16/08/2017
When God Finds Peace
I think a lot about the kind of peace that comes from having a relationship with God, through His Son. It is not peace that looks like the world’s peace, it’s significantly different. The worlds peace is only prevalent in ideal circumstances and it seems to conjure images of beachfront massages and drinks with umbrellas in them, or time spent in isolation perhaps at a retreat or a place in nature untouched by human hand. Peace from the world is fleeting and dependant on comfort, or distraction from problems and responsibilities.
However, peace from God has a kind of stability to it, despite the trials and issues pounding down around it. A bit like the eye within the storm. It is not practical to find ways to simply ignore that the storm is happening, God’s peace shines brightest when we face those storms head on, and allow them to do a vital work on our hearts. The obvious way to survive any storm, is to have something secure to cling to, to protect us. Something that will ensure we come out the other side in tact. In my own walk, Yeshua, the Messiah, is the security to cling to, and the assurance that we will come out alright on the other side of it all.
I often think of peace more like a muscle, something that gets weak when we are distracted from using it, something we must exercise and develop. The more trials we go through with God, the more we see His dependability, and the more we learn to understand the process. This presents an unusual kind of peace. It is not external. In fact much of my time spent going through trials is pretty raw on the outside! I am not good at wearing a mask when life gets hard. I find it goes against my grain to pretend life is hunky dory when its kicking my arse. I write it out, I use it as inspirational fuel. I share every discouragement, every thought process, every confusion and frustration with those scarce few who I trust to not turn it against me as some disappointment of my testimony. They know how hard I cling to the truth while a million inner enemies claw at me to revert back to my old self-destructive ways. They know from my history that I will come through brighter and shinier than ever before, once the skies have cleared.
As I was contemplating the idea of this elusive peace that everyone is chasing, I had a brief moment of selfless thought (I know right, pick your jaw up!) I wondered about when God experiences peace.
Over the past 20 or so years walking with God, I have gotten to know Him a little, we chat and hangout a bit. And I have always been conscious of His Will, His precision, His trustworthiness, His Grace, His promises, His sense of Humour even, but I’ve never really had a sense of His peace. Not specifically, it’s more like an enigma. Something my mind is inadequate at fully comprehending.
It was kind of a sad thought actually as I pondered the view He has of us. Always a mission of truth to prepare for and carry out, while watching His children in a continuous state of deception and war.
Think about it……. I’m mean Really think about it.
Yet Genesis says that on the seventh day God rested and looked at all He had made a said, “It is good”. This concept of Sabbath rest brought a picture to my mind, of the peace that fills God’s heart when we take timeout to be with Him. When even one of His children sings His praises from a genuine, and broken heart. When He sees a glimmer of the potential He knows we have. When a precious lesson is learned and reveals wisdom and truth. I’d like to think that He feels peace when a group of Sanctuary Stretchers come together to listen to worship music, to push aside all distractions, to tend to our physical and inner temple, and press into our relationship with Him.
Christ is the messenger, eternally bringing God’s peace to us, and our promised salvation brings that peace back to God. Just think how comforting it must be to God, to know that Christ fulfilled His purpose! That because of His willingness to suffer and bear our crimes, God now can rest easy, as Christ stands as an advocate for us before the very throne of grace. I find so much comfort and hope envisioning that God finds the most peace in knowing that He will be reunited with us, His children, for ETERNITY! That thought makes my spirit soar!
May Gods peace be upon you!
Thy Will Be Done!
01/08/2017
Please Excuse My Self-Care
So often in my own life, and in the stories I’ve heard from loved ones, acquaintances and potential clients, self-care takes a back seat. Usually because we have somewhere along the way believed the stream of accusations of our selfishness, whenever we disappoint someone, either from critics around us, or our own internal voice. We find ourselves with no free time or energy, as we try to meet all the demands and responsibilities placed upon us.
We then transform into people pleasers, consumed by pedantic expectations, driving us to twist and mould into the cookie cutter shape someone else has decided we should fit. We tend to fall into the mindset that if we put everyone else’s needs before our own, then we must be right. Righteous even!
After this song and dance routine for a few years, it can be common to hit a wall. I don’t know about you, but I found it exhausting trying to keep appeasing each new unpredictable disappointment in those around me.
We are prickly creatures sometimes, us human beings, and we have a knack for taking our crap out on those closest to us. If we are lacking in self-awareness we fail to understand where the line is that allocates blame, and unable to own our own disappointments. Rather, we let fly on others, with only excuses and accusations for the outbursts.
For those of us who have commonly been on the receiving end of these outbursts, becoming a “People Pleaser” is almost second nature. Cleary accusations and guilt trips are obviously things we instinctively want to avoid, and it is often easier to change ourselves accordingly, especially when there is no apology in sight to release us from the blame.
The reason this constant shape shifting drives us into that wall, is because shape-shifting actually prevents us from knowing who we are, what our purpose is, and where we draw self-esteem from. Which is completely unsustainable long term. Plus the inner discomfort is toxic, and it usually manifests in our lives in self-destructive and unhealthy ways. Binge drinking, eating, smoking, promiscuity, and other addiction based behaviours. Shape shifting consumes our self-compassion and our joy, leaving us with a tank emptier than an oily rag.
If we think about it logically, we only become more selfish when our tank is empty, we begin to put up walls so that we have fewer people to please. Often that empty tank leads to some form of physically illness and we suddenly realise that our illness is a wonderful way to shift the blame off our shoulders, a great excuse for failing to meet the demands of our relationships and our lives ….”I can’t keep you happy when I’m not 100% can I?”
Now be careful if this is starting to sound familiar, because it can become a viscous cycle!
This is a common reason why so many avoid regular therapy, or avoid any serious steps to develop their faith. They avoid making any positive changes in their diet, exercise regime or bad habits, and it’s why they remain stuck in a rut with staggering levels of low self-esteem, unhealthy relationships, and selfish misery.
However, setting aside time and effort, creativity and passion for your self care and the things that fill your soul, is actually going to benefit more people in the long run.
Hear me out on this.
It seems everyone now is talking about self-care vs selfishness, and the difference between having self-interest and being selfish. Is it more and more common for people to use ‘self care’ it as an excuse to get out of doing the things they don’t want to do? Which actually if you think about it, takes healthy self-care and turns it into selfishness. HOWEVER, if a little self-interest helps generate more self-awareness, less reactive behaviours, and increases joy, self-compassion and tolerance. The fall out it seems, is that self-tolerance leads to increased ability to tolerate others, self-care increases our ability to care for others in healthy ways, spreading joy and peace. Perhaps the only negative consequence is that we just might piss off a few high maintenance people along the way. Which we were probably already doing for the wrong reasons before, and I can tell you, that they will be singing a different tune when you find your tank full enough to actually help them when they Really need it!
So go ahead, give yourself permission to take care of yourself! Attend that Sanctuary Stretch Class, take ten minutes to listen to that Scripture -Meditation, enjoy some quiet moments in that warm bubble bath. Start that project you’ve been pondering. Set in place some healthy practices and protect your need to honour them. You not only Deserve it.. you Need it!
Inner Angels & Enemies 