Tag: emotions

Holy Grief

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Previous posts in this Grieving with God series:
1 – Suffering
2 – Choosing Joy
3 – Jesus Wept
4 – Walking with God through Suffering
5 – God is Strong. God is Loving

Thinking more on emotions today and how Jesus wept…

It is not accurate to say that believers shouldn’t grieve deeply. In fact, it is often God’s Spirit in us who is mourning when sorrow rolls in. He mourns with those who mourn. And many times His mourning is a beckoning – a holy invitation to go to Him. That feeling of longing that loss and sadness gives us…. is important to not ignore.

He IS the Father of all compassion and God of all comfort. There’s an entire book in His Word called Lamentations. So when Paul says, “don’t grieve as those without hope” — he is not saying do not grieve. He is saying grieve differently. Carry your grief right to the throne and let the Lord to minister you – filling you with LOVE and comfort and hope.

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Jesus Wept

On By randijoIn Uncategorized3 Comments

Previous posts in this series:
Suffering
Choosing Joy

I know that Choosing Joy is not a denial of hardship – it’s a declaration of trust in Jesus. Joy is a supernatural gift from Him, rooted in His grace. The joy of the Lord is our strength! But if joy is more than an emotion, how do emotions fit into all of this?

In my ponderings with the Lord this morning (and through Tim Keller’s writings), He has been reminding me again that we do not deal with suffering by simply suppressing negative emotions – it’s so much deeper than that. We must allow ourselves to feel emotions deeply so that we can release them, entrusting them to the One who can carry them fully.

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Choosing Joy

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Yesterday I wrote about suffering

Today – I want to write about choosing joy.

For the past three years, the Lord has given me the honor of being a front-row witness to my dear friend Cory’s life – walking beside her as she has battled cancer. And she is still in the battle. The Lord is still writing her story.

And I want to share what I have witnessed. Through every step, she has faced this trial as she has lived her life – with grace, love, faith, and a steadfast choice to rejoice.

“Suffering, in and of itself, does not bring us nearer to God” as Tim Keller wisely points out (in Walking with God through Pain & Suffering). It’s who we turn to in the pain that makes all the difference.

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Loving Others from A Pure Heart (Part 2)

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Continuing on from previous post …

… for you have been born again not of perishable seed but of imperishable through the living and enduring word of God….. therefore rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. I Peter 1:23, 2:1-3

We must rid ourselves of these types of heart thoughts (malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander)! And instead crave spiritual milk: Desire Him and His Spirit. Desire to know Him better through His Word. Desire to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds“. Desire to be pure and true like Him. Desire to give Him the honor He deserves… more than we desire honor for ourselves that we don’t deserve. Desire what HE says is best more than what’s easy or what feels best.

Continue reading “Loving Others from A Pure Heart (Part 2)” →

Loving Others from a Pure Heart

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Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart. I Peter 1:22

Thinking more about how to fight discouragement… I am realizing how easy it is to be discouraged by people and how very quickly we can grow weary in our relationships. We are all flawed, walking through our own trials and fighting our own battles with different personalities, communication skills, and habits. It is only by the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in us that we can have success in loving others with a pure heart and genuine love.

So what do we do when we realize we are people-weary? Muttering negative comments about others to ourselves or closest friends, even if we have a loving smile and kind spoken words? Avoiding people? Desiring distance until they’ve made some progress in weak areas? Being resentful of how much we’ve loved others or done for them that has been unreciprocated? Feeling superior because we see what they need to do to have positive changes in their life and they just aren’t doing it? Desiring to speak ill of them to mutual friends?

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Breathe

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Jesus is the source & sustainer of life.  

When He, the Creator, breathed life into Adam (Gen 2:7) it was not only the beginning of humanity but also a foreshadowing of the divine plan He had prepared for His children.

In John 20:22 …He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”… This sacred breath that gave Adam physical life also breathes into us new spiritual life, sustaining us moment by moment. Every breath we take physically can be a reminder of His constant presence and the eternal life indwelling in us.

Whether we feel His presence or not…whether we feel fully alive or feel lifeless… Christ is sustaining us, always! His Spirit within us is a constant blessed assurance that we are alive in Him – not just now, but for.ever. He holds our faith together, unshaken and eternal!

He doesn’t want us to worry about how many breaths we will take on this earth. He knows exactly every breath He has for us and has hidden that from us. We are called to trust in the one who has numbered them all. Let each breath we take be a reminder that He is with us and HE IS life itself.

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Grief as a Strengthening of Will

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“I thought I could describe a state; make a map of sorrow. Sorrow, however, turns out to be not a state but a process.” C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

My beloved Dad passed away very unexpectedly and suddenly April 30th and it broke my heart. His death brought with it un-answered prayers, pain, shock and loss. Although my head knew otherwise, I had a feeling of betrayal from the Lord and was simply very wounded and downtrodden. I have journeyed with the Lord long enough that I knew in my head that He was sovereign, Jesus was sufficient, and He would keep my faith in tact. But that didn’t take away from the pain and grueling process of the last 6 months.

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