Considering the Impossible

December 16, 2011 By 2 Comments

By Cyndi

With Christmas upon us, I’ve been thinking a lot about the birth of Jesus. For example, look at  Mary. She was just an ordinary teenager and an angel shows up one day telling her she’s going to be impregnated by the Holy Spirit and give birth to God’s Son. Now I don’t believe that’s something you would eagerly text all your friends about and immediately put as your Facebook status. This was big – really big! Even a little bit “out there,” you might say. But as we know, Mary received the message from the angel with great humility and seriousness.

After Jesus was born, when all the shepherds showed up at the stable, they told Mary and Joseph the amazing story of how an angel had appeared to them announcing the birth of the Savior – the Christ – and were given directions to where the child lay. The shepherds explained they had seen multitudes of angels filling the sky, singing and praising God. It was an unbelievable story! And what did Mary do with all this? She pondered these things in her heart (Luke 2:19).

So here’s what I’ve been thinking: I believe most of us have heard something God told us that seems a bit “out there.” Maybe it’s something we’re supposed to be, something we’re supposed to do, some sort of “dream” or idea we’ve had deep down in our spirits for a long time, perhaps even as a child. It may have been forgotten or put away because it seemed so large, so inconceivable, or so unimaginable; but my word to you today is consider the impossible. Just consider it. Ponder it.

Many of our societies today have lost the art of pondering, taking time to thoroughly consider, pray, and weigh things out. I challenge you to contemplate those things God may have planted deep in your spirit. Were they just childish wishful dreams, or were they legitimate words from the Lord about your calling and true purpose in life? I can’t answer these questions, but God can. So I encourage you to be like Mary and treasure up, keep those things in your heart. God uses us ordinary people so He can do the extraordinary. Consider the impossible. (Luke 1:37)

Filed Under: calling, destiny Tagged With: , , ,

Stillness

October 27, 2011 By 3 Comments

By Cyndi

Stillness. Stillness in mind, body and spirit. Got it? I don’t always. Many times my mind is racing with ideas or replaying events over and over again. My body usually wants to be moving, remaining active with chores or exercise when possible. And my spirit…well, I don’t always check in to see how my spirit’s doing. My spirit is typically the one who wants to be still. It’s deeper and it’s hearing the voice of my Beloved calling from the deep, yearning to connect with Him.

I find myself most of the time staying “on the surface” of life, like the stereotypical news, sports and weather persona. I’m too busy to connect emotionally with God or anyone else. I have things to do, people to see, places to go, a long list in front of me to get accomplished. And where does this get me? Well, sometimes I get a lot done, but my spirit is undernourished. You see, Father God made us to be relational beings, and if I’m not being relational, then what’s the point of being?

We were meant to have emotional connections every day. Connecting with our own emotions, those of our spouse, our children, our friends and co-workers, and of course, the Lord. Some people naturally tend to link emotionally with others, sharing their dreams and desires as well as being a good listener to those who, in turn, disclose their   bundles of feelings. And emotional awareness is needed to unite with God too.

King David constantly was pouring his emotions out to the Lord. As you read through the Psalms, there are numerous examples of him sharing his fears, his anxieties, his joys, his sorrows. And God didn’t complain about it. I think we think that showing our emotions is a sign of weakness or a lesser, negative quality; but the Bible is full of people, including Jesus, who were keenly aware of their emotional state and brought it before the Lord. Their deep calling to His deep, spirit to spirit. They chose to stay connected to the One who could understand, console, and help them.

But to connect with God this way I have to know what’s going on in myself first. I have to still my mind and body enough to know how my spirit is doing. Brother Lawrence and Madam Guyon have shown us that it’s possible to continue working while communing with God, yet it’s more than just offering prayers and petitions to Him. It’s a relational linking, a joining of emotions, my heart to His, a deep to deep in the stillness of my spirit.

Filed Under: Emotional Health, Father's Love Tagged With: ,

Suffering Losses

October 9, 2011 By 5 Comments

By Cyndi

Into middle age now, I tend to look back on my life at times and reflect. In going through healing journeys of past wounding and processing pain these last few years, as well as seeing into the lives of those I counsel, I have come to an astounding conclusion. I believe accepting and grieving losses is one of the hardest parts of this passage called life.

As I walk through resolving life’s hurts and I find healing and wholeness, one of the final stages of each path is accepting a loss. It may be a physical loss of someone or something, it may be an emotional loss, or it may be a financial loss. There are many types of losses, but they all are painful.

We can never go back and change the past, we can only process it and resolve it in our hearts and minds. If our children are older, we can’t change how we raised them when they were younger. If we are parents have died, we can’t change what we said to them or they said to us. So many things we can look back on and want to change, but we can’t. Time only moves forward. But what we can do is move forward with it.

