Faith in His People

My heart has sunk low this week. It is trembling-in-waiting. It is groaning in prayer. Yet, it's also refraining from pouring out an awful mess that would destroy more than heal. News about mistreated children always does this to me. Heck, fiction about children being mistreated does this to me. But, I've never been so physically sickened by it as I have these past days, when there are thousands of children affected, and there has been a blatant refusal to do anything about it.

After thrashing about, typing posts, then erasing them, crying out to Congressmen and my husband and my pastor...I wear my brain out. I am helpless. I sour with the bitterness that seems to spew from my darkest thoughts. Then I walk away, then I return again to the same neurotic pattern of thrashing about, typing posts, writing my Congressmen and blurting out to my husband...eh. Finally, after all that back and forth, the whiplash of my mental well being, after every thud of my heavy heart, I see God waving His hand over "there", trying to get my attention. He meets me in my hysteria. Only He can distinguish the love from fear...wisdom from foolishness. And only He can unwind the fleshy mess from His strands of Grace within me. Once I have taken a breath and calmed myself, I catch a glimmer of a surprise that I did not expect in my anger. It has jolted a startling heartbeat of peace within me. These past hours, I've witnessed God's people, a DIVERSE multitude of His believers, uniting in heart cries of one accord. No matter their doctrine, or differences, their cry is the same as mine. And in these dark hours, I find quiet for my soul. Even for just a moment.
Because of the love I've witnessed, the pleasant aroma rising from friends, family, sisters, and even places I had sworn off--people who'd once tripped me up--I've discovered that I am part of this magnificent whole. I am united to the heartstrings of others in a significant way.

There is power in that.

There is a strength larger than borders or councils or cages. For, I know--I have to believe--this type of Power will prevail. When the real life nightmares rattle my spirit and bring bouts of weeping--perhaps, I can still cling to hope. I can hope in change. I can hope in the fact that as much as I cry in anguish, the Lord's cry is even louder--and by the witness of His People, I believe it is so.

People of God, pray now. We must pray for changed hearts in our leaders...I truly believe the issue of refusing to release children isn't one of law or policy (I know there are some who see policy/politics differently...and many of them love God with all their hearts. If that's you, I am not against you...I am not talking politics right now. I am addressing the willful inaction to release children. You can think one thing about policy, and still stand by the humane act of keeping families together). Whatever side of the aisle you perch on, can we ALL still agree that these babies need their mamas? Can we please consider in this moment--ONLY the child, ONLY the reunion? I beg you, let's get those babies back to their mamas.

 Pray. Act. Call. And pray some more.

 United we stand...as a People of the God Who LOVES.

How To Love This World

What do you think?

Opinions are all over social media (should we gauge real life by that? maybe). 

But I see this "army" mentality among some. They declare a need to stand up and fight...shout their beliefs out and stand their ground. Whether they mean it to be or not, it's drawing a clear-cut line: "I am holy / you are not". And as far as I know, that's exactly what Christ fought against during his ministry.

I will admit, I mourn a bit at the changes of our society. I am not one to like change. I get nostalgic about the way "life" used to be. From my t.v. box perspective.

To be clear, I am not condoning or canceling out or saying one way or another on any issue. What I am wondering though...

Is the world growing harder to love, or are we being challenged to love bigger?

I open history links/books and realize that I see brokenness, hatred, perversion, and division laced throughout our world's timeline and it's not on the "other side" of the religious divide. It is ALL OVER God's people, God's church, and God's ordained.

So. 

With the world shouting "LOVE", even if it's in a worldly sense, what are we called to do as Love-Bearers?

What would Jesus do?

Did he sit with the righteous and the holy?

Did he only mingle with those who were forgiven first?

I almost wonder if "the world has grown so bad" (if I may quote Shakespeare) only because we have grown so BLIND?

Are our hearts so hard and so righteous that we cannot stand up for LOVE, but for division?

Is it possible, that maybe, just maybe, God is shaking us to wake up and remember...HE IS GOD, WE ARE NOT, and our GREAT COMMISSION IS TO LOVE LIKE CHRIST SO CHRIST CAN LIVE IN OTHERS. Unconditionally. To Love. We should LIVE TO LOVE.

That's it.

(And I hate to consider that possibly the world is the way it is because of our lack of Love over the centuries. Is it on our shoulders as God's children? Pride is certainly breeding ground for brokenness, isn't it?)

We might not agree with what is sin and what isn't. And we are all called to conviction for our own lives. But there should be no judgement because there are planks in our own eyes, no exclusion because we're included in an everlasting kingdom that is waiting for NOT ONE TO PERISH.

Could it be possible that God is using this world at this moment for something so beautifully GOOD and pointed straight at His Glory? 

What I hope is that we can love as He loved us. For He sent His Son to die for us. And in that we are undeserving. All of us. 

That's what's so amazing. His Grace. His Love. And it's free for All. Let's share it.

ABIDE, really now.

11 months ago, I heard God tell me He wants me to abide in Him. My trial was much lesser of a problem back then. It really had to do with publishing and writing. Not that those are lesser things, they are my passions after all.

But now, on this day, I am brought back to that word: ABIDE. And I realize, up until this very moment, God has tried to teach me what that really means. At one time, I thought it meant to wait in Him. To remember He is in control and I am in good hands. And maybe it still does. But I have been whipped around in a vicious storm as of late, and I realize that ABIDE means so much more.
It's wrapped up in something no human can truly grasp. It's unreasonable, really.

The fullness of ABIDE is something completely holistic, the whole of it being encapsulated by His unfailing love. ABIDE is nothing less than:

Standing strong in the complete conviction of God's unfailing love...to live in it, breathe it,act upon it, and rest in it amidst any storm, every day, every hour, each moment we live.

