Maybe you're one of those SUPER christians who stay close to God all the time. Well, I'm not. I wish I was but usually it takes some type of crisis or at least a problem to create in me the desire to know God better. The death of my nephew on January 12 has certainly given me the opportunity to seek God with my whole heart. On my way home from my sister's house this weekend I prayed that God would create in me the desire to know Him better. Never pray for something unless you really want it! So, it shouldn't be a surprise to me to find that I have a hunger and a need to know the names of God. After all, I prayed the prayer and He is always listening. Today, the journey to know God better through His names has begun. He's so good.
The first name I read about and have been pondering can't even be pronounced. It's YHVH which is Hebrew for "The unutterable name of God. The source of all life. The necessary being. Beyond all description." Talk about an eye opener. My view of God has been way too small. My approach to Him too irreverent. Through the study of His name, "YHVH", I am coming to realize what a mighty God we have. Our God is the source of our lives, our being, our everything.
Whether we acknowledge Him or not, whether we know Him in any way or not, whether we love Him or not, whether we follow Him or not...He is God and everything has its existence from Him.
Take a moment to think about someone bigger than yourself, greater than any power or knowledge, greater than our desires, greater simply because He is..."I am that I am"...God.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
In Memory of Nick
If you're reading this, you probably know that last week, we lost a precious member of our family. Nicholas Putman Pasco went to be with the Lord on January 12. He was just 20 years old. To say it's been a hard week would be over simplifying it. Maybe it's because Nick was so young and his death was so unexpected that the loss is so hard. People should live to a ripe old age and die quietly and peacefully with their families at their bedside. Nick died suddenly and we don't know what caused his death. We may never know. And in all of this, I am, yet again, reminded of how fragile this life is. And I'm reminded of how we need to make the most of every day we have with each other. You see, life is so short we don't have time to get mad at each other and stay mad. We don't have time to be cruel or to make fun of each other. We don't have time to take each other for granted. We don't have time to be unkind and unloving. If there's one thing I can say about Nick, even though he didn't know how short his life would be, he knew he didn't have time to me unloving or cruel or uncaring. If he taught me anything, if he taught you anything, he taught us through his life how to love because Nick loved others. He loved his Momma and his family. He loved his nieces Aliyah, Isabella and Adrianna so much that he was more than an uncle to them, he was a daddy to them. He loved his friends. No, Nick wasn't perfect. We all know that. He had faults just like we all do but I'll tell you this, I've never seen or heard Nicholas be cruel, uncaring or unloving and that kind of life counts. Love always counts. The bible says that "Love covers a multitude of sins". To me, this means that no matter who we are or what we become the only thing that matters to God is how we love.
Thank you, Lord for the gentle giant of a young man we knew as Nick Pasco.
Thank you, Lord for the gentle giant of a young man we knew as Nick Pasco.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Jesus and Prozac
For many years I struggled with fear. You name it, I was afraid of it. As a little girl, I was afraid of shadows, the booger man, stepping on cracks. If it could be imagined, I was afraid of it. As I matured, my fears continued, growing more serious and more debilitating. In my middle twenties, there were days I didn’t want to get out of bed. I remember thinking that God must be angry with me. I felt as if no matter what I did, I couldn’t please him. Reading the Bible and claiming scripture was helpful, as was talking to the few family members and friends I trusted with my silent fears. However, I really didn’t want others to know about my crippling thoughts. On the outside, I looked like I had perfect control of my life. On the inside, I was a complete mess. Sometimes I didn’t want my life to go on. I went on like this for quite a few years. Sometimes the bouts of fear would subside and at other times, I was as fearful as ever. I kept praying, hoping and seeking help. Why the help I needed evaded me, I don’t know. Maybe I wasn’t ready to accept the help.
What I did come to realize over the years was that a lot of my fear issues stemmed from an actual illness. It was called obsessive compulsive disorder or OCD. My illness manifested itself by my excessive worry over a certain issue or subject until I found some way to relieve the stress. For instance, for months I might worry about having cancer in a certain part of my body or I might worry that I was going to say something that would be offensive to someone. I might worry constantly about the safety of my family or if I had a random thought, no matter how outrageous it was if it passed through my mind, I’d begin to worry about it. Things other people would shake off or even laugh about, would become an obsessive fear in my mind and it would dominate my thoughts. At times, my life was hellish. The only thing that kept me going was God. I knew He loved me, had a plan for me and ultimately would take these fears and worries out of my life. I believed this with every fiber of my being.
To make matters worse and to add my angst, I felt a great deal of shame with my constant fears. I felt as if I was a “bad” Christian and a failure.
One day, while at work, I decided I’d simply had enough. I couldn’t and wouldn’t continue to live this way any longer. So after years of struggling and at the age of 42, I called my husband, told him to come pick me up and asked him to take me to the doctor. Not knowing, where to begin, I went to my family doctor. When I explained to him what I’d been going through for years, he looked at me and said very simply and very matter of factly, “Jane, you have OCD.” I remember feeling an initial sense of relief because he confirmed to me I wasn’t crazy but sick. And what I had actually had a name and a treatment. But the struggle wasn’t quite over, not quite.
The doctor prescribed medication and in my case, it was Prozac and sent me home, advising me to call a counselor to help me learn to manage my symptoms. So, I did. At first, I was very resistant to taking Prozac or any type of antidepressant. I still had the nagging worry that I couldn’t be much of a Christian and live my life medicated. When I got home that day, I called a family counselor who was also a dear Christian friend. I talked over my situation with him and he asked me this: “Jane, if the doctor had told you today you were a diabetic, would you take the insulin?”
