Recognizing Healthy

so, i grew up in some craziness. no news flash there.

i have been on a journey for years on the path of wholeness and well-being (emotionally).

God has been faithful to bring clarity, healing, purpose, and worth.

Sometimes we don't know how far we have come until we are thrown into situations where we can either shine or shrink back.

Yesterday and today i was given the opportunity to see just how much God has changed me. let me just say, normal reactions to difficult situations are wonderful. i don't know how else to word it. To NOT ride the emotional wave that was being thrown at me was wonderfully freeing. this wasn't the first time i have had my mettle tested, but i have now seen a consistent pattern of being able to withstand, in Christ, these interactions. i am learning to recognize "healthy"!

i know that this probably seems pretty vague, but i don't feel the need to share every detail anymore. some things are just meant to be kept quiet, protected. 

All the glory to God alone, for great things He has done!! 

Love or Torment?

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.           

 ~ 1 John 4:18-19

You just read the verse that the Lord used to bring me that freedom from fear. It was just this Monday morning, and i was still really thinking about the worship time on Sunday. See here for more on that.

Now, we know this verse. It is often said. Well, the first part is. i have heard this verse SO often quoted, while leaving out the second part of verse 18, "because fear involves torment." Why do we leave this part out? i propose because it doesn't sound as pretty, or nice, as the first part. We can accept that we should not have fear in love, but do we ever think of what fear itself involves? Not much, as we rarely quote the last half of the verse.

The word "torment" really struck me on Monday. i had to sit on it for awhile. to process. to absorb all the implications of what my fear really was....it was torment. And should i, a Christ-one, be living with torment? Should you?

Dictionary.com defined torment this way:

tor-ment

as a verb

1. to afflict with great bodily or mental suffering; pain: to be tormented with violent headaches.

2. to worry or annoy excessively: to torment one with questions.

3.to throw into commotion; stir up; disturb.

as a noun

4.a state of great bodily or mental suffering; agony; misery.

5.something that causes great bodily or mental pain or suffering.

6. a source of much trouble, worry, or annoyance.

7. an instrument of torture, as the rack or the thumbscrew.

8. the infliction of torture by means of such an instrument or the torture so inflicted.

Those are some pretty strong words. Do we realize that when we are walking in fear, we are tormented? To be completely honest, when i am fearing, i am excessively worried, disturbed, in mental pain. My mind is tortured with all the thoughts of what could be. and i definitely suffer from headaches from all of my anxiousness.

And guess who is pleased-as-punch when we are living our lives with fear? yep. The enemy of our souls. This is most certainly not living in the perfect love of our God and Father; the perfect love of Jesus Christ.

i'll tell you what...this is one woman who is DONE being tormented by fears! i don't know what the future will hold. i don't know what my life will look like down the road. But i KNOW i can trust and depend on the amazing strength and salvation on Jesus Christ, my Saviour, the One who knows the future of all. i know that i can rest in the perfect love that the Father has for me. Jeremiah 31:3 states:

The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: “ Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;
Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you."

Isaiah 43:1-2 holds precious promises for the things that may be fear-inducing:

But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel:

“ Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name;
You are Mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you."

Oh, Dear Christ-one's, let us  take Him at His most perfect Word and claim His promises for us. Let us walk into the land like Joshua, without fear! We have a Strong Deliverer on our side....ALWAYS!!

Psalm 40

This came up in the sermon today, and it was so fitting. This is precisely what God did for me! i cried tears of joy at the salvation of our great God..

 ¹ I waited patiently for the LORD;
         And He inclined to me,
         And heard my cry.
 ² He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,  {or a slimy pit, in some versions}
         Out of the miry clay,
         And set my feet upon a rock,
         And established my steps.
 ³ He has put a new song in my mouth—
         Praise to our God;
         Many will see it and fear,
         And will trust in the LORD.

Hallelujah! He is so amazingly good! He confirms His work with His Word!
        

!! Possess the Land !!

I was at an amazing conference this weekend, and Susie Larson was talking about possessing the land that we have given over to enemy of our souls, or possessing the land we have been too afraid to possess...all of which is done by standing on the promises of God in Christ Jesus. That was a powerful word to me. Life changing, really.

Then i was reading the introduction to a book by Dr. David Jeremiah called Slaying the Giants in Your Life and you will never believe what it was all about? Possessing the land, and removing the giants. Entering the land that God in Christ has for us!

This morning i was reading Streams in the Desert by Mrs. Cowman, and it was an entry for February 25th...here is what it said:

"Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you." Joshua 1:3

Beside the literal ground, unoccupied for Christ, there is the unclaimed, untrodden territory of Divine promises. What did God say to Joshua? "Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you," and then He draws the outlines of hte Land of Promise--all theirs on one condition: that they shall march through the length and breadth of it, and measure it off with your own feet.

They never did that to more than one-third of the property, and consequently they never had more than one-third ; they had just what they measured off, and no more.

In 2 Peter, we read of the "land of promise" that is opened up to us, and it is God's will that we should, as it were, measure off that territory by the feet of obedient faith and believing obedience, thus claimiing and appropriating it for our own.

How many of us have ever taken possession of the promises of God in the name of Christ?

Here is a magnificent territory for faith to lay hold on and march through the length and breadth of, and faith has never done it yet.

Let us enter into all our inheritance. Let us lift up our eyes to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west, and hear Him say, "All the land that thou seest will I give to thee."  --A. T. Pierson

Coincidence? i think not! The past months have been a process of being crushed and coming undone. A good undone...the kind that leads to complete healing of all the brokenness in my life. When i heard the talk about possessing the land, it reached to the depths of my soul, as i realized how much ground i had willingly given over to the enemy of my soul. The Lord wanted to make sure i REALLY got it, so when i came home from the conference, He confirmed His word, with His word, through those two books! We serve a TRULY AWESOME God, that is in the business of healing broken lives.

So.....
We are to claim the land which He has given us!! Fear is under our feet, and we have all the promises of God in Christ Jesus to claim!!

Go!!

POSSESS THE LAND !!