Do You Want to be Well?

-
I keep running across that passage in John Chapter 5 that asks, "Do you want to be well?" I often think about this for myself, people in my family, and the culture at large. We love to complain. What would we talk about if we couldn't complain? What if we couldn't discuss our sickness or the hardships we suffer anymore? What would we hide behind? The man at the well was focused on what he did not have. I read that this morning. He lacked friends to help him and strength to carry himself. If Christ had not patiently continued revealing Himself, the man would have lacked Jesus. " I have no one to help me..." -John 5:7

"You have been on an uphill journey, and your energy is almost spent. Though you have faltered at times, you have not let go of my hand. I am pleased with your desire to stay close to Me. There is one thing, however, that displeases Me: your tendency to complain. You may talk to Me as much as you like about the difficulty of the path you are following. I understand better than anyone else the stresses and strains that have afflicted you. You can ventilate safely to Me., because talking with Me tempers your thoughts and helps you see things from My perspective.
 Complaining to others is another matter altogether. It opens the door to deadly sins such as pity and rage. Whenever you are tempted to grumble, come to Me and talk it out. As you open up to Me, I will put My thoughts in your mind and My song in your heart."
-Jesus Calling, Sarah Young, October 10th

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

David Crowder's House Restoration

-
Image
A recent edition of Waco Today featured David Crowder's six year renovation project(we had to go check it out). I said a quiet prayer that God would let our house be completed before six years was up for us and then I dove in to the details. David and his wife bought the home of the man who invented Dr. Pepper. It is encouraging to see something that took so much effort and energy come to completion. May we soon see the same thing. You can read the story of the Crowder renovation here .
Read more

A Writer's Callous

-
Image
Alright, baby photo below. Quit emailing me! ;-) I remember having a writer's callous when I was five years old. In my adolescence I hated it. Now, I find it fascinating. Almost as long as I have been alive I have borne a mark that declares I am passionate about something in such a way that it bores into my skin. I have been blessed with wonderful Apple products to use and I still prefer writing things out. I heard Michelle Pfeiffer say David Kelley writes out all of his award winning shows on yellow legal pad. I like that. I prefer a journal and a real wood pencil (the kind that are stained, not the yellow ones.) There's something romantic about it to me. Writing is a choice medium in my relationship with God . I love to prayer journal. I pour out thanks for every minute that I get to spend doing it. In last weeks post I told you that God broke my Mac so I would spend some time alone with Him (then I can have it back in January). Shortly thereafter the enemy came in tel...
Read more

Miscarriage | Infertility | Hope

-
Image
I encountered Jesus as a young child in a church pew in the balcony of an old country church. Through a lifetime of trial, I knew he was there. I did not always know or understand what he wanted of me, but I knew I was wanted. We could go through all of the pain and abuse of my life and unpack each tiny detail, but that is not what this is really about. I love what Frederick Buechner said, “Pain is not the biggest thing that has ever happened to you.” That is true. I have beheld far greater glory. As I clung to his word through all of this, I knew he was there.   My story about trying begins long before I began trying to have children. I tell you this because almost half of the population has been abused in some way. The attack on my uterus began when I was four-years-old. I spent most of my life believing that I was broken and I was crippled by shame. I carried that shame into every relationship I had. As I encountered people in the church, I never felt safe enough to ask for...
Read more