Profound Love...

I am thankful for an abundance of, well, an abundance of upper respiratory bodily fluids???

That didn't sound exactly the way I meant it to...

But I am grateful for a minor inconvenience that has turned into something so over and above what I would have experienced without it. (For those who are seriously ill, please don't think that I'm saying illness is good or that I don't dread illness as much or more than the next person).

But this has been a light virus (which perhaps unfortunately has exhibited itself in an overabundance of written words... There are viruses... and there are viruses...)

I am a comfort-seeking creature... And this is never more true than when I am sick enough to justify being lazy but not too sick to enjoy all the attention and comforts of home...

I want chocolate, Jane Austen movies, chocolate, a warm blanket, chocolate, and a snuggly (ornery) little dog beside me in my favorite chair.
I want ice from Sonic and a legitimate excuse not to cook. And I want to enjoy napping without all the guilt and above all I want to read what I want to read - mostly murder mysteries, not to put too fine a point on it.

And so I have been reading for pleasure and it was with a bit of a sigh that I realized Sunday night that I would soon need to put the "fun" stuff aside and get back into my new Bible study - whose daily lessons were turning out to be a lot more time consuming than I expected. A LOT more time consuming....

I mean the first four daily lesssons were about 10 times longer than the whole chapter they were meant to delineate. I mean... honestly.. in answering those questions, I'm pretty sure that i wrote more than the apostle John did eons ago when he wrote the first chapter (all ten verses) of his first letter.

And yet...

And yet...

Yesterday morning I sat down with my plethora of multi-colored pens and highlighters, my Bible study notebook, and my Bible - comfy chair, blanket, and Gracie beside me. My plan was to knock out the last lesson from week 1 - I was behind - and then go on to do days 1 and 2 of this new week.

But that didn't happen because somewhere along the way, God arrested my attention and I found myself spellbound, really contemplating words I thought I knew. I managed to get through day 5 and that was all.

But it wasn't. Because now I couldn't wait until the evening when I could start on week 2, day 1. I looked forward to a quiet evening after everyone was in bed, a time when I could curl up next to the vaporizer in the spare room, snuggle down (this time with a different dog, Buddie... smile emoticon, and just let God be God. I felt an anticipation that somehow, as cheesy at it sounds, that eternity would once again light up my little cluttered room here in the 'hood.

And it did. Not in the way I expected. This time I found all my deep questions coming to the surface; I found myself pouring out all the "whys" that are part and parcel of the baggage that I subconsciously carry. But the question marks weren't punctuated by whines or self-pity - only a certainty that God had invited me (and all of us) to call unto Him, giving us His unbreakable word that if we do that, He will hear us and He will tell us things that are too great and mighty for us to discern on our own. And I fell asleep in that assurance - that He heard me and that He would reveal whatever I needed to know.

This morning I woke up with that same sense of expectancy - of meeting Him once again in a quiet house with a quiet heart. I opened my notebook which now has every ink color in the rainbow traced on every page that I've read and I knew He had something for me.

And He did.

His answer to my questions? Himself.

I read the other day that when Martha and Mary were grieving over the death of their brother Lazarus, Jesus didn't explain everything. Instead he offered Himself as the balm to their deep hurt by saying, "I am the life." (John 11:25)

At the time that I read that, it didn't make a lot of sense to me. This morning it did.

But that wasn't all...

If you are willing to set aside some time (you can always pray for a small virus...)

OOPs... Let me try that again!

If you are willing to set aside some time because you recognize a need to make a quiet space in your life for Jesus, because you need to hear from Him - then I highly recommend Kelly Minter's study guide "What Love Is".

I have loved/enjoyed just about every Bible study I have ever done. But there are only two that I would describe as profound.

And this is one of them.

Powerful Weapons

     We all have the capacity to hurt others.  I know I have certainly done my share of causing others pain but I don't think it was ever my intent to hurt anyone.  Immaturity, selfishness, responding to slights (and imagined hurts) can cause us all to lash out when it would be better to keep our thoughts uppermost and our emotions secondary.
     But there are people who intend to do evil.   They seem to lack the capacity to empathize with others and they have tunnel vision: it's literally all about them.  They can be nice to people, even seem to be genuinely compassionate - but it's really a game, nothing more or less.  Exploitation is the name of this game:  as long as you are useful to me, I will flatter you, encourage you, and help you.  When I've gotten what I want, I'm done and you are toast.
    This is sad.  This is a sad way to live - eventually people wise up and the abuser is left with a smaller and smaller group of people to use.  I would go even further and say that since these people don't truly bond with others, they pretty much live with a  sometimes surface triumph but an inner void within.  If you've ever known the joy of true love and/or companionship, you know what these people don't understand - that while they may get their way (at the expense of others), they are missing out on the best that life has to offer.
    So it can be tough to be run over by these emotionally deficient people but the truth is that the victims often have a much richer life than their abusers because they can pick up, go on, and find true friendship.
    But what about the other victims - the newbies?  The ones that you see currently falling into the spider's net?
    Evil people, like their unrecognized Master, can appear as angels of light if not angels of mercy.  When people first come under their influence, there isn't much of anything that a sadder but wiser person can do to break that spell over the newest victims.
    As Christians, it's important (and, for me, hard) to recognize where my weaknesses kick in and God's strength begins to operate in might and power.   Although it's not God's best and highest will for someone to fall into the hands of a conscienceless person, He has a sovereign purpose even for that and He is more than able to deal with it.
   As the abuser's facade begins to crack, you might be able, at that point, to put in a timely word of advise here or a gentle word of caution there.  But until the newest victim(s) are ready to listen, only God can do what must be done - only He can open blind eyes.
   But the good news is that He is still in the business of giving sight and He still answers prayer.
   In fact, prayer is the most powerful weapon the believer has.
   So if your heart is touched as you watch others fall into the net you yourself once fell into, pray.  Pray hard. Pray in faith.
   Ask God to make the abuser's messages to become confusing.  Ask God to begin to strip the facade away from the abuser and, at the same time, to begin to open the eyes of those who are still trusting, still unaware.  And don't forget to ask God to deliver the abuser from evil.
   Remember that our weapons are powerful.


   12 For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.
                                                                                                             Ephesians 6:12 A.V.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5Amplified Bible (AMP)

3 For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons.

4 For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds,