5 Pointers in making Goals when the Way Ahead is Uncertain

2011 has been a year of dramatic change for many. World news has been dominated with natural disasters, dictatorships being toppled, and economic crisis.

For an interesting review check out Google’s Zeitgeist 2011: Year In Review.
In New Zealand 2011 has also been a year of roller coaster emotions. Winning the Rugby World Cup was a huge buzz, but with Earthquakes in Christchurch still occurring the world is anything but stable, certain and reliable.


How do we make goals when the way ahead is uncertain?


I believe that the most important area for goal setting is in the area of relationships.


Jesus talked about this many times. Matthew 22:34-40; Luke 12:13-21 


Here are my top 5 pointers.


1. Have a relationship with the one who doesn’t change

I the LORD do not change. Malachi 3:6

In this time of turbulent change people are having to make decisions and choices about what they rely on. How much do you rely on yourself or others to get you through the tough times? In uncertain times a Psalmist sings a song.

God is our refuge and strength,
   an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
   and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
   and the mountains quake with their surging. Psalm 46

Make your choice now, today, have God as your sure foundation. Memorise and meditate on these scriptures. They will be anchors for your life.


2. Look back
Reflect back over the year for those things that have filled your cup and those that have drained your cup (for a free resource to do this become a subscriber). Achievements and successes. Failures and struggles. In particular look at the relationships you have.

· What relationships have filled your cup with life?
· What ones have drained you?
· Are there any patterns to how you have been filled or drained?

3. Look forward
Our past is often a very good predictor of our future, so having looked back to where you have been, now look ahead and ask yourself these questions.

· What relationships are absolutely vital? One’s you must enhance for the sake of the other person as well as yourself?
· What relationships do you need to let go of?

4. Think small achievable goals that you can do
A couple of little proverbs to help.

‘Little by little, one walks far.’ Peruvian Proverb
‘It is possible to move a mountain by carrying away small stones.’  Chinese Proverb

Break down the long journey or the large mountain into single steps and small stones. Set yourself small achievable goals that you can do. For someone with depression it might be to just brush your teeth. It’s an achievement, it’s a step, it’s a small stone, and it’s something you can do. Just do it!
So, a question to remember.

· What can I do, with what I have, right now?

5. Review your Cup level often
I like to review my life once a week. Using the ‘Cup Fillers and Drainers’ exercise is a great way to examine how things are going. Either Daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly or a combination of time periods.
 
Paul was one who faced very uncertain times. When he was in prison awaiting judgement and what would turn out to be his execution, he writes these words. 

I've found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. Philippians 4:12, 13

How do make things more certain in your life?
Barry Pearman
Image: By lonesome:cycler Creative Commons Flickr

Take Action!

Be part of the Turning the Page community

• Place a comment below

• Become a subscriber and have posts emailed to you

• Pass the blog on to others

• If you found this via Facebook then ‘Like’ it, and also ‘Share’ it.

• Click on the Google + button below

• Email a link to your friends

• Follow on Facebook or Twitter

It’s word of mouth by click of mouse

Blogger Labels: Ahead,Uncertain,World,news,crisis,goal,relationships,predictor,Break,steps,depression,achievement,

The Bird

 

The Bird

 

A strolling through the park one day

A lively chap I met

He did not seem to care at all

His raiment totally wet

 

Perching upon a leafy branch

He twittered to the world quite gaily

I’m sure that when I am not here

Still he sojourns here daily

 

To little children who care to listen

He’ll tell them of his travels

To older folk who know him well

His stories again to unravel

 

For what would the world be

Sombre grey and quite boring

If not for little birds everywhere

And all their merriment roaring

Mark Wilde
Image: Feggy Art Creative Commons Flickr

Be part of the Turning the Page community

• Place a comment below

• Become a subscriber and have posts emailed to you

• Pass the blog on to others

• If you found this via Facebook then ‘Like’ it, and also ‘Share’ it.

• Click on the Google + button below

• Email a link to your friends

• Follow on Facebook or Twitter

It’s word of mouth by click of mouse

What you really want but rarely get – Soul Talk.