“Well, of course I would! That’s a physical illness!” I stated.
To which my counselor friend said, “And what do you think OCD is? OCD is a physical illness, too and it’s located in your brain. Take the medicine. Have you prayed for healing?” my wise friend asked.
“Yes, I have and in fact, I prayed this morning for healing.”
My friend said, “Don’t you think this may be God answering your prayer?”
I remember feeling like a light had suddenly come on in a very dark room. I took the medicine and I can promise you this, my life has never been the same. Yes, I occasionally have bouts of worry and fear but these bouts are manageable now because my brain is no longer in a state of what I call hiccups. The medicine I take controls the chemicals in my brain that caused my cycles of worry and fear.
Someone once said to me that they couldn’t believe how open I am about having OCD and being on Prozac. To which I had to say, “There is nothing Jesus and Prozac can’t handle!” You see, what Satan meant to destroy me with, God is using to bring glory to Himself!
You may be struggling with the same thing I was or it may be something different. My prayer for you is that you will turn it over to Jesus, who is the great physician. He may not heal you in the way YOU think He will or should but He will heal you. He wants you to have abundant life!
What I did come to realize over the years was that a lot of my fear issues stemmed from an actual illness. It was called obsessive compulsive disorder or OCD. My illness manifested itself by my excessive worry over a certain issue or subject until I found some way to relieve the stress. For instance, for months I might worry about having cancer in a certain part of my body or I might worry that I was going to say something that would be offensive to someone. I might worry constantly about the safety of my family or if I had a random thought, no matter how outrageous it was if it passed through my mind, I’d begin to worry about it. Things other people would shake off or even laugh about, would become an obsessive fear in my mind and it would dominate my thoughts. At times, my life was hellish. The only thing that kept me going was God. I knew He loved me, had a plan for me and ultimately would take these fears and worries out of my life. I believed this with every fiber of my being.
To make matters worse and to add my angst, I felt a great deal of shame with my constant fears. I felt as if I was a “bad” Christian and a failure.
One day, while at work, I decided I’d simply had enough. I couldn’t and wouldn’t continue to live this way any longer. So after years of struggling and at the age of 42, I called my husband, told him to come pick me up and asked him to take me to the doctor. Not knowing, where to begin, I went to my family doctor. When I explained to him what I’d been going through for years, he looked at me and said very simply and very matter of factly, “Jane, you have OCD.” I remember feeling an initial sense of relief because he confirmed to me I wasn’t crazy but sick. And what I had actually had a name and a treatment. But the struggle wasn’t quite over, not quite.
The doctor prescribed medication and in my case, it was Prozac and sent me home, advising me to call a counselor to help me learn to manage my symptoms. So, I did. At first, I was very resistant to taking Prozac or any type of antidepressant. I still had the nagging worry that I couldn’t be much of a Christian and live my life medicated. When I got home that day, I called a family counselor who was also a dear Christian friend. I talked over my situation with him and he asked me this: “Jane, if the doctor had told you today you were a diabetic, would you take the insulin?”
“Well, of course I would! That’s a physical illness!” I stated.
To which my counselor friend said, “And what do you think OCD is? OCD is a physical illness, too and it’s located in your brain. Take the medicine. Have you prayed for healing?” my wise friend asked.
“Yes, I have and in fact, I prayed this morning for healing.”
My friend said, “Don’t you think this may be God answering your prayer?”
I remember feeling like a light had suddenly come on in a very dark room. I took the medicine and I can promise you this, my life has never been the same. Yes, I occasionally have bouts of worry and fear but these bouts are manageable now because my brain is no longer in a state of what I call hiccups. The medicine I take controls the chemicals in my brain that caused my cycles of worry and fear.
Someone once said to me that they couldn’t believe how open I am about having OCD and being on Prozac. To which I had to say, “There is nothing Jesus and Prozac can’t handle!” You see, what Satan meant to destroy me with, God is using to bring glory to Himself!
You may be struggling with the same thing I was or it may be something different. My prayer for you is that you will turn it over to Jesus, who is the great physician. He may not heal you in the way YOU think He will or should but He will heal you. He wants you to have abundant life!
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Tim Tebow: about Faith and Pigskin
Now,what could I possibly have to say about Tim Tebow? I know, I know...it would be easy for me to extol his football greatness. That's obvious. He's good, real good. And yes, I could brag on what a wonderful example he is to the world...he's very outspoken about his faith in Jesus Christ. That's really good,too. But what impresses me most about Tebow is what I hear about him when he's living his day to day, everyday life. I've been told he's not about Tim...he's about his teammates. And that's way cool. Talk is cheap and making a big show of one's faith has been exploited by many. We've all heard the tales. But what I've heard about Tim Tebow is he is the real deal. He loves God and he's unashamed of Jesus but he prove his faith as he lives in a way that few "Christians" ever seem to be able to. He puts other first. He puts ego aside. And his teammates love him.
So, no matter what your faith and maybe don't have any faith at all; Tim Tebow is a witness to something bigger than self, bigger than fame, bigger than making it to the top. Tim Tebow is a living example of the fact that God loves you.
I can't help but chuckle when I think that only God could use a young man and pigskin to point us all to a real day to day faith in a God who loves us! Oh, but wait, God used a young man and slingshot way back when, didn't He?
So, no matter what your faith and maybe don't have any faith at all; Tim Tebow is a witness to something bigger than self, bigger than fame, bigger than making it to the top. Tim Tebow is a living example of the fact that God loves you.
I can't help but chuckle when I think that only God could use a young man and pigskin to point us all to a real day to day faith in a God who loves us! Oh, but wait, God used a young man and slingshot way back when, didn't He?
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