Are We REALLY Listening?

Just thought this bared repeating...

Please Listen
When I ask you to listen to me
and you start giving me advice,
you have not done what I asked.
When I ask you to listen to me
and you begin to tell me why I shouldn't feel that way,
you are trampling on my feelings.
When I ask you to listen to me
and you feel you have to do something
to solve my problem,
you have failed me, strange as that may seem.
Listen!
All I ask is that you listen.
Don't talk or do - just hear me.
Advice is cheap - 20 cents will get you both
Dear Abby and Billy Graham in the same newspaper.
And I can do for myself; I am not helpless.
Maybe discouraged and faltering, but not helpless.
When you do something for me that I can
and need to do for myself,
you contribute to my fear and inadequacy.
But when you accept as a simple fact
that I feel what I feel, no matter how irrational,
then I can stop trying to convince you
and get about this business of understanding
what's behind this irrational feeling.
And when that's clear, the answers are obvious
and I don't need advice.
Irrational feelings make sense
when we understand what's behind them.
Perhaps that's why prayer works - sometimes -
for some people, because God is mute.
and he doesn't give advice or try to fix things.
God just listens and lets you work it out for yourself.
So please listen, and just hear me.
And if you want to talk,
wait a minute for your turn,
and I will listen to you.
Author Unknown

Justified

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” ~Mahatma Gandhi

As usual, I was doing some reasearch and came across this quote.  It struck a chord within me on several levels.  I think it is amazing how we are taught to protect ourselves, from skinned knees to fighting.  Yet in still, we are never really taught how to be vulnerable.  Consequently, when one has wronged us, we have trouble forgiving them, as we feel as though we are owed some debt that they must in turn pay.  This is the way of the world, or so I thought. 

I'm finding that even in the world of Christianity, we still have trouble with this concept, yet we are so quick to quote that Christ died for our sins.  If he truly died for our sins, how much more are we able to forgive others for their shortcomings? Looking at Ghandi's quote, it really does take a strong individual to forgive another, to walk away and say, "You owe me nothing."  We think that this makes a person appear weak.  After all, what kind of person walks away from a conflict with nothing?  What kind of person would do such a thing? 

I like to think that it does indeed make us stronger.  It takes a stronger person to be the bigger person and forgive.  It takes a stronger person to take the high road, so to speak.  It takes a stronger person to wipe the slate clean, as if the transgression had never been committed.  It takes a stronger person, who, even though they by all rights and standards, may be owed something, who may be justified, to say that the relationship means more than  my ego, and toss the offense aside into the sea of forgetfulness.  I believe even more now, that Ghandi was on to something of which we have no true concept of, and that is the mere fact that forgiveness truly is an attribute of the strong....by the Grace of God....Selah...

Transparently Honest

I was praying this morning, and I had a random thought.  I wonder how many of us have had a skinned knee, or a broken bone?  Seems simple enough right?  At one point in time, we have all had some ailment of some sort that has taken time to heal.  Our wounds are public..at age 7, when we fell and skinned our knees, it was almost a badge of honor to say that we has a boo-boo.  Face it.  When you fell, you went to your mother, who kissed it, put a Band-Aid on it and said, "All Better..."  When you went to get that bone repaired, you were put in a cast, which you proudly allowed others to sign.

Yet, as adults, we seem to have a hard time with the emotional aspects of life.  We hurt without knowing why, and even if we did, how many of us are willing to admit it?  What happens to us from the age of 7 to adulthood?  Do we even cast it onto Him?  I think it is time to be transparently honest about who we are in Christ, and begin to allow Him to heal us...Selah...

Wow!! This was ON Time....

BEFORE YOU CAN MOVE AHEAD




“Arise…go…to the land which I am giving to [you].” Jos 1:2 NKJV



Joshua had already tasted the joys of the Promised Land. But now he had to go back and wait until Moses died and every doubter in Israel was buried. Observe: (1) Some of our old ways must die. Moses represented the old system. It was good for then, but not now. When you align yourself with what was, instead of what is, you’re not ready. There are still too many folks you need to impress. You’re so bound by certain philosophies that when God says it’s time to move, you have to consult somebody else. When God told Joshua, “Moses My servant is dead…arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them,” there was only one correct response: “Yes, Lord!” You must honor the past, but not get stuck in it. You must stand on the truth, but seek God for fresh instructions and insights if you’re to reach your destiny. (2) Your doubts must be buried. Only two out of the twelve spies who went into the Promised Land believed God would give it to them. The other ten saw giants, caved in to doubt, died and were buried in the wilderness. And every doubt that’s holding you back has got to die and be buried too, including the voice of your low self-esteem, your childhood fears, your anxieties and your critics. Gather them up, put them in a box, bury it, stand on top of it and say, “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” Before you can move ahead you must understand and live by these principles.

Imagine Me...

For some reason, I woke up this morning with the following song in my heart:

Imagine me

Loving what I see when the mirror looks at me cause I

I imagine me

In a place of no insecurities

And I'm finally happy cause

I imagine me

Letting go of all of the ones who hurt me

Cause they never did deserve me

Can you imagine me?

Saying no to thoughts that try to control me

Remembering all you told me

Lord, can you imagine me?

Over what my mama said

And healed from what my daddy did

And I wanna live and not read that page again

Imagine if we lived these words on a daily basis...what would our lives be?  The trouble is, we have the option to live our lives this way...totally free from the judgment of others and in the love of our Fathers.  My challenge is that we aspire to live our lives in this manner..free and safe in His Love...Selah

Undying Faith...

Wow...It has bee a minute since I wrote anything.  This mainly because I have been so busy that I haven't had a chance to do so...but I'm BACK!!! 

One of the things I am really learning in this season is how to have faith, unconditional faith, undying faith...the kind of faith that sees-nothing-but-believes-all kind of faith.  I woke up this morning, and for whatever reason, Romans 8:38-39 came to mind:

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is the kind of faith of which I am speaking.  This faith says that while everything seems impossible, with Him all things are possible.  In this season of my life, I have found that those things I have given up on are slowly starting to come to pass.  I have come to grips with the realization that God loves me so much that He allows things to happen FOR my good.  Notice, I didn't say that they were all good, but they work together FOR my good.  These are the kind of events that we experience years down the road, and can look back and say, "Wow...that's why I went through that..."  Now, just take a moment, pause and think of the GOODNESS of Jesus, and ALL that he has done for YOU...because he LOVES YOU!!!  Isn't that enough to have faith?? Selah...

Smile!!

So, Have you ever had one of those instances where it seems like the world has come down on your shoulders?  Of course you have..we have all been there.  At times, it seems as though as soon as you climb one hurdle, there is another one waiting for you.  Some would argue that this is life, while some others would say that this is a run of bad luck.  Being a Christian, I do not believe in the latter, although I would venture to say that God orchestrates certain events to happen so that He may receive Glory.  It is relatively easy to sink and wallow in a pit of self-pity and despair.  However, if you look in the Bible and flip to the end, it says...WE WIN!!! So we have to smile, even when things don't seem as they should be.  We are victorious, even when it looks as though our backs are against the wall.  We are the children of a KING....so SMILE!!!  Selah...