When Peace on Earth Doesn't Look or Feel Like Peace on Earth

There's a piece of this Christmas, birth story of Jesus that is a bit unsettling and one that the answers lay shrouded. 

We talk of peace on earth, and rightly so. The angels said, "Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace among men." Luke 2:14 

What do we do with the result of Herod's reaction to feeling threatened? When he discovered he was duped by the wise men, he was worried that a young boy would take his throne so he had the little boys three and under killed. 

Little ones lost their lives in the wake of Jesus' earthly arrival. 

Peace on earth? That doesn't sound like peace. 

We too, have things that happen that make no sense and we question the way of Jesus and what He is doing.  We experience the loss of our loved ones.  Rejection, trauma, and disappointments leave their mark.  In the wake of men and women's fears, death and evil happens. 

What do we do with all this?

What happens to us, may leave us wailing and with more questions than clarity. 

But the greatest truth above any darkness is that in the darkness Jesus came. Peace came and still comes because Peace is a Person.

He wants us to know Him for who He is more than what He does and what happens to us.  He wants to show us more of Himself.  So often we turn away.  The pain can be so great and the questions so tumultuous that in our human way of processing we can't make sense of it.  We have a hard time connecting Jesus to the painfilled situation.

Learning to trust Jesus is a journey and process but it is what He wants us to learn, even in the darkness and when things don't make sense.   He sees perfectly and understands the truest form and way to life. 

Those mothers who wailed those nights long ago - I wonder what they would tell us if we could ask them about the night they lost their sons?  What would they say to a heart holding grief that feels so unbearable?

For me, for you - He is still Immanuel, with us in whatever we walk through - the fire, the waters, with us in the pain and He wants us to know who He is.

Redeemer. Comforter. Counselor. Guide. And so much more. 

Who is He to you, right now, in whatever you are facing and walking through?  Maybe all you can cry out is, " Lord, help my unbelief." That's okay.  That's the cry of faith that God wants to answer - learning to trust Him when it's the hardest to do so. 

John 14:27 - "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful."

Philippians 4:7 - And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The Steps of One Moment

 

This is a day that begins the beginning of a new month.                                                                              

How do we get here, in this moment, the second to last month of a year?

Life gets full. Days are filled. Moments get overwhelming. 

I invite you to take a deeep, looonngg,, breath with me.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Inhale.... Exhale...

Exchanging our anxiety, worry, pain, fears, disappointments for His grace, love and receive His joy.

A day. A moment is what you have right now. 

The way up the stairs is one step at a time.  The way to climb a mountain, is one step at a time.  The way to the end consists of stepping one step at a time.

Each moment you choose to do the right thing, is one less wrong. Each time you resist whatever you know in your heart that is not healthy, is one more right moment. 

Each moment adds up and leads to many more good and right moments. 

The moments where you gave into a weakness or didn't make the right choice, is only one moment. It does not need to define the next moment. 

A day is made of moments.  That leads to a week. Then a month. And then a year. 

One day. At a time. Focus on Jesus, each and every moment.

Taking the next step with Jesus is to give wings to living with victory, healing, joy and abandonment. 

Each moment you choose to think differently, each moment you choose to search among the weeds and under rocks to see the gifts God gives, is to taste and see that HE IS GOOD. 

Remember, one day and one moment at time is what you have to take and to live.

The God-Filled Space in Relationships

God. People. Relationships. 

God created man and formed Eve out of man. Breathing into man His own breath and man became a living soul, living with the very breath of God. This creation was different than what God created previously. 

Deeply connected to God. Created, not spoken into existence. Breath from the very being of God.

Two people carry the breath and life of God in their very being. Two people who are to carry on the image of God, passing it on in their own connection and relationship.

It didn't take long to mar and forever change the way relationships were.

In connectedness, community, and relationships; pain happens. 

In connectedness, community, and relationships; healing and health happens. 

But not a saving. That's for Jesus. He's our Saviour, our Redeemer. 

