Monthly Archives: May 2020

2020, For What It's Worth To You, Holy Soap Box, Just Chatty Today

A Passel of Pain

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I read something today that disturbed me – obviously, I am here writing. When I captured it for my laptop the title it gave itself was amen.

It read this way: “Staying in a relationship just because you love somebody is not worth it. Love is not all you need. Respect is what you need. Reassurance is what you need. Happiness is what you need. Knowing every day you’re their favorite person is what you need. Learn to love yourself instead. 

I can’t give this a strong amen but it bears consideration. Obviously, there’s a passel of pain being experienced when this counsel is given.  

So, relationships are complicated; they are not meant to be but they are because fallen humans are conflicted. And conflicted people think self-centered more often than is healthy for them or others.

Friend relationships. Those can be vacated when one is unhappy in the relationship and the rifted might not be a long-lasting wound; so, in that, I can concur.

Family relationships. They can be and usually are conflicting, complicated, complex, and often downright aggravating, but when it’s the family we don’t walk away, not without extenuating circumstances and a Word from The LORD to seal the deal.

Marriage. That’s a new ballgame. Respect and happiness. O! yes we want those but in my many years of messing up I have discovered and Scripture confirms that you gain respect and happiness by GIVING it and continuing to give it even when at the moment you are not getting it back. Marriage is a covenant – well, godly marriages are covenants and they are the kind that endure through lack; when we feel disrespected and forgotten and ignored and second or third or last on the list of importance. Do I sound experienced? I am.

No-fault divorce. There is no such animal. There is plenty of fault to go around when there is a divorce; it’s not just one or the other; it’s both. And if Both open their Bibles and their hearts to the Spirit of the Living GOD, the marriage can be saved, and not just saved but thrive with respect and happiness and assurance and a whole lot more. Do I sound experienced? I am.

We jump out of marriage way too easily, to the determinant of ourselves and to those who love us.
I’m not saying no marriage is without cause to vacate but I am saying more marriages could be saved than are . . .

And the last point: love yourself.
And to that: loving one’s self unselfishly is above unregenerated humans’ pay grade.
Only The Spirit of the Living GOD highlighting His Word in us can teach us how to do that!

A healthy love for ourselves is predicated on GOD first, and the GOOD of others (as directed by The Scripture) before our own happiness.
And shall we remember happiness is overrated? It fades when the happening fades.
Now, JOY (holy love for GOD, for others AND ourselves) is long-lasting; eternal, even.

So, shall we vacate? What did GOD say when you asked Him?

2020, Guests, YouVersion

Help for Change!

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The following is a copy and paste from YouVersion; a devotion that I have been reading. The title is

Finding God In The Change: Fight Fear, Failure and Fatigue

by Ashley Abercombie

I completed the last installment of it today and I would like to give FULL Credit to the Source and share my reading with you. It is that good! Perhaps you would consider YouVersion for yourself.

Every single person alive on planet earth has a dream. A dream requires us to go from here to there, constantly. Transition is a way of life, and we have to accept this for ourselves, so that we can transition throughout life, from birth to death, with faith. We’ve got to remember why we do what we do, as we change from season to season. 

Hebrews 11 is one of those chapters of the Bible that I love, but I also wrestle with the message. What do you mean all these heroes of the faith DIED without receiving the promise? How is that supposed to encourage me exactly? Still, what I really love, especially in the Amplified Classic version of the Bible, is the language. 

“Earnestly and diligently seek; prompted by faith, when there was no visible sign, took heed and diligently and reverently constructed and prepared; Urged on by faith, when he was called, obeyed and went forth to a place which he was destined to receive as an inheritance; waiting expectantly and confidently; Because of faith, she considered God who had given her the promise to be reliable and trustworthy and true to His word; controlled and sustained by their faith.”

The words of expectation and anticipation have me on the edge of my seat. Something really, really good is coming, and I want in on that kind of faith, because truth be told, this is not who I am in transition, most of the time. 

I’ve come to realize, whether or not the heroes of the faith got the promise they prayed for, is not the Hebrews author’s point – the point is how they endured and waited, how they trusted, believed and obeyed God, as they journeyed through life (imperfectly, by the way, because most of them made massive mistakes, or faced huge challenges, in the tension of transition, just like us). 

Pioneering purpose takes work. We must remain diligent, faithful, and trust God, even if there is no visible sign or tangible evidence that the dream will happen for us, or that God will come through. Verse 13 of the faith chapter says, “These people all died controlled and sustained by their faith, but not having received the tangible fulfillment of [God’s] promises, only having seen it and greeted it from a great distance by faith, and all the while acknowledging and confessing that they were strangers and temporary residents and exiles upon the earth.” 

I wonder, if you were to sit and reflect for a moment, what would you say you are controlled and sustained by? 

Sometimes, the adrenaline from stress and fear keeps me going. (I live in Manhattan, for goodness sake, there’s plenty of anxiety to go around.) I’ve also sustained myself through the difficulty of transition by numbing out on entertainment and social media, trying to please people, achieving goals to prove my significance, or completely living in denial. It gets me through… until it doesn’t.  

In the middle of transition, I’ve learned to do my own work. Listen, can I be real with you, here on our last day together? Nobody can read your bible for you. Nobody can listen to God for you. Nobody can replace the lies floating around in your mind with truth for you. Nobody can take your mask off for you. Nobody can decide for you to go deeper in community. Nobody can make you come to church and participate in community. You have to do the work. 

