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Friday, April 9, 2021

Purity 388: Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship


Purity 388 04/09/2021 Purity 388 Podcast

Good morning.

Today’s photo of this sunset at the bluffs in Sterling Shores NY comes from our friends at Celestial Blue photography.  Our friend has a great eye and a big heart as their photography displays their love for stunning scenes like this, wildlife creatures in their natural habitats, and pictures of their family.   I also like our friend’s adventurous spirit because no matter how easy or treacherous the climb up the bluffs was, they had to take the time and make those steps and be there at sunset for us to see this.  

Our friend’s willingness to seek the peace and beauty of the bluffs at sunset should teach us that our efforts can be rewarded but we may have to do some work to get there and be patient to position ourselves for those opportunities.     

While some may claim that they can find peace from watching T.V. or just staying at home, we should remember that we can do that when it rains!  If enjoying the beauty and serenity of nature brings you a measure of peace, you should be intentional in your efforts to get out there experience it.  

I encourage my friends to connect with God’s creation with the hopes that it will fill them with peace, awe, and wonder and turn their attention to the One who created it all.  When we realize that God created all of “this” and He also caused us to live and experience it, we can have a revelation of His love for us and seek to align our lives to His purpose for us.   

As the sun sets on another work week and the temperatures locally are forecasted to be in the 70’s it is my hope that my friends take advantage of the opportunities before them to enjoy a part of what God has provided for us: be it the great outdoors, the company of some wildlife, or some wildlife that has been domesticated, or those members of the human race that you call friends or family.   

We experience peace in our lives when we accept the goodness that God has given us, and we appreciate it as a gift from Him.  So enjoy the gifts you have at your disposal and thank the One who made their enjoyment possible.  

(An Audio version of this message is available at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, you can also find it on Apple podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154) and Google podcasts (https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZGJlYW4uY29tL210NGNocmlzdDI0Ny9mZWVkLnhtbA%3D%3D).) There is more content at the restricted blog. Follow me on Twitter or MeWe for easy access.  Blog M T 4 Christ dot org – This is where the Facebook post ends.)

This morning’s meditation verse is:

Psalm 116:1 (NLT2)
1 I love the LORD because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy.

Today’s verse speaks of our relationship with God and points to the simplicity of our basic needs.  

Last night’s discipleship class was on the proper expression of our emotions. The lesson highlighted our basic need to be able to express our emotions as Anderson’s book, Victory over the Darkness, warned about the dangers of suppressing our emotions or expressing them in ways that were harmful to others.   

The proper acknowledgement of our emotions involves our looking at our emotional state, evaluating what is driving them, how our feelings and thoughts are related to who we are in Christ, and being able to express our emotions to others honestly but with love.  

The bottom line to honestly expressing our emotions is that we need to be heard.  Mental health experts say that to maintain good mental and emotional health we each need at least one person we can be emotionally honest with.  If we have two or more people like that in our lives we are truly blessed. 

Unfortunately, in this world those intimate, trusting, and emotionally honest relationships may be hard to come by.   This harsh reality is one reason why our faith and our relationship with God is so important.  

God hears us. God knows us. He wants us to be honest with Him and allows us to be real with Him.   As we take steps towards God, our love for Him grows because we realize that He will be the One who will always be there for us. He hears our voice. 

But God not only hears our voice, He also provides us with a way to receive His mercy for all the mistakes that we have made in our lives. He gives us mercy through Jesus Christ.  When we make Jesus our Lord and Savior, God’s mercies never end.  

No matter how we are feeling, what we are going through, or what we have done, God is there to hear us and provide us with the mercy and love that we desperately need.  

When we receive the gift of His mercy and love, God changes our hearts and allows us to have the capacity to give mercy and love to others.

Our churches, the Body of Christ at large, our families, and our friends can all benefit from the mercy, love, and wisdom, that we receive from the Lord.  So as we can be emotionally honest with the Lord, let’s endeavor to reach out to those around us and show them the love and mercy that will invite them to be emotionally honest with us.

I invite all to mt4chritst.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. 

