My good friend, Lor, wrote an excellent post today about a fantastic author, Gary Thomas. I highly recommend heading over to her blog to read her post about his writings and the opportunity she had to meet him!
She also wrote in her blog that she finds when she has a lot to say, it’s harder to actually blog about it…and I completely agree! I have learned many great things recently, but I’m not ready to put it all down.
But I will say these two things:
First, I can’t get enough of this Scripture:
15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spiritof wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.” (Ephesians 1:15-21)
I am just SO incredibly blessed, encouraged and strengthened by the FACT that we, the believers, can access His (as in the Creator of the Universe) MIGHTY STRENGTH. I cannot even describe how much comfort that gives me. And how STRONG I suddenly feel!! I can DO this life thing. I can do it, because He is constantly giving me strength.
I gave a talk at our school assembly about this a couple weeks ago. These are some of the truths I pulled out of those verses:
- It means that we have a HOPE IN CHRIST that is unique to all believers
- It means that we get to experience the RICHES OF HIS KINGDOM
- It means that if we believe in Him, we have access to HIS MIGHTY STRENGTH
- This is the same mighty strength that raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms
At this point, the exact words I used with my students were “Hokey Doodle!”
I showed them this picture:
This picture was taken at Cape Reinga, at the tip of the North Island in New Zealand (of course), also known as One of the Most Beautiful Places I’ve Ever Been. This is the exact spot where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea. The waves are crashing up against each other, as one current meets another. It is crazy cool. If the same Creator who has chosen this exact spot for two ocean currents to meet each other offers ME access to His mighty strength…well, SIGN ME UP!
The second thing I wanted to share is that I said something to someone (I apologize for the extreme vague-ness that is this story) that made me really vulnerable. LONG story…but I opened myself up to more potential disappointment, hurt and yes, even rejection, but I did it anyway. And I was so glad I did it. For a short time. Can’t say I appreciated the complete and utter silence that it came with, though. UGH. I still don’t regret saying what I said, BUT…the nothing that followed felt really crummy. Again. sldkfjowiejfwlnsdkfnewo.
I was having a whatwasithinking moment about it with a great friend/co-worker of mine, and she offered me such a great pearl of wisdom. She said that when we make ourselves vulnerable, take a shot, or act in brave boldness, that is courage that WE are showing. When I didn’t get any response from the person I sent this vulnerable/brave (in my opinion) message to, I felt like crud. Cruddy crud crud. She said that the courage or the bravery we show when we make ourselves vulnerable is on us. The response we get, or in this case, lack of response, is on the other person. A lack of response is not a reflection of the effort I made. I don’t have to let the response doubt the intentions I had, or the fact that I still think it was the right thing to do.
I think that was really wise advice. I think it’s part of the “we make choices in our lives that we need to live with, that we work out with God, that we consider prayerfully” journey that we’re all on, and we don’t need to take someone else’s disappointing response as a reflection of the vulnerability we showed. It does not need to take away from the action I made (unless, of course, the words said or the action made was not prayerfully considered or was hurtful to the person – in which case, we’re talking about something totally different here). Does that make any sense?
Deciphering Kim 