It is Christmas Eve. Outside it is very dark but inside is brilliantly bright for Jesus Christ is about to be born. He was only born once, but every since that day we have the opportunity to be born again into eternal life. All we have to do is believe in Him and then ask Him into our heart. Once this is done you will likely want to serve Him for He not only gives us a new life, but also a new motivation for living out our life. When this takes place He has become our Lord as well as our Savior.
I lived a lifetime fearful of serving God. In the back of my mind/heart, I knew there must be people hurting and hiding the hurt done to them in the flesh (just as I had been doing). There was also equally a number of people hurting for what they had done to others which we call abuse. Whether we were abused, whether we were the abuser or whether we had both in our lives, the same Savior came so that we would be able to live beyond this hurt which leads to hang-ups and habits (none of which lead us to Christ).
I have found that the fearfulness I had in my younger years was all a lie/deception from Satan. Fully serving our Savior and Lord is so very fulfilling! This very babe who was sent from God above will bring about a freedom where abundance of life abounds without fear. The fear is replaced with a desire to help others find their own freedom. Christ came to serve and I want to join Him in this service. How grateful I am for His abundant FREEDOM!
I need to piggy back onto yesterday’s post. As I finished writing the blog I went into the kitchen where both older daughters wanted to talk about everyone spending the night. Was this troubling to mom? Was it too much to have so many in the house all day instead of just in the late afternoon and evening? I told them we’d simply find out today. Well, it was a wonderful day. Everyone was very respectful of noise and giving time for rest. Everyone loves mom and grandma.
Learning to give God our fears and to not act on them has been a difficult step for me. I still have fears which surface, but I’m now seeing how important it is to wait before taking action. If God wants action taken on fears the motivation to do this is quite different. I can sense the Spirit’s nudge in that case. When it is my fear alone I am anxious as well as fearful. The urgency to act on this fear is generated very differently and that’s when I need to wait. As in yesterday, I find that everyone involved was as concerned as me. Wow, God is GOOD!
This morning I sit in front of this computer and ponder just what I’m to write? I like to think I’m a flexible man, father, husband, grandpa, friend. But, this year is different. I’ve always, in years past, loved having all of the kids staying overnight. I step over sleeping bodies to get to the den so I can quietly have my devotions and get settled in for the day. I simply wasn’t expecting to have this happening this year because of my wife’s stroke. I need to protect her rest, etc. However, she is sleeping soundly and I did too.
As I was journaling this morning and asked Jesus what He wanted me to know for today, I was reminded to let Him take the lead. Everyone in the family is wanting to do what’s best for mom and grandma just as I am. I can let this go and enjoy this time just as I have in the past. I don’t need to make this time look like my fears. Let it all go and let Christ be the Lead in what takes place. Trust Him and trust my family.
It is funny how writing this has emptied the concern I had within. We all want to do what is best for mom and grandma. Kathy enjoys having the family with us. I will too!
The kids are here and all is well. As I wrote yesterday about Faith and it being the substance of things hoped for, I have not been able to get it off my mind. Last night I met with the small step study group to do lesson 6: Action. A couple of the questions the participants were to answer/respond to hit squarely on the topic of having Faith. We are to rely on God’s Power to help us overcome our Hurts, Hangups and Habits. I was asked how is it possible to have Faith in God’s Power? In the narrative one reads ahead of answering the questions it says we are to surrender our willpower so God’s Power can be in control. So what does this look like?
As we pursued the topic it became clearer that to surrender willpower we need to confess to “someone we trust” that we have have been trying on our own and failing. Keeping this secret only supports the failing of our willpower. Yes, in surrendering our willpower to God, we do so with God and then we need to confess this to someone who can hold us accountable to it. This seems to be the substance side of Faith. James 5:16 tells us to confess one to another so we can be healed. When we don’t confess our weakness, we fall back into denial and often relapse.
Faith as a substance, needs to be followed by what the scripture tells us. Man’s power in the flesh doesn’t match at all what God’s Power will do once we confess to God and then to one another. The humility to do this helps conquer man’s willpower so that the strength in humility is then found. God helps us do this one step at a time, one day at a time.
Today our Oklahoma kids will be arriving just before noon. This is always a blessing. Getting to see them and be with them is nice, but this year I look forward to having them and seeing Kathy responding to family as they offering their assistance with her recovery process. I’m not sure what this entails, I just look forward to the experiences forthcoming.
My bible reading this morning was from Hebrews 11 & 12. It started with verses 1&2 of chapter 11. It reads: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” I cannot tell you how many times I’ve read this over the years but this morning the bold words were bold to my listening ears. Faith is substance and evidence? In the flesh faith is an intangible. The scripture says faith is what we hope for. Well, what we hope for is never tangible until it comes about and we have the evidence. But, the scripture says that faith is also the evidence as well as the substance. Awakening my flesh to God’s Spirit is a daily task and often needs reminders several times in a day.