 

Today we continue to share from Dr. H. Norman Wright’s “Experiencing Grief

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase Dr. Wright’s books for your own private study and to support his work. If you need this title you can find it online at several sites for less than $5.00:

Chapter 3.
Grief Is so Disruptive

Grieving is a disorderly process. You won't control it, nor can you schedule its expression.

Your grief will take the shape of a spiral figure rather than a linear one. Grief is not a straight line moving gradually up and toward a set point. You will move forward only to return to where you were. You think you've left behind that intense pain, and your relief is so refreshing, but you will rediscover the pain again and again. Was this your experience? When the loss of your loved one occurred, there was a flurry of activity as friends and other family members converged on your dwelling place. This was necessary. It brought comfort as friends shared, connected, and touched. These were gifts of food and hurts and tears and memories. The service where people gathered brought hope.

But in a few days there were no more services or family or friends. They went home, and you were left to face your new resident—grief. It's like cleaning away all the brush and weeds around your home, but everything gets overgrown again overnight. This is normal. You are normal.

Grief disrupts your mind and thinking ability. Confusion moves in and memory takes a vacation. If you experience short-term memory loss after the death, it's probably a result of the stress and anxiety you've experienced. Just as your leg can experience a cramp and not move, it's as though your mind has a memory cramp. Your mind is 12 paralyzed and shuts down. The more you accept what is occurring, the sooner it will pass.

You may experience quite vividly your last interaction with the person who died. Some say the experience is so real it's as though you are actually there talking with them again. These experiences will pass. They're normal responses for what you've experienced.

You may find yourself easily distracted and perhaps disoriented even if you are normally a decisive person. You may discover now you're afraid to make choices. You end up feeling childlike. During the next few months, decisions will probably need to be made. It's not the best time of your life for these decisions because of your emotional wounds. But some can't be delayed. Financial, living, family members' decisions may not be avoidable at this time. But remember, major decisions during the first year will be flavored by intense emotions. Others will urge you to make a decision one way and someone else another. Take your time, don't be rushed, ask God to give you a clear mind and lead you to those who have your best interest at heart. When asked by others to decide, put in a delay. Say, "Thank you for your suggestion. I want to think and pray about this and I will let you know."

You may find that your sense of time is distorted. Time goes too fast or too slow. Past and future collapse together. The future is hard to fathom. Some shut out both the past and the future, but we need both the memories and the hope. There is wisdom in this thought, "Reminiscing is intended to liberate you from emotional claims of the past in order to think hopefully about the future."

When you grieve, your attention is not upon others. It's upon you. This too is normal. Your own intense feelings are probably all that you can bear at this time, and so for a brief time you may shut out the world. Sometimes this occurs because you're afraid that others will take away your feelings and memories, and that's all you have left.

Whenever there is a loss, there will be grief. But some do not grieve or mourn. Some make a choice not to express all the feelings inside so their grief is accumulated. Saving it won't lessen its pain. It will only intensify it. Silence covers wounds before the cleansing has occurred. The result will be an emotional infection.

Some try to make others carry their burden. But grief can't be shared. Everyone has to carry it alone, his own burden, and in his own way.

You may have said, "Where are they when I need them the most?" You'll probably say that about your friends.

The author of Healing After Loss said: "Now there are spaces in the mind, spaces in the days and night. Often, when we least expect it, the pain and the preoccupation come back and back—sometimes like the tolling crash of an ocean wave, sometimes like the slow ooze after a piece of driftwood is lifted and water and sand rise to claim their own once more."

And so, during this loss you may incur yet another loss—your friends. You may have expected some to be by your side, but they never showed up; or if they did, they either weren't much help or they didn't return. Some won't know what to say since most have never been instructed on how to help others at a time such as this. Or perhaps they're dealing with some of their own grief. It may help to let them know that you would just like them to call you frequently, listen, help with a few tasks, or pray with you. (See the Appendix for resources you could recommend to them to help build their ability to help you and others.)


Experiencing Grief.

----------------------------more tomorrow-------------------------

 

God bless you all!

 

Join our Victory over the Darkness Discipleship Class via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154) and Google podcasts (https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZGJlYW4uY29tL210NGNocmlzdDI0Ny9mZWVkLnhtbA%3D%3D

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

 

 

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