Yes, good preaching helps. Yes, podcasts are awesome. Yes, being around people helps. Yes, reading books is great. Yes, devotionals are incredibly helpful. 

But, when you are in transition, you can’t hang on to leftovers. Somebody else’s word from God won’t carry you through. A revelation, or a prophetic word, somebody gave you is not enough to sustain you. Every Sunday alone in your living room is not going to work. You need a word from God for yourself to keep it moving to the other side of the shift. When you’re in pain and in crisis, you need the word of God to bubble up on the inside of you like a river of living water. And you need people to encourage you, to walk alongside, so you can carry each other through.

I love social media – legit love it. But I cannot live on soundbites. I can’t live on Pinterest quotes. I can’t sustain myself on news coverage and blog articles and Facebook comments. I can’t authentically and genuinely connect with Instastories – they don’t talk back to me, or get to know me. We need real friends that we can touch and see and sit across the table from, and laugh, cry, shoot the breeze, and spur each other on in our purpose.

Don’t let the enemy rob you from the strength a life in the Spirit adds to your life, by settling for somebody else’s snapshots of faith. Do not buy the hype that Jesus is not the way, the truth and the life. He’s still relevant. He’s still the truth. He’s still on point. In this information, digital, post-truth age, we’ve got to remember who is still the source: Jesus. The Master Jesus, the King Jesus. He is all sufficient, matchless and limitless, in his desire and ability to meet our needs.

Friend, you’re going to get through this time of transition. You have what it takes. You can do this hard thing in front of you. You are a person of faith who can transition well. Stay in God’s presence, and allow His purpose to sustain you. 

PRACTICE: God is holding you steady. Sit with your feet flat, and your hands resting on your knees, palms facing up. Take a deep breath. Take as many as you need. Recognize the weight you’ve been carrying. Where do you feel it in your body? Your neck and shoulders? Your lower back and gut? Inhale again, and as you exhale, let go of the weight you’ve been carrying. Ask God for help. You might not be able in your own strength, but by the grace of God, you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength.

 

2020, Ephesians, Gospel of Matthew

He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Husband

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Would we not say it is well established at least among JESUS Believers that GOD acted First to procure our salvation? He made the First step. He didn’t wait for us to do right, to do what was needed to make us right.

So. Let us take that precedent and apply it to our relationships, particularly marriage.

What do we know about JESUS? 

Matthew 20:28  (NIV) 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” source

And do we also not know our salvation relationship (Bride of Christ) with JESUS is a picture of marriage? Therefore, could it be anything but ungodly for us to respond in any way other than a servant one to another in marriage? Is not marriage a covenant of service? Did we enter that marriage thinking we would be served or that we would serve? 

Back to the top. Can we honestly say to ourselves I’ll do right when he/she does right? Is that what GOD did? 

So, how ungodly is it to say I’ll do right when he/she does right?

Probing questions keep coming in the quiet of this isolation.

Ephesians 5:22-32 – is it old fashioned or is it the Word of GOD?
Be very careful how you answer that.

2020, Prayers for We the People, Revelation

Is This A Prelude?

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This is raw  – if that will disappoint you, perhaps you might seriously consider skipping this edition of The White Stone.

Papa, perhaps I talked too much today; even so, I am not pleased with this world we now live in. The distancing. The line to walk to enter a store. The Xs to stand on and wait. What kind of world is this? Where’s the faith in You in this? It’s just fear and more fear – fear of a virus we cannot see and fear of the people we do see.

Here on this front porch at our own little address, I get to pretend our world has not changed but just a short trip to Walmart tells me my pretending is pretense. How did we let this happen? And is it reversible? Can we be free to walk as before? Can we ever not fear touching one another? Thousands upon thousands of years man has lived with hugs and embracing and now, here in 2020 the world hugs no more. Oh yes – virtual hugs. Hogwash! Who can believe that jibberish?! What a pack of lies we have believed; a bill of goods we have bought! And anyone of us who dares to speak otherwise is branded many non-benevolent names! It did not take much to get us to this place, did it, LORD? What a pitiful bunch! Now what? Where are the Patrick Henry’s? Where are the ________ what examples do we have? Who is going to do what?

I suspect that medical experts will never relinquish this present control they have over the world – not without a huge fight. And who will fight for us? And what’s this business with China? All three of these killer viruses of recent years have come from China. Is that so? Where’s the social distancing from China? Why let anyone of them come here for decades forward? At least until China’s dictators repent of their compelling drive to rule the world. That will never be, will it? I remember Your Word. Two hundred million soldiers. So what if they kill off a few of their own to kill millions of the world – whether by virus or other weapons? What’s that to them? Oh, what evil people we are! We have ruined this glorious world You gave us to inhabit. Please come back and take it back. We are not fit to be here.

Perhaps the day will come when I have a better opinion of who we have become – but not today.

Abba, I pray for answers. I pray for deliverance from not only this virus but the minds that got us here. I pray for deliverance from the people who got us here. I pray for hope and touch and love to revive in us. This isolation is not Your way, is it? It’s just not You. You came seeking us when we were hiding in the Garden. We are hiding again, LORD, come rescue us. I am reminded of a future time You described to us in Your Word. Revelation 6:16. Is this a prelude?