Before I am aware at times, I so often am expecting people to save me, to come through for me.

Relationships are quite the tug of war, quite the i-want-them and then-i-don't. I want to live alone and then it's not enough. 

We are created for relating to each other. We were established to help each other, reminding each other of Jesus.  Reminding us to remember who Jesus is and who we are in Him.  Reminding each other what Eve questioned and we often question too, that God DOES have our good in mind, in the very core of His being.  

I find when I place the proper expectations of what God established for relationships, I want to live in them. 

As a result of the sin; brokenness, pain, and shame entered our relationships.  We now know good and evil.  Pain and joy.

God said He would provide a Saviour, a Redeemer. He would provide a way back, a redeeming of all broken. 

And it does us well to remember that. Because in the space of all the broken in our relationships, is the space that only God can fill and redeem. It's in connectedness to Jesus that heals the deepest, a staying with Him.  Depending on Jesus and finding Him, is not hinged on any physical or tangible person.  And that allows for healing in the deepest parts and corners of our hearts and souls.

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There are many variables that can hinder that healing and finding Jesus. 

We are to walk together, helping each other, but in the painful and aching spaces, that's the space for our Saviour and Redeemer.

As Joni Eareckson Tada states, "To press in to Jesus and to know Him is the purpose of suffering."  Not what it does to me, how it grows my prayer life or makes me a better person, no, it's to know more of Jesus.   Songs of Suffering film is a short documentary by Joni that is so inspiring to find Jesus in the hard.

It's so easy to blame the people we can see and physically interact with, to put the responsibility on them to do and say the right thing.  

And that's the tug of war, the push/pull of relationships. 

Because as people interacting with each other we do have a responsibility to interact in the ways of Jesus, kindness, honoring, patient, loving, etc.

And when that doesn't happen, pain and hurt hurl us to blame if we're not careful.  And please hear me, I'm not advocating that we just take it without dialogue or conversation of some sort.

But what I am saying and where I have wrestled intensely with disappointment and feeling missed or overlooked or even like I don't matter, is there in the midst of all that, is the space to press in to Jesus.  The space that only He can really fill and wants to fill.  

The space where He wants to heal us, even if...  To heal us in spite of anything around us or anyone.  That to me is liberating!  Because my healing and freedom doesn't hinge on anything or anyone!

I can sit on a trash heap and sing with joy because it's inside me.  I can see beauty because beauty is to be seen somewhere and in something and it isn't hinged on my surroundings. (good surroundings sure help, though 😉)

One thing I've learned in my suffering journey is, God wants to be known, just like I want to be known.  God wants to be loved, just like I want to be loved.

And that, has so influenced and changed me in the midst of disappointments, pain, and relating with people.

And from that God-filled space perspective, we own and make our decisions as we interact with each other.  Taking the painful pieces to Jesus to sort through so we don't live in a reactionary place, swinging our pain that only adds to what's going on.

Healing and healed people, encourage others.

Hurt people, hurt people.

I know.  It may sound harsh and unfair.  And in a lot of ways it is. But really, finding healing in the presence of Jesus is a gift because it can happen whether or not the other person cooperates with reconciliation or not.

So, my dear friends and fellow sojourners, let's find Jesus in those spaces of loneliness, pain, denial, and hurt.  To find Jesus enough and His healing is so liberating and that's exactly why Jesus came.  He came to heal the brokenhearted, preach deliverance or release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and set free those who are oppressed. (Luke 4:18)

Some of the most free and healed people are oe were in some of the most hard places.  I think of Corrie Ten Boom, Elizabeth Elliot, Fanny Crosby, Hellen Keller, and many today like Joni Eareckson Tada, Jennifer Rothschild, and even you.  Because in all reality we all have hard we live in and walk through.  Some live in it more intensely.  Each of us carry something deep in our hearts that we would rather not have to carry.  Each of us have a place, that in the end only Jesus can heal and fill.