Back and forth, side to side, oscillating with mindless repetition, Charlie and Billy had spent a lifetime of having their mouths open and little white balls pushed into the cavity. Heads rotating left to right, right to left with constant repeating action. Forever looking out and never in.

Charlie: Hey Billy?
Billy: Yeah Charlie
Charlie: What's happening for you today?
Billy: Oh, not much, just the usual, side to side, swallowing balls.
Long Silence
Charlie: You know Billy there’s something missing in my life
Billy: Oh Dear, let’s not get all philosophical now.
Charlie: No, serious, I've been thinking about it for a long time.
Billy: Ok, well what is this one thing?
Charlie: Well, I would just love to see your face.

Tear’s trickle down

There are times in my life, and I believe yours, where we have wanted someone to look at our face. Where in the constant oscillation of outward appearance, we have wanted to be touched by someone else looking deeply into our souls, and not rejecting what they see.
The story I have conveyed above was told to me by my Doctor many years ago. He had seen it performed as a skit on the ‘Billy T James’ TV show, a New Zealand Comedian.
For the most part of our lives we subsist in loneliness, yet our heart deeply yearns for intimacy. An intimacy that was given birth in the Garden of Eden where nothing was hidden, nothing was feared, and everything was embraced.
We were never meant for lives of mechanical controlled distance.
Soul talk is a kind of conversation where we don’t stare outwards, rather we look inwards to where Spirit is dancing and wooing us to come.
Larry Crabb asks some very challenging questions in the first lesson of a free online course I would highly recommend called SoulCare Foundations

Do most of us, in fact, live alone? Do most of us come into our small groups with our interior worlds private and leave with our interior worlds just as private, and nothing has taken place at a deep, meaningful level at all?

As I think of the times where I have looked for this type of conversation with others, overall it has been disappointing. People would prefer to keep some distance than enter into where souls can touch.
It is what every human longs for but is scared to embrace, because we like to be in control.
Conversations like these require vulnerability and risk. I have at times had conversations with people I thought were safe to only have my heart talk be made public and known for others to see and abuse.
The result is to have a quiet whispery thought flowing through the mind that says ‘I will never let my heart be broken again’.
Do you have this thought too?
A wall is built, a conversation is held back, and we stare blankly out. 
What is needed to have good soul talk conversations? Perhaps you have some ideas and would like to comment below.
I believe we need people that are both Safe and Wise.
More on this to come!
For now, put some comments below and let’s start a conversation.
Barry Pearman
Image: By The Rocketeer Creative Commons Flickr

Be part of the Turning the Page community

• Place a comment below

• Become a subscriber and have posts emailed to you

• Pass the blog on to others

• If you found this via Facebook then ‘Like’ it, and also ‘Share’ it.

• Click on the Google + button below

• Email a link to your friends

• Follow on Facebook or Twitter

It’s word of mouth by click of mouse

Blogger Labels: Soul,Talk,heart,intimacy,Garden,Eden,conversation,Spirit,Larry,Crabb,SoulCare,Safe,Wise,

2 Questions that the Babe of Bethlehem’s eyes raise for you.

This year my extended Family has had three babies born into it. Both the grandparents and parents are doing well.
It’s quite interesting how Social Media has changed how the news of a baby being born is delivered. It used to be that you would get a phone call from the excited grandparent or relative. A precious piece of news to told, a gift to shared, a ripple of joy down the telephone line.
‘Time of delivery, Boy or Girl, weight, hair colour, name, mother doing fine’. It was a short call as they had to go and announce the news to someone else. Then you would pass the news on to someone else.
In these days it’s all via Social Networks. The father takes the photo, uploads it to Facebook, taps out a Tweet’s, and the announcement to the world is faster than looking up to a Star.
I wonder how many grandmother’s are disappointed at not being able to excitedly share the good news to the family.
Life changes when a child is born, especially if it’s your firstborn. That little baby, small and vulnerable, begins to change the world by what it receives and what it gives.
The Baby receives many things.

