Can't we all just get along?

When we live unseen, we need other people. We can't make it on our own, but it is hard to reach out and hard to trust people who reach out to us. Read on to see how God showed me a great example of friendship.

You would not expect them to be friends. They look very different. One has long brown hair, chocolate brown eyes and resembles a movie star. The other has short salt and pepper hair and piercing green eyes. They have an age difference, a cultural difference and a language difference. They are not even the same species. One is my 9 year old terrier mix, Benji, who looks like  the dog in the seventies movies by Joe Camp. The other is his new cat friend, Shadow. He is a half grown gray tabby named because of his coloring and because he follows the dog around like a little gray shadow. They have had to work out some issues. The dog would try to sniff the cat like he would another dog and the cat did not appreciate it. He would respond with a swat to the dog's nose. They have made their peace, though. Any time of the day or night, Benji and I leave the house for a walk. We never get far before Shadow is either running after us or yowling. He rubs up against Benji, walks under him and switches his tail. Then he follows us on our walk. If he falls behind, Benji stops and waits for him. When we get back to the house, they sit on the patio side by side. At first Shadow didn't want me to pet him or hold him, but once he got a taste of it he decided that as long as he and Benji are friends, I can be his person.


The past few weeks have shown us at our worst and at our best. We have seen rioting over confederate statues and terrorist acts, and we have also seen people helping each other through the hurricanes and flooding. Many of the pictures show people of different races, different ages and probably different religions working side by side. It has been very encouraging to see. We have a lot of room for improvement, but every step is progress.
Unfortunately we often have the same issues in the church as in the world. These issues are not new, either. We see them raise their heads early in Genesis with Cain and Abel and the tower of Babel, and continue all the way through the Bible. In Acts  Peter balks when the spirit tells him to preach to the Gentiles and is instructed to call nothing unclean that God has made clean. In Colossians 3:11, Paul addresses the issue this way.
Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.                                                                                                                                                                        Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter, is read at weddings, and rightly so since the kind of love described there is essential for marriage. However, it is just as important for living in peace with our brothers. Look at in this light.

13 If I speak in the tongues^[of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.


The people I find it hard to get along with you might find easy, and vice versa. We need to rely on the love that comes from God to do so, not the flimsy love that we can work up on our own.

Restless Heart Syndrome

Restless Heart Syndrome


Be still and know that I am God. Psalms 46:10


Bedtime is always welcome, but not always easy. The first issue is that my little fur ball of a dog is not always interested in letting me go to sleep. This is especially true if I  have worked a long day. He will either crawl up beside me and "oof" for attention, curl up on the opposite corner and "oof" so I have to sit up and pet him, or get just out of reach on the floor and bark. Resistance is futile, so finally I get out of bed and follow him into the living room. A lot of the time he goes to the door, wagging his tail, and then cuts between my legs and jumps up in my spot in the bed. Once he has settled in, the next issue comes along. My leg muscles tense as I am trying to relax. My feet twitch and I feel an irresistible urge to move my legs. Sometimes just as I am falling over the edge into sleep, they will jerk and startle me awake. The diagnosis is restless leg syndrome, and  medication has helped a lot, for which my husband is grateful. What has not responded to medication is my restless heart syndrome.




Symptoms of this disorder include dissatisfaction with life as it is, disappointment with God, and a sense of disquiet in the spirit. This syndrome was first seen in the garden of Eden when Eve was tricked by the serpent into believing that God was not being fair to them and they could have more wisdom and be like God. (Genesis 3) Another recorded case was seen in the people building the Tower of Babel, believing they could "ascend to the heavens," (Genesis 11) In exodus we see the tell tale symptoms in the Israelites who grew frustrated with Moses, asking in Exodus 14:11 ¹¹They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? One of their most dramatic episodes came when they had Aaron make the golden calf for them to worship, assuring  Moses that they had just thrown the gold into the fire and that was what came out! (Exodus 32).
 Cases of restless heart syndrome occur throughout the Bible and into our own lives. Risk factors include spiritual malnutrition (1 Peter 2:2) and lack of contact with the Great Physician. Recommended treatment is the following.


Be still and know that I am God. Psalms 46:10


For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” Isaiah 30:15


Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5


Life is hard and most times there are no easy answers for things we face. Saying that we should depend on God my sound like a pat answer, but that is not my intention. What I do know is that in my life when I have been upset with God and feeling adrift, I have come back to the point that Peter did, saying "Where else can we go? You have the words of life. (John 6:68) If you are hurt and your heart is restless, I am sorry.  It is a real problem and not something to be made light of. God, the one Hagar called THE GOD WHO SEES, has not forgotten you.