Bitterness blinds.  Pain oppresses and keeps one captive. Hard breaks my heart.  And in those moments I'm given a choice as I navigate whether I find Jesus more deeply or allow my blindness, oppression to keep me captive.   

Jesus' mission to helping us find freedom does not say anything that includes the one who caused the disappointment, pain, or rejection.  It's only Jesus.  He will heal as we let Him. (Reconciliation is another facet that doesn't swing the door on our healing.)

I want Jesus in those spaces that hurt.

Where is God in the Middle of the PDA's of Life?

There are seasons where life is hard.  A curve ball has been thrown our way and we miss.  We stumble under the weight and long for someone bigger than us to carry us.  We bend under the weight of rejection, of a sudden death, a job loss,  an illness, or you put in your curve ball ...
  That someone is often God that we look to and often blame Him for not carrying us or coming through for us like we want it to look like.

 The summer of 2018, we as a family spent time with a group of people who run summer camps the month of July for First Nations people.  The staff consists of approx 40 young people and families from the States and Canada that give of their time and energy to make this happen.  We are a group that come from a varying of backgrounds, cultures, personalities, and stories that have formed and influenced who we.

   How do we pull together and become a team??

    We start out with 7 1/2 days of training, sessions, and group activities, learning what we should or should not do.  Learning relational tips and just information that is helpful to running a camp and working together.
   One concept we learn are three aspects of a team - team, individual, and task.  These are illustrated with circles.  Are the three circles of equal size, are they balanced?  Are we so focused on our task that we forget to care for the individual?  Are we so focused on what we're doing that we forget we're a part of the team?  How do we support a leader?  How is the leader fulfilling these areas?  Does he designate or do it all himself? and more....
   One way that we illustrate this is through TDA's (Team Development Activity).  TDA's are intense.  They are hard and require skill, focus, and integrity.  They usually take an hour and half to 3 hours to complete.  A group of 30-35 people choose a leader, learn to work together to accomplish the task, learn how to give ideas and yet support the leader, and the leader learns leading tips, etc.  There are specific rules that must be followed and if any are broken or breached there are consequences.
   There are two facilitators that choose, guide, and oversee the activity.

These activities are grueling.  They are intense and bring out the good and bad inside of you.  There are moments of wanting to quit.  Then someone comes standing beside you whispers or shouts....  let's keep going?  or don't slack off now!  or you can do this!
During one particular TDA, a thunderstorm popped up.  It rained and it rained.  You were uncomfortable, wet, chilled and transporting an object that couldn't touch the ground from one place to another.  The rain poured, it became muddy, and still the group walked on.

As an observer and one who wants to be inside during a thunderstorm, I wondered if it was safe or ok to keep going.  But I kept such thoughts to myself...  Amanda & I were told to meet the group at a designated spot... we waited and we waited... the storm poured and the lightening flashed and the group didn't come.

Finally we wondered if they were still coming or if the exited the lake before the designated spot?

We discovered, indeed, that they were on dry land and had begun the debriefing session.  Later in talking to the one facilitator, his comments were, "yes, we were watching the storm.  And when the lightening struck the other side of the lake, we made the decision to exit the lake for it was no longer safe."

His comment --- that they were watching the storm, struck me.  Because Amanda & I were having no communication with them about the storm, and to be honest, I wasn't truly trusting their decisions to keep going.

And then I thought of my hard times, times when I wonder if God is really trustworthy and paying attention to the 'safety' of my situation...  HE IS WATCHING THE STORM.

And I must trust and rest in that truth.  He IS watching and cares and when the lightening strikes too close, He cares and He directs.

And, I wonder, how many times Jesus wants to step in to respond to our heart's cry and God says, "He or She must choose.  This is a moment for her to choose to love me for Who I am and not what I do  This is a moment for a deeper awareness of Who I am."

Jesus as our Intercessor and Advocate restrains because of giving us the characteristic of choice.  The choice to trust.  The decision to believe by faith.  To follow, even if.

But all the while HE IS WATCHING.  He is present.  He is with us.