1. A name. For boys the most popular names in 2010 were Liam, James, Oliver, Jack, and Joshua. For Girls the most popular names were Charlotte, Isabella, Lilly, Ella, and Chloe. A name is given, perhaps honouring a family member. A name is the most significant gift that a child will ever be given, so the choice is carefully made.
2. A special date. A birthday, once a year the name is written on a card, a song sung, and then we all drift off waiting another year for it roll around again.
3. Gifts. Blankets, booties, bonnets, bassinets, and a rattle to shake in the middle of the night.
4. Attention. Oh, yes lots of attention. That baby starts off life with everyone’s attention and they need it, totally. The baby is wholly reliant on others for everything. Food, love, warmth, assurance, etc..

The Baby also gives many things to us

1. Prompts to our feelings. Look at a new born baby and some have gooey feelings, maybe joy and hope. For some it might trigger off feelings of sadness, loss and grief as they remember their inability to have children of their own, or maybe a child that has died.
2. An opportunity to connect. Grandparents, cousins, neighbours, friends all talk about the baby. They come to congratulate and cheer on the tired parents.
3. Potential problems. ‘The baby has colic, what do we do? I’m not getting enough ….. – (fill in the blank yourself) Sleep? Milk? Time?
4. The demand that we ourselves have to change to accommodate the baby in our lives. The father is now a father, the mother is now a mother. They have responsibilities to care and nurture the child. The change is often awkward. Our routines are altered and will be never be the same again.

The Christmas Story unwraps gifts given to and received from the baby.
Read it in Luke 2:1-20
Imagine that Jesus was born TODAY.
You are one of those shepherds, Mary hands you the baby, you hold it, your careful, you look in to the baby’s eyes and you give thanks.

• How would you respond to the new born baby?
• What would you give to the baby?
• What would you receive back?

When you hold a new, new, new born, you are holding a very delicate special gift and something changes within you.
That is what Christmas is all about. The gift of a baby that has the potential to change your world, the more you look into its eyes.
When all the wrapping paper is peeled away, the tinsel taken down, and the dishes washed, two questions remain.

1. What have you received from the babies eyes? 
2. What have you given them?

Leave us your gift comments below, and have a lovely Christmas.

Barry Pearman
Image: maessive Creative Commons Flicker

Be part of the Turning the Page community

• Place a comment below

• Become a subscriber and have posts emailed to you

• Pass the blog on to others

• If you found this via Facebook then ‘Like’ it, and also ‘Share’ it.

• Click on the Google + button below

• Email a link to your friends

• Follow on Facebook or Twitter

It’s word of mouth by click of mouse

Blogger Labels: Babe,Bethlehem,babies,Gifts,Christmas,Story,Jesus,Mary,parents

There and Back

Guest Poet: Stuart Scott
There and Back

Travel north my son
To where Mahurangi calls
Islands, bays
Praise everlasting
See there from heights of bush
Nature ministering to my soul
Ministering merriment deep within
Springs of the heart
And Joy unfolding at depth
Heart transportation
Coastline curving tortuously
Land juts all ways
Here, there, all ways
Tortuous coastline
Now travel back my son
The peace of home invites
Sheltered within
As outwardly rain slants
Squalls as darkness descends
Safe at home
Mahurangi at Mahurangi
Stuart Scott
Image: Mahurangi Regional Park: Scott Point

Be part of the Turning the Page community

• Place a comment below

• Become a subscriber and have posts emailed to you

• Pass the blog on to others

• If you found this via Facebook then ‘Like’ it, and also ‘Share’ it.

• Click on the Google + button below

• Email a link to your friends

• Follow on Facebook or Twitter

It’s word of mouth by click of mouse

Why wouldn't God choose Rahab?

One of the most interesting and challenging stories in the Bible is the story of Rahab. Our Guest Blogger, Robyn Walker, gives us some food for thought.

