When it comes to fear, there is no respect of persons. It gets a toehold, and pulls you in when you least expect it. With a combination of marinading ourselves in God’s love, prayer, and praise, fear will take a backseat. However, Satan isn’t going to want to let us go without a fight. He is always on the move. Therefore, we have to constantly stay armored up. For when fear is conquered in one area, he is sure to attack us in the next.
Photo by Matthew Henry
Fear
Fear.
Sneaks upon from nowhere.
Fear.
Latches on you if you dare.
Fear.
Masquerading as your friend.
Fear.
Only torments in the end.
But,
Just Remember to look above.
At,
Our Dear Father’s Perfect love.
Why?
In his love, there is no fear.
Yes,
Abba, Father, He is Near.
1 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
There are times in life when we don’t know which way to go. During these times, if we seek the Lord, then our mission, our purpose, and his will becomes clearer. Of course, it also means that we have to still do our part. Our part involves intentionality, setting goals, and aligning our will with his. We also need wisdom discerning in whom we should confide God’s great revelation.
What are some of the cliche terms that you have said when you tried consoling someone who was grieving?
Did you say these terms to avoid feeling the other person’s pain, or in a rush for the other person to feel better?
What are alternative words that can be said to someone who is suffering?
Do you have pain competitions with others when they are grieving in order to make them have a reality check, or yourself feel better because you feel that you have it worse than them?
What changes can you make to insure that people feel loved during their time of grief?
This poem was written as a reflection of some of the different ways in which God speaks to us. We like to put God in a box. We often forget that God has an infinite way of relating to us, and allowing us to hear his voice. When Elijah was in the process of running away from Jezebel, God revealed Himself to him. Elijah had put God in the box of coming to him in a “great and mighty way”. Instead, he whispered to him in the still, small voice. God knows what we need, and when we need it. He is a God who meets us right where we’re at.
Picture by Sarah Pflug
He Speaks
He Speaks! He Speaks!
But where will it be?
In a message, in a song, or the birds in a tree?
Will it be in the coolness of the wind blowing at night?
Will it be in the calmness of the crickets singing in flight?
Will it be in the morning when the rabbits talk to squirrels?
Or the munks tunneling through grass, and the robins dancing a twirl?
Will it be in the waves that are splashing at the beach?
Or the smiles of the saints as they’re waving “Hi” to me?
Will it be in the sun that is setting in the sky?
Or the swans overhead that are reaching by and by?
When he speaks, will I hear him, same voice as before?
Episode 47: Enough for Everybody or The Scarcity Mindset Healing Our Brokenness Podcast Seri...
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Enough for Everybody Podcast Outline
Two Bird Observations
What Can We Learn from the Birds
Photo by Mukesh Mishra
Show Notes
Enough for Everybody
About a year ago, I was looking out of the
kitchen window, and I thought that what I was witnessing was a bird
fight. Instead of it being a fight, it was more like bullying.
Bullying among two birds. One robin decided that he wanted the other
robin to leave the grass. (Granted there was more than enough room for both of
them.) The second robin (victim) tried to stay there.
However, the first robin (bully), continued
to peck him. The second robin went over to the bird bath to relax
there. And what do you know? Mr. Bully came over there and pecked
him until he left that area. Eventually the second robin flew into the
happy face tree (someone literally drew a happy face on the tree itself) and
stayed there for a while. This made the bully very happy.
Reflection
on Enough
In the spring, I saw several birds in the
backyard after it rained. No one had the bullying and victim title.
They were all scavenging for food after it rained. They knew that there
was more than enough to go around.
God revealed something to me in that very
moment. Sometimes we are like the two birds from a year ago. We
feel that we are not satisfied until we are the only star. We feel that
there will not be enough of God’s grace, goodness, and mercy to go
around. We think we have to fight in order to get the blessings, or there
won’t be enough.
Other times, we are like the birds from the
spring, realizing that there is more than enough, God is the one who owns it
all, and is running it all.
The earth is the Lord‘s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. (Psalms
24:1, KJV)
Even with whatever talent it is that he has
blessed us with, he has to tell the door to open and to close. Some of us
will be blessed with a lot, and some of us will be blessed with little. However, when we realize that there is more
than enough for everybody, then we can look to God, rather than other people to
receive the blessing.
“O my people, listen as I speak. Here are my
charges against you, O Israel: I am God, your
God! I have no
complaint about your sacrifices or the burnt
offerings you constantly offer.
But I do not need
the bulls from your barns or the goats from
your pens. For all the
animals of the forest are mine, and I own the
cattle on a thousand hills.
I know every bird
on the mountains, and all the
animals of the field are mine. If I were hungry,
I would not tell you, for all the world
is mine and everything in it.
Do I
eat the meat of bulls? Do I drink the
blood of goats? Make thankfulness
your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows
you made to the Most High. Then call on me
when you are in trouble, and I will rescue
you, and you will give
me glory.” (Psalms 50:7-15, NLT)
Dear God,
We thank you for the gifts that you have blessed us
with. We pray that you will help us to realize that we don’t have to
worry about being threatened by anyone else, because you have blessed all of us
with different gifts/talents that are unique to us. Please help us not to
compete, but to work together for your glory.
