CBS used to have a show called Everyone Has a Story. A CBS news correspondent would blindly point at a spot on the map, would travel there, would walk up to some John Doe and get that person's story.
I think of that today. You have a story; I have a story. Maybe yours is dramatic, tragic, or troublesome. Maybe it's simple. Perhaps it's endearing. But whatever your story, God has given it to you for a reason.
I believe firmly that my story is meant to be shared. I'm not bashful about it. If you know me, you know that's true. But today God used my story in someone's life. To encourage them. To help. And hopefully, I will continue to help this person with the story God is creating in her life.
So, don't waste your story.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Death
What a morbid title for a blog post. Yet at some point in everyone's life we face its reality. Perhaps a family in your church buries a child, or a 37 year old mother of 7 is barely clinging to life. Perhaps a dear friend is battling cancer before his time. Or another mother in remission is frightened on a daily basis that her cancer will reoccur. Perhaps a young mother dies at birth. These situations are reality. I believe it's a good thing to face one's mortality because there will be a day we face it in finality. And if we face it now, then perhaps we will realize that there is only one way to eternal life: through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. As my precious husband said this morning, we will all die. A simple truth, yet striking in its reality.
We will all die.
And the only way to heaven is through the blood of Jesus.
I pray friend, that you know that saving grace. And I believe we need to face our own mortality every single day, so that we realize, it is not for me to live for myself but to live for Christ.
We will all die.
And the only way to heaven is through the blood of Jesus.
I pray friend, that you know that saving grace. And I believe we need to face our own mortality every single day, so that we realize, it is not for me to live for myself but to live for Christ.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Depression is not a sin
This fact is something I've wanted to shout from the rooftops for years. Let me first get a few facts straight.
1. Depression is not a sin.
2. You can't shake yourself, read your Bible out of, pray yourself out of, or make the right choices out of depression. Won't work. Ever.
3. A person who struggles with depression is not an inferior Christian.
4. It is NOT their fault. Period. End of discussion.
That being said, I recognize that the person who struggles with depression often struggles with a sinful response to that depression. There lies the problem. How does one separate feelings from sin?
That process was the toughest one to go through. I'm thankful for a godly Christian counselor who never once blamed my depression on me, nor did he ever discount it in any way. However, what he did do was methodically question the choices I was making while depressed. He never once indicated these choices would change my depression; in fact, he often reminded me that the right choices would probably have no bearing on my feelings at all. However, in my depression, I was still responsible for my choices. Ay yai yai. That process was painful and difficult.
Thankfully my reformed counselor treated depression very differently from the treatment of depression in fundamentalism. I hope not to offend any fundamental Baptist readers that may come along or the friends I have that are still there. However, being depressed most of my life and being a fundamental Baptist until three years ago, I stand by my opinion. As a whole, fundamentalism treats depression as a sin, and fundamentalism often implies or even states that if a person just makes the right choices, the depression will magically go away. They also treat depression as "feeling down" or a "spiritual depression." I even had a well meaning sister in Christ say to me once, "I was once feeling depressed but quickly I realized I needed to surrender myself to God and really bathe myself in His Word and then I was okay."
Oh sister and brother in Christ, NEVER say these words to a depressed Christian. The effects can be devastating. If a depressed person believes this, and that person starts reading the Bible regularly and growing, and the depression doesn't change. . . you get the picture.
I begin to realize the horrible effects this can have on a depressed person in the church. A few years ago, I was ready to walk away from it all. From God, from the church, from everything. Thankfully, God was bigger than my picture of Him, and He wasn't about to let go of me. I hope and pray that God will now lead me along a path of helping others who are depressed. Not making them feel inferior, or like a sub-par Christian, but helping them learn that they can make the right choices along the way. And by the way, I'm still learning that every day.
1. Depression is not a sin.
2. You can't shake yourself, read your Bible out of, pray yourself out of, or make the right choices out of depression. Won't work. Ever.
3. A person who struggles with depression is not an inferior Christian.
4. It is NOT their fault. Period. End of discussion.
That being said, I recognize that the person who struggles with depression often struggles with a sinful response to that depression. There lies the problem. How does one separate feelings from sin?
That process was the toughest one to go through. I'm thankful for a godly Christian counselor who never once blamed my depression on me, nor did he ever discount it in any way. However, what he did do was methodically question the choices I was making while depressed. He never once indicated these choices would change my depression; in fact, he often reminded me that the right choices would probably have no bearing on my feelings at all. However, in my depression, I was still responsible for my choices. Ay yai yai. That process was painful and difficult.