Maybe this is all part of getting “old”, but I need to quit questioning different things about faith. I want to live in the confidence of faith and believe it is the substance and evidence. In so doing this I show my own evidence to God that I place my confidence in HIM and not in tangible items I can only touch right now. God is incredibly amazing and I do not want to question His Greatness as I live out each day. I will put my faith in Him and believe!
My brother-in-law and I were talking yesterday morning about some of the ones we work with in the counseling world. It is easy to fall into the thinking that they could improve much more quickly if they’d only let some of their behaviors/beliefs go and “stick with the healthy plan”. We got into the topic of Judgment vs Discernment. It is so easy to jump into judgment when someone doesn’t see things or do things similarly to oneself.
I have a brother where it has been easy for me to quickly step into judgment. He and I rarely see life through a common lens. He is 12 years older than me so our lives never had a common path until I entered into the adult world and he moved to Idaho. His profession is the same as mine so I thought we’d have much in common. That didn’t prove to be true. Over the years I’ve fallen into judgment more than once with him. It would either be him judging me or vise versa.
When we were having the conversation yesterday about this topic of judgment I realized just how much I have judged. I needed to see this and this morning I’ve confessed it asking for the gift of discernment to replace it. Judging builds walls and this I don’t want to be a part of doing. God is never done awakening us to our flesh. I just had my own awakening!
My mind continuously flips from one thing to another that should get done before all of the kids arrive Wednesday this week. In the past the presents are wrapped and there are always an abundance of them. Kathy does the grocery shopping for a week of feeding 15-20 folks each day. I think we’ve got to get all of this done without Kathy’s leadership! Then, I remember why all of it isn’t done and that someone else will take care of it. Kathy is making progress slowly, and my role is to keep things as smooth at the house as I can so she continues to heal easily. This is my one and only real job. I’ve never needed to be who I am right now, but I’ve never needed to be until now. God is amazing how He helps us do just what is needed when it is needed.
What presents there are, I will get wrapped. I kind of like doing that. The groceries we need to have in the house we will get when the kids arrive this Wednesday. It all works out just fine when I sit back and let everyone help. Families are amazing! I sure thank God for mine!
My wife’s younger brother arrived last night. He is the one who lost his wife a year ago about now. It is so nice to have him with us for a few days. He is the brother-in-law who made us aware of Celebrate Recovery over 16 years ago. In more recent years he is the one who planted the seed in me for thinking about counseling. Even though he approached me about doing such a thing, it wasn’t until I was approached by our pastors to start a counseling program that I reached out to him to find out how he got equipped to do this. He has been a mentor and great friend throughout the past 40 years. I thank God for him often.
Physical health is something that can easily deter us from God’s focus in our lives. This has been an issue for my brother-in-law. However, I’ve watched him not give up on his counseling work in spite of being hit by more than one health issue. He has been nudged by God to not quit and he sure hasn’t. His fortitude is encouraging to me and I’m sure it must be so for those who work with him, know him from church and more. He is truly a torch carrier of God’s Light for those who have struggled to find it.
It is always amazing and sometimes fun watching how God works. A couple of weeks ago I couldn’t see how this week which is now coming to an end, would work out for Kathy and me. Yet, it has not only worked out, I have been able to see so much progress with Kathy from the stroke’s effect on her. The personality and independent side of her is showing signs of emerging. This really makes me smile. Secondly, her desire to do some things is starting to emerge. Words will be an issue for some time, but the therapy gives many great ideas for ways to work with this need. I had been at a place thinking all of these Christmas events would need to simply not take place for us, yet we are going to almost all of them and it is so fun to watch these adjustments showing up.
God has so many ways of showing Himself and His love for each of us and all of us. I must say that this particular way of showing His love just makes me so grateful! How I do LOVE HIM!
I met a man yesterday who wanted counsel. He’d like to restore his marriage. He has been unfaithful a couple of times in the past 6 years and he was booted out of his home with a couple of children now with their mom. As I was questioning him about his relationship with Jesus it was obvious he had asked Christ into his life. Christ is Savior.
As he talked about his beliefs he wanted me to know what he believed regarding the Word of God and what he thought was hyperbole. I wasn’t going to enter into that arena at this point. It was a first session. I just wanted to know where he was coming from. I asked him if he considered himself one who asked Christ to be Savior as well as Lord? This reality hadn’t been given much, if any, thought. However, it seemed to help him see some steps he was needing to take. He is wanting to reestablish trust in his marriage if his wife will allow him to return home. We trust Jesus because of His faithfulness to us. Man destroys trust when we are unfaithful.
Jesus introduces himself to us first and foremost as our Savior. This is a beginning. I’ve lived through the days when I wanted Jesus to be Lord but I feared what that meant so I’d step into this arena with trepidation. Today, there is no fear in having Jesus as my Lord. He has abundantly shown me His Faithfulness in everything He nudges through His Holy Spirit. Helping others to find this trust in HIm and surrender to His Lordship, is a foundation to this present assignment of counseling. Allowing Jesus to be Lord is an everyday choice. Today I choose Jesus to be my Lord!
Earnie Lewis 