Going through a difficult season?

"When you go through a difficult time, you automatically start to try to find an answer.
But explanations never comfort.
You don't need explanations.
You need the Presence of God!"
-Pastor Rick Warren

Never Waste Your Pain!

"Have you gone through all of this for nothing? Is it all REALLY for nothing?"
Galatians 3:4 (CEV)

I like Pastor Rick's question: "Have you grown from your pain?"

PAIN CAN BE USED FOR A GOOD PURPOSE

1. Use my pain to draw closer to God!

"I am glad...not because it hurt you but because the pain turned you to God."
-2 Corinthians 7:9 (LB)

(When Johnny ran to heaven, I was compelled to go deeper into my faith in God; to read (soak up/drench myself in) the Bible and other books of healing!
-2 Corinthians 1:8-10

2. Use my pain to draw closer to others!

"By helping each other with your troubles, you truly obey the law of Christ!"
-Galatians 6:2

3. Use my pain to become more like Jesus!

"Now isn't it wonderful all the ways in which this distress has goaded you closer to God?
You're MORE ALIVE,
MORE CONCERNED,
MORE SENSITIVE,
MORE REVERENT,
MORE HUMAN,
MORE PASSIONATE,
MORE RESPONSIBLE.
Looked at from any angle, you've come out of this with purity of heart!"
-2 Corinthians 7:11 (The Message)

Gain from you PAIN! (I chose to let my pain draw me closer to God!)

-2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (TEV)
-2 Corinthians 11:23-28

4. Use my pain to help others!

I like what Pastor Rick says, "Winners get knocked down but then they get back up!"

Winner's are resilient! That's the difference between a winner and a looser!

5. Use my pain to witness to others, to the world!

When we are authentic in our pain, others listen.

"In everything we do we try to show that we are true servants of God.
We patiently endure suffering and hardship and trouble of every kind."
-2 Corinthians 6:4 (LB)

"I want you to know (Dearest) brothers and sisters,
that everything that has happened to me has helped to spread the GOOD NEWS!"
-Philippians 1:12 (NLT)


Dear Lord,
Use my pain to teach me to love even more.
Amen.

A season of mourning...

Getting Through What You're Going Through

1. Loss is unavoidable but grief is a choice!

Grief is the key to spiritual growth.

See John 11:36 (Jesus wept)

2. Grieving is healthy!

If we don't let grief out (tears, emotions, talk, etc.) it will act out.

3. God grieves with me!

God enters into my sorrow with me.

See Psalm 34:18 (God is close to the broken hearted)

4. Grief is healed in community!

We are better together!!!
We are made for relationship!!!

Galatians 6:2 (Share in one another's sorrows)

REVEALING YOUR FEELING IS THE BEGINNING OF HEALING!

5. Grief takes time!

Do NOT try to rush this journey. Loss (grief) takes time.

You don't get over grief (loss), you get through it!

Ecclesiastes 3:1-4
There is a time to weep.

This is a season of mourning.

Learn to lament - Acknowledge your loss - Don't try to fix it!

How to help a friend!

Pastor Rick shared some interesting facts about Redwood Groves!
Did you know their roots grow down deep, but the most interesting fact, he shared,
is that they hold eachother up!

Don't forget to lean into your friends when you are going through the stages of loss...

Shock
Sorrow
Struggle
Surrender
Sanctification
Service

Shock... Surviving a Catastrophe!

*Cry out to God!

"Call to me in your day of trouble; and I will rescue you, and you will honor Me!"
-Psalm 50:15

*Let others help you!

"A friend loves at ALL times, and a brother is born for adversity."
-Proverbs 17:17

INCREASING SHOCK RESISTANCE

Cultivate Strong Relationships!

"Two can accomplish more than twice as much as one...
if one falls down, the other can pull him up; but if a man falls when he is alone,
he's in trouble!... One person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back to back and conquer; and having thress is even better, for a triple-braided cord is NOT easily broken!"
-Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Grow Spiritual Roots!

"Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence!
They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they go right on producing delicious fruit!"
-Jeremiah 17:7-8

"Just as you trusted Christ to save you,
trust Him, too, for each day's problems;
live in vital union with Him!
Let your roots grow down into Him and draw up nourishment from Him!
See that you go on growing in the Lord, and become strong and vigorous in the truth..."
-Colossians 2:6-7

When Your World Collapses! How to Help a Friend!

How to Help a Friend...

Step #1 SHOW UP!
"When Job's three friends...heard aboout all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him!"
-Job 2:11

Step #2 Share Their Pain!
"Then they saw him from a distance...they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for 7 days and 7 nights! No one said a word to him, because they saw how GREAT his suffering was."
-Job 2:12-13

Step #3 Take The Iniative!
"Whenever you possibly can, DO GOOD to those who are in need!
-Proverbs 3:27

Vanessa! How sweet of you to think of me.
I love you Sweet one.
I think of Johnny often... 

Dear Johnny,
I KNOW you're Dancin' Skatin' and singin' with the angels
and I know that God and His Mighty angels are joyful to have you in heaven,
and that heaven is better since you arrived!
 
but I just HAD to tell you today,
I MISS YOU.
forever my love son, 
Mom♥

Rick and Kay Warren - Teamwork Works!

See 2 Corinthians 1:3-11

What you KNOW is what gets you through!

ALL of us and I DO mean ALL of US will go through loss either NOW or LATER!

1. Life does NOT make sense, but we have Perfect Peace because we KNOW that God is with us and He LOVE'S us!
2. Everything on earth is broken, but we have JOY because we KNOW God has a plan - THE PERFECT PLAN!
3. Life is a battle, but we have HOPE because we KNOW that there is more to the story...
so STAY TUNED!

See 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, 14

We may be hard pressed on every side by troubles, but we are NOT crushed.
We may be VERY Perplexed, but not driven to despair!
We may be hunted down, but we are NEVER ABANDONED by God!
We may get knocked down, but we are NOT DESTROYED!
We KNOW that God, who raised Jesus, will also raise us up with Jesus!

"Our bodies are buried in brokenness,
but they will be raised in GLORY!
They are buried in weakness,
but they will be raised in strength!"

-1 Corinthians 15:43

Did you know that 60 million American's suffer with mental illness?
I bet you know someone who is struggling with mental illness...
few are willing to REALLY talk about it!
Don't you think it's strange that if someone has a heart attack or their lungs or kidneys don't function correctly, it's not a problem to talk about those organs -
BUT if your brain gets sick,
people feel shamed and are unwilling to talk about this problem?

I LOVE what Pastor Rick said in his message! "It's not a sin to be sick!"
Pastor Rick and Kay are now feeling called to help remove the stigma for 400 million battling mental illness worldwide!

Listen to their message today... and for the next few weeks!

Saddleback.com

 

God is... an ever-present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1)

God is... an ever-present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1)

But He allows trouble to pursue us, as though He were indifferent to its overwhelming pressure, so we may be brought to the end of ourselves. Through the trial, we are led to discover the treasure of darkness and the immeasurable wealth of tribulation.

We may be sure that He who allows the suffering is with us throughout it. It may be that we will only see Him once the ordeal is nearly passed, but we must dare to believe that He never leaves our trial. Our eyes are blinded so we cannot see the One our soul loves. The darkness and our bandages blind us so that we cannot see the form of our High Priest.

Yet - He is there and is deeply touched.
Let us not rely on our feelings but trust in His unswerving faithfulness.
And though we cannot see Him, let us talk to Him. Although His presence is veiled,
once we begin to speak to Jesus as if He were literally present, an answering voice comes to show us He is in the shadow, keeping watch over His own.

Your Father is as close to you when you journey through the darkest tunnel as He is when you are under the open heaven!

Although the path be all unknown?

Although the way be drear?

Its shades I travel not alone

When steps of Yours are near.

 

Streams in the Desert

 

Death a doorway into our eternal life!

Death is a continuation of life!"

This is the meaning of eternal life; it is where our soul goes to God, to be in the presence of God, to see God, to speak to God, to continue loving Him with greater love because in heaven we shall be able to love Him with our whole heart and our soul. We only surrender our body in death - our heart and our soul live forever!

-Mother Teresa