Purity 416 05/12/2021 Purity 416 Podcast
Good morning.
I haven’t been doing these
daily encouragements for too long. They started as texts to a friend, which
lead to a group text, and then slowly evolved to Facebook posts to encourage
more people which led to the resurrection of my blog and, after I had a desire
to open my discipleship class to more people via podcast, I started podcasting
them too.
I say all that to say
this: as far as I can remember I have never used photos from the same friend, back-to-back. Also, out of respect for my few professional
photographer friends, I try not to use their work too often unless I
specifically know they are cool with it.
So I hope my friend at Celestial Blue Photography won’t object but the
title of their piece and the beauty of their work was very appropriate to what’s
on my mind this morning.
I attend a Divorce Care
group on Tuesday nights (find a group near you at divorcecare.org) and one of
the things mentioned in last night’s video caught my attention. In discussing the trauma of divorce and
healing, one of the presenters stated that the response that we have to trauma
can have a stunting effect on our growth.
The dangers of living in
the past and avoiding dealing with your emotions when going through a
significant loss were highlighted but the analogy that has me thinking was that
this presenter likened our response to trauma to be similar to the pattern that
develops in people with substance abuse problems.
The presenter stated
that when someone chooses a substance, or something else, as a coping mechanism
their emotional growth and maturity are “frozen in time”, meaning that whatever
stage we are at when we start coping in an unhealthy way, we get stuck there.
Essentially, we get caught in a cycle of continually doing the same things over
and over and unless something changes we stay there.
I think everyone can relate
to this because we all know people who have basically remained the same
throughout their lives. For some that is
commendable because of their kind or friendly disposition. For others it isn’t because of their grating or
abusive personalities. But regardless of
where they fall in the nice vs not so nice spectrum, people who haven’t grown
or matured can be frustrating to deal with because they don’t have dynamic
responses to the difficulties in life and the advice they provide to people
going through trauma seem thoughtless, child-like in its simplicity, or
positively inane.
For most of my life, I
was stuck in a cycle of reactivity that was driven by alcoholism and other
fleshly patterns. My answers to life’s
problems and those hurting were childlike, thoughtless, and inane. “Get over
it.”, “Have a drink.”, and “Well, screw them.” were some classics that you
might’ve heard from me. In my stunted
growth, I didn’t have the depth of maturity to really process the complexity of
what was happening or simply didn’t want to deal with it. I was just one continuous cycle of reactive
responses of pain and pleasure and when you are in that there’s no room for
anyone else and their problems, so you tend to isolate.
I might have been
trapped in that cycle for the rest of my life, but two things changed it. In 2002, I suffered a major heartbreaking
trauma and in the wake of it, I actively sought the meaning of life. Life went on in my patterns for a long time
but throughout it all I was seeking truth and in the process I discovered new
ways to interpret my experience in life and eventually, and thankfully, I found
the Truth, The Way, and The Life: Jesus Christ.
I know a lot of people
who have suffered possibly the greatest loss of their lives in the not-so-distant
past, but my experience may be able help in some small way.
I can encourage you that
you don’t have to be “frozen in time” to the brokenness and the loss that you
are experiencing. The losses we
experience in life give us a shock treatment that can leave us devasted and
hurt but they can also be used to shift our understanding and help us to grow. Our loss of innocence can open our eyes to
the truth that was obscured when we were “just living our lives”.
Now please don’t get
this twisted. The world will give you
tons of advice of what you should do in the wake of heartache pain and a lot of
it will be “childlike”, “thoughtless”, or “inane” but some of it can be harmful
(see my simplistic remarks in quotes above) too.
So, when you are looking
for some healing from the losses you suffered, Go to the Healer.
When you are looking for
answers, Go to the Truth.
When you are looking for
comfort, Go to the Comforter.
Our faith in Christ was
supposed to give us new life. In the
wake of trauma and loss, you have the unique opportunity to put the world’s
wisdom, and the world’s ideals for what happiness is supposed to be, aside and
seek the way that brings “peace that goes beyond understanding and that allows
you to experience joy regardless of the circumstances.
So pick yourself up and
keep walking and talking with God. He
has a lot to say to you, but He is also a good listener. He has some new things to bring you to, but
He will walk with you at your pace. He
is not surprised by your new journey, but He has a new path for you to follow
and new levels of growth and maturity to walk into. This journey
begins with a single step towards Him.
It may be long but with God it will never be lonely.
This morning’s meditation verse is:
Philippians
4:4 (NKJV)
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again
I will say, rejoice!
