A Response to Pain and Suffering

I'm reading a great book by my friend Shelley Hundley. "A Cry for Justice: Overcoming anger, reject bitterness, and trust in Jesus who will fight for you."

This is an amazing book. Not only is Shelley bringing justice scriptures to life but she shares of her own horrific journey into understanding and embracing Jesus as Judge.

Abused sadistically as a child, she was on the verge of suicide when her cry for Jesus to make Himself known to her was realized.

Shelley has pushed through the pain and despair of abuse and a four year chronic illness to rise up and say, "Jesus not only loves you, He'll fight for you and bring justice to your heart and mind."

This message is not preached enough. I'm not sure most of us even understand the justice of Jesus in this life or the next. But we must. Everyone of us has experienced some kind of injustice.

From my kind of injustice that when I was fourteen, my boss at Publix stole money out of my cashier's bag and blamed me for losing it...to Shelley who endured untold abuse.

There is no scale of injustice in Jesus's heart. He cries over it all.

Here's a great quote from Shelley's book:

"For all of eternity we will be face-to-face with the beauty and splendor of our God, but only during my lifetime on earth to I have the opportunity to impact the heart of God in the midst of darkness, accusation, and blindness. I have a chance only today to love Him in the midst of my current hardship, for this is when y heart feels nothing and sees nothing, but still I move in love toward the One I cannot see. And his heart is most undone (Song of Solomon 6:4-5.) I feel nothing. He feels everything."

I could meditate on this passage for days, grasping the depth and reality of it's truth.

Shelley is the real deal. Buy her book! It was released this month by Charisma House of Strang Communications. Worth EVERY penny!

Here Shelley talk about it here.

Comforted by God and One Another

I love the Word. It's so rich, deep, powerful. In the mid-'80s to early '90s, I struggled with fear and anxiety, and my prescription was meditating, ingesting, believing God's Word.

I read, "I do not have a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind," and believed it! I quoted it in the hard, heart-pounding moments, and was comforted.

I also surrounded myself with like-minded Believers. They stood with me and prayed for me. Soaking prayer was also a huge part of my deliverance. For a year and a half I attended a 6:00 a.m. prayer meeting with a handful of others, once in awhile, I'd be the only visible person in the sanctuary, and there Jesus wooed my heart.

The other day I came across this verse and it so touched me: 2 Corinthians 7:6-7

"But God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus; and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you..."

So clearly God comforts us, sometimes supernaturally, but often by the fellowship of the saints. If you're struggling, join with the Body of Christ. Find true Believers who will pray with you, agree with you for the "peace of Jesus to guard your heart and mind."

Don't give up on his plan and destiny for you. I'm so glad I never caved on my belief that God's Word worked and would set me free. I'm living proof. He is who He says He is. Was it always easy. No way. I had to struggle and push through. But the more I gained victory, the more I gained strength in my faith. My mind and emotions were renewed and transformed.

Fight the good fight, run with endurance. Speak who He says you are, despite your feelings and emotions. His joy is your strength!

See you soon, Kristy

Friend and author Kristy Dykes graduated to the next life yesterday. Her husband blogs about it here.

Kristy was a shining spot to so many of us writers. A cheerleader, an exhorter. You can see from Milton's writings she was a loving, kind, spunky wife and mother.

Mostly she loved Jesus and reflected His light with a passion. Cancer took Kristy in this life, but has no power where she is now.

In juxtaposition, I occasionally follow a blog by another woman struggling with cancer. This woman does not know Jesus. In the course of her journey, her husband left her, she's sick, broke and alone. Bitter.

Watching two people struggle and die in cyberspace was a unique experience, but watching one who loves Jesus compared to one who doesn't, was sad. I feel for the latter. "Jesus, reveal yourself."

We will all miss Kristy. "Friend, see you very soon. We'll start a writing group that will last for eternity!"

Thank you Milton and family for being such a great example of Christian charity and exposing the inner heart of Kristy.

Overcoming Fear & Anxiety - Part 1

As a kid, fear wasn't an issue with me. We moved around as my dad attended school and while I was shy on the first day of a new school or meeting new friends, I was never afraid.

Fear was only an issue after watching the Wizard of Oz. I'd be in my room under the covers imagining the witch showing up in my room.

I'm sorry, but let's be honest. The Wizard of Oz is stupid movie to show a kid.

So, fear-in-general, not part of my genetic make. But "it" came calling.

The first time I felt anxious fear I was twelve. I woke up in the night feeling weird, odd, condemn, afraid of losing control or doing something horribly sinful.

Overwhelmed with negative thoughts and feelings, I did the only thing I knew to do, throw the covers over my head and pray.

Interesting to note this "attack" came in the dark, dark of night, not the light of day.

My parents were a tad older than the folks being caught up in the Jesus Movement, but they were impacted by the move of God in the mid '60s and early '70s. My dad had learned about "overcoming by the blood of the Lamb" and so he taught us to pray the blood of Jesus as protection.

I prayed such a prayer, hiding under the covers that weird night. But this battle was not about hiding from something in the room, like the wicked witch of the west, this battle came from within. I didn't understand it. But at twelve, I understood to fight it.

Thirty some years away from that first moment of fear/anxiety, I guess some of it might have been hormonal, but the prescription for overcoming was the same as any problem.

Jesus.

In today's modern Christian mind-set we go about with a PC view of our enemy, the devil. "Oh, I'm saved, he won't bother me."

Hello? If not you, then who? The heathens he already has in his grasp. No, dear ones, he doesn't fight fair, and as lovers of Jesus, we have a BIG OLE TARGET on our backs.

He will harass us, discourage us, fight us, oppress us.

He's a clever enemy. He doesn't come at us full on in warfare gear. We'd recognize him. He comes at us in whispers. Subtly, through words, feelings, emotions. Lies we believe, even words we speak over ourselves. Through words spoken over us. And yes, the sins of our fathers and mothers.

But be can and will overcome. But we must fight.

So, my next encounter with fear happened about seven years later ...