.

 

The following categories of thought have been a great help to me;

*Mind renewal

*Listening for His voice

*Replacing the continuous loop of negativity by singing a new song

*Receiving joy from God Himself

*Being very intentional about all of the above

 

I have to choose it. 

Choose joy. 

It will not come to me all by itself.

Following are some scriptures to peruse.

You can use one or all.

Each is beneficial.   

 

Psalm 51:10  Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Colossians 3:9-10  Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Isaiah 28:23   Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say.

John 10:27   My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Hebrews 3:15   As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”

Psalm 33:3   Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.

Psalm 118:14 The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.

Psalm 98:4 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music;

Psalm 119:54   Your decrees are the theme of my song

James 1:25  But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

1 Chronicles 28:9   “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.

 Hebrews 4:12  For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

1 Samuel 16:7  But the Lord told him, “Samuel, don’t think Eliab is the one just because he’s tall and handsome. He isn’t the one I’ve chosen. People judge others by what they look like, but I judge people by what is in their hearts.”

Psalm 16:11 You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

 Psalm 126:5 Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. Psalm 94:19  When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.

Psalm 33:3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.

Psalm 149:4-6   For the Lord takes delight in his people;he crowns the humble with salvation.  Let the saints rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds.  May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands.

Please take some time to find out what the real soundtrack is for your life. 

The one God created for you, not the one that the world has fed you from the beginning.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made.  Psalm 139:14

If you need help getting started, please visit the rescue page at the top of this blog.

                A new “Soundtrack” awaits you.                       

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