Count it all joy

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Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4 New International Version (NIV)

This is a hard verse to hear when you are going through trials.  Where is the joy in pain? Where is the joy in loss? As Wendy Blight pointed out in my bible study (her book) Living so That, it’s not the trials but rather the results from the trial that we are to consider pure joy.

The strongest example of this verse I have witnessed can be seen in the life of my friend Steph Headley. Steph has been battling a debilitating fatal disease but through her pain and her struggles she has radiated such joy. Always encouraging others, rejoicing in their victories, helping them makes sense of their own pain. Her love for the Lord is evident.  He shines through her as she smiles through her pain. As she reaches out to offer God’s comfort to others. Does Steph count it all joy when she’s hooked up to machines, and tubes, lying in the hospital trying to manage her pain and struggling to breathe. Does she count it all joy when she thinks about leaving her family to this awful disease. I can’t say. But I can say the joy of the Lord is within her because it shows. It’s something that seems to just fill up inside of her and overflow to the point where it can’t help but touch the lives of others and fill them too. This is her legacy. Steph

Steph is in the fight of her life right now. Here is her story https://www.facebook.com/PleaseSaveOurMomSteph?notif_t=fbpage_fan_invite .

Changed and Transformed

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I’ve spent most of my Christian life trying to fit a mold. Trying to look and act a part and be anyone else but me. I believed this would please God. So I followed man-made doctrine; made sure my hair was just so, my clothes were just so…as my spirit dwindled and died before my eyes, with me not understanding why. Trying to be something you’re not, something other than what God created you to be is tiring, and completely unnecessary. And in the face of my widowhood and raising my children on my own; grief, depression and anxiety became unbearable. After a series of unfortunate events, including health issues with my children and financial crises I was done.

God will do whatever He needs to do to get your attention

We all fell to the ground. Then I heard a voice speaking to me in the Hebrew language [probably Aramaic, the common language of the people in that area; 21:40], saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? ·You are only hurting yourself by fighting me [It is hard for you to kick against the goads; a goad was a sharp instrument to herd cattle].’Acts 26:14
Expanded Bible (EXB)

My rule-based Christian life was like living in a straight jacket. Acts 26:14 (above) would come to me often because I knew what I had to do but never took the steps necessary to free myself. I felt it would be a betrayal to my church family who I love dearly. But God told me:

 

If any man comes to Me and does not have much more love for Me than for his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be My follower.Luke 14:26 (NLV)

 

God showed me Galations over and over again but it wasn’t until I opened Living so That by Wendy Blight as part of Proverbs 31 Online Bible series that I finally took the first step. It’s all about that first step. God created me as an individual. He has a unique purpose for me so how can ignoring His voice to please others be acceptable to Him. He knows every hair on my head. He wants me to be free and that can only happen by being the person He called me to be.

So those now who live by faith are blessed along with Abraham, who lived by faith—this is no new doctrine! And that means that anyone who tries to live by his own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure. Scripture backs this up: “Utterly cursed is every person who fails to carry out every detail written in the Book of the law.”

The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way. The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you. Habakkuk had it right: “The person who believes God, is set right by God—and that’s the real life.” Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith, but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping, a fact observed in Scripture: “The one who does these things [rule-keeping] continues to live by them.”

 

 

I will not live in pain

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riversideBy Steph Headley, guest blogger

I will not live in pain.
It is okay to cry.
I will ask for & accept help.
… I will do what I can, no more &
I will not feel shame or guilt.
I will not waste any form of my precious energy.
I will not take on anyone else’s stuff.
I will not apologize for other people.
I will never be too sick to say thank you.
I will remind myself every day how lucky I am.
I will end every day in a prayer.