Tag Archives: God’s peace

Checklists and Ropes Part 2

Christ's rest, Jesus Christ, Spiritual Encouragement, To Rest in Christ, , , , , , , , , ,

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In the previous post, I spoke of “performance bases acceptance” in another season of life….

I know that I spoke of this in my November 17th entry, and I feel like I have learned so much about this even since then…”performance based acceptance” can squeeze the life out of you at anytime in your life. Now, continued…..

People questioned me, thought I was crazy.  Those friends in the teaching profession seemed to understand better than anyone.  But I had to…the Lord confirmed it over and over in His word and through prayer.  I had been released and I finally was hearing it.  HE would provide, He always met our needs. I had to quit looking at those carrots at the end of that list.

It has been three months.  I believe that God actually rescued me.  He saved me.  I did not know how bad off I was until now…I feel like ME again.  I love to encourage and believe I am gifted to do so by our Heavenly Father.  But in the last two years I was “encouraging” others in my own strength.

God never left me.  But I couldn’t hear Him.  I was overwhelmed.  Now I know that there are jobs that do that to you.  If you are a “performance based” person like me, you cannot just shake it off and do your best. “Don’t take it so seriously” I would hear.  “You need to leave your work at school like me.”  “You are over the top, give it a rest.” “Why do you do this to yourself?” 

I HAD to do my best. I was a Christian and HAD to act like one…. I HAD to help the general education teachers since they were under such pressure.  I HAD to consult the parents and talk and try to explain many things to them about their special child.  I HAD to teach the students, but was limited in time and technique.  Not to mention my family and friends outside of work who needed my encouragement.  But the life was literally being squeezed out of me. God showed me! I saw myself wrapped up tighter and tighter!    The only way for me to survive was to just cut the rope off before I died from suffocation.

I don’t know what my immediate future holds.  I am crafting and selling wreaths,studying, writing three blogs and healing.  I am hearing from God again.  I am taking the time to listen.  I have the time to listen.  It seems to me that the enemy’s best tool in our demise is our “being too busy”.

So, I share this to maybe be an encouragement to you, wherever you are.  If you are like me, give something up that occupies your time.  You may not quit your job, but there may be something that you can put down that is suffocating you. There may be a ministry you are involved in because you “have” to be involved in it! Ask the Father to show you the way of rest.  Often times I was “Jack of all trades, master of none.”  I know that GOD equips us in ways that are unbelievable, but we must be able to do them in His strength and not our own.

The Lord wants us to live an abundant, grace filled Christian life. He wants us to REST in HIM. HE wants that for us so that we will share HIM and His joy and peace with others.  HE wants us to share that He is the gift of life, eternal salvation.  Trust me when I say, if you are empty, have no joy…people won’t want what you have.  You have no hope to give them.  

Hebrews 4:1-3
“Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said…”

Rest in this New Testament passages means: eiserchomai and it is a verb. It means to come in, entrance into any condition, to arise, come into existence, to come into life.
Stay with me……What hit me is that it does not have a future tense”helper” verb in front of it. So it doesn’t say “will enter”, “might enter”. For believers in the Lord Jesus Christ…we enter that rest NOW. Oh yes, metaphorically the word means that we will have rest after the trials on earth are ended….but we can choose that REST now.

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***personal drawing purchased from and created by Derek Hegstead, 1993***

Blessings dear ones..
IN CHRIST ALONE

Isaiah 55:8-9

earlier animation***google search stock photo****

Checklists and Ropes…Part 1

Spiritual Encouragement, , , , , , , , , , , ,

RopeManilla2Inch_Quest

Yoo-Hoo!  Over here…look at what I am doing!  Is she upset with me?  Did I make her mad?  Did I do that right?!?! Did I , could I, should I??

Good grief! Ok, confession here.  These are not the rantings of an adolescent, but that of a 52 year old woman!  Not out loud where people could actually hear it….but ah, those thoughts ran through my head many a day!

Last time I talked about my “performance based acceptance” and the legalism that bound me for several years.  It took me a while to quit making those checklists and get “free” and realize I was to live under grace! I had to break my pencil to quit those lists! Well let me tell you, the checklist reappeared and with it a very tight rope. And I helped tighten it!