Freedom!

Welcome to Unseen today. It has been a week of ups and downs, or Highlights and Lowlights as we say at Faithworks. I was caught up in insecurity and I found the answer in a strange place. Read on.

FREEDOM!

Where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. 2 Corinthians 3:17

I saw them again this week - “free” tickets to the circus. We fell for it once. I took my children to the circus with their free tickets. My ticket was fifteen dollars.  We went in and sat in an empty section near the center ring. We were excited to find a seat so close to the action. After a few minutes a woman with a money belt come and told us that it would be four dollars apiece more to sit there. Rolling our eyes, we moved to another seat.  The circus started and there were other money making opportunities, such as elephant rides that cost twelve dollars and lasted about two minutes, and pictures with a sci-fi looking version of a cartoon character that gave me the willies.  I enjoyed the trapeze and high wire acts but the animal acts were my favorites. I was especially impressed with the elephants that were so easily controlled by a whistle and baton.

How do these great beasts learn so much control? I found out that when an elephant is very young it is tied to a post with a heavy rope that it is not able to break. As it grows it quickly becomes strong enough to break the rope or rip the post from the ground, but it is so used to being bound that it does not try to break free. By the time the elephant is full grown, it can be tied with only a thin cord.

This is a sad commentary on mankind and the way we treat animals but there is a deeper lesson to be learned. We are often held back in life by things that we can actually overcome. We may be held back by fear or by guilt or by self-defeating attitudes. We are vulnerable to these anyway and the Enemy of our souls is more than willing to supply them. One of his names in First Peter is the “Accuser of the Brethren.” For example I am filling out applications for jobs and every time I write down a job, he is in my ear saying, “Remember the things you did wrong at that job.” I am trying to counter with the things that I did well or things that I learned.

This is not something that we can overcome on our own, but it is something we can overcome. Guilt is a common trap that the enemy sets for us, but in Romans 8:1 Paul tells us that “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ has set me free from the law of sin and death.” Isaiah 54:17 tells us this good news. "No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; and every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me," declares the LORD.  We also need to remember that “greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.” He has promised to complete the work that he started in us. (Philippians 1:6)

Don’t fall for the lies you are told. “Gird you loins with truth” (Ephesians 6) and let God help you to break free from the things that bind you.

Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down

On our honeymoon, we visited Capulin Volcano on a whim. We decided we might not ever get to see a volcano again. Capulin is just across the New Mexico border coming back from Colorado.As we were driving up we saw scrub brush and cactus and lots of gray dirt. When we got to the rim, I couldn't believe my eyes. The inside of the crater was bursting with life. It was green and lush with dozens of different kinds of plants. One bush was completely covered in ladybugs. Every step brought new amazing sights. When we mentioned this at the visitor's center, the workers told us that the volcanic ash makes the most fertile soil. It was astonishing that so much beauty and growth could come from something as destructive and catastrophic as a volcano.


Isn't that just like God? Not only is he the Creator that formed the volcano in the first place but he recreated something beautiful out of the ruin  He can do the same for us What areas in your life has he redeemed? Sometimes it looks like a situation is so painful and bitter that nothing good can ever come from it. For me  some of those have been a miscarriage, an angry, destructive teenager and struggles with depression and anxiety. These were things that were so hard that I was sure that God could not use them for good. I know the verses but for some reason I decided that either these things were not included in the list of "all things that God works together for good." (Romans 8:28) Either that or I had not done enough good deeds to balance the scale. I was wrong, though, and God has used them. Some of them have been used to  shape me and teach me dependence on God. Some have been used to make me more compassionate and helpful to others in the same situation. I have been able to listen to them or give them a hug and prove that it can be overcome. I have also received hope from others who have been in similar situations, who probably felt the same way I did.


One of the verses that got me through these times was Isaiah 61:1-3.It reads like this.


The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,^[a]
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor  and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty  instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord  for the display of his splendor.


One of my life verses is Isaiah 43:1-3.


But now, this is what the Lord says—
    he who created you, Jacob,
    he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
    I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
² When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
    you will not be burned;
    the flames will not set you ablaze.
³ For I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior


Another of my favorites is one you may not have seen. It is in Micah 7:8.
⁸ Do not gloat over me, my enemy!
    Though I have fallen, I will rise.
Though I sit in darkness,
    the Lord will be my light.
⁹ Because I have sinned against him,
    I will bear the Lord’s wrath,
until he pleads my case
    and upholds my cause.
He will bring me out into the light;
    I will see his righteousness.
¹⁰ Then my enemy will see it
    and will be covered with shame.


