Rejoicing In Tribulation

I received this email from someone this morning. I found it very timely. Life is generally going very well for me, but as in everyone's life, there are little things that make us sad, discouraged or overwhelmed along the way. I hope that this encourages you as much as it did me.

Rejoicing in Tribulation
"And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience." (Romans 5:3)
One of the most powerful evidences of the saving power of the Christian faith is the ability of true Christians to endure suffering and loss with joy. The apostle Paul endured such (note 2 Corinthians 11:21-33) but could still "glory" in these sufferings. Actually this word in our text for the day is the same Greek word translated "rejoice" in the preceding verse, "rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Romans 5:2), and "joy," in a later verse, "we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:11).
This remarkable ability to rejoice in tribulation characterized not only great Christian leaders like Paul, but ordinary believers in every walk of life. When the early Christians lost their possessions in the great wave of persecutions they were encountering, the testimony was that "ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance" (Hebrews 10:34). These early believers, like many others through the years, "received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost" (1 Thessalonians 1:6).
There is a good reason why Christians can endure tribulations with joy, "inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:13). We always have the example and incentive of Christ Himself before us, "who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2).
Therefore, we can be "as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing" (2 Corinthians 6:10), knowing that "the joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10), and Christ has promised that "your joy no man taketh from you" (John 16:22). HMM

Remembering The Day

Most of us who were alive at the time of JFK's assassination remember where we were and what we were doing when we heard the news. We often clearly remember events from the past when they are associated with a personal life changing event. Today I am remembering the day my world changed, September 11, 2001.

I had just gotten out of the shower and sat down in front of the television in my bedroom to put on my makeup. The broadcasters were showing footage of a plane which had flown into one of the World Trade Center towers. The billowing smoke mingled with the faces of concern, fear and dismay. It is amazing that as the second plane hit the second tower...in a split second...my world seemed to change. Suddenly, in that one moment, the events of the morning went from a terrible, tragic accident to an intentional attack. My mind shifted into a shocked haze. The images and information of the unfolding events poured out of televisions and radios across the nation like water over Niagara Falls.

I was watching those images replay this morning as I was performing the same tasks of preparing to go to work. It was unsettling to remember, yet I know it is important that I do remember. The emotions of eight years came tumbling back. This time there was no haze, but there was a resentment, anger, indignation over what had occurred. I was thinking about the senseless loss, the pain, the anguish, the fear, the grief...and then He said, "You need to forgive them." Boy, I wasn't expecting that one.

When I am offended by someone, when my feelings get hurt, when I am treated badly, usually it doesn't take me very long to forgive the one who inflicted the pain. I remember that Jesus forgave me of my sins, so I have no right to harbor unforgiveness against anyone. Some how I guess I felt with this national tragedy that I had a right to not forgive, to not release it...to hang on to bitterness and anger. I am not talking about forgetting what took place. I am talking about forgiving them, even if they do not want or ask for forgiveness. I need to forgive because Jesus forgave me of every thing that I have done, thought, and said that "fell short" of His glory. We still need to be willing to fight to protect our rights as a nation, but to do it out of protection for our country and innocent people as opposed to fighting to exact revenge because we hate them.

I don't think the Lord is asking me to forget all about what happened. I need to honor the memory of those who were lost in those planes, in the buildings...those that served and lost their lives struggling to save others. The Lord is not asking me to be foolish and purposefully to invite danger in, simply because I have chosen to forgive. On the contrary, scripture admonishes us to be "wise as serpents and innocent as doves." He is not asking me to trust those who committed these terrible acts. As a matter of fact, there is no place in scripture where we are told to trust anyone but God. So, I don't have to trust those who did this, I don't have to behave foolishly and enter into unsafe situations, but I am called to forgive them.

Forgiveness frees us from being tied to those we are harboring unforgiveness toward. Unforgiveness keeps a link between us and the other party. It is as if we carry that person around piggyback style until we forgive them. They weigh us down. The emotions of unforgiveness are exhausting and punish the one who is choosing to not forgive as opposed to punishing the person that needs to be forgiven. I, for one, do not want to carry around more emotional baggage and heaviness. I want to live "lightly", without the burdens of unforgiveness or resentment dragging me down. Forgiveness is the gift we give ourselves.

