Archive for Crisis
Five Tangible Ways to Show You Care
Posted by: | Comments
Following the tornadoes of April 27, story after story after story of the pain and devastation is being told by Alabamians, from newspapers to facebook to one on one encounters. I was privileged this week to have an opportunity to listen to some of those traumatic stories as survivors struggled to put words to their emotions.
Trauma.
We might define it as an event outside the range of normal human experience which has the potential to cause long-lasting effects.
Such an ‘event’ was April 27, 2011, when my home state of Alabama was hit unrelentingly by a series of tornadoes. It was the worst deadly tornado outbreak in U.S. history affecting seven southern states leaving at least 350 people dead and some still uncounted for.
Damage estimates are upwards of 5 billion dollars. More than 20,000 homes lost in Alabama alone. The American Red Cross rates such disasters on a scale of 1-6, with 6 being the worst. They have rated the devastation in Alabama at a 6 and are considering making a new category, a 7, to describe what has happened here.
What can we do when others’ lives are affected by such traumatic experiences, whether they are natural disasters, accidental disasters, intentional disasters, or events such as war, kidnapping, the suicide or homicide of a loved one, sexual or spousal abuse?
The following is an incomplete list of thoughts and not listed necessarily in the order of importance. I am not including prayer because I will assume that you all know prayer is appropriate and important.
Enjoy this post? Share it with your friends by clicking the Facebook LIKE button..
Powered By Facebook Like Post Plugin
The Crucible of Deep Disappointment
Posted by: | Comments
On December 4, 2010, my husband and I watched Auburn play South Carolina in the college football SEC championship game. Since I am a huge University of Alabama fan, just watching the game was a reminder of my deep disappointment that Bama was not playing instead of Auburn. However, after touching base with my personal counselor and getting some therapy, I was able to work through my feelings and watch the game anyway (just kidding!). Enjoy this post? Share it with your friends by clicking the Facebook LIKE button..
Powered By Facebook Like Post Plugin
When the Heavens Seem Silent
Posted by: | Comments
“My faith is 100% gone.” This heart cry of a dear new friend of mine reverberated in my spirit.
As she recanted how difficult life had been as of late, this beautiful young woman shared her struggle with the issue of faith. As I read her words, I could completely identify with her feelings. I had been at that point before.
“Where are you, God?”
“Why are you not answering?”
“Have you abandoned me?”
“What good is prayer?”
You know the times when the heavens are silent. When all we can see or know or feel at the present moment screams that either God has abandoned us, is not real after all, or certainly doesn’t care that our heart is breaking and we are going under spiritually.
It’s like we are down for the count. Satan has us knocked down and the referee is counting to 10, waiting to declare us out of the game. Everyone is watching, whether cheering or jeering, but no one is able to reach a hand to us to help us. It’s our game. We are going under, and all we can feel is that everyone is watching, even God Himself, and no one is helping.
Our hearts screams, “DOESN’T ANYONE CARE?” “WHERE ARE YOU, GOD?”
It is the point of crisis for our faith. Will our hearts be rescued? Will we continue in our service of God or we will throw in the towel and walk away? Surely God will not allow that!
Enjoy this post? Share it with your friends by clicking the Facebook LIKE button..
Powered By Facebook Like Post Plugin
8 Important Things to Know During Hard Times
Posted by: | Comments
We all live in a world cursed because of sin. Part of the effect of that curse is hard times, difficulty, pain, and sorrow. I so wish I could tell you that Christians don’t have to go through any difficulties, but the Word of God contains story after story of believers in difficult times. Paul and Peter in prison, Daniel in the Lion’s Den, Stephen being stoned, believers being persecuted, the very life of Jesus, and I could go on and on. And this list applies to all storms whether we caused them, Satan sent them, or God designed them. In a moment, I am going to share my list of eight things you should know about hard times but before I do that I need to give you some foundation.
Enjoy this post? Share it with your friends by clicking the Facebook LIKE button..
Powered By Facebook Like Post Plugin
Why You Must Go Back
Posted by: | Comments
God’s ways are mysterious, beyond my understanding and often seem downright contradictory. While in my humanity, I prefer to think in straight lines which lend themselves to defining a goal as completed, a task marked off, I find that God’s ways are usually not pictured best by straight lines. They are paths which appear, at times, intertwined, difficult to map out, going forward, then backward, orbiting around a center, and often perplexing my human mind. The longer I walk with God, the more clearly I see that He is truly not confined to my limited understanding. He is working, often His deepest purposes in me, when I am clueless.
This week, I was meditating on two of the seemingly contradictory ways of God. In the next few days, I want to explore these two thoughts:
1. You must go back.
2. You can never go back.
Huh? Sounds confusing? I hope you are intrigued sufficiently to continue reading for both statements are true and I am not being ambivalent. There are times in life when you must absolutely go back. You must go back, as it were, in your mind, your emotions, your relationships, to moments of the past and experience the moments again. There are some very important reasons for us to go back. And in other ways, we must never go back and in fact, cannot do so, but that is for another day this week.
Enjoy this post? Share it with your friends by clicking the Facebook LIKE button..
Powered By Facebook Like Post Plugin