I remember walking along our downtown riverfront one day, looking at all the boats and remembering all the times my family used to sail in the river. We were highly involved in the local sailing community and my father was on race committees and many projects having to do with the St. Johns River. As a teenager, I loved sailing and it became a large part of my life. But that day, as I walked the riverfront, I realized it was all only memories now; I no longer have my dad to share those memories with anymore, much less make any “new” ones. He died 17 years ago. It’s a real loss and it hurts.

It’s not something that can be changed; it is what it is. So I took that loss and gave it to the Lord. Isaiah 53:4 tells us that Jesus came to bear our sorrows and carry our griefs. We just have to let Him. Let go and let God, as the saying goes. Cry, weep, shout, whatever it takes, but give it to Him. Then move on. This can be extremely hard, yet when you come through it, there will be peace.

Filed Under: Emotional Health, Father's Love

A Double-Spaced Life

September 29, 2011 By 1 Comment

By Cyndi

Many of us live very busy lives. We go from one thing to the next without taking a break. Sometimes it’s keeping up with our kids: going from work to soccer practice, grabbing drive-through food, cleaning up once we get home, then helping with homework till it’s bedtime and start all over again the next day. For others, it’s working through our lunch break, eating at our desks, running to do errands, and staying late because everything on our list is urgent and needs to be done yesterday. Unfortunately, this describes too many of us.

As I sit here writing this article (multi-tasking a few other things as I do), I am drawn to the space between this paragraph and the previous one. What is it? It’s that white space that my cursor makes when I hit the “return” key. Space…there’s nothing there. It’s empty. Wow. Wouldn’t I like to put some “spacing” in my life? Jesus did.

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” —Mark 6:31

We all need rest, and I’m not just talking about sleeping at night. As an old adage says, “We need to come apart before we come apart.” Studies have shown that this constant going and going leads to more stress and health problems. I’ve even heard conversations where there was a little competition as to who had the most stress on them, like it was a badge to wear, as if busyness was a sign of Godliness. It’s like we’re saying, “God, see how hard I’m working for Your Kingdom?” Performing. Striving. Warring….hit the return key.

That’s it. Double-space your life. If Jesus Himself needed to take time every now and then to quiet Himself and get some rest, then who do I think I am to not need this? Hit the return key again.

Just the other day this verse came to my mind: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength,” Isaiah 30:15. Look at all those nouns – returning, rest, quietness, trust, strength – great words! Words I want in my life!

Okay, that does it. I choose to hit the return key throughout my day, to take some time to breathe deeply, feel the sunshine on my face, and calm my soul. I want to put all my tasks and “to do lists” on the side, just for a little while. I want to live a double-spaced life.

Filed Under: Emotional Health, life skills, Rest

No Buts

September 17, 2011 By 3 Comments

By Cyndi

As I was praying the other day, I was taking some time to be thankful. I was going through a list of things that God has done in my life, all the changes I’ve come through lately – those kinds of things. And then as I continued to pray, I realized that I started to put in a few “buts.” Ever done that?  You know, “Lord, thank You for _________, but….” Prayers like, “Thank You so much for the overtime, Lord, but…now I have to work all weekend and miss the big game.” There are those tinges of complaints within the gratefulness.

Another perfect opportunity when this happens to me is when I look at myself in the mirror. I pray, “Lord, thank You for my good health and the ability to run, and surf, and workout, but…I sure wish I could loose about five more pounds.”  Or “Lord, I know You love me, but…I’m not sure You really like me.” What’s up with all the “buts”?

Now the day I was praying and God brought this to my attention I heard Him say two words very clearly: “no buts.” That one little conjunction reveals a heart of dissatisfaction, He told me. I’m may be grateful to a point, but those three letters tend to find fault or put blame somewhere. It’s a word of exception or a circumstantial scenario.

Matt. 5:45 says He causes the sun to shine on the just and the unjust. It rains on good people and on bad. “Hello, welcome to life!” My level of acceptance of all things working for good is a bit low at times (Rom 8:28), and I know I need growth there.

So I’ve made a decision based on my prayer time: no more buts. I’m going to just state the first part of the sentence and leave it simple. I don’t want to “compound” the problem (a little English grammar joke there). “Lord, thank You for _________.” Period. No “buts.” Lord, forgive me for my murmuring and complaining and for adding that tiny word in my prayers. Thank You for Your grace and mercy as I grow in Your love. Period. End of prayer and article. No buts.

Filed Under: Father's Love Tagged With: , ,

Pennies On The Ground

September 2, 2011 By 5 Comments

By Cyndi

If you saw a penny on the ground, would you pick it up? I usually do, except the other day I couldn’t. I was riding my bike and saw one on the ground, but it was in the middle of a busy road I was crossing. I cringed a little and rode past it.

