Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Alone, Even in the Crowds of Life



October 19, 2015

I’m very aware of my labored breathing today; a heaviness of something wanting to be purged from my spirit that needs to go but is having trouble expressing itself fully.  It’s like when you are nauseous and know you will feel better if you can just throw up but it doesn’t quite come.  So I deeply sigh one more time and ask God to please show and deliver me of what this is.  

As my husband and I face yet one more trial of provision with his position at his job being terminated and severance pay having ended, I know that another stretching of our faith is occurring.  Although it creates opportunities to stress and worry about the what if’s (we JUST finally got planted in our house/HOME and I do not want a 6th MAJOR move since 2009,) I have a deeper sense of our Provider’s care and that He will faithfully supply for us as He has always done in the past.  I am standing on Amos 9:15, “I will firmly plant them there in their own land. They will never again be uprooted from the land I have given them," says the LORD your God.” Although I have a level of discomfort at times, ultimately I trust Him.  So I really don’t think that is at the root of this latest sigh.

This is deeper and much more painful than the thoughts described above. In asking God to show me what is going on with me, I recall the following:

With the course of my life’s trials, I have been plucked up from homes, jobs, relationships, and friendships that either were just developing to become truly meaningful or were counterfeit to begin with and never settled into something legitimate. 

My latest triggers of sorrow and self-pity have been activated in not being able gather with my family as often as I want because their schedules are horrifically busy right now.  Friendships are difficult to develop because people are either settled in their own lives at this point and just frankly, don’t want to go to the trouble of working it, or they are in different seasons of life than we are and it’s difficult to find common ground and time.  Facebook and social media displays all too largely in my face how wonderfully active others are, so a sense of jealousy and being left out is being fed.  (I know that we all present moments of “look how wonderful my life is” to the world through our social media, because who of us wants to share the real life undesirable events which sometime occur in the recesses of closed doors and hearts; but still…I let it impact me negatively through the life choker called “comparison”.)

So I identify this sigh as an all too familiar sense of isolation; the worst thing to a person whose main love language they need to receive is. “Quality Time” with others. (http://www.5lovelanguages.com/)

I understand the roots for isolation lie in my childhood when I was forced to be alone by parents trying to hide the fact that we were a dysfunctional family due to alcoholism and other factors.  It is painfully clear how much isolation and loneliness I suffered throughout my life due to myself, others and circumstances.

However, even without childhood roots, any of us can feel isolated at times, whenever we feel we are alone, regardless of how many people are in our lives.   Mothers can feel alone when their day consists of endless and seemingly unnoticed chores, but which are critical to the care and wellbeing of their children.  

Leaders/Managers can feel alone because as the saying goes, “It’s lonely at the top.”  The point of which something begins is just that, a point and not a linear group of people.  The responsibility for those they lead and what they are to accomplish rests on their shoulders, not the group of subordinates clustered together below them in the chain of authority. 

We can feel alone in one-sided relationships when both should be contributing, but due to selfishness or life circumstances of the other, we carry the full burden for the relationship.  This particular loneliness is very difficult because it drains us since the other party is only taking from the relationship and not putting anything back. 

We can feel alone when we see something others can’t see and there is no one who relates to our revelation.  Coupled with feeling alone, we can also feel a sense of judgement coming from those who can’t see it, and we may then feel the need to justify ourselves in hopes they will validate us.

We can feel alone with physical or mental health issues which prevent us from having or allowing others to be in close connection to us when we actually crave human touch.  My brother had an adult onset form of muscular dystrophy and was housed in a care facility in Kansas.  While talking with him one day on the phone, it pierced my heart at how deeply he just needed someone to touch him as he had gone without genuine demonstrations of affection and love for longer than what he required and what most of us could endure.

We can feel alone in our “new beginnings” because it’s fresh, raw and unfamiliar, so we are not even sure how to relate anyway.  Plus, fear of the unknown can add to our feelings of instability.

We can be fighting a personal battle no one else knows about.  Perhaps we don't feel that a particular person is one who is equipped to take up arms and fight the battle with us as a side-by-side comrade.  It may not even be appropriate for them to fight alongside us anyway, even though we wish they could be with us in this trial.

We may find ourselves in an arena in which we can’t relate to others around us; perhaps they are a different culture than we or hold a different belief system which we will not nor can we compromise, because it holds the key to our very life.

A major source of loneliness occurs when we lose the most significant person in our life and we now feel abandoned in our newfound and unchosen isolation. 

One of the main issues with loneliness is that it causes us to not feel wanted or valuable.  One day several years ago, as I was standing by the patio doors, a neighbor’s dog pen caught my eye. I observed the beautiful creature inside endlessly pacing around and around in circles.  Each time he would come to the part of the cage that faced the house, he would stop, look at the house, and seeing no one, he would circle around again.  My gut wrenched, I plopped down and sobbed right there in front of the glass doors as I related to that precious dog.  I humanized how he must feel; abandoned as no one came to welcome him into the life of the family but instead only unattached short visits with the sole purpose being to tend to his basic need for food and water.  He was caged for their use, only to be let out when they wanted something from him, “Go hunt for us, and otherwise, stay here and don’t bother us.”  

If we already have roots of insecurity or low self-esteem, we can feel we are not worthy of attention and this can lead to chronic loneliness and isolation.  Loneliness can be our perception of the state we are in as we truly aren’t physically isolated from others.  We may legitimately have others in our lives but we still “feel” lonely.  Sometimes it’s a fair assessment, but sometimes it’s due to our own walls of self-preservation protecting us from extending ourselves and possibly receiving another wound to our heart.  It can also be due to entrenched self-pity which filters everything as lack when in actuality we do have what we need, we just can’t see it.  “Poor me” is a form of a poverty mentality-(that one is for free! :)  )

If we stay in that outlook, we will actually continue to be wounded by that false protection and self-pity.  People with healthy balance and sense of self don’t erect walls around their hearts and are not afraid to let others in. Instead, we are to ask for and face the revelation God shows us as to why we are the way we are when we sense something is off. He will show us what we need to see in order to go free from the clutches of imprisonment, IF we will lay aside all fear and truly FACE IT. We can recognize it as the past reality of our lives but be grateful that we don’t have to stay that way.  We can surrender to Him as our Healer and Deliverer and go free, knowing that if He is taking the care and time to show us this very important aspect of our lives and hearts, that the time to go free is RIGHT NOW. All our times are in HIS hands, Job 12:10 and Psalm 31:15.

One of the best ways to go free from any form of heaviness is to praise and thank God for what we DO have. Isaiah 61:3 tells us we can receive from the Lord “the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." 

I am grateful that I now have a husband who supports and is able to show me love. I am grateful I have been able to maintain amazing and blessed relationships with my own children and their beautiful families which have brought me more joy than I ever imagined.  I’m thankful that I have a few true friends that through modern technology, we are still connected and current in our relationships.  I am thankful for the new friends He is bringing.  I am thankful that due to God’s healing power in my life, I have overall good health.  Most importantly, I have a God who LOVES me no matter what I do.  He understands why I am the way I am when I am not the faith giant some may see on the outside.  He feels with me, right alongside me in His unconditional love and perfect understanding of me:

“’In all their distress He too was distressed’ (Isa. 63:9)… Jesus understands heartbreak, betrayal, abandonment, loneliness, sorrow, and pain. He is acquainted with grief. He cares. He cares for you.” (Ransomed Heart-excerpt from “What Jesus Weeps Over.”)

Just as a side bar for well-intentioned friends and family, but who actually have a “Job’s friends” viewpoint, when we judge and say or think things like, “At least you have_____! You are so blessed and you are letting this mean way too much!  There are a lot of people who wished they had it as good as you!  There are people so much worse off than you are,” may I offer that in taking that position with people when they are suffering, it does nothing to help them go free from what is troubling them.  It certainly does not encourage them.  It only heaps condemnation and guilt on someone who is already down and there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, (Romans 8:1).  If we don’t really have a word from the Lord, who is Healer, Deliverer, Comforter, Counselor, Wisdom, then it is best to be as Jesus advised and weep with those who weep, mourn with those who mourn, stay quiet.  Often times more is said in our quiet but genuine compassion and support than our words anyway.  Sometimes the noise of our words trample on the healing moment of the silent work God is doing on their hearts.  Oftentimes when we speak, it's because we feel awkward in not really knowing what to say so we fill up the space with our own "clamor."  Just rejoice with them once they have the manifested victory in Christ Jesus He will give them if they will look to Him for their help, (Romans 12:15, 1 Corinthians 15:57).  Only God knows and understands why something is impacting someone the way it is and He alone is their judge, (James 4:12).  It’s just not our place to decide, short of God’s revelation of their heart, that someone is overreacting, being foolish, or being a bad Christian role model, (Colossians 2:16-19).  We instead need to seek God for wisdom on how to be a help or counsel to this person; pray for them to overcome and that the trial will perfect, establish, strengthen, settle them, (1 Peter 5:10); and ask that God will turn it all around for their good, (Rom. 8:28).