Episode 46: We Are All Qualified Healing Our Brokenness Podcast Seri...
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Photo by Matthew Henry
We Are All Qualified Podcast Outline
Job Interviews
Qualifications for Job Positions
Qualifications for Prayer Warriors
Show Notes:
Scripture
ReadingJames
5:13-18We Are All Qualified
Being a prayer warrior is one job that doesn’t require a special set of qualifications. We don’t have to worry about God looking at our application, and going, “No, I am sorry, but your resume doesn’t meet the qualifications for our idea candidate. I will keep your resume on file for a year just in case something else comes along.” We are all broken. And because of this brokenness, we are in the perfect position for God to use us. The bible gives us one example after the other of how God used a bunch of mixed up, messed up Christians to do his work. What does the scripture say about the combination of prayer and broken people?
“The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.” (James 5:17-18, KJV)
These verses hone us in on knowing what the requirements are to getting our prayers answered: 1) willing hearts, 2) consistency, and 3) fervency (intense passion). Let us all be mindful of this as we prepare our resume for review.
Dear God, We thank you for giving us examples in your Word of how you used broken people like us to pray and do your will. Please help us to be consistent and committed when it comes to getting our prayers answered. You tell us in your word that if we delight ourselves in you, that you will give us the desires of our heart.
Episode 45: Be Still: The Healing Aspect of Living with Trauma Healing Our Brokenness Podcast Seri...
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Be Still Podcast Outline
Definition of Still
Definition of Know
Dissection of Psalm 46: 10
What Happens With the Combo of Trauma and Constant Busyness
Photo by Fabio Manuel Neto da luz
Podcast Transcript:
Good afternoon! Welcome to Healing Our Brokenness, episode 45,
Entitled, “Be Still:” The Healing Aspect of Living with Trauma on a Daily Basis”
What does it mean to be still?
Being still means without movement, without speech, calm,
peaceful, serene.
I like to think of stillness as the act of eliminating busyness
and distractions.
In Psalm 46: 10, God tells us, “Be still and know that I am
God.”
To know means to be aware of through information and observation. For us to know something or someone, we must
spend time with that person or learning about that topic. If we want to know
God, we must quiet our spirits, stop the striving, distractions, busyness, and
do what is required to be in a relationship with him. If we want to heal from
trauma, we also need a stillness to exist.
This stillness required from healing that helps us to know
about our mind and body connection, can only happen when we purposefully have 2
things: time and space.
When we are busy every minute of the day, we don’t have time
to know our bodies. Our bodies reveal the secrets behind our emotions. Just recently, and recently being about 3
months ago, I started working a full-time job. After a month, I realized that I
needed to tweak my schedule for the weekend. I had to block out 3 hours on my weekend
mornings in order to make sure that I could continue having my time of
stillness. Without stillness, it is hard to gain clarity.
Before working full time, I had more time and space for this
stillness to occur. Now, since my schedule has changed, i must be more
intentional about giving myself margin.
Right before starting work with this job, I had a traumatic
event to occur. Along with learning new things at work, and relearning how to
drive after 30 years, I was exhibiting “ADHD-like” trauma symptoms, and having
a hard time focusing. I knew that it was
only a matter of time till the emotional effects of this event would come out. My
system had to be relaxed enough with stillness, and time and space to go
through the steps of processing everything that had gone down.
The first symptom that was exhibited was that of nausea. I
knew immediately that this was grief. And how was I able to tell that? Four
years ago, when I was living at my previous residence , I became very nauseated
one evening after eating. It was the
worst case ever. I thought that I was
coming down with the flu or some type of virus. It was also during this time
that I had not begun to process any of the traumatic events that had occurred in
the previous 3 years. My system was on
emotional and mental overload.
All of a sudden, before I knew it, I ended up regurgitating 3
to 4 times. In between each time, I felt like I needed to cry very deeply. This
is how I was able to make the connection that nausea for me equals the need for
grief to be released from my body. At
the time, my son asked me about the contents of what I ate that could have made
me so sick. I told him that I realized that it had nothing to do with the food
that I ate.
When I told my therapist about what happened, she said, “Yes,
this was definitely physiological.”
Another symptom that occurred recently is where my lips started
to become numb. I knew immediately that
this represented anger that I needed to work through. Once again, if I did not have the time within
the last few years to process some of the trauma, I would not have had a clue of
what was going on. I probably would have
gotten myself all worked up and anxious, perpetuating the problem.
I was then able to go to God and ask him, “What is this
anger about? Is it just this traumatic event, or something else along with it?”.
Having my time of stillness, and space for reflection allowed me to get to the
root of the problem so that I could start healing from, it. That anger had been coming out sideways for about
2 1/2 weeks.
Music is one of my main go-to’s for enabling me to process
trauma , and so when I added more of this into my time and space, I gained even
more wisdom and discernment , along with being able to release the grief from
my system through crying heavily.
