Have you ever thought about how a grape becomes a raisin? Or a plum becomes a prune? The formal name for the process is dehydration. The water is removed from the fruit. Informally, we’d say that it is just “dried up.” Sometimes we feel spiritually dry. We even have a term to describe it….”a dry season.” We have all been there. In my almost 25 years of knowing God, I can look back over the years and identify the dry seasons as well as identify the spiritually rich seasons.
Guilt. Shame. Worry. We all struggle with something. I’ve been walking with God for over 20 years, and these are some of the things that I still struggle with. But worry is my vice. I think of the book Pride and Prejudice, where Mr. Bennett says that Mrs. Bennet’s nerves have been his “constant companion these twenty years.” For me, fear and worry have been my constant companions for my 44 years.
There is one area of fear and worry that has stuck around as I have grown and matured. It comes around once a year, right after Thanksgiving. It is the fear of shopping in the month of December. It is the fear of leaving my home on Saturdays in December, or going out AT ALL the week of Christmas. Especially Christmas Eve, when throngs of people are doing last minute shopping and are clogging up parking lots and roads. My heart beat is speeding up just thinking about it!
Recently my friend Pastor Heather Arnold taught during our Sunday morning service at Global River Church. She taught about how about how our beliefs influence our actions and our faith. In classic Heather Arnold style, she made a case for how we should be governed by our spirit, and not by our mind, our will and our emotions. When she started teaching about emotions, she had my full attention.
To most of my friends, I am their stable friend. I seem to be fairly sensible and consistent, and am not drawn in by the latest trend or teaching. I am often sharing what I have learned with them during my morning Bible study…the teacher in me just can’t help but to offer my friends a morsel of wisdom in a situation they are facing. On the outside, yes, I am pretty stable. But on the inside, I am a quagmire of emotions! I can’t tell you how often I break down in tears at the cash register of Harris Teeter or with the Toyota service advisor. Some days, I’m just a mess.
Heather taught about how our lives should not be led by our feelings. Then she led us in an exercise to ask God what lies we are believing that are influencing our feelings, and thus our decisions, our thoughts, and our beliefs. When I shut my eyes and humbly asked God what lie I was believing, He spoke one word loud and clear:
DISAPPROVAL
I am honored to present to you a guest post from by my friend, Amber Thornton. She and her husband Michael gracefully model “thankfulness.” So I asked her to blog about it. Enjoy. ~Lisa
Sometimes, you have to dig deep. Real deep.
You know. Those days when the dawn breaks, and it feels like it’s breaking you? The screams of laughter from your loud, but chipper, children in the next room greet you with a sigh as your eyes attempt their opening.
“Can I parent today?” I think to myself.
Recently I was asked to help a college student with a project for her class. She is studying Early Childhood Education at ECU and she needed to interview a family with a child who had a disability. Fifteen years ago my son was diagnosed with autism. We are that family.
Most of the initial questions were routine. How did you know that your son had autism? What services did he receive in school? How old was he when he was diagnosed? And then she asked one that really made me think.
What advice would you give other parents who have children with disabilities?
I sat in silence for a few minutes and searched my heart and mind for the right answer.
It’s okay to grieve.
Earlier this week my world was turned upside down with a crunch of bumpers on College Road. Airbags were deployed, 911 was dialed, and there was a flurry of text messages. Thankfully no one was injured but my delicate balance of life and responsibilities was tipped over. My husband and I were in shock, and it felt like the peace in our home had been stolen. A loving friend sent us Dominoes Pizza for dinner. We needed it.
Sharing is caring. If this post encouraged you, will you share it on Facebook so that it could bless your friends,too? Thanks for helping me to reach more struggling women with encouragement, hope, and grace.The shower is a very spiritual experience, isn’t it? Our stinky dirty bodies climb into the shower and we emerge smelling like the morning dew. As we stand in the shower we are washed by clean water. It is like a fresh baptism every morning. Well, only if there is hot water. Piping hot water. Because if there isn’t hot water, there is a problem. The problem is that a frustrated, irritated person now has to take a cold shower. And cold showers aren’t for ninnies.
“What does a migraine really feel like?” my pastor asked me while we were having a meeting about the ladies ministry. “It is just head pain?” I could tell him a thing or two! I have had migraines for about three years and some of them are quite memorable. Recently I had a debilitating migraine that lasted from 9 am to 5 pm…8 LONG hours.
When I experience a debilitating migraine, I am not only in pain but extremely weak and forced to be in bed. When I have to get up to use the bathroom, I am like a 90 year old woman holding on to the furniture, door frames, and walls to safely get there. This is what I look like:
Sharing is caring. If this post encouraged you, will you share it on Facebook so that it could bless your friends,too? Thanks for helping me to reach more struggling women with encouragement, hope, and grace.Facebook and I have had a rocky relationship which can be described as me shunning and abhorring Facebook. For those of you who were willing and eager to join Facebook, that may be hard for you to understand. I am a reluctant and unenthusiastic Facebooker. I joined two days ago, kicking and screaming.
Sharing is caring. If this post encouraged you, will you share it on Facebook so that it could bless your friends,too? Thanks for helping me to reach more struggling women with encouragement, hope, and grace.The stage lights are up and the stage sits empty, waiting for her to come up. She is praying fervently in her seat that it will go well. She looks to her husband and friend and whispers, “Pray for me.” It’s almost time. She studies her notes one last time and prays for God to give her the words to say. And then it is time. The pastor of the church calls her up. Her heart flutters as she hears his words:
“Lisa, come on up and make the announcements.”
Sharing is caring. If this post encouraged you, will you share it on Facebook so that it could bless your friends,too? Thanks for helping me to reach more struggling women with encouragement, hope, and grace.