Thankfully my reformed counselor treated depression very differently from the treatment of depression in fundamentalism. I hope not to offend any fundamental Baptist readers that may come along or the friends I have that are still there. However, being depressed most of my life and being a fundamental Baptist until three years ago, I stand by my opinion. As a whole, fundamentalism treats depression as a sin, and fundamentalism often implies or even states that if a person just makes the right choices, the depression will magically go away. They also treat depression as "feeling down" or a "spiritual depression." I even had a well meaning sister in Christ say to me once, "I was once feeling depressed but quickly I realized I needed to surrender myself to God and really bathe myself in His Word and then I was okay."
Oh sister and brother in Christ, NEVER say these words to a depressed Christian. The effects can be devastating. If a depressed person believes this, and that person starts reading the Bible regularly and growing, and the depression doesn't change. . . you get the picture.
I begin to realize the horrible effects this can have on a depressed person in the church. A few years ago, I was ready to walk away from it all. From God, from the church, from everything. Thankfully, God was bigger than my picture of Him, and He wasn't about to let go of me. I hope and pray that God will now lead me along a path of helping others who are depressed. Not making them feel inferior, or like a sub-par Christian, but helping them learn that they can make the right choices along the way. And by the way, I'm still learning that every day.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
The Grace of God and His sovereign care on our trip
I promised to detail God's sovereign care for us on our recent trip to PA. This post will give you all the details.
Many of my friends know that I am a bit of a drama magnet LOL. Actually that's a bit of an understatement. I'm trying to be less of a drama magnet, but sometimes it just follows me.
Recently, we left SC to go on a trip to PA. While there, my nine year old fell and cut her foot pretty severely. It required nine stitches. This injury changed the plans for our trip. She couldn't do anything. In addition, we were all sleep deprived and continued to be sleep deprived even after this injury. At the time, tensions were high.
On the surface, these events seemed to be bad, right? Nothing good could come from it. Well this event set in motion a series of events that led to God sovereignly caring for us in a very difficult and potentially dangerous situation.
See, because we had nothing to do and because we were sleep deprived, we decided to leave PA a half-day early. My husband was very concerned that he would not be able to drive home.
A few hours into the trip, our check engine light came on. We pulled over, read all about the check engine light, examined the engine the best we could and continued on our way. About an hour into Virginia, the van began to have trouble while I was driving on I 81. We pulled over, and by the time we pulled over, the van was billowing black smoke and smelling like burnt rubber. We were stranded with three children on I81. We had no idea what to do. About fifteen minutes into our problem, Jon decided to coast backwards and get us on an exit ramp so that we were out of harm's way. As we were standing there trying to decide what to do, a police car "just happened" to drive up behind us. (the quotes are an indication that this was not a random act of chance, but a Trinitarian God watching out over us). He immediately called us a tow truck.
I cannot detail every tiny act of God's providence, but I will detail as many as I can in this short time. First, my mother in law found out we were stranded in a town where a long time friend of the family has a home. He also has a home near my in laws in DuBois, PA. He gladly offered to take us in. Second, we arrived at the Honda dealership 10 minutes before it closed. Immediately, these men went to work on our behalf. Now we could not find a rental car anywhere at 7:30 on a Saturday night. We were stranded. Oh no, God was at work. A man at a car rental place A MILE from this Honda dealership ALREADY had an appointment to meet a lady there at 8 pm to give her a car after hours. The Honda dealership drove us down there and put us in a minivan. (Wow, God you are AMAZING!!) Finally, if we had been on a Sunday like originally planned, nothing would have been open and we would have had a much more difficult time finding help.
We then traveled to this house where this man took our bags and put us in private bedrooms with beds and opened his house to us. We later found out he has known my husband's family since childhood. My husband's grandmother taught him Vacation Bible School as a child.
The next morning, we looked for a church in town. We landed at Christ Presbyterian Church in Harrisonburg. We had an amazing time of worship. God had led us directly to a church with a very similar service to ours and we were very much at home there. The people there were unbelievable and started offering us any help we needed. We had no idea at the time how much we were going to need it.
We went back to the home we were staying in and had a precious Lord's Day together as a family. What a gift in the midst of turbulence. Isn't God good to help us set His day aside in the midst of all that and give us a precious day together. We had each of the girls detail one evidence of God's providence and miraculous provision on our day of worship. Each one of them was able to tell us one miracle God had done to care for us the day before. What an object lesson for them!
By 9 am the next morning we realized the van would be way too costly to fix and way too long to keep up in Harrisonburg. We started working on finding a way to get us and the van home. Do you know how difficult this is? We tried for HOURS! Nothing. I must admit, my faith started to waver. Thankfully, our God is faithful in spite of our wavering faith.
