We conclude this week’s thoughts about faithfulness with some insights about teaching others how to become more faithful. This is a continuation of my series, Thriving in God’s Garden, which is based on Galatians 5:22. Next week, we will learn about how to be more gentle.
Become a woman of excellence.
Proverbs 31:10-31 has been my greatest source of guidance over the years. As a woman, this passage leads me in the ways that God wants me to go. It describes how I should aspire to live as a Christian wife. I think it can be applied to any woman, young or old, married or single.
Proverbs 31:26 (NIV) reads, She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. Notice that God puts wisdom ahead of faithful instruction in this passage. Older, more mature women are called upon to teach younger ones how to live quiet lives that are pleasing to God. Our cumulative life experiences usually make us better equipped to teach others, primarily through the wisdom we have learned from making mistakes along the way.
I have been on a pathway of learning for many years, and there is still much that I don’t know. But when I do understand something through a combination of experiences and studying the Bible, I try to share my wisdom with others. This blog is one example of my faithfulness in teaching God’s wisdom to others.
What do you know?
Each one of us has been equipped with special talents and gifts. Those abilities should be used whenever possible to encourage others. What have you learned as a result of the challenges life has thrown your way?
Most survivors of abuse don’t feel that they are very worthy. They believe that they have little to offer, because their abusers stripped them of all self-confidence. But the fact is that most people who have survived childhood sexual abuse, rape, domestic violence, or other traumas are usually much stronger in the long run than the average person. We can be far more resilient, hopeful, determined, and resourceful than most others can if we recover well. The very fact that we survived abuse speaks volumes about our emotional strength.
Galatians 5:22 (NIV) tells us that we should be exhibiting behaviors that are more and more Christ-like as we mature. These characteristics (the fruit of the Spirit) include love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Which ones do you feel are your strongest traits? How can you teach what you know to someone else?
Find a place to share your wisdom with others.
The best way to put this lesson into practice is to find a place to serve where we can faithfully teach others what we know. I lead a small group of women in making quilts for terminally ill patients at the hospitals in our community. My friend enjoys teaching young wives how to cook. No matter who we are, or how much we have suffered, God has given us something unique to share with the world. Where can you serve?
Today’s Challenge
Read Proverbs 31:10-31. You can find it at www.biblegateway.com if you don’t have a Bible. Consider the many talents described in this beautiful passage of Scripture. Which gift can you share with someone else? Choose one of your spiritual gifts today and begin faithfully teaching it to others through your actions or through direct instruction.
Showing posts with label rape. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rape. Show all posts
Friday, May 13, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Trust God to Increase Your Peace
Yesterday, we took a look at what happens to our peace when we choose to remain in relationships with people who constantly rob us of it. Today, I want to examine how a relationship with God changes our peace. This is a continuation of my series, Thriving in God's Garden, a study of the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22.
We yearn for peace.
In recent days, Japan has been rocked by the world's worst earthquake, followed by a tsunami that destroyed homes, cars, highways, and ships. Terrified occupants of the city of Sendai literally ran for their lives, which proved futile for many, since the wall of water was racing across the land at over 50 miles per hour.
After more than a month, the city is still in a state of shock. Nearby nuclear reactors have leaked radiation into the air, the drinking water, and the sea. Produce growing on the land is now unfit to eat. Piles of shifting rubble includes homes and cars. Nearly 15,000 people are still missing, and whether they lie dead under that rubble or have been washed out to sea remains a mystery.
In a situation such as this, people yearn for order to be restored. When everything that we rely on, such as electricity, water, mass transit, gasoline, autos, and food are all taken away from us; we sense that there is no one in control of the world anymore. If we don't know God, this type of loss can cause really severe emotional and spiritual turmoil.
During chaos, we look for someone to restore order.
When tragedies such as the Japanese tsunami strike, most people look to someone for help in restoring order. Police officers, paramedics, fire fighters, doctors, nurses, military workers, and many volunteers become the heroes who restore order.
These first responders often receive our heartfelt thanks for their efforts to save our lives. But what happens when the sense of urgency dies down and those workers leave an area that has been left in chaos? Who do we look to for help then?
God must be our greatest hero.
People who experience a close brush with death often realize how fleeting our lives truly are. When we witness our neighbors dying, our sense of self-reliance washes out to sea as swiftly and easily as a house borne by a tsunami.
At times like these, we must rely on God to restore order. If we trust in him and acknowledge that he knows what is best for us, then we can maintain inner peace at times when everyone else is running in circles and screaming hysterically.
Psalm 20:7 (NIV) reads, Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. I like the Message version of the Bible for this same verse: See those people polishing their chariots, and those others grooming their horses? But we're making garlands for God our God. The chariots will rust, those horses pull up lame--and we'll be on our feet, standing tall.