So many other verses echo these thoughts. If we release our hurts to God he can make them fertile soil for growth and service. I urge you not to fall in to the trap of holding onto anger and resentment, as tempting as it is for all of us. These are the scrub brush and cactus of our spiritual lives. may your ashes be turned into beauty.

Flyaway

Welcome to Unseen today. The good thing is that I have been very busy. The bad thing is that I have been very busy. Today I am returning to a post that I shared some time ago. My cousins have a child getting married this weekend and I have been thinking about letting go of my grown children.
Apparently it is a process. If you are anywhere in the process of letting go of something, read on for some encouragement.

Flyaway 

 Exd 15:2 The LORD [is] my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; He [is] my God, and I will praise Him; My father's God, and I will exalt Him.

The Olympics were a thrill to watch. People enjoyed the Fab Five and the way they bounced and twisted their way to gold medals.  I also love to watch my teenager compete in gymnastics. He has come a long way in a short time.  It takes three things to excel in gymnastics – strength, balance and courage. It requires tremendous upper body strength to support your weight, and even more to support your weight while twisting and turning. Balance is a key part in all the events. As exciting as the flips and handsprings are to watch, the slow, deliberate moves are just as impressive. Balance beam comes to mind, of course, with girls executing intricate moves on a surface less than 4 inches wide.  When it comes down to it, all the strength and balance in the world are useless without the courage to put them to work.  My son says that he is completely capable of doing a handstand on the parallel bars but that it is terrifying to look down and see the floor six feet away.  There is one particular move on the high bar called a flyaway. This move involves working up momentum by swinging and then letting go of a perfectly good bar to go hurtling through the air backwards. I confess that I watch through parted fingers while holding my breath. Fortunately for the athletes, and the parents, there are coaches, spotters and mats to increase safety.

In life we also need strength, balance and courage to be successful. In West Texas we are notorious for “pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps”. We are self-reliant which makes it hard to rely on God.  God understood this and addressed it. The word strength is mentioned 230 times in the Bible. God does not endorse bootstrap pulling. Many of the verses follow this theme;

 Psa 18:2 The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Exd 15:2 The LORD [is] my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; He [is] my God, and I will praise Him; My father's God, and I will exalt Him.

2Cr 12:10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

It is actually a little scary to get our strength from God either because we feel unworthy or because we have to let go of control. It is much more effective than relying on ourselves, though.
             
                Jesus is our example when it comes to balance. In Luke 2:52 we are told he grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and Man.  When things got chaotic in his ministry, He was able to go and be alone with God. I am not sure if it is a function of our society or just our human nature, but balance is so difficult to find. We have to make the effort, though.
                Courage is where I often fall short.  Peter gets a bad rap, but he is the only disciple who got out of the boat and walked on the water. Many times when God asks me to do something, I am afraid to start. I may be afraid that I will fail and I may be afraid that I will succeed.  A good example is when I started writing in earnest.  I have mentioned before that I had seven really good reasons that I should not  or could not write a book and almost as many why I couldn’t write a blog.  Yet here we are, 3 years and two books later. Honestly much harder than letting God take care of my stuff is letting God take care of my loved ones’ stuff. Just like I watch the flyaway stunt with parted fingers and held breath, I watch my sons take flight in their lives the same way. What if they fall? What if they can’t get up? What if they don’t need me anymore? Well, they have fallen some. I watched my older son fall hard into addiction and rage, but God was faithful and caught him in the safety mat of grace and the Holy Spirit. My younger son has had different and less visible struggles, but God has been faithful to him too.
                Let God and His joy be your strength. Keep your life balanced as much as you can and have the courage to let go of your perfectly good bar. You can trust God to keep you and your loved ones safe in His grace and love. Evidently it is a process.

Why did the Chicken Cross the Yard

I had what should be a once in a lifetime experience this week. I was driving close to downtown Abilene and saw a chicken ambling across the road. It was strutting across my lane. I honked to encourage it to hurry. It declined to hurry, looking at me and the car behind me as if he were wondering what we were doing on his street. I guess he figured he had the right of way.

As I drove off I thought of one of my favorite chicken stories. A woman (I believe it was my great grandmother) took advantage of a warm spring afternoon to do some deep cleaning. She brought chairs bedding and outside so she could air them out. Deciding to give the mirror a good cleaning as well, she brought it outside and propped it against the wall of the house. She went back inside for a minute. but was startled by a horrible racket. She went back out and saw her rooster standing at the mirror, screeching at his reflection. She tried to shoo him away but he was lost in the moment. With his talons and beak flashing, he flew at his adversary. The good news is he was victorious and the interloper lay in pieces at his feet. The bad news is that the woman was not understanding about his smashing the mirror to get to the "other rooster" and he ended up in the soup pot.