Changes are good. However,
changes are only fully embraced once the old has been grieved. All of the “would
haves”, “should haves”, and “not any more’s”. If you are having problems
healing from trauma, ask yourself if you are allowing yourself the time and
space of sitting in God’s stillness. The
pain, loneliness, and loss have to be grieved. I don’t want to mislead you. There
will be pain in this process. There’s no way to go around it. And I promise
you, if there was, everyone would be signing up for it. There is God’s grace,
mercy, and presence there. And it is
very much needed. It is also in this stillness that our mind, body, soul, and
spirit will begin to reveal the answers to our questions. It will help us to
lead the way and or continue our journey to a life of thriving.
First, try starting off with one hour of lying down without
any distractions and see if you can notice the difference of what this new
stillness brings. Initially, it will feel very uncomfortable because you will
want to quickly fill up your time with busyness. However, this quiet time will
begin to declutter your mind and allow you to get to the root of your issues, along
with the help a therapist.
I hope that “Episode 45: ‘Be Still: The Healing Aspect Of
Living With Trauma’” has been beneficial to you in some way. If Healing Our
Brokenness is making a difference in your life, please leave a review, tag a
friend, and give a shout out on social media. God bless! Have a wonderful week!
Episode 44: Remembering the Sabbath Healing Our Brokenness Podcast Seri...
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Remembering the Sabbath Podcast Outline
Meaning of Sabbath
My Childhood Sabbath
Why Did God Create the Sabbath
Podcast Transcript:
Photo by Matthew Henry at Shopify
Welcome to Healing Our Brokenness Episode 44: Remembering the Sabbath.
What does the word Sabbath mean?
Sabbath means to rest or to
cease. Sunday, the Sabbath, was my
favorite day of the week as a child. It
still is. It was a time when I knew that
I had that “rest easy” deep down in my soul kind of feeling. Sundays could be enjoyed to the fullest
because Saturday was used as a preparation day to deal with meals, clothes,
hair, cleaning, and laundry. On Sundays,
we went to church for a good portion of the day, and if there were no other
programs going on at church, we bought a soul food meal from the church, along
with pop and pound cake and headed home.
Other times, we stopped at the grocery store’s deli department to pick
up Kaiser rolls, crab meat or tuna, and muffins. The rest of the day was filled with reading,
listening to music, and enjoying family time.
Why did God
create the Sabbath? God created the
Sabbath for our benefit. God didn’t need
to rest, but he rested on the Sabbath as an example to us, to remember to take
time out to worship and rest in Him on this holy day: “Then God blessed the seventh day and
sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had
created and made.” (Genesis 2:3, NASB)
Another reason why God created the Sabbath is
to make sure that we don’t go back into a slavery mentality: “Remember that you were
slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you
out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore
the Lord your
God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.” (Deuteronomy 5: 15,
NIV) When you are slaves, there are no
breaks. You’re constantly on the
move. You wear yourselves out to the
point of exhaustion. Sabbath puts a
boundary around this mentality.
Observing Sabbath demonstrates to God that we know he is more than
capable of giving us the strength and endurance that we need to get things done
during the remaining six days. It forces
us to meditate on the fact that God’s gift of freedom given to us via the cross
is enough.
Dear God,
Thank you for the
Sabbath. Thank you for the realization
that we don’t have to work ourselves to the point of exhaustion in order to
keep up. We praise you for your
promises, and the freedom that only you can give.
In your name we
pray,
Amen
Thank you for listening to Healing Our Brokenness Episode 44: Remembering the Sabbath. Have a blessed week!
It is amazing how we are all are wired up differently, and with this wiring, we all have different things that take us back to childhood. For the last few nights, I have been taking a quick five minute walk in the neighborhood in order to get a whisp of the slightly cool, fresh air and to hear the sound of the crickets. These two things have been my favorite since I was a kid. They remind me of visiting my relatives in Memphis and hearing the calming effect of the crickets at night.
Photo by Katina Horton
About a week ago, I was trying to decide what to make for dinner. My mind landed on the box of pasta that was still in the cabinet. I decided to jazz it up with my two favorite ingredients for most meals: spinach and diced tomatoes.
Here is the recipe:
Total Prepping and Cooking Time:
45 minutes
Ingredients:
1 box of penne pasta
2 jars of tomato and basil pasta sauce
1 tablespoon of thyme
3 tablespoons of parsley
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of cut-leaf spinach
1/3 cup of quinoa
1/4 cup of oil
Directions:
Boil a pot of water, adding the oil to the water to prevent the pasta from sticking.
Add the pasta and the quinoa once the water has started boiling.
While the pasta and quinoa are cooking, saute the spinach and diced tomatoes.
Drain the pasta and quinoa in a colander and dump them back into the pot.
Dump all the rest of the ingredients into the pot and stir.
Eat and enjoy!
Food for thought:
What foods do you eat, or activities do you participate in that take you back to your childhood? Would love to hear your comments!