When we forget about God and begin focusing mostly on activities such as polishing our cars and decorating our houses, we run the risk of losing our inner peace if chaos strikes. In the United States, we haven't experienced a tsunami, but many of us are losing our shiny cars and enormous houses to the banks. When we put our trust in things that can be whisked away from us through natural disasters or a faltering economy, we lose our peace as swiftly as the victims of the tsunami did.
Put your trust in God alone.
I have suffered tremendous losses over the course of my life. I have survived childhood sexual abuse, rape, domestic violence, a closed-head injury, four serious car accidents, stage four cancer, the loss of three babies, a disrupted adoption, near-bankruptcy, a paralyzing stroke, business loss, and a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.
I cannot fathom how crazy I would be if I didn't know God. In fact, I doubt that I would still be alive today without my greatest hero, because I would have taken my own life along the way.
But because I chose to look to God for help in times of trouble, he restored my peace in a way that no emergency worker, doctor, banker, or therapist could. My greatest source of peace has always been Psalm 91, which I discovered while I awaited surgery for cancer. The first two verses read:
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."
The last verse of this Psalm reads:
He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.
There is no government guarantee or insurance policy big enough to make promises like God does. He vows to stay with us when tsunamis tear our homes from their foundations. He guarantees that he will rescue us when the storms of life bluster against us. With God, we have everything we need, because whether we survive in this life or not, he promises eternal life with him in heaven.
Today's Challenge
Go to www.biblegateway.com or your own Bible to read all of Psalm 91 today. Begin putting your trust in God, and your peace will grow.
We yearn for peace.
In recent days, Japan has been rocked by the world's worst earthquake, followed by a tsunami that destroyed homes, cars, highways, and ships. Terrified occupants of the city of Sendai literally ran for their lives, which proved futile for many, since the wall of water was racing across the land at over 50 miles per hour.
After more than a month, the city is still in a state of shock. Nearby nuclear reactors have leaked radiation into the air, the drinking water, and the sea. Produce growing on the land is now unfit to eat. Piles of shifting rubble includes homes and cars. Nearly 15,000 people are still missing, and whether they lie dead under that rubble or have been washed out to sea remains a mystery.
In a situation such as this, people yearn for order to be restored. When everything that we rely on, such as electricity, water, mass transit, gasoline, autos, and food are all taken away from us; we sense that there is no one in control of the world anymore. If we don't know God, this type of loss can cause really severe emotional and spiritual turmoil.
During chaos, we look for someone to restore order.
When tragedies such as the Japanese tsunami strike, most people look to someone for help in restoring order. Police officers, paramedics, fire fighters, doctors, nurses, military workers, and many volunteers become the heroes who restore order.
These first responders often receive our heartfelt thanks for their efforts to save our lives. But what happens when the sense of urgency dies down and those workers leave an area that has been left in chaos? Who do we look to for help then?
God must be our greatest hero.
People who experience a close brush with death often realize how fleeting our lives truly are. When we witness our neighbors dying, our sense of self-reliance washes out to sea as swiftly and easily as a house borne by a tsunami.
At times like these, we must rely on God to restore order. If we trust in him and acknowledge that he knows what is best for us, then we can maintain inner peace at times when everyone else is running in circles and screaming hysterically.
Psalm 20:7 (NIV) reads, Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. I like the Message version of the Bible for this same verse: See those people polishing their chariots, and those others grooming their horses? But we're making garlands for God our God. The chariots will rust, those horses pull up lame--and we'll be on our feet, standing tall.
When we forget about God and begin focusing mostly on activities such as polishing our cars and decorating our houses, we run the risk of losing our inner peace if chaos strikes. In the United States, we haven't experienced a tsunami, but many of us are losing our shiny cars and enormous houses to the banks. When we put our trust in things that can be whisked away from us through natural disasters or a faltering economy, we lose our peace as swiftly as the victims of the tsunami did.
Put your trust in God alone.
I have suffered tremendous losses over the course of my life. I have survived childhood sexual abuse, rape, domestic violence, a closed-head injury, four serious car accidents, stage four cancer, the loss of three babies, a disrupted adoption, near-bankruptcy, a paralyzing stroke, business loss, and a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.
I cannot fathom how crazy I would be if I didn't know God. In fact, I doubt that I would still be alive today without my greatest hero, because I would have taken my own life along the way.
But because I chose to look to God for help in times of trouble, he restored my peace in a way that no emergency worker, doctor, banker, or therapist could. My greatest source of peace has always been Psalm 91, which I discovered while I awaited surgery for cancer. The first two verses read:
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."
The last verse of this Psalm reads:
He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.
There is no government guarantee or insurance policy big enough to make promises like God does. He vows to stay with us when tsunamis tear our homes from their foundations. He guarantees that he will rescue us when the storms of life bluster against us. With God, we have everything we need, because whether we survive in this life or not, he promises eternal life with him in heaven.
Today's Challenge
Go to www.biblegateway.com or your own Bible to read all of Psalm 91 today. Begin putting your trust in God, and your peace will grow.
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