So, on this anniversary of 9/11...the anniversary of the day that something terrible happened, I am choosing to forgive those who committed these horrendous acts. I will never forget what happened, but I relinquish any right that I might have to punish them in return. Instead, I turn them over to the Lord. I repent of my lack of forgiveness. Yes, I fully support and am extremely grateful for our troops who selflessly fight to protect us, but I leave it up to the Lord to dole out any retribution or punishment. Vengeance belongs to God.

I pray that next year when the same images flood over my television screen, that I will notice a heart change. Sure there will be sadness over the loss and the senselessness of it all, but I pray there will also be a deep groaning in my soul because of the "lost-ness", if that is even a word, of those who were so lost in their way that they endeavored to do such evil. They are so very lost. Lord, please replace the bitterness and unforgiveness in my heart with your compassion and forgiveness. Jesus died to save them, just as He died to save me. He loves them as much as He loves me. I need to remember that.

Be Anxious For Nothing

Breathe already. With all of the juggling currently in our lives it is so easy to fall into the trap of anxiety. I find the need to remind myself to even breathe sometimes. I know it sounds crazy, but if you have ever felt anxiety it causes your breathing to start to change which can lead to a cascading emotional storm that is hard to stop once it starts.

I am reminded today that I need to take my thoughts captive as opposed to letting them run rampant as if they were a classroom full of malicious third graders. The emotions of my heart can be like "The Lord of the Flies"...chaotic and destined to failure if unrestrained. Instead, I need to remember to "think on these things"...things that are lovely, true, of good report...etc.. We are to think on the positive as opposed to entertaining those negative thoughts which are the yeast in a loaf of anxiety. After all, in Philippians 4:6 it says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. "

So, I will be purposeful to praise the Lord throughout the day, thanking Him for His faithfulness and the blessings I have and that He loves me...with or without anxiety. It is so nice to know that the Father's love for me is not dependent on my performance. He loves me because the blood of Jesus covers my every failing, so when He looks at me He sees Jesus. He sees me as lovable, precious and adorable as opposed to the smudgy-faced, disheveled waif that I sometimes feel like.

So, I will praise Him. I will choose to trust Him. I will pray about the concerns on my heart and give them over to God. I will take my thoughts captive. And I will breathe...slowly in and out...and have a grateful heart. It's the choice I am making today. I will not be anxious about anything.

Temper, temper!

I am at one of those difficult spots in life. We are quickly approaching a point where I am going to have to confront someone I love about a very volatile topic. In the past this person has always been hot tempered and prone to bouts of yelling (partially from hearing loss and partially from lack of self control). They use volume of their voice to intimidate, get their way and get others to back off. When that doesn't work, they use words that wound.

Well, I am going to have to confront this same person about a topic they are not going to want to talk about. I feel quite certain that it is going to lead to a big blow up with yelling and elevated blood pressure. Generally in this life I get along pretty well with just about everyone. I have a long fuse and work hard to keep my tongue under control. This is literally the only person I can think of that I argue with like this. I am ashamed to admit that I lose my cool. I don't say inappropriate things, but I raise my voice in frustration. I disappoint myself in that I let this person get to me and I respond in a way inconsistent with how I feel I should respond. I should have better self control. I have walked with the Lord for 46 years now. Shouldn't self control be a little easier than this by now?

Unfortunately, this issue is health related and I have no excuse but to broach the subject, but unless the Lord intervenes there is going to be some yelling going on...even if I don't respond in kind. I can hold my frustration to a point after which I literally start pulling my hair out.

