Today is Good Friday. It is hard to see the Good when one knows the price Christ paid to have it called Good. Regardless of the price, He did it for you and me. What a glorious reality this is! Yes, Sunday is coming and He will arise from the grave and forever reign with Father God gifting us The Holy Spirit. But, for today, I want to not lose sight of the price He paid for my freedom and for your freedom.

Yesterday I went to see my prayer warrior. I wanted to catch her up with the ones seeking counsel and progress being made for the ones she’d been keeping in prayer. I have a couple of people I wanted her specific prayer and also prayer for how to counsel them. Before I left she prayed mightily for God to provide His Divine Wisdom. The amazing results should never surprise me, yet I am always taken back a step when I experience God’s handiwork. The session yesterday afternoon seemed to be exceptionally enlightening for the gentleman. Afterwards, when I went to Celebrate Recovery, I found that God had also answered the prayer I had for the other gentleman.

What man cannot and should not do, God is right here waiting for us to bring Him directly into the picture. Oh, how much I need to learn about daily surrendering and keeping our Heavenly Team: Father God, Jesus Christ and The Holy Spirit at the forefront of all I do.

There are moments in time when one wants to stop the clock and just relish in the moment. I had one of those last night. There is a small group of men that were seeing me individually and I felt as though I should take them through a step study from our Celebrate Recovery program. They agreed to this so we just did lesson 3 last night which is the lesson on HOPE. One of the questions each one responds to identifies what their relationship with their Heavenly Father is like. A young man in his early 20’s who struggles with autism and I have been working with for 6 months now, responded that he really didn’t have a relationship with God and that was all he said. This wasn’t news to me for he had expressed this a few times over the months we’ve been meeting.

As the session continued and we got to the last question, it askes, “What things are you ready to change in your life? Where can you get the power to change them?” This young man said when it was his turn, “I think I’m ready to have a relationship with Jesus.” There was more he said here about the power to change, but I was so touched to hear him say what he did at first, I can’t recall the rest. I simply got teary and wanted to stay in that moment. I get teary now writing this.

This young man lost his mom when he was 13. She died during a surgery which wasn’t a life-threatening one. He’s been reared by a very kind father, but distant one. He’s been hurt many times by kids and adults due to his autism (his lack of social skills). He just hasn’t known what to do with God when those who hurt him were often church folks. This got more complicated when he spent two years at a Christian college. However, God knows how to reach all of His children and for this–I give thanks!

Someone I’ve known for almost 50 years came to see me yesterday afternoon for a counseling appointment. This person has carried a burden almost 40 years and now they felt they must face it. There are circumstances that have surfaced it and this was most troubling to them. It was amazing to see God working in a person’s life that one mostly sees God working through them. Instead of an hour session, it was over two hours, but ones well spent in getting the issue out in the open.

I found myself rejoicing that this friend was able to verbalize this troubling time that had been buried for so long. They were wondering, “why now?” But, it was easy to see why now when we processed the timing of now with God’s timing in their life.

God was so patient with me when I needed to face the trauma of my past and the people involved in it. I so easily see how this is now true when I see how God’s timing is used in helping others face their own secrets/bondage. God is faithful and true to His Word! What a reward it is to help someone find God’s faithfulness rather than His absence (which is what I had believed for so long about God in my own story).

There is a sense of calm this morning which I rarely have. I don’t have any particular reason for it–it is just present. The day has nothing too pressing in it, a couple of counseling sessions this afternoon. My yard work is mostly caught up. But, these circumstances are often what is in the day. The sense of calm I have is that sense of peace. All is OK for the moment. I can simply enjoy it and thank God for a moment in time when this can be known. So, thank You God!

My devotional this morning was bringing to light something I’ve never examined or had God bring to my mind in such a direct way. It was addressing God’s passion He has given to each of us and the jobs we have to sustain us/our family. The author of the devotional was equating Paul’s message when he was bringing the Good News to the Gentile nations. Paul was a tent maker by trade and he would continue to practice this trade during his ministry. He never expected to have a salary for his ministry work, this was the passion God had placed within him and he fulfilled that passion without expectation of salary.

Paul’s relationship with God/Jesus was built on trust. He knew his material/flesh needs would be met. If he had a struggle with this topic, he doesn’t say so. His words in I Corinthians 9:18 say, “So then, where is my reward? It is found in continually depositing the good news into people’s hearts, without obligation, free of charge, and not insisting on my rights to be financially supported.”

I must admit that I have struggled with the passion God has given me wondering “will I be a good provider” if I put the passion into action? Over my lifetime I’ve only found that God is faithful. I have never been in a place of “want”. God is so faithful and true. I want to live fully trusting Him!