The story of Rahab is found in Joshua 2
A brief summary goes like this.  Joshua wanted to take the city of Jericho, which was a walled city.  So he sent some spies in and Rahab took them in and hid them from the king. 
When Jericho was destroyed by Joshua and his army, Rahab and her family were saved.
She is mentioned again in Job, the Psalms and Isaiah in the Old Testament.  Then in Matthew 1:5 where it lists the genealogy of Jesus she is one of the few women on the list of names.  She is further mentioned in Hebrews and James.
I've heard the Rahab story told many times in a church.  The thing about Rahab that I failed to mention is her profession.  She was a prostitute.  This puts an entirely new slant on the story when it is told in a church.
The stories I have heard go something like this.  God used a prostitute and a prostitute was listed in the genealogy of Jesus.  It's like a shock that God would use someone like that. Then they go on to say words something like this.  Surely if God used a prostitute then he could use you, which has the underlying meaning that the people sitting in churches are somehow better than Rahab.
Here is a new slant on the Rahab story.

Sometimes it's difficult to work out why God does things the way he does.  The question that churches seem to raise is why did God choose a prostitute out of all the people in Jericho, and why would she be listed in the genealogy of Jesus.
The best way to work out God is to read about Jesus.  How did Jesus treat prostitutes?  What did he think of them?
He loved them.  He hung out with them.  He was gentle, loving and supportive to them, and any women that were being used by men, e.g.  the woman about to be stoned, the woman at the well. They loved him back, e.g. the woman who anointed Jesus with her ointment and tears.

The Gospel is the ultimate story of love and equality.

So what did God think of Rahab?  He loved her and thought her to be equal to anyone else living in Jericho.
God goes one more step to the equality idea. 
He cares incredibly and deeply for anyone that is broken.  Jesus came for the broken and in Matthew 25 he talks about how if anyone does anything for his least, then they do it for him.
Most prostitutes have been sexually abused in their childhood.  This changes a person's entire future.  It potentially destroys the person they could have grown up to be.  Maybe if they hadn't have been abused they would have chosen a different profession in life. 

             God does not judge us by our profession,  he judges us by our heart. 

If we were able to speak to Rahab and ask her how she wanted to be remembered, would it be for being the most famous prostitute who ever lived, or would it be for being a kind women who took some men in and hid them and saved their lives.  I am sure it would be the later, and I think that God would have us remember Rahab for that.
So back to the question that is raised in churches when they speak about Rahab.
Why did God choose Rahab to shelter the Jews and to be in the genealogy of Jesus?
The answer really is:
Why wouldn't he?
Robyn Walker
Image: Rahab by David Hayward (The Naked Pastor)
Robyn raises some interesting points. Who is truly able to of use to God? Do you have to reach a supposed level of purity to be used by God? Who judges whether a person is suitable or not? What standards do they use?
What do you think? Let’s have a conversation. Leave a comment below 
Blogger Labels: Rahab,judges,heart,prostitute,

14 Reasons why Angels would make terrible Mental Health Workers

Tis the season to be jolly, so a few brief thoughts about Angels in this Christmas season.
I was reading the Christmas story the other day and I was struck by how Angels affected the people they came into contact with. So with a little creativity, here are 14 reasons why Angels should never be considered for work in Mental Health.

1. They just turn up without an appointment. No consideration for what the client might be doing.

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. Luke 1:26

2. They induce a state of fear in their clients. Every time they meet someone new they have to try and calm them down.

The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary’ Luke 1:30

3. When you ask them a simple question they reply with a long convoluted answer, full of loaded terms.

Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born  will be holy; he will be called Son of God. Luke 1:34, 35

4. They believe in disempowering the client. Surely you should be able to name your immaculate conception yourself. Mary would have wanted to wait and see what gender the baby was. Also, I have a sneaky suspicion she liked the name Rupert, but no, it had to be Jesus.

And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. Luke 1:31

5. They induce a state of absolute dependency and compliance in the client. Good mental workers promote independency.

Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Luke 1:38

6. Angels are here one moment gone the next. Where is the continuity of support!

Then the angel departed from her. Luke 1:38

7. You really need someone of substance. As George Bernard Shaw says ‘In Heaven an angel is nobody in particular’.
8. Those wings would be just one major distraction to having a good conversation, and how would they fit in a little car!
9. They would have major difficulties filling in any forms asking about their gender.
10. When you tell your Psychiatrist you have an Angel as a Support Worker the prescription pad is immediately pulled out.
11. They always seem to be somewhere else when you really need them.
12. Angels don’t believe in placing the needs of the client first. It’s all about God, God, God. That’s all they sing about, all the time!
13. Angels we have heard on high, but do they ever return your phone calls, No!
14. They set high and lofty goals, way beyond anyone’s ability to achieve. Big thinkers!
 