I need the Lord's wisdom and self control. Lord, please give me your words in order to bring peace and help to this situation as opposed to stirring up anger, rage and resentment. You can see how this person I love needs help, but they are too prideful to admit it, and ask for, and receive the help that they need. Please give me your favor and provide for me the opportunity for me to share my heart with them and please give them the grace to receive my words in the spirit in which they are intended. I am reminded about the scripture in Proverbs 15:1, "A gentle answer turns away rage, but a harsh word stirs up anger." Lord, please give me YOUR gentle words to speak. Help me to remember that we struggle not against flesh and blood... Help me to guard my heart (thank you, John for that one) and take my thoughts and my tongue captive, so there can be peace in this relationship and help for this one that I love. Replace anger with compassion, Lord. I can't do this on my own. So, I ask for Your divine intervention, because with You all things are possible. This part of growing up is really unpleasant. But I need to do the right thing, even if it is unpleasant, uncomfortable and down right painful at times. Lord, I thank you for this opportunity to grow and mature, and I pray that I will worship you with my attitude, words and responses, so that this painful situation can be turned for the good, so that we can all grow together as opposed to apart and that You will be honored.

The Joys of Mold

Great. Just this week we discovered mold in the wall of our dining room. Evidently at some point in the past we began having a roof leak that trickled down into the wall. It made its way down to the very corner where the two walls and the floor meet one another. Unfortunately this little corner is covered over by a small table and the mold lurking behind the table was likely there for quite some time before it was discovered.

Well, we have found it now. We called a company to come out and check the damage and could hear a distant sound of a cash register..."cha-ching! cha-ching!" It will likely be a wheelbarrow full of loot to cover the cost of repair. Thankfully our homeowners insurance should cover a portion of the damage.

As I was thinking about the whole upcoming ordeal I began to feel overwhelmed at what may be coming our way...moving all of the furniture, china and "chochkies" out of the living room, ripping out the carpet, replacing a portion of the floor that has dry rot, moving a portion of the wall and possibly tearing our the cabinets in the kitchen because they are on the opposite side of the wall, followed by replacing the wall, carpets, sheet rock and texturing and repainting. I am not even sure where we will put everything while it is all torn up.

In the middle of my melt down I called dear, old mom. She is always the sane and saintly voice of godly reason. She comforted me that she had peace about it and that it wasn't going to end up as bad as I expected. I felt a bit better when I hung up the phone and when I started thinking about all of the things that could have happened had we not found the mold now, my anxiety began to be replaced by gratefulness.

We had a drought this past year and this coming winter is supposed to be an "El Nino" year meaning prolonged heavy rains. Had we found the damage in the middle of this coming winter the mold and water damage could be much worst and much more costly. God was gracious and showed us the damage before the seasonal rains came this year.

No one has gotten sick. We still are unable to detect any smell of mold and no one has gotten ill from the spores being in the air. Mold is dangerous stuff. The old testament goes into great detail about getting rid of mold/mildew a house. I am not looking at this in a legalistic way. I believe those passages were in scripture to protect us. In biblical times they had no concept of microbiology, germs and such. God was protecting the children of Israel against something that could be very deadly. I am grateful that the Lord showed us the problem before any of us fell ill.

This morning I opened the door to one of my patients. She was beside herself upset, tied up in knots, on the verge of tears and pleading with me to pray for her. She has been a patient for over twenty years and we have a long history together. When I asked her what had happened to have her so upset, she said, "Yesterday we found out that we have a bunch of mold and standing water in our attic. The man who did the stucco on our house accidentally blocked a drainage pipe for the roof with stucco and water has been slowly backing up into our attic for the past 10 years. Water is flowing out of over flow pans and is soaking into the ceilings over all of our bedrooms. We are afraid the ceilings will collapse and they are covered with mold."

How my heart went out to the dear soul and imagine her surprise when I told her our story of finding mold in the very same week. It says in 2 Corinthians 1:4, "who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." It felt so good this morning to fulfill that scripture...comfort that dear woman this morning with the comfort I received from my mom and through scripture. She walked in the door upset and on the verge of tears and she left actually laughing. We recounted how the Lord spared all of their lives by bringing the problem to all of their attention before the ceiling caved in on her sleeping family, how they had homeowners insurance that would pay for much of the damage and how now she would be able to repaint the walls and freshen things up around the house once all of the repairs were done.

