blog ~ faith ~ family ~ heartlife
I read a Facebook post a couple of weeks ago that posed the issue of knowing the difference between conviction and condemnation…. It said that conviction is usually quite specific (like “go to that person and make amends” or “that was wrong”), where condemnation is more general (like “I am hopeless, pathetic, stupid”).
Continue reading “Monthy mood cycle”
29 March 2014 · The worst thing about being hopping mad at a time when you can’t do anything about it – is that you can’t do anything about it. The best thing about being hopping mad at a time when you can’t do anything about it – is that you can’t do anything about it.
29 March 2014 · So today as I’ve spent time mulling over the thing I was hopping mad about I’ve exhausted my need to hop and am calm tho quietly frustrated and sad – and glad of the forced time to think and be prayerful. There’s a quote picture thingy floating around on these pages that asks:
Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary? – as a rule of thumb for posting on FB. I do like it but have needed more questions today as I’ve thought on things. These are:
If I don’t speak up will anything bad happen? (Possibly… In a connect the dots kind of a way)
In the overall scheme of things, how much damage has been done? (Minimal)
Is there a principle involved? (Most assuredly – and herein lies my trap of the past).
So will I speak up? Well first I discuss with my less fuzzy other half… And then we will see. But at least I’m in a better head space.
Some years ago I had a picture of myself trapped stationary under a mighty hand of love. A strange one for sure, but then I read “You hem me in, You are behind me and before me” and I eventually ceased the struggle to free myself of that Hand.
How and what do you do to regulate yourself when hopping mad?
It’s a tricky balance this speaking up for what you believe on a public forum.
This verse is about appropriate application – NOT name calling – and is often my decider on whether to get involved or not. (Usually not)
“Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”
You might just as easily say “do not hang your fragile crystal in a hurricane and expect it back intact”.
I have been torn to pieces in the past… unnecessarily because I didn’t understand/apply this proverb.
It isn’t of course a stand-alone principle- there are always other things to consider… like this:
“Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil.”
But even that is clarifying… the reverse can be a trap.
Marriage-purity-sex-family are all topics close to my heart and ones on which I’ve spent much time so when I read the Scriptures I’m always on the lookout for deeper understandings on these topics. I’ve read way too many books on these topics and in amongst them I have read a number of Christian teachers say that a wife should never withhold herself from sex and I have seen women damaged and part-way to deranged from their efforts to live out such teaching.
Continue reading “Law vs Freedom – do not withold yourselves!”
*Every Friday afternoon I dash about madly trying to get ready for the weekend and trying to get the weeks washing hung before dinner time. On Friday afternoons I find myself thinking on the Jewish women of old, and the Jewish women of today who still live this way – all busily preparing for the Sabbath, getting all the work done by sundown the end of the 6th day, bringing in the 7th, the day of rest till sundown 24 hours later.
Continue reading “Prophetic spotlight”
The first time I paid any attention to the following proverb was in the context of parenting… “The first to state his case seems right, until his opponent begins to cross-examine him”.
You know the drill, you question your child about something that’s just happened and you go marching off to nab the other child – the guilty one. But then the one deemed guilty objects to their impending fate and you start to doubt that you’d heard all the facts previously.
Continue reading “All the facts. Maybe.”
“No sympathy”
These were the strange words an older friend and mentor said to me in a set of unusual circumstances.
Driving our then 6 kids to school one winter morning we passed a teenage boy walking down Toodyay Rd in a most bedraggled fashion. Freezing and pouring. An area where there are no houses for miles in any direction.
Continue reading “The hitch-hiker who wasn’t.”
Been thinking on Jesus time in the wilderness. This 40 day time period leads directly on from Jesus baptism. Breathtaking.
There was no doubt the devil knew who Jesus was. The devil wasn’t testing Him to see if He was God’s son… he knew it.
God had just announced Jesus as His Son – in whom He was well pleased at the river. The heavens were torn open, the Spirit rested on Him, and The Father’s audible voice was heard.
Moving through Genesis, thinking about marriage.
Events that are recorded in the Bible are sometimes exactly that.
A record of events. It’s a mistake to assume every event in the Bible is there as a stamp of approval, a recommendation, or a permission.
Continue reading “Context!”