Ok, so a few of my wacky thoughts.
Have you any reasons why Angels should avoid taking on work in Mental Health?
Post them below and join the conversation.
Barry Pearman

Be part of the Turning the Page community

• Place a comment below

• Become a subscriber and have posts emailed to you

• Pass the blog on to others

• If you found this via Facebook then ‘Like’ it, and also ‘Share’ it.

• Email a link to your friends

• Follow on Facebook or Twitter

It’s word of mouth by click of mouse

Blogger Labels: Mental,Health,Christmas,client,angel,difficulties,Psychiatrist,Support,Worker,prescription,goals,virgin

Clear Day

Guest Poet: Stuart Scott

Clear Day

Matakatia Bay at noon
With gentle water, ruffled
Only by slight breeze
Sunshine

Unthreatening clouds
Clothe Rangitoto, at distance
Elsewhere sky, sky blue
Frenchman’s Cap, solitary
Solitary in blue water, ruffled
Only by slight breeze

Calmness descends
Calmness caresses
Healing
Turmoil of madness, dropping away
Insanity has made a bid
Terrifying attempt to stake a claim
But sound minded I remain
Turning to nature
Beauty

The Mind behind the beauty of it all
Is ever watchful, for those that keep
Close, close to Real Mind’s source
Shared

We are told to have the mind of Christ
To see the beauty in it all
Thus sound minded remain
Thus we observe in a wild flower
Heaven and eternity in an hour

This bay, the wild flower, now presides
Much Greater Mind knows its touch
Of healing ever given
Love, power and sound mind

Stuart Scott

Image: Matakatia Bay

Be part of the Turning the Page community

• Place a comment below

• Become a subscriber and have posts emailed to you

• Pass the blog on to others

• If you found this via Facebook then ‘Like’ it, and also ‘Share’ it.

• Email a link to your friends

• Follow on Facebook or Twitter

It’s word of mouth by click of mouse

Self Harm - The Path to Recovery

Guest Blog: Vanessa Taylor

Self Harm - The Path to Recovery
By: Dr Kate Middleton and Sara Garvie

Written by two authors with front line experience dealing with the reality of self harm, this book covers the basics of what self harm is, how it develops and what can be done to help those who suffer from it.

It explains self harm both from a psychiatric perspective as well as from the perspective of sufferers and their families and friends.

The authors use both facts and figures from the UK as well as excerpts written by sufferers at various stages of recovery.

This book would be very helpful to anyone who wants to know more about self harm, is supporting a sufferer, or who self harms themselves and is thinking about getting help, and/or starting recovery and wants to know what they can expect from the medical profession, family and friends.

This book provides a good coverage of the subject of self harm without being explicit and will help anyone reading it have more of an understanding of the subject, and for sufferers, may help remove some of the stigma, fear and isolation that often goes along with this condition.

I found this book to be one of the best, most comprehensive books on self harm that I have read to date, and I would highly recommend it as a must read book on the subject.
Vanessa Taylor

Be part of the Turning the Page community

• Place a comment below

• Become a subscriber and have posts emailed to you
  

• Pass the blog on to others

• If you found this via Facebook then ‘Like’ it, and also ‘Share’ it.

• Email a link to your friends

• Follow on Facebook or Twitter

It’s word of mouth by click of mouse

How Christmas is like waiting at an Airport Arrivals Lounge

"Christmas has lost its meaning for us because we have lost the spirit of expectancy. We cannot prepare for an observance. We must prepare for an experience." Handel Brown

The time leading up to the ‘experience’ of Christmas is called the ‘Season of Advent’.
Advent means coming or arrival, especially of someone who is expected.
Last Sunday I spoke at River Valley Baptist about the anticipation of Christmas.
Read the full message here.
Barry Pearman
Image: Holiday extras Flicker (Creative Commons)

Be part of the Turning the Page community

• Place a comment below

• Become a subscriber and have posts emailed to you

• Pass the blog on to others

• If you found this via Facebook then ‘Like’ it, and also ‘Share’ it.