Prayer if you are lonely or feeling isolated:
Father, You said in Your word:  John 16:24 “Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full,” so I ask You now to form the divine connections for friends, family and relationships in my life that will bring me joy.  Give me wisdom and discernment to know what is legitimately from You and help me to be the friend You want me to be as well.  (Repent with the following if the Lord leads you to: Please forgive me for partaking in any way with spiritual forces of heaviness or believing their lies.)  Deliver me from all spiritual, mental, emotional and physical effects of loneliness/isolation. Show me what I need to do to create and foster these friendships and relationships and help me be willing to do that.  Help me see them with Your eyes of love and to understand that none of us is perfect.


Monday, August 17, 2015

PRUNED IF YOU DO- PRUNED IF YOU DON'T

PRUNED IF YOU DO- PRUNED IF YOU DON'T

One of my favorite, peaceful places in the morning with my wake up cup of coffee is my front porch. It's nicely shaded with a comfortable place to sit.  The plantings have taken off to where the blooms are something to behold.  One of the contributing elements to the porch is the beautiful Rose of Sharon bush. However, when we bought the house, due to neglect from no one living here, it was out of control and badly in need of a major pruning. With pruning shears in hand, I aggressively undertook the task of lopping off branches which I judged were going to impede the look and desires we had for the curb appeal of our home. Thinking that task would keep it at a nice height and girth I realized all too quickly it was going to need another major pruning! I heartily undertook that task yet once more.


My view from the front porch has always been comforting as I look around at my neighbors' homes, greet passers-by and engage in friendly conversation with those whom we now know and have already grown to love. Along with enjoying my neighbors, I thoroughly delight in the vivid pink and purple petals that grace my view from that favorite seat. As those flowers sway in the welcome breeze I occasionally catch a hint of fragrance from the more pungent blossoms.



I realized this morning, however, that without notice, my peace had been subtly interrupted by that very Rose of Sharon that initially contributed graciously to the setting of my porch sanctuary.  The heavy pruning performed earlier took scraggly sticks of an untamed eyesore and transformed it into a healthy, thick, and profuse bloomer, which up until now I have thoroughly enjoyed. The growth has been so rapid and dense that it's now totally obstructing my view and enjoyment of other things.


As I pondered this, I received a revelation from God on how, when He prunes us,
we must guard our hearts or we will take that actual growth that occurs from the cutting away of what must go and quickly become overbearing in the new "us" that emerges. As lovely as we think we are or as others think we are, we can overshadow and overtake others who are blooming as well.  Those others are serving a meaningful purpose as well but which no one can see now because we are in the way. When this happens, God has to prune us again. So even things which may appear as being absolutely gorgeous are going to have to go because they are obstructing a fuller purpose in which we are meant to flow together as one; each contributing to the big picture.


Look how overbearing this beautiful bush looks with my front porch… 




And look what's totally hidden by the obstruction that beauty is creating!


With the third pruning since April, I had to cut away less than I wanted to because it would not be able to bear up under the severity of taking too much off at once and would not be able to withstand the intensity of this season. (God's mercy on us!)  However...very soon...more pruning is in the plan for this beauty! (God's grace on us!)



"He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit, and He prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more."  John 15:2


Lord, help us bear the pruning process and stay right before You in the process and aftermath.  Help us not to think more highly of ourselves than we should and to put others first, thinking of them more often and ourselves less often.  Holy Spirit...convict our hearts when we are overbearing and overshadowing someone else; when we are actually hindering the progress of someone else or stepping in areas where they belong.  Amen