I just re-read a blog from last year during this time and I was indeed swirling.  I was in a deep, dark hole…spiritually, emotionally, physically and mentally.  I did not realize how deep until I cut that rope and threw away that list!  I felt I was just “going through the motions and hanging on to God.”  Actually, I see now that He was “hanging on to me.”

I had re-entered the public school system as a teacher about 10 years ago.  I felt led to do so and the Father opened up a job.  In one day I had an interview and got a job.  I really was only half way looking since my wise husband had been praying for a way to pay for our son’s college education.  I had homeschooled them and they were about to further that education.  It was a total God thing to get a job that I did not know even existed!! I always felt it was for a season.  A time to help financially, and then I would be released.  

I stayed two years too long.  How do I know that?  The youngest graduated two years ago…but I thought I could hang on long enough for a partial retirement.  A “dangling” carrot of sorts.  Not that there is anything wrong with a pension, but it became my primary goal and I truly wasn’t listening when the Father was trying to get my attention. At the end of that checklist I saw a small bunch of carrots and had to get to them!

The rope almost choked me in October.  I started the school year, trying to muster up a good attitude.  I had started losing my hair in tremendous volume and all over ( but thick, curly hair provided a good comb over on my head..) and had a bout with a very curable skin cancer ( its placement kept me from raising my left arm for several weeks..long enough for my husband to have to basically set up my room) But I was strong, I could do it!!

Therein lies the issue.  I could not do it in my own strength.  Last year at this time I had to increase my anxiety medicine. (Another blog) and I felt awful.  The rope around me continued to tighten, and I just stood there! The checklist increased in length.  October 1st…. I gave up.  I quit. I bailed.  

I will share more of this story next time…stay tuned!
Blessings,
IN CHRIST ALONE
Isaiah 55:8-9
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Oh How HE Loves Us…

Spiritual Encouragement, , , , , , , , ,

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OH How He loves us! Are you hearing that special praise and worship song in your head right now? It is TRUE!!

I have been writing about our identity, but will deviate from it this time. I will go back to the listing of misconceptions we have about who we are next time!

I have been asked how we know His voice? How do we know that God is speaking to us? We listen to Him when reading His word and in prayer. He speaks to us through His creation, His world. The Lord wants us to know that we are loved and I believe that He does not want His presence to be a mystery to us.

John 1:1-2 says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.”

Hebrews 4:12 says: “For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges thoughts and the attitude of the heart.

He speaks to us through His word and meets us right where we are in our lives. The supernatural thing is that He speaks to many, many people at the same time. He speaks to where our needs lie at the time. It does not matter if it is a three year old little boy listening to a Bible story or and eighty-three year old grandmother through an in depth Bible study…He speaks through His word! He loves us!

If we go back to the scripture, notice..The Word of God is LIVING. It is able to minister to me, to guide me, to fit my stage of life…WHY? Because it LIVES! It always has been and always will be! It lives and breathes..kind of like a good pair of shoes made of leather. Once you wear these shoes, they take on the shape and feel of your foot and fits perfectly! Oh how He loves us!

“Living” is a verb that translates to the word…zao in the Greek. It literally means to live, breathe, be among the living (not lifeless, not dead),to enjoy real life! Isn’t that awesome!?
God’s word is not only alive, it brings LIFE to us! God has given us this living, breathing Word of love to bring us victory in our everyday life! That is love like no other.

The Bible is not to be viewed as a list of “do’s and don’ts”, but a guide to live as He knows is best for us. Love is the key to living this life and living is so much more abundantly.

I actually wrote a devotional on this in 2001. I am (but shouldn’t be) amazed how He used it in my life then (as a stay at home mom who homeschooled and worked as a radio announcer) to today…a just retired special education teacher (I actually felt led to quit) who is now middle aged. An empty nester who is being healed, refreshed, and renewed. That’s just like my Abba Father, my Daddy. Meets me where I am….because of love.

My prayer is that you will be encouraged today, whichever season of life in which you are in…HE loves you and wants you to know it…He left His love letter for you. And it is alive.
Oh my….HOW HE loves us.

Blessings Dear Ones…
IN CHRIST ALONE

Isaiah 55:8-9

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