• Email a link to your friends

• Follow on Facebook or Twitter

It’s word of mouth by click of mouse

I Wish I Had Never Been Born.

"So why did you have me born?
   I wish no one had ever laid eyes on me!
I wish I'd never lived—a stillborn,
   buried without ever having breathed.
Isn't it time to call it quits on my life?
   Can't you let up, and let me smile just once
Before I die and am buried,
   before I'm nailed into my coffin, sealed in the ground,
And banished for good to the land of the dead,
   blind in the final dark?" Job 10:18-22 (The Message)

If not expressed verbally, then despair can often be whispered in the deep recesses of the heart, unspoken to anyone, except the soul.
Under this groan belies some gifts that many wish they could give back.

• The Gift of Desires
• The Gift of Thoughts
• The Gift of Choices
• The Gift of Emotions

So often the combination of our desires, thoughts, choices and emotions, can create an absolute mess. 
Yet all four gifts are the greatest qualities we have received from our creator. We are a ‘chip off the old block’.
We have inherited from The Family (Daddy, Jesus, and Spirit) these innate qualities.
They have

• Desires – The prophet Hosea voices the desires of a family longing for a wayward child Hosea 11
• Thoughts – The Family thinks about us and draw conclusions. Genesis 6: 5-8 brings a challenge and also a hope. I especially like verse 8! Try inserting your name and see how it feels.
• Choices- Paul writing in Ephesians tells us that the Family have a purpose and they make choices according to those purposes.
• Emotions – From feelings of sadness and loss to feelings of injustice and anger we Jesus expressing feelings. The Family are pleased, another feeling, when we follow their lead.

If we have these same qualities, then where did we go wrong?
It’s in this.
Our dependency is not on the Family but on ourselves. We are self reliant. We steer the ship of our lives. We set the sails. We plot the course.
The gift of having free choice grants us the freedom to follow our thoughts, feelings and desires. Often putting us on a collision course with an iceberg.
What do we do?
We shift to having a complete dependency on the Family. Letting them be the Co-pilot of our ship.
Will we continue to get some things wrong? Yes!
We can also become overly dependant on others. I have seen this many times. We become too dependant on someone. They worship them and the person becomes a quasi Jesus.
We by our choices make ourselves vulnerable to their imperfections. Any change in them, which actually is inevitable, can rock the boat violently.
Where does the focus need to be?
The wise old C.S. Lewis writes this

Put first things first and we get second things thrown in: put second things first and we lose both first and second things. (C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock)

We need to put Jesus, Daddy and Spirit first in our desires, thoughts, choices and emotions. They have the first and rightful place.
We need to repent, and make a choice to turning around from going the wrong way.

Repentance involves 1. facing my utter helplessness to make life work as I would wish; 2. sorrowing over my insane strategies that are intended to make 'Life Work'; 3. clinging to a God who calls me to follow a plan of life that seems absurd. Dan Allendar

Job was brought to a place of change through a plan that seems absurd to us, but he was one that decided to ‘Put first things’.
Barry Pearman
Image: Mannequin by Andy Doyle Flicker (Creative Commons)

Be part of the Turning the Page community

• Place a comment below

• Become a subscriber and have posts emailed to you

• Pass the blog on to others

• If you found this via Facebook then ‘Like’ it, and also ‘Share’ it.

• Email a link to your friends

• Follow on Facebook or Twitter

It’s word of mouth by click of mouse

Blogger Labels:

 Desires,Thoughts,purpose,feelings,injustice,dependency,dependant,Repentance,Emotions,conclusions,purposes,imperfections,strategies

In Every Little Thing

Guest Poet: Mark Wilde

In every little thing

In every little thing

In every tree and flower

All the marvels of God’s creation
Ring majesty to his power

Did you see the sunrise
This morning
Do you witness its glory
A hope in me dawning

To feel my makers presence
To hear my name him calling
My purpose to love and serve him
And his to catch me when I’m falling

Hallelujah to the King!
Glory to his awesome power
Let all creation for now & evermore
Sing praises to Him, now is the hour

Mark Wilde

Image: peasap Creative commons (Flicker)

Be part of the Turning the Page community

• Place a comment below

• Pass the blog on to others

• If you found this via Facebook then ‘Like’ it, and also ‘Share’ it.

