Showing posts with label illness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label illness. Show all posts

Mar 7, 2010

Nurtured by God


We often think of our service to God as being the first priority. However, God is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything (Acts 17:25). Instead He glorifies Himself by serving us.

Read what John Piper says in Desiring God, p. 132:

Suppose you are totally paralyzed and can do nothing for yourself but talk. And suppose a strong and reliable friend promised to live with you and do whatever you needed done. How could you glorify your friend if a stranger came to see you? Would you glorify his generosity and strength by trying to get out of bed and carry him?

No! You would say, "Friend, please come lift me up, and would you put a pillow behind me so I can look at my guest. And would you please put my glasses on for me?" And so your visitor would learn from your requests that you are helpless and that your friend is strong and kind. You glorify your friend by needing him and asking him for help and counting on him.
In the same way, God is the Server and we glorify Him by allowing Him to nurture us. "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45)."

So when you go to God for your quiet time, do not go as if you are doing something for God. This is to puff oneself up. Go as a child that needs to be nurtured by Him. Make yourself happy in His Word and presence! If you do, you will bear much fruit. After all, "this is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10) emphasis mine.

We instinctively go to God when we are weary or frightened or sad. He designed it this way. Just as the branch is nurtured in the vine and then bears fruit, so we are sustained and strengthened by God so we can tell a needy world how good He is.

Some other scriptures to ponder:
Jeremiah 15:16
Zephaniah 3:17
Isaiah 40:29
John 15:15

Being nurtured by God is primary. Try it and see how it transforms your prayer time and your life. Service to God is only the fruit of abiding in His love (John 15:9). For without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5).

Blessings,
Flowers
Come visit us at warrenfamilylife.com
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Apr 20, 2009

Finding Joy

I live with chronic illness and struggle with depression, so joy is something that has often eluded me. However, I have found it very practical to focus instead on ENJOYING the present moment, squeezing as much happiness as I can out of the good in it.

Whether it is a cool breeze, a kind word, or a job well done, the good is always there, for God goes about lighting candles in the dark places of our lives. If we look for those blessings in certainty that we will find them our lives are richer, and we begin to walk in joy. The rich and poor alike can marvel at the stars! Ecclesiastes 8:15 reminds us that there is nothing better.

Flowers
Come visit us at warrenfamilylife.com
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Apr 16, 2009

Blog Carnival

God Nuggets Blog is honored to be featured on this month's Christians with Chronic Illness Blog Carnival. The article selected was "Fantastically Fragile." There are some great blog entries featured, so check them out. Click the picture to read more!

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Dec 31, 2008

My Faulty, Puny Image of God


Is our God big enough? Theologically, yes. But because I cannot wrap my human mind around Infinity, my image of God is, frankly, marred. That's where faith comes in because it is in the Unseen, the unfathomable.

My faulty, puny image of God causes me much unnecessary anxiety. I am presently faced with a choice about an upcoming trip. Most people would be envious of our destination. It dropped into our laps practically for free. We have been scrimping and saving in bits and pieces for over a year to have spending money. If I miss it, I will be throwing away a rare opportunity and deeply disappointing the person who loves me most.

But I have a chronic illness that for some reason is aggravated by travel. Thanks to the limitations of traveling via frequent flier miles, this trip has a rigorous start: 3 days and 4 cities to get there. My gut tells me I'm gonna bonk. My husband tells me I'm setting myself up to fail. My God tells me that if I miss Plan A, he has Plan B ready and waiting, full of favor and grace and perhaps even more glorious than Plan A.

Please allow me to wax theological for just a moment: We can never get around God's will. But He has what I believe theologians call a "perfect" will and a "permissive" will: Plan A and Plan B.

In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve missed Plan A. They sinned and ruined it. Plan A was for them to populate the earth with good, kind people who had never fallen and to set up God's glorious Kingdom full of light and love right on this planet. That didn't happen.

But in my humble opinion, Plan B, set up from before the beginning of time, is even more glorious. God became flesh and dwelt among us. He died a criminal's death for you and me: By one beautiful, horrific sacrifice Christ atoned for all men, for all sin, for all time. God's Son was raised again to sit at the right hand of God and will one day come again to defeat evil once and for all. He will rule with power and set up that perfect Kingdom on a New Earth where pain and loneliness and decay and suffering are demolished forever. God has revealed, and will continue to demonstrate to a watching universe who would never have known otherwise, His infinite love and kindness by the death, resurrection, and ascension of His Son.

