Photo Geek Girl
Be not like the Hummingbirds - Week 33
"Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved." Psalm 55:22
This summer I decided to hang a hummingbird feeder off my deck. I love to sit at my dinning room table while I work on this blog and look out at the feeder as the little hummingbirds fly to and from it. Over the past month I've noticed that sometimes these cute little guys are nasty to each other. Right now I'm keeping my eye on this little brown hummer who is sitting up in a tree watching the feeder. Every time another one comes in for a drink he swoops down and chases it away. We humans can be like hummingbirds. We can be loving one minute and mean the next. We can peck at flaws, we can be prideful, selfish and boastful. We can often be unforgiving and restless in our pursuit of righting a wrong.
Not too long ago members of a large local church started to come out about major issues with church leadership. Over the years I've watched from the outside while this church gained media attention as it grew as well as for some of the radical sermons preached by the lead pastor. I have not personally been affected by what is going on and therefore don't have any right to give my opinion on the matter. But I know I am not alone in being able to relate to a painful situation brought on by leadership within and outside of church. In my case I still feel like both sides brought something into a difficult situation but I had a big role in how things played out. Because of the situation I felt hurt, depressed, angry and frustrated which lead me to lash out. During this time the Lord lead me to verses that taught me some valuable lessons.
Matthew 6:33, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness . . .". In my case I respected and looked up to my mentor to the point of placing her on a pedestal. It is a dangerous place to put someone because they are as human as you and I. They are prone to sin, make mistakes, become prideful and abuse power just like you and I. Lets face it, no one deserves to be an a pedestal next to God. We must keep in mind that we have to seek God first in ALL things including the leaders He places above us. We have to weigh what our pastors say against God's Word to see if what they are preaching is biblically sound.
The Lord also brought Proverbs 17:9 to my attention during a this time, "Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends." I kept my anger boiling by talking about it with the other people who were involved in the same situation. By continuing to talk about what happened I was stirring the pot and causing more division. I wanted to right what I felt was a wrong but this wasn't allowing the Lord to start working on my heart. Believe me, I had some things that needed to be rearranged in there. :-)
I've learned the hard way that continuing to talk about something does not allow the healing process to take place. In my case (which is completely different from this situation with the local church) it only caused bitterness and anger to take root. Bitterness and anger that blinded me from what God was trying to teach me. By continuing to talking about our situations does that mean we're supporting each other or are we continuing to fuel the fire that only God has a right put out? Remember it is not our place to make sure a wrong has been righted. The Lord knows the situation and will make sure His will will prevail over the desires of man. Proverbs 19:21 says, "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand."
Continuing to talk about my situation not only left me bitter and angry but it planted a seed of unforgiveness in my heart. I know in my case I needed to ask for forgiveness and the person I was asking felt the need to ask me for mine. In other cases forgiveness might need to be asked of you which might make it harder to forgive. But when unforgiveness takes root in your heart it tends to become as heavy as a rock which hardens your heart. TRUST me . . . I know. Here is what God says in Ephesians 4:31-32, "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." We forgive because He has forgiven us. I know this is hard so I'll just leave it as food for thought while you and the Lord work on this together.
I also know that healing is a process. There is no quick fixes and sometimes those that hurt us may never repent of their actions. But we are responsible for our own actions, how we respond and how we allow God to work in our lives and the lives of those who have hurt us. I have personally witnessed God transform extremely painful situations into His glory. Situations I thought all would be lost but in the end those involved were willing to make the necessary changes that caused them to grow stronger in their relationships with each other and closer to the Lord.
I pray that whatever situation you are in that you will never forget that, "For nothing will be impossible with God” Luke 1:37.
Krista Jones - 8.8.14
Taken from Stillness of the Morning Blog
Be not like the Hummingbirds - Week 33
"Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved." Psalm 55:22
This summer I decided to hang a hummingbird feeder off my deck. I love to sit at my dinning room table while I work on this blog and look out at the feeder as the little hummingbirds fly to and from it. Over the past month I've noticed that sometimes these cute little guys are nasty to each other. Right now I'm keeping my eye on this little brown hummer who is sitting up in a tree watching the feeder. Every time another one comes in for a drink he swoops down and chases it away. We humans can be like hummingbirds. We can be loving one minute and mean the next. We can peck at flaws, we can be prideful, selfish and boastful. We can often be unforgiving and restless in our pursuit of righting a wrong.
Not too long ago members of a large local church started to come out about major issues with church leadership. Over the years I've watched from the outside while this church gained media attention as it grew as well as for some of the radical sermons preached by the lead pastor. I have not personally been affected by what is going on and therefore don't have any right to give my opinion on the matter. But I know I am not alone in being able to relate to a painful situation brought on by leadership within and outside of church. In my case I still feel like both sides brought something into a difficult situation but I had a big role in how things played out. Because of the situation I felt hurt, depressed, angry and frustrated which lead me to lash out. During this time the Lord lead me to verses that taught me some valuable lessons.
Matthew 6:33, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness . . .". In my case I respected and looked up to my mentor to the point of placing her on a pedestal. It is a dangerous place to put someone because they are as human as you and I. They are prone to sin, make mistakes, become prideful and abuse power just like you and I. Lets face it, no one deserves to be an a pedestal next to God. We must keep in mind that we have to seek God first in ALL things including the leaders He places above us. We have to weigh what our pastors say against God's Word to see if what they are preaching is biblically sound.
The Lord also brought Proverbs 17:9 to my attention during a this time, "Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends." I kept my anger boiling by talking about it with the other people who were involved in the same situation. By continuing to talk about what happened I was stirring the pot and causing more division. I wanted to right what I felt was a wrong but this wasn't allowing the Lord to start working on my heart. Believe me, I had some things that needed to be rearranged in there. :-)
I've learned the hard way that continuing to talk about something does not allow the healing process to take place. In my case (which is completely different from this situation with the local church) it only caused bitterness and anger to take root. Bitterness and anger that blinded me from what God was trying to teach me. By continuing to talking about our situations does that mean we're supporting each other or are we continuing to fuel the fire that only God has a right put out? Remember it is not our place to make sure a wrong has been righted. The Lord knows the situation and will make sure His will will prevail over the desires of man. Proverbs 19:21 says, "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand."
Continuing to talk about my situation not only left me bitter and angry but it planted a seed of unforgiveness in my heart. I know in my case I needed to ask for forgiveness and the person I was asking felt the need to ask me for mine. In other cases forgiveness might need to be asked of you which might make it harder to forgive. But when unforgiveness takes root in your heart it tends to become as heavy as a rock which hardens your heart. TRUST me . . . I know. Here is what God says in Ephesians 4:31-32, "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." We forgive because He has forgiven us. I know this is hard so I'll just leave it as food for thought while you and the Lord work on this together.
I also know that healing is a process. There is no quick fixes and sometimes those that hurt us may never repent of their actions. But we are responsible for our own actions, how we respond and how we allow God to work in our lives and the lives of those who have hurt us. I have personally witnessed God transform extremely painful situations into His glory. Situations I thought all would be lost but in the end those involved were willing to make the necessary changes that caused them to grow stronger in their relationships with each other and closer to the Lord.
I pray that whatever situation you are in that you will never forget that, "For nothing will be impossible with God” Luke 1:37.
Krista Jones - 8.8.14
Taken from Stillness of the Morning Blog