• Email a link to your friends

• Follow on Facebook or Twitter

• Become a subscriber and have posts emailed to you

Its word of mouth by click of mouse
Blogger Labels: Little,tree,creation,sunrise,glory,purpose,Hallelujah

A Gift I Will Never Forget

Recently I was reminded of an event that happened many years ago. I was at a Bill Subritzky healing meeting, held in a large church near Auckland’s Harbour Bridge. I was seated half way up the sloping auditorium, a family of three sitting next to me in the same row, I in the aisle seat – the son next to me, then the daughter, the dad farthest away. She was standing for much of the meeting. Bill mentioned many areas that he felt the Holy Spirit wanting to heal people – right where they were standing. I watched this young woman sway under the Holy Spirit’s power for much of what Bill spoke.

At the end of the meeting, I felt compelled to say something to her, but didn’t how was I going to broach the subject. Nervously, I said, “Can I ask you something?”. ‘Yes’. “Do you know the Bible?”. ‘Yes’. “Do you know where it says that ‘...our body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit?’ [1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16].” ‘Yes’. I then said, “Watching you, I felt that the Holy Spirit was restoring His body”. She said nothing.
It was my turn then to be shocked. I stood in the aisle to let all three past, because of the narrow seating. When she got to where I was standing, still saying nothing, she turned around and gave me a hug. All three walked down to the front to go to an exit. As they were turning right at the bottom of the slope, she immediately ran back up to me – giving me a second, really long hug, something I will never ever forget!
Do we go out on a limb and nervously encourage another person, or do we keep that gift we could have given away – afraid to let ourselves be vulnerable, possibly hurt, shunned, rejected?
Do you have at least one gift, talent, ability, vision, burning desire – a God-given purpose/dream – to make a difference, something of significance that gives meaning as to why we are on this planet?
What is your that one gift? Is it to encourage, smile, listen, bake a cake, visit, write a letter, sing, share the joy of the Lord, read for someone who is blind, take flowers to someone in hospital, write poems, befriend someone going through mental distress?
Gifts are meant to be given away – the principle of sowing and reaping – what we give away is multiplied [2 Corinthians 9:6].
Jesus wants us to make a difference in our “world” that He has placed/planted us – our school/college, work, neighbourhood, family/whanau, etc.
Give away the gift you have been given.
Malcolm Dixon
Image:  Flicker (Creative Commons)

Be part of the Turning the Page community

• Place a comment below

• Pass the blog on to others

• If you found this via Facebook then ‘Like’ it, and also ‘Share’ it.

• Email a link to your friends

• Follow on Facebook or Twitter

• Become a subscriber and have posts emailed to you

Its word of mouth by click of mouse
Blogger Labels: Gift,significance,

Paul’s ‘Thorn in the Flesh’ changed his life, your thorn changes you

As a child I used to walk the fields of our farm in bare feet. One of the hazards of doing this was getting prickles in my feet. Little thorns from thistles would dig in and I would be stopped in my tracks. Sitting down I would try and squeeze the little invader out of my skin. Often I couldn't do this so I then had to hobble home, find a needle out of mum’s sewing kit and dig and delve for the very small little thorn. Sometimes I couldn't  find it and I had to either get someone to help me or wait until it worked its way to the surface.

