Brokenness

This morning I was thinking about brokenness. The Lord brought to my mind the imagery of a potter making clay. I thought about how God made us. In Psalms 139:13-16.

For You formed my inward parts;
         You wove me in my mother's womb.
    ¹⁴I will give thanks to You, for am fearfully and wonderfully made;
         Wonderful are Your works,
         And my soul knows it very well.
    ¹⁵My frame was not hidden from You,
         When I was made in secret,
         And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
    ¹⁶Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
         And in Your book were all written
         The days that were ordained for me,
         When as yet there was not one of them.

We are like a Vase or a Pot of some sort that God has made. He entrusted us to the world, but the world is no longer how He created it to be. Thus we are thrown to the floor broken into pieces. We need the Lord to heal us from the world, to glue us back together. We he glues us back together, the cracks are still going to be seen. We and others will know that we are broken, yet God fills and heals our brokenness. Those cracks serve as a reminder of what we have gone through. He will use each crack to share His glory and love with others.

Is 64:8

Yet you, LORD, are our Father.
   We are the clay, you are the potter;
   we are all the work of your hand

Will you let the Lord work in your brokenness, to put the pieces back together and restore you, till His complete restoration in Heaven?

FFH – Stop the Bleeding

How much farther must I go
‘Till you say that I’m broken
How much heartache must I know
For you to say “enough’s enough”

How many teardrops have to fall
For You to see that I’m empty
Is the reason for this all
So I’ll admit I’m not so tough

So come and stop the bleeding
I think I finally understand
So come and stop the bleeding
I know you can

How much desert must I cross
‘Till I come to the Jordan
I am thirsty and I am lost
My heart is weak emptied out

So come and stop the bleeding
I think I finally understand
So come and stop the bleeding
I’ve tried to fix this but I can’t
So come and stop the bleeding
I know You Can

So come and stop the bleeding
I think I finally understand
So come and stop the bleeding
I’ve tried to fix this but I can’t
So come and bring the healing
I think I’ve had all I can stand

So come and stop the bleeding
If You can
Come and stop the bleeding
I know You can

Grieving Mother's Day

This week I have been reflecting a lot on Mothers. It has been hard for me. We don't all have relationships with our Mothers that we would like. Thus Mother's Day can be difficult.

This week I was going to the store to buy a Mother's Day present for my boyfriends mom. Also a birthday present as her birthday is next week as well. I was getting a card, smelling candles, and getting her present. Thinking about them and if she would like them. Thinking about the Dinner, my boyfriend and I will be cooking for her...
I got sad...very sad and heavy hearted. I wanted to cry. I wished my Mom was around. That I would be spending Mother's day with her, making her dinner and she would appreciate it. Yet that is not going to happen. It has never happened. I will call her and we will talk maybe ten minutes. The first call since I called her in February.
I was unconsciously trying to numb the pain, by "pretending". Using my boyfriends mom as a "fill-in". Yet, the pain can not be hidden, only grieved.

If this is your relationship with your Mother, let me encourage you to grieve. It is normal to be sad. Cry. Talk it out. Grieve. We need to grieve the things that are not, that we wish were. We need to grieve the losses we experience in relationships.

The Battle is On

Over the past year the Lord has brought me through many trials, tribulations, struggles...what ever you would like to to call them. I do believe that it is perfectly fine to wrestle with God. There are going to be times when you doubt and have questions. Psalm 89 gives me hope...If you read it, you will think I am crazy. It starts off bad...the middle is bad...and it ends bad. There is no hope in it. Yet if you are struggling it gives hope to know you are not the only one. Everything is not always roses!

Recently the sermons have been about Spiritual Warfare and prayer. I often think of two books by Frank Peretti: This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness. If you have not read them I encourage you to do so. They are fiction but challenge our thinking about the battle that is going on in the Spiritual Realm.
Eph 6:12 " For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

I have noticed in my life and the lives of some who are close to me that they are struggling in their walk with the Lord. Why? Satan and his followers are not happy. If they can make us ineffective for the Kingdom of God they will! We need to hold onto the Truth. Yes there are questions. Yes there are things that we do not understand and cant fully comprehend as humans. The Truth is...God created us in His image to be in fellowship with him. The angels failed to worship him...Satan fell and took others with him...God created Hell for them! In the Garden of Eden, the perfect union between God and Man was broken. Satan didn't want Man to be with God. God love us...He loves us. Jesus died...He took on all our sins, conquered death, and rose again. So we can have that perfect communion with God again!

If you are struggling...
You are not alone
Satan is prowling like a lion
Speak Truth over your life

You may not want to read the Word or Pray...but do it. Speak the Truth into your life. Ask for Prayer. He will never leave you nor forsake you nor let you be plucked from His hand. He loves you. I know this...because He has rescued me.

The Battle is On. The Battle is Real...Do you have your Armour on?

Codependency

What do you think of when someone says they are codependent? Many people think that it means the person needs someone else to live, that they can't live "alone" or by themselves.

"Codependency is a self-focused way of life in which a person blind to his or her true self continually reacts to others being controlled by and seeking to control their behavior, attitudes, and/or opinions, resulting in spiritual sterility, loss of authenticity, and absence of intimacy."

That is a loaded definition. Take some time to process what it is saying.

Codependents react like a sales person in a china shop...anticipating every ones next move and focusing on what they can do to insure nothing "bad" happens and if something does how they are going to "clean up" the mess.

It is a very unhealthy way to live for the codependent and leaves those in the codependents life negatively enabled.

"A wife whose work-addicted husband neglects the family isn't loving him when she silently takes up the slack for him. People who enable their loved ones to remain in their addictions are in bondage to their own codependent behavior, and their choices fall radically short of Jesus' strong, confrontive love."

Quotes from Bondage to Bonding, by Nancy Groom

Growth not Recovery

There are many 12-step programs out there and many self-help books. We are all looking for a quick fix. We think we should be over and done with issues...yesterday. Though many of these programs and books are very helpful and effective, we need to know we will not be fully recovered!

"The time frame for growth is a lifetime. We speak of growth, not recovery, because strictly speaking recovery suggests that it is possible to fully recover from the effects of evil in our lives. But we sadly acknowledge that our disease is incurable and terminal. We will die of it. Yet in Francis Schaeffer's words, we can hope for "substantial healing" in this life, and total recovery in heaven." -Dr. Dan B Allender