I didn't really get that 11 months ago. I haven't really gotten that. But, God's drawing me closer. He's bringing me to this conclusion more and more.

Nothing can separate us from His unfailing love. Nothing. Even if we choose to not take it, to not abide, He is there, giving it freely.

It is up to me to receive it.

"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39

Enough is enough!

"For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.” John 12:40

on freedigitalphotos.net by Dan

Yikes! How could God do this? Blind someone from His truth? Doesn't it say in the Bible that He doesn't want anyone to perish? And yet, this verse, and others similar to it, make me wonder in my faith.

It's been on my mind a lot lately. The more I hear perverted truth on secular t.v., so-called "Christian" evangelists, and in the mouths of many others, the more I chew on this concept. Why would God allow such a thing? And then I reflect.

Have you ever had a conversation with someone who "hates" your religion?
Have you ever witnessed complete blinding in someone who is led astray?

It's not pretty. I wonder how God takes such desecration of His Truth and Glory?

A while back, I had someone share their "heart" in this way. Mocking, ugly, scoffing, degrading my entire belief system. There comes a point where you realize that even the Truth you send out there (Scripture, Godly principles...whether it be on social media, on religious cards, in conversation) is not just being overlooked, but it is being attacked in the heart of the receiver.

Can God handle this type of disrespect?
Absolutely!
But for a God who doesn't want anyone to perish, is it beneficial to allow His Truth to be a stumbling block for the lost who might use it to grow deeper in their hate?
No.
Perhaps, just perhaps (and I am certainly no theologian), God's blinding is not a ruthless deed as a "dictator" of the universe, BUT a last resort to give the lost a life application of what it means to  really be void of Truth and Good. Perhaps, God chooses to blind those and harden their hearts, so that maybe they will become so desperate for His Peace in their desolation, that they might crawl through the darkness and cry out to their Maker at last?

You know, free-will...in it's most absolute application.

Yes, God knows who will sit with Him one day, so He really can do whatever He wants here on Earth with that knowledge. But in all His Sovereignty, He is also compassionate, loving, and jealous for us! And if it means tough love by hiding His truth and walking away to get a person to truly seek Him at last...then so be it.

And if He knows that person will never turn to Him, then why can't the God of the Universe say,
"No more!"? When it His very Heart that is being torn apart and spit upon by the words of the foolish?

At this point, I wonder, if in all His righteous anger He says, Enough is enough.

To Convict or To Love?

So, I have been convicted. And it is strong and counter-cultural and even unpopular among most of my Christian friends. When it came to me, I found my creative juices stirred up and I wrote a parable. The parable was passionate, blatant, and a bit shocking. I felt a great desire to share it with everyone I know via my blog, because I knew that I truly believed in what the parable portrayed.

As I do with most things I write, I sent it out to my dear writer friends, my husband, as well as to a close friend who lives nearby, and a sweet mentor. And, while I expected an overwhelming “YES, you should post this”, I only got that from about half of the people. What I got was a lot of resistance from those who I highly respect. And not because they disagreed with me, but they thought I was taking a great risk at offending others.

At first, I poo-pooed them. I said, “if someone's offended, then maybe they need to be. This is a conviction that is God-given. Perhaps I need to rustle some feathers...in His name?”

For days, I've been trying to decide what I should do...post it or not? I haven't felt completely settled with it. And today, I figured out why. When I began to write a “disclaimer” note before I posted, to all my real-time friends to warn them about my radical opinion and to assure them I wasn't pointing fingers...I realized...

That's exactly what I was doing.

Pointing fingers in a creative way, using my own conviction to convict others...in His name.

ICK!

I know in my heart, that Christ first and foremost wants us to continue in relationship with those He has put in our lives. My seed of unrest about the whole thing was planted as a different type of conviction—one that warned me that using the internet to “shout out” my conviction of radical opinion might be used by the enemy to sever dear, dear relationships with those around me.

And it's not about my friends being unable to handle my differing opinion, but it's about my words causing them to stumble every time they see me—does she judge me for doing the very thing she is against? It's not my conviction, but is she posting this to hint at something?--when I hadn't even mentioned it to them to their face!

Insecurity in a relationship can lead to the one thing God does NOT want in a good friendship... distrust.

The Good Shepherd leaves the flock to find the one. Every one of us count to God. If posting my opinion for all to see is only based on my trying to force conviction on someone,  is it worth turning even ONE person away from relationship (real-time, especially)?

I could more effectively grow a relationship with my friends by speaking about such convictions in the intimacy of a good conversation, giving them a chance to speak for themselves.

Funny, but I came across this quote from Billy Graham during all my soul-searching this week. Now, I realize God had been dropping hints all this time...and I'd refused to listen.

"It is the Holy Spirit's job to convict, God's job to judge and my job to love."

While my conviction is one of love, my love for God and His will for my life, it's not my job to convict.

And even though my past and future posts may convict people, it's God's conviction through my writing, and trying to convict should never be my motivation for writing them. A cop-out? No.  My motive should be to show God's love by revealing the struggles and triumphs of this mama in an authentic way. God can do the rest.

It's all about the heart isn't it? If I could honestly say that I was posting out of love, then that would bring about a different conclusion all together. This journey in Christ is not for the faint at heart, but those whose hearts are willing to wrestle their ways out of trials of every kind!

Side note: Just after I wrote this, I spoke with a good friend who filled me in on a Bible study lesson I had missed. Um, yeah. It was all about judging and social media...pointing fingers and writing opinions. Wow, God! I should have gone to study!