I know I have said it before, but it always amazes me how great a difference a grateful heart makes in how we view each circumstance in life. While it is never a convenient time to rip your house apart such as what our two households have ahead of us, we are so grateful that God protected both of our families from physical harm. Even though it will mean repair costs that we never expected, it will mean that our homes will be restrengthened and freshened up. The Good Book says that all things work together for the good for those who love the Lord and who are called according to His purpose. Well, I certainly love the Lord. Let's see how He works this together for our good. I have decided to thank the Lord for the mold and for this circumstance. I know. I must sound pretty crazy to thank the Lord for mold. But I suspect this trial is a vehicle to bless me in the long run if I respond properly and praise Him in the midst of the trial. I don't know how He is going to do it, but I trust He will turn it for my good. He's pretty clever that way you know!

How About A True-logy?

Why is it that when it comes to funerals that there is such a tendency to not be truthful? Yes, I understand the concept of speaking well of a person...showing respect, gratefulness and honor those who have passed away. However, when it is my time to pass I don't want a eulogy. Instead I want a trueulogy. I want the truth spoken at my memorial service. I am not asking for a large group of people to air my dirty laundry in public, instead I would just like a more realistic picture of me drawn when people talk about me.

The thing that brought this all up is the passing of Ted Kennedy. I understand fully that he dedicated a huge portion of his life in service to his country and that he has been instrumental in changing our country. What I sincerely doubt has or will be said at his funeral is anything about leaving Mary Jo to drown in his car, getting kicked out of Harvard for lying, abuse of alcohol and a few other things I can name off the top of my head.

My intent is not to bash Mr. Kennedy. No doubt he did the best he could under the circumstances he was under. My intent is to say that he will undoubtedly be painted as the loving big brother to the younger senators who joined the body of the senate, a brilliant statesman, a compassionate legislator....someone to be considered should their ever come a vacancy in the Trinity. I think you get what I am trying to say. He will be painted as if he is being considered for sainthood, as opposed to saying that he tried his best, had some faults but served his country to the best of his ability for most of his life.

When it is my time to go please don't paint me as a person who has never sinned...as one who never lost her temper or made a bad decision or as the perfect wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend or boss. I am far from perfect and everyone knows it. Just be honest. Say, you know, she had her struggles with food and an occasional Portuguese temper. She was overly anxious about money and often unable to forgive herself when she failed. She wasn't the perfect wife, mother, daughter, friend, boss or sister, but she loved. She loved her family and friends. She loved the Lord and desperately wanted to please the Lord with her life. She made many mistakes along the way, but at least she tried. She made me laugh. She taught me something about myself and God. She was a hard worker and went the second mile most of the time, but she also tended to be a work-a-holic at times too. She had a good heart. She will be missed. She was far from perfect, but she was loved.

That's the type of "eulogy" I can believe. No one is perfect and to paint anyone other than Jesus as perfect is just a lie in my estimation. I would like the truth to be spoken in my eulogy. I want it to be a "trueulogy." It is much more believable and truthful that way. Now don't make me come back and haunt you! ;o)

I'm Hungry

So what, right? Well, it is sort of a big deal to this old girl. Being one who tends to use food as a drug, we don't always wait until there is physical feeling of hunger before eating. Instead emotional hunger gets our attention and calls out for food. Unfortunately, the satisfaction gained from this form of self medication is that the satisfaction is very short lived and is accompanied by regret.

This morning I am physically hungry. Dinner was intentionally small last night. This morning I am certainly not ravenously hungry, but I am physically hungry. I am talking about stomach growling with a hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach...not my head saying, "Hey, I could go for a bagel about now." My body is calling for nourishment, not my emotions. This is a step in the right direction to be sure.

In our American culture there is a huge portion of the population that has not felt true stomach hunger in years. We have so much and we indulge ourselves so much that we are never allowed to get to the point that we are really physically hungry. The interesting thing is that when we are not physically hungry when we eat, what we do eat ends up being less flavorful and less satiating than if we had waited to eat until we are physically hungry. Also, if what we have been feeding our emotional hunger with is "junk food" or full of empty carbohydrates, we will be much less attracted to healthy, nutrient-rich food even when we are physically hungry.

So, I am celebrating the fact that I am hungry right now. The next step is a bit trickier...choosing a food that is available on a moments notice and also healthy. I am here at work and thankfully I have a stash of that devilishly good Laughing Cow cheese and a small piece of fruit. That will be an excellent choice for a mid morning 100 calorie (total) boost to get me through to lunch time without being unnecessarily tempted by the M & M jar.