OK, theology lesson over.

Now back to my trip -- and any decision you may be facing. Many years ago, I took a trip that made me so sick that I could have died. Other trips have left me confined to bed for months. Some have had no ill effect at all. (You can understand why I feel like I'm playing Russian Roulette here. Don't want to miss God's will on this one!)

What if I had discerned and chosen Plan A and not traveled at the wrong time on the wrong trip that made me so sick. What if I had never made some of the other choices that led to the development of my illness. I could have had a much easier life. But I never would have had the depth of compassion and understanding that I do now. I wouldn't have the ability to look across a room and see the pain that someone was hiding inside. I wouldn't have insight and hope to offer others who have suffered. There is no way I would know God in the intimate tender way that He has revealed Himself to me, and I certainly wouldn't be writing this blog. I believe I would be of much less use to God in general.

So maybe Plan B is Plan A after all. Maybe we're not big enough to screw up God's will for our lives. Maybe it all does turn out for the best even if it doesn't feel like it in the moment. Maybe the world is safe because God has it all under control. Maybe I am safe. Maybe, even if the worst happens, I'll be glad about it one day.

Maybe God is big enough. And maybe you and I can both dare to believe it!

With love,

Flowers
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Dec 15, 2008

Fantastically Fragile

To most people, strength is beauty and weakness repulsive...
But God is attracted to weakness.

"God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong" (1 Corinthians 1:27).

God gives and commands special treatment for the weak, the brokenhearted, the contrite, the dependent. So why is it that when we come across someone like this we are disgusted or at least uncomfortable?

I have a friend named Donna. Donna is attracted to weakness. In a pet store full of beautiful birds, she fell in love with the one-legged bird that preferred to hide under his newspaper all day. When she chose from a litter of kittens, she looked at the runt, the one that might die, and said, "I want that one." What a beautiful picture of God.

When you are down, when you are at your worst, when you feel like a bug that has hit the windshield of a car. That is when God says, "I want that one," and points at you.

~..~*'*~..~*'*~..~*'*~..~*'*~..~*'*~..~*'*~..~*'*~..~*'*~..~*'*~..~*'*~..~*'*~..~
You can stop reading here. But, if you'd like to dig a little deeper, I selected some encouraging Scriptures. Most are paraphrased for simplicity. Each is linked to take you directly to the original Scripture if you want to see it:
  • Psalm 12:5 - God arises and protects the weak.
  • Psalm 72:13 - He pities the needy and saves them from death.
  • Ezekiel 34:16 - God searches for, binds up, and strengthens the injured.
  • Romans 15:1 - God commands us to "bear with the failings of the weak."
  • Hebrews 5:2 - Jesus subjected himself to weakness when He came in the flesh.
  • 2 Corinthians 12:9 - He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
Flowers
Come visit us at warrenfamilylife.com
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Dec 2, 2008

The God Who Heals


Jehovah Rophe.
"The God Who Heals."
That is the name of our God.
Healing isn't just something God does.
It's something He IS.

I believe God can't touch a life without bringing healing into it. But it is not for us to say when or what that healing will look like. Sometimes it takes the form of emotional healing. Other times, God heals a character defect, or a relationship. At other times God heals a sin problem. Jesus still heals physically just as he did when he walked the earth, And He still performs the ultimate miracle of redeeming a soul from eternal death.

"Then why am I still in pain?" you may ask. I have no adequate answer other than to tell you that suffering is an extremely valuable commodity in the economy of God's Kingdom. Therefore, your reward will be great (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). God stores up every tear in a bottle in heaven (Psalm 56:8). Even though God knows, that if we could see what He sees, we would actually choose the same suffering for ourselves, He weeps with us anyway (John 11:35).

"[God] said, 'My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.' So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me" (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Flowers
Come visit us at warrenfamilylife.com
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Aug 15, 2008

Especially for Children and Grownups that Hurt


Below is a link to a children's story I wrote about ten years ago. It is an allegory of my struggle with illness and self acceptance. I believe it will not only encourage children who are sick, but anyone who feels different.
You can print the pages on a color printer, cut them in half; then staple or bind them together. You are welcome to save the file onto your computer, e-mail or share this little book with anyone, however you like. God gave it to me, and I'm freely giving it to anyone who wants it. http://www.freewebs.com/warrenfamilylife/especiallyforchildren.htm
With love,

Cyndi
www.warrenfamilylife.com
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