What’s the worth of a penny anyway, I thought. A lot of people don’t pick them up. There are millions of them and their value is only one cent. And then that little voice of the Spirit came to reveal something to me about this: “Many people feel like they are only worth a penny; like they’re not worth picking up either.” Another God-thought-provoking sentence from the Lord, indeed. Then He began showing me how some of us tend to see ourselves as lacking value and of no significance to the world, just like pennies on the ground.

I could feel His heart breaking for those “penny-thinking” people, and pictured Him walking the parking lots, streets, and gas stations with His head down searching for pennies on the ground. I saw Him actually looking for them, not haphazardly finding them randomly at times, but deliberately seeking them and picking them up. Father’s heart grieves for those who are downtrodden; who see themselves as “poor miserable worms” who don’t deserve a thing. Father’s heart yearns to gather them in His arms and comfort their fears and doubts, providing safety and security in His presence. Father’s heart delights to pour out blessings and “little kisses” of favor to His sons and daughters, purely for the joy it brings Him.

And Father’s heart sees the pennies on the ground and reaches down and picks each one up to put securely in His warm pocket of love. Their value is immeasurable. His value system is different from ours, so each of us cannot be compared to another. Each of us have our own path, our own journey that we’re going through. And sometimes we fall on the ground, out of strength, out of energy, out of everything. But Father’s love is towards all the pennies on the ground. Father’s love is always there to pick them up and keep them with Him. We are valuable to Him. I’ll try to remember that the next time I pick up a penny off the ground.

Filed Under: Father's Love

Running Away, Running Towards

August 23, 2011 By 1 Comment

By Cyndi

Why is it that whenever we get afraid, angry or hurt we like to run away? You know -  escape from pain – avoid it, deny it, anything but deal with it. And running away can come in many different forms. One form is simply quitting (maybe just in your heart and not in reality). We can quit working, quit being a mom, quit trying to loose weight, quit trying to be happy, or even just quit trying, period.

When the going gets tough, many of us get going. It’s much easier to withdraw from the negatives in our life, rather than face them head on, looking eye to eye and dealing with them. But what if we knew that dealing instead of dodging could lead us to a place of serenity and balance? Would we be willing to face the spouse or face the boss if it could lead to better emotional health and wholeness?

Conflicts and controversy are not easily squared off face to face. Texting, emailing and other new technological advances have helped us circumvent these events. We are uncomfortable and feel uneasy when we stare down the conference table and state the only opposing opinion in the room. And it’s much easier to ignore your wife as she audibly puts things away and says everything’s “fine” than to gently discuss the communication breakdown and open-heartedly try to repair the breach. And then there’s the silent teenager, the nosy neighbor, the demanding father, and the co-worker who just won’t listen. We all have variations of these characters in our lives, and we all have relationship with them in some way; so why do we choose to run away from rather than towards them?

Well, it’s very possible that we honestly haven’t learned the life skills needed to handle such situations. Conflict resolution and communication skills are skills that aren’t always taught to us by our parents, teachers, professors or bosses. Unless these are modeled for us, we generally don’t just “pick them up” from nowhere. There are, however, seminars, conferences and books to help us with these (and we here at FOL do some of these things ourselves), and they can be learned.

Another reason we flee is because it’s too fearful; we would rather not try to sort through  this because, bottom line, no one really wants to feel pain. But what we’ve come to see through many, many hours of prayer ministry, is that once you get through the hurt, the uncomfortable feelings, and resolve the reason you are running away, you find out that when you run towards the issues and embrace the disagreement, the opposition, the clash and are able to elucidate and manage it in emotionally healthy ways, life becomes good and pleasant again.

Running towards something is better than running from something. And when we run away, we are running from the very thing that can mature us and cause us to grow.

Filed Under: Emotional Health, life skills Tagged With: , , ,

Peace Is More Than A Symbol

August 19, 2011 By 1 Comment

By Cyndi

What do you think of when you think of peace? My thoughts go to descriptions like quietness, calmness, lack of strife and contention. It is a non-warring condition. It is a place of silence and stillness, whether that be in physical surroundings or internally in my spirit. Peace is more than a symbol, more than a “hip” greeting to others. It is a state of being.

Many of us are living in conditions of turmoil and stress everyday, much like the sea on which the disciples found themselves in the middle of in Mark 4. As the great storm was upon them and the waves were crashing on the sides of the ship, Jesus remained asleep on a pillow through it all. He was at peace. He stayed at peace. He was peace. When He was awakened by His frantic friends who were fear-stricken to death, He simply brought His peace to His surroundings and calmed the sea. The wind and the waves ceased and there was calm.

Isn’t it wonderful to be in that kind of a calm? That hush where there’s no stirring or movement? Jesus can bring this. He is the Prince of Peace. This is where I need to go when my mind won’t stop running. This is Who I need to turn to when my circumstances won’t change but stay churning all around me. This is the place of comfort I need to be enveloped in when my present situations do nothing but remind me of my past.