How many times have you spent time and energy fighting the wrong thing?
We do have things that we need to fight, but we often have our focus in the wrong place. For example, the other night I was having a stupid argument with my husband. We were arguing because instead of the super ultra extra large pack of paper towels, I had only bought the ultra extra large pack. He was determined to show me the error of my ways and I was determined to defend my decision. All of a sudden I stopped and thought, "I bet we are not arguing about paper towels." Then we were able to figure out the real issue and settle it, especially once I promised to buy super ultra extra large packs from now on.

This is true in our spiritual lives as well. We argue with our brothers and sisters about stupid things. There have been church splits that have happened because of the color of the carpet chosen or which song book was the right one. This suits the enemy's purposes just fine. As long as we are sniping with each other we won't be fighting the more important battle of helping to win people to the Lord. Another trap we often fall for is "taking up an offense". Because of my personality, I don't like to see people mistreated. If I hear about it, I will get upset with the "mistreat-er" on behalf of the victim. The truth is that this is a bad idea. I had recently forgiven someone  after a very long period of resentment. Then I heard about him mistreating someone else. Immediately I started to get angry with him on her behalf. That resentment started flooding back. God showed me that I had to let their issues be theirs. As long as I had "cleaned my side of the street" with him, that was all I was responsible for.

So what does the Bible say about all of this?   Ephesians 6:12 is  the verse I immediately think of.
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." 2 Corinthians 4:8 reminds us, "we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." So much of what we are fighting about is trivial and takes our energy and focus away from the things that are much more valuable and lasting. Finally we need to remember that no matter what we temptations we face from the enemy, his ultimate goal is only to "Steal, kill and destroy." (John 10:10). Keep you eyes on the goal and don't be tricked into fighting an illusion.

Jamboree

Welcome to Unseen today. I got to spend time with family this week and as we were visiting I came across a long buried memory with a timely lesson attached to it. Read on for a good laugh and a good lesson.

The first summer I came home from college, my mom told me that my Grandpa had been waiting anxiously for me to get home and that he had a surprise for me. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be tickets to the Senior Citizens Jamboree! This was a “talent show” put on by some of Amarillo’s golden agers. There was square dancing and there were guitars. There was singing, with some of the selections including “Listen to the Mockingbird” and "The Moon Shines Tonight on Pretty Redwing”. (Grandpa, as was his habit, sang along to these). Then there was the junk band. The instruments, and I use the term loosely, included a saw, a harmonica that played something close to the melody, a 5 gallon plastic bucket for a drum, and what I can only describe as a contraption with a cowbell, a triangle and a pie plate welded onto a metal stand. As I write this I can hear Grandpa laughing and clapping along with the music which he apparently thought was terrific.

Does your life seem out of tune and like something that is not up to par? Whether we compare ourselves to others or just look at how far out of reach our dreams are,  it is easy to get discouraged. We may try to pray and not feel effective and try to minister and not see results. Two factors behind this are our own humanity and the enemy of our souls. The solutions are the blood of Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the love of God.


One of the names of the enemy is the Accuser of the Brethren  in Revelation 12:20. In 1st Peter 5:8 he is described as a roaring lion seeking who he may devour.  He is quick to point out both the ways that we do not measure up to others. He will highlight our failures and downplay our successes. We have to be wary of him, because in John 1o we are told that he comes to steal kill and destroy. We can do harm to ourselves without his help though. We see where we want to be and when we are still struggling we get frustrated and discouraged. Sometimes life is just hard because this is a fallen world


There is a solution to all these and it is found in God. First we must realize that God know our weakness and our strength. The beautiful verses in Psalms 139 remind us that he knit us together in our mother's womb. He loves us with an everlasting love and as he told Samuel when he went to anoint David to replace Saul as king, "Man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart.1 Samuel. He loves us and our efforts like a parent cherishes a clumsy handmade gift from a child.  When it comes to the accusation from the enemy, we have great ammunition. Romans 8:1-2 says  "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ has set me free from the law of sin and death.  Because of Easter when God looks at us he sees jesus and when he hears our out of tune lives and praises He hears something beautiful. Finally like the filters that engineers in a recording studio use to mix sound levels and eliminate imperfections, the holy spirit is our interpreter with God.  When "we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. Romans 8:26


Knowing this, sing your heart out and give your love freely. Just because it sounds like a junk band to you, it is a symphony to the God who created and loves you.