No matter how hard one tries, the flesh is going to be with us. In fact, trying seems to complicate the matter rather than help it. Surrender seems to be a much better term to use when battling the flesh. Isolation is another key word of the flesh. When a struggle of the flesh is kept in isolation it will only flourish. Struggles of the flesh are like an ugly bacteria that will only grow in the darkness of a closet. Opening the closet door and exposing the LIGHT kills the disease.

As I am going through the 6-week series with the group on Saturday mornings, this truth about the flesh is tremendously exposed. We men are not good at letting our struggles be known. However, when we do and we begin to bring accountability into our daily living, the Light of Jesus shines into our lives like it never has before. What a loving Savior and Lord Jesus is!

As I live out each day in the world of counseling I find that in every case we are dealing with one’s flesh and the problems of the flesh. I hear the issues each one brings to the table and often I can see myself in the problem. If I don’t see myself, I can easily still see the problem. It is always of the flesh. As I was reflecting on this with Jesus this morning I was reminded that God is Spirit and He gives us The Holy Spirit to live within us. My request to God was helping me to separate my own self from my flesh and better access His Spirit. To live by the Spirit daily is no easy task when our flesh screams for attention.

I have never liked being of the flesh. Up until recent years, living by the flesh made me think I was just like dad. Then this morning Jesus reminded me that I am fully of the flesh and I am Earnie. The desire I have to live by the Spirit of God will always be present and the more I access God’s Spirit the more I will learn to live by His leadership. The flesh is where sin is rooted and I sure don’t want this dominating how I live. Helping others see this too is a daily goal.

I was giving blood yesterday early afternoon for a blood drive our church sponsors every 3 months. When I’d finished and went to the refreshment table, a lady from our congregation was present. She and I began a conversation which led to her telling me about her grandson, 23 years old, who has announced his homosexuality. I was teaching his parents Sunday School class when this young man was born. Grandma was telling me how she and her husband have struggled with this but they don’t want to lose their relationship with him so they are seeking wisdom in dealing with it. Grandpa wants the grandson to understand all that the bible says regarding this topic, but grandma knows this isn’t the right thing to do at this point in time.

Our society has made this topic a playground for Satan. There is no dispute biblically regarding this topic if one steps into the sin of it. However, it is no more sinful to step into the sins of heterosexuality than the sins of homosexuality. Either are sinful when this is done. With my own background of homosexual abuse and my struggle with homosexual thoughts, I easily recognize this inner turmoil. What I long for people to know is that God’s Ways are so much richer than man’s. We are lost at this point in time thinking man’s ways need to be honored when we don’t begin to experience God’s fulfilling freedom by taking the step of faith and living for His Ways rather than man’s.

I know this freedom and how I pray for others who battle this. I pray they will take the step of faith to trust God’s Way and let Him honor them for this obedience.

For the past 6 months I’ve been driving weekly to a town 25 minutes away meeting with a gentleman who had had a nervous breakdown. God has used that event to show him it was safe and good to open the door to secrets of childhood abuse he had buried for 70 years thinking he was somehow protecting himself. It is amazing how God takes a broken individual and over time brings out the actual gifts He gave him so many years ago. It is so easy today to see humor, kindness and gentleness naturally coming forth as well as wisdom and thinking skills. Prior to this time he had lived in a shell where these characteristics were almost nonexistent.

I remember when my counselor told me I would know when I no longer needed counseling because I’d be able to use the techniques I’d learned to address what life was giving me in the present. I could do this on my own without the assistance of the counselor. I see this happening for this gentleman and it is a joy to watch. God is so AMAZING!

God is so GOOD! One of the other counselors is able to see the family I wrote about yesterday. God knows best!

Two weeks ago I had started a group for men struggling with sexual addiction or pornography. There was a young man who wanted to join it but in both of the first two sessions he kept having excuses/reasons he couldn’t attend. He had indicated his interest, but…. After the second absence I told him he’d need to wait until we did a session again since it is only a 6 week group. Last Sunday I got a text from him asking to please reconsider. He’d meet me this week whenever I had the time. He had the week off.

Yesterday we met for two hours and it was so informative. He knew intuitively that he needed the group, but as for most men, he just couldn’t bring himself to admit the need. The two hours were very helpful for him to see that the course didn’t add to his shame, but actually turned the “shame” he felt into a learning time where he could get accountability and support and find God’s healing and help.

I love watching how God works with each of us. I wonder why I get concerned and worry about these things? It is then that Jesus reminds me I’m still of the flesh and He is the One He wants me relying on–not myself. Boy, I sure have to have this lesson a LOT of times!