Is this possible? With God, all things are possible. “But how do I get there?” you may ask. Sometimes we have to labour to enter into the rest. We have to work at it, be willing to face the pain, the conflict, the discomfort and let God deal with it. As we discover what is behind the chaos, His truth will set us free, and we can rest in His loving arms.

Yes, peace is more than a symbol. It’s a person, and His name is Jesus. Sometimes He’s hard to find in the whirlwind. So stop. Quiet yourself and look for Him in the still small voice.

Filed Under: Father's Love, Prayer Ministry Tagged With: , ,

Running From Emotions

July 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

By Cyndi

Have you ever noticed that when we are frustrated or upset with something we tend to look for relief and escape rather than looking into the source and cause of it? I know when my day is going awry, my computer is freaking out, and nothing seems to be right, I just want a Diet Dr. Pepper. Chips, French fries, and ice cream all seem to help too. It makes me feel better, at least for a moment, but then the problem is usually still there afterwards and now with added guilt for eating something unhealthy.

I get cravings when my emotions are fired up and tend to be swayed by them at that point. Instead of searching through the emotions as to why I’m so upset, frustrated, angry, sad (you fill in the blank here), I run to food, Facebook or “freedom” – I choose to run away. I choose comfort. All those disturbing emotions are uncomfortable, why would I want to deal with them?

David had this same nature in him. If you look through Psalm 77, the beginning verses are full of distressful emotions. Most of them pretty hopeless and despairing. But David found a key to dealing with his emotions – he told all of his frustrations and feelings to God. He chose to pour out his heart to the Lord and as he did, from verses 10 and 11, he began to remember the goodness of the Lord. He found Godsight, which is seeing things from God’s perspective.

By seeing things from God’s perspective, we see them with Him – we step back out of our emotions that we are entangled with and get a different view, a much better view. David acknowledged his emotions and took them to God instead of just running from them.

This is a great example for me to follow. As I just want to get through the day so I can “treat” myself to an Oreo milkshake after work to “make it all go away” and feel better that it’s finally over, I could choose to take a moment to talk to the Lord about what’s going on in my day AS it’s happening. I could tell Him this malfunctioning printer is troubling me deeply because I can’t finish my work. I could ask Him why do I get irate when something breaks around the house. And you know, whenever I have stopped and done this, either by journaling or talking, God shows up, like in David’s case, and He pulls me up so I can see things from His view. I get Godsight, my emotions settle down, and I come up with ways to handle the situation. The problem may not always be solved, but I’m calm enough now to deal with it. And the Diet Dr. Pepper and ice cream are not my “savior” anymore, He is.

Filed Under: Emotional Health, life skills, Prayer Ministry Tagged With: , , , ,

Why Personal Growth?

June 24, 2011 By 2 Comments

By Cyndi

I was watching a video on YouTube when the person speaking talked about personal growth for the workplace. This got me thinking. We deal with emotional health and personal development every day here at Fountains of Life, but how do other people see it? How many people think that this is really necessary? How many Christians even know what it is? Is personal growth and development just some new buzzword that’s going around?

Well, honestly I think God is very interested in our personal growth and development. He is all about relationships, and seeing us grow up to be mature “fathers” in the Lord.  The Biblical term is sanctification. We too often view that as the dying process we grudgingly submit to. He’s a personal God and has specific plans for our lives if we are willing to take the time to explore who we are and what He’s created us for.

I don’t believe God is random, yet much of my life “just happened” to me. I floated along like a raft down a river, knowing He was directing me, and yes, He did. But I bumped over some rocks and hit a few obstacles that I probably could have avoided if I had purposefully been paddling and steering more intentionally.

And that’s what personal development really does–it makes us more intentional about our lives. It’s not “hoping” to mature past a level where traffic jams don’t bother me anymore; it’s taking the time to intentionally examine why traffic jams cause me to loose my peace. Personal growth is about finding my strengths and weaknesses, my identity, and improving the relationships in my life. We all have such potential God has placed in us. If we actively seek out ways to improve, to grow, to advance, and to fulfill our calling, we would change the world!

God has called us to be overcomers, people of destiny, men and women of faith and power, fathers and mothers to the hurting, and reapers of the harvest of lost souls on this earth. Jeremiah 12:5 says,“If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?” (NIV) We need personal growth so we can run with the horses and we can aggressively chop down any thickets the enemy puts in our way!

Getting emotionally healthy and dealing with past issues that are keeping us from moving into our future are vitally necessary if we’re wanting to live life to the fullest and see His glory over all the nations!

Filed Under: Emotional Health, Leadership, Personhood Tagged With: , ,
« Older Posts