Today’s verse reminds us of the emotional stance we can take as Christians. We can and should rejoice and because the Lord knew that we might doubt our ability to do so the Holy Spirit moved the Apostle Paul to say it twice. “Again I will say, rejoice!”
Some may look at our impermanent world and the suffering in it and ask, “What’s there to be so happy about?” Well, first of all the Lord is not just saying “Don’t worry. Be Happy.”
He is telling us to “Rejoice in the Lord always”. How do we do that and how can we do that “always.”
In Victory over Darkness, Dr. Neil Anderson gives us an idea of how we can rejoice always by his explanation of how our emotions can be influence by our thoughts. So when we are to “rejoice in the Lord” we are to direct our thoughts toward Him, His Word, and what He has done in our lives.
Every good thing we have experienced in our lives was brought to us by the Creator of all things. All those happenstances that made you happy were put into motion by God. Happenstance is another way to say coincidence but with a Sovereign God there are no coincidences.
So we should rejoice over all the good we have experienced but beyond the “good times”, the Lord provides us with ultimate meaning and truth and the assurance of our purpose and safety.
We can rejoice always in the Lord because the greatest mystery of existence has not only been revealed to us but through its revelation we understand that we have been specifically selected and called to know the mystery of life and have been assured that we have a safe place with the Lord in the ultimate reality that the history of existence is leading to.
Watchman Nee hypotheses in the Normal Christian Life that the Apostle Paul refers to the saints who have gone into eternity as having “gone to sleep” rather than dying because of the reality of their everlasting life and the fact the Christians never really die.
In Christ, we have the assurance of everlasting life. In Christ we are accepted, significant, and secure. When we keep these ultimate realities in our consciousness, our natural response will be to rejoice.
So when life’s circumstances are less than ideal, ponder your identity in Christ and the significance of what that all means, and rejoice. Again I say, rejoice!
I invite all to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today, in continuing recognition of mental health awareness month, we continue
to share from Dr. June Hunt’s “Suicide Prevention: Hope When Life Seems Hopeless
“.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes
and encourage all to purchase Dr. Hunt’s books for your own private study and
to support her work. If you need this title you can find it online at several
sites for less than $5.00:
C. What Is the Profile of Suicidal Males and Females?
Within China’s “one child per family” law, the vast number of aborted babies
are female. China is one of only two nations where more women commit suicide
than men. A culture that discriminates and devalues women has, without
question, contributed to the unusually high number of female suicide deaths in
China. For centuries, traditional Chinese culture has elevated the status of
men at the expense of women. Even today, while some of these prejudices are
beginning to pass away, the unnaturally high ratio of male to female births
indicates a preference for male children as well as the continuing practice of
sex-selective abortion.
In China, many well-educated women with doctorate degrees find it difficult
to find a job in China’s male-centric marketplace. Likewise, not only are women
considered inferior to men, but also a high percentage of wives find themselves
victims of domestic violence.
Tendencies for males and females generally differ when it comes to suicide.
Males |
Females |
|
|
Those of both genders who
choose death over life have given up hope of being delivered from their
despair. If only they knew the truth that King David knew. ...
“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from
all their troubles. ... The Lord
redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.” (Psalm 34:17, 22)
Helping a Suicidal Husband
Question:
“What could help a husband reject suicide?”
Answer: One approach is to encourage him to think through the
logical, probable impact of suicide on his wife by asking him a progression of
questions.
• “Have you thought about how you would take your
life?”
— “I’d probably shoot myself.”
• “Then what would happen?”
— “I guess someone would find me.”
• “Then what?”
— “They’d probably call the police.”
• “Then what?”
— “The police would contact my wife.”
• “Then what would happen?”
— “My wife would go to pieces!”
• “So, why haven’t you done this before now?”
— “I don’t want my wife to go to pieces. I don’t want
to devastate her.”
If you can get the struggler to reason through the devastating repercussion
on his wife by using this series of questions, then you are well on your way to
helping him save his life. You are in a position to help him find a real
solution to his painful situation. You could also share these verses
compassionately. ...
“Husbands ought to love their wives as their own
bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ... Each one of you also must love
his wife as he loves himself.” (Ephesians 5:28, 33)
The husband doesn’t have the right to destroy what is considered one body in
God’s eyes. ...
“They are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God
has joined together, let man not separate.” (Matthew 19:6)
Biblical Counseling Keys - Biblical Counseling Keys – Biblical Counseling Keys:
Suicide Prevention: Hope When Life Seems Hopeless.
----------------------------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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