Thorn’s are a right pain in the butt, especially if you get them there!
They disable you, they cripple and slow down you down.
The greater the thorn the greater the scar.
The Apostle Paul talks in 2 Corinthians 12:6-10 about having a thorn in the flesh, something that crippled him, and held him back. Many suggestions have been made about what this could have been, ranging from eye sight problems, epilepsy, temptations, even some say his marriage. It’s a wide open topic people have sweated and argued over for centuries.
I am going to offer my suggestion.
I believe Paul’s thorn in the flesh was the memories of his past. Paul was a man with a incredibly shameful past.
If a ‘This is your life’ show was made about Paul it would include some very dark and evil moments of him murdering and persecuting  Christians. Check it out here Acts 7:54 – 8:3
Such was his past that he renamed himself from Saul to Paul. He wanted to leave the name of ‘Saul’ and all it’s connotations behind.
This past shadows his life and how he views himself. Listen to these words

For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 1 Corinthians 15:9

Paul was forgiven, yes, but he was left with memory scars, reminders that kept him from being too elated.
We all have them. Memories, some good, some bad. Incidents in the past have shaped and crafted who we have become today.
Recently I have been reading the memoirs of Brennan Manning. ‘All is Grace’ , according to Jeff Goins, is ‘a “ragamuffin memoir” — tattered and frayed in a million, dirty, clumpy pieces’.
Manning has a number of thorns in his side, he doesn't hold back in bringing them to the surface for all to see.
He describes shame in this way

The sense of being completely insufficient as a person, the nagging feeling that you're defective and unworthy.

I wonder what Paul felt when his life was exposed by God for all to see. Shame, guilt, love, mercy, forgiveness, hope?
All mingled around in his thoughts and feelings.
Paul’s thorny load of memories kept him close to Jesus.
Shame will either cage you in behind iron bars of self protection or keep you humble and dependant as you move forward.
Our memories, good and bad, can be an incredible spring board for God’s use in helping others. This was certainly the case for Paul and it can be for us also.
Those who have been there, done that, got the tear stained T- Shirt have a deeper personal experience of suffering than those who may only have an academic knowledge.
I think one of my finest moments as a Pastor was when I helped some of those really struggling with life to write their own sermons. We wrestled together through experiences such as hearing psychotic voices, struggling with gambling, stigmas etc. This was people, like Paul, telling their story. Every one who listened connected with the story, because it was their story too. Check out these posts. Peace Making in the Debris of a Gambling Addiction; In - Valid Me
Paul’s thorny load of memories transformed lives.
Yours can too.
Want to read more about Paul’s Thorn? Visit Free Stuff and download my message ‘Paul’s thorn is our thorn too’.
What ‘Thorn in the flesh’ memories have shaped your life?
Barry Pearman
Image: Agustín Ruiz Flicker (Creative Commons)

Be part of the Turning the Page community

• Place a comment below

• Pass the blog on to others

• If you found this via Facebook then ‘Like’ it, and also ‘Share’ it.

• Email a link to your friends

• Follow on Facebook or Twitter

• Become a subscriber and have posts emailed to you

Its word of mouth by click of mouse
Blogger Labels: Paul,Thorn,Flesh,Shame,guilt,mercy,feelings,

Peace

Guest Poet: Stuart Scott is both a research mathematician and poet. Enjoy.

Peace
The lawns of green descend towards the sea
Pohutakawas* fringe the line of shore,
Sun makes shadows fall across lush turf
Here, where calmness meets with men
Here where solitude solicits verse
Here where sight gives place to dream,
And peace alone does rule supreme
 
Peace alone can heal the broken heart,
Peace alone creates that inner balm
Where no blast of chaos now does harm
Those submitting ever to the Saviour’s touch
Coming swift through nature to embrace
The heart where stress has tried to claim
An uninvited place, of residence within
Heart’s abode of His dear precious child
Now touched by Jesus, ere so meek and mild.
 Stuart Scott

*The Pohutakawa is a tree native to New Zealand. In the early summer it brings forth beautiful crimson red flowers. It is known in New Zealand as the ‘Christmas Tree’ as blooms around Christmas time heralding an entry to summer holidays, BBQ’s and swims at the beach.
Image: W J (Bill) Harrison Flicker (Creative Commons)

Be part of the team

• Place a comment below

• Pass the blog on to others

• If you found this on Facebook then ‘Like’ it, and also ‘Share’ it.

• Email a link to your friends

• Become a subscriber and have posts emailed to you

Its word of mouth by click of mouse