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Mikki
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Last week I posted some thoughts about why you must go back.
There are times when we must deal with our past issues because our past issues are still having a current effect on our lives.We do need to go back emotionally when we need to grieve our sins, our mistakes, our losses. We need to go back and experience the fullness of moments we have ignored, avoided, or pushed to the back of our consciousness.
But at other times, it is unfruitful and even unhealthy to go back.
There are two ways that we can choose to live in the past. One is by idealizing the past, and the other is by allowing the past to freeze us in our pain. Let’s look at these two ways and see if we find ourselves in either unhealthy pattern.
The Perfect Past
“If things could just be like they used to be!”
How often I have heard this expression of a deep longing in someone’s heart! Things have changed and we just want to go back to the way things used to be.
We long to turn back the hands of time. We wish we could wave a magic wand over our lives and restore things to the way they used to be. Although it is legitimate to grieve when we have experienced loss and it is right to be thankful for a wonderful event or season, may I suggest that the answer is not in going back? Read more...
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Mikki
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Isaiah 53:4 contains a beautifully mysterious phrase. Jesus carried our sorrows.
What an amazing thought! The very idea of “sorrows” invokes feelings of things that are weighty and burdensome. To know that there is One who will carry those things which are too heavy for me is a thought which comforts and encourages my soul.
Life is made of cycles and seasons, and you don’t have to live long to figure out that some of those are filled with sorrows and pain. When my life is filled with sorrows, I cry out for relief, longing to escape the place where my heart is torn apart. And Jesus answers. Sometimes his answer contain immediate rescue, but many times His answer carries this idea, “I will carry the sorrows for you.”
He always wants to carry our burdens, but we usually try to handle life in our own ways, carrying things in what we believe to be our own strength. The problem with that is, well, we don’t really have any strength! It is an illusion. Nothing reveals our lack of strength any more than sorrow and pain. When life becomes unbearable, then we are either driven to the feet of Jesus to ask for help or we are moved to reject him because we misunderstand his heart. Read more...
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Mikki
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In this busy world in which we live, Jesus offers a beautiful gift – rest. In Matthew 11:28-30, we find these words of Jesus:
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (NKJV)
I also want to include that section of Scripture from The Message:
"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly." (The Message)
We all long for true rest, the kind that Adam and Eve had before their fall when they walked and talked with God easily and did the work that He directed them to do. Notice what Jesus said about true rest:
· If we want true rest, we must come to Jesus.
· His offer is for all who are tired, worn out, and burned out.
· Rest is a gift from Jesus. Read more...
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Read more...
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(This article is so important. I wanted to include it on my site. Please feel free to check out Ruth’s own site at ruthgrahamandfriends.org. )
By Rose French
Associated Press Writer
Thu, Nov. 06 2008 08:59 AM EST
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Ruth Graham knows firsthand how life can be filled with heartache.
The third of evangelist Billy Graham’s five children, she has dealt with a daughter’s teen pregnancies, another’s bulimia and a son’s drug use.
She also struggled with suicidal thoughts after learning that her first husband had been unfaithful — a discovery that led to a second “rebound marriage” lasting only five weeks.
These low points eventually led her in 2004 to form a ministry, Ruth Graham & Friends, that helps others address problems that she said are too often ignored in the Christian community.
“Once we’re in the church, we pretend all the sinners are on the outside. We want to keep the rules, and when we can’t, we become shameful and pretend we have it all together,” Graham said in an interview.
Graham is trying to educate Christians about these issues through her “Get Growing” conferences, including one held last month in Nashville that drew about 400 people.
The events address troubles such as addiction, depression, eating disorders, marital infidelity, anger, divorce, loneliness and pornography.
“The world is tired of plastic Christians,” she said. “I was tired of being a plastic Christian. I told everybody I had it all together, and I was falling apart. And I was scared to death to tell somebody.” Read more...
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