By 2:30 we realized we had no way home. We stopped and prayed for God to miraculously provide a way home. Very soon thereafter, a man from our church called Jon. He offered to rent a van and come up to VA and pick us up. He arrived at 10:30 and we drove all night. In the meantime, we called some folks we had met at the church the day before, and they offered to take us for the rest of the day (our former hosts were leaving town).
A stranger came and got us from the car rental place, picked us up, took us to his home, fed us, and let us crash till 10:30 at night. WOW. I am praying for God to give me that kind of hospitality to others.
Thankfully, the Lord provided a fairly reasonable tow for the van, and we and the van are now safely back at home. The van is in the shop, and we are all safe and marveling at the grace of our wonderful God.
Many of my friends know that I am a bit of a drama magnet LOL. Actually that's a bit of an understatement. I'm trying to be less of a drama magnet, but sometimes it just follows me.
Recently, we left SC to go on a trip to PA. While there, my nine year old fell and cut her foot pretty severely. It required nine stitches. This injury changed the plans for our trip. She couldn't do anything. In addition, we were all sleep deprived and continued to be sleep deprived even after this injury. At the time, tensions were high.
On the surface, these events seemed to be bad, right? Nothing good could come from it. Well this event set in motion a series of events that led to God sovereignly caring for us in a very difficult and potentially dangerous situation.
See, because we had nothing to do and because we were sleep deprived, we decided to leave PA a half-day early. My husband was very concerned that he would not be able to drive home.
A few hours into the trip, our check engine light came on. We pulled over, read all about the check engine light, examined the engine the best we could and continued on our way. About an hour into Virginia, the van began to have trouble while I was driving on I 81. We pulled over, and by the time we pulled over, the van was billowing black smoke and smelling like burnt rubber. We were stranded with three children on I81. We had no idea what to do. About fifteen minutes into our problem, Jon decided to coast backwards and get us on an exit ramp so that we were out of harm's way. As we were standing there trying to decide what to do, a police car "just happened" to drive up behind us. (the quotes are an indication that this was not a random act of chance, but a Trinitarian God watching out over us). He immediately called us a tow truck.
I cannot detail every tiny act of God's providence, but I will detail as many as I can in this short time. First, my mother in law found out we were stranded in a town where a long time friend of the family has a home. He also has a home near my in laws in DuBois, PA. He gladly offered to take us in. Second, we arrived at the Honda dealership 10 minutes before it closed. Immediately, these men went to work on our behalf. Now we could not find a rental car anywhere at 7:30 on a Saturday night. We were stranded. Oh no, God was at work. A man at a car rental place A MILE from this Honda dealership ALREADY had an appointment to meet a lady there at 8 pm to give her a car after hours. The Honda dealership drove us down there and put us in a minivan. (Wow, God you are AMAZING!!) Finally, if we had been on a Sunday like originally planned, nothing would have been open and we would have had a much more difficult time finding help.
We then traveled to this house where this man took our bags and put us in private bedrooms with beds and opened his house to us. We later found out he has known my husband's family since childhood. My husband's grandmother taught him Vacation Bible School as a child.
The next morning, we looked for a church in town. We landed at Christ Presbyterian Church in Harrisonburg. We had an amazing time of worship. God had led us directly to a church with a very similar service to ours and we were very much at home there. The people there were unbelievable and started offering us any help we needed. We had no idea at the time how much we were going to need it.
We went back to the home we were staying in and had a precious Lord's Day together as a family. What a gift in the midst of turbulence. Isn't God good to help us set His day aside in the midst of all that and give us a precious day together. We had each of the girls detail one evidence of God's providence and miraculous provision on our day of worship. Each one of them was able to tell us one miracle God had done to care for us the day before. What an object lesson for them!
By 9 am the next morning we realized the van would be way too costly to fix and way too long to keep up in Harrisonburg. We started working on finding a way to get us and the van home. Do you know how difficult this is? We tried for HOURS! Nothing. I must admit, my faith started to waver. Thankfully, our God is faithful in spite of our wavering faith.
By 2:30 we realized we had no way home. We stopped and prayed for God to miraculously provide a way home. Very soon thereafter, a man from our church called Jon. He offered to rent a van and come up to VA and pick us up. He arrived at 10:30 and we drove all night. In the meantime, we called some folks we had met at the church the day before, and they offered to take us for the rest of the day (our former hosts were leaving town).
A stranger came and got us from the car rental place, picked us up, took us to his home, fed us, and let us crash till 10:30 at night. WOW. I am praying for God to give me that kind of hospitality to others.
Thankfully, the Lord provided a fairly reasonable tow for the van, and we and the van are now safely back at home. The van is in the shop, and we are all safe and marveling at the grace of our wonderful God.
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