Believing For Healing

I need healing. I have issues with my neck that cause pain, and when I saw the neurosurgeon a few weeks back he was urging surgery. To listen to him, I'd be fixed with the stroke of a scalpel (and some drilling!) with no further issues.

First off, I don't believe him. I looked it up online and the risks are greater than he represented to me. I could still have pain, I could have new pain, I could lose my voice for months, I would have a scar on my neck.

Second, I have a problem with the fact that this pain consumes me at times. It effects my moods, my thoughts, my attitudes, my actions. The pain becomes my focus. Not God, not others, but myself and my discomfort. Compared to the plights of so many around the world, a bulging disc just isn't that bad. I wonder if I had bigger issues like lack of food and true medical emergencies, if this pain would register on my radar.

Third, I think God wants to heal me. I've never been big on the healing bandwagon- I mean, sure God can heal, but will He? That's the question. I don't see miracles very often, so its hard to imagine one happening within my own body.

And yet, I sense that's exactly what's going to happen. If God wants me to have surgery, He'll have to tell me in a no-nonsense fashion 'cause this girl wants to see His mighty hand move. I don't want to be the center of my life, so I want to focus on others and allow God to take care of His child.

Now, I'm not saying that it would be a sin to have the surgery, or that someone absolutely shouldn't have it. I'm just saying that for me, for now, it's a no-go and I'm believing God to heal me. It's between each individual and God.

ALL for His glory,
Reese

Isaiah 58

Isaiah 58

True Fasting

¹ "Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the house of Jacob their sins.

² For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.

³ 'Why have we fasted,' they say,
'and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?'
"Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.

⁴ Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.

⁵ Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD ?

⁶ "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

⁹ Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

¹¹ The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.

¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

¹³ "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD's holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

¹⁴ then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Food For Thought: Why You Are Where You Are

Have you thought about why you are where you are? Unless you're living in direct disobedience to a specific call of The Lord, you haven't just randomly dropped down by accident in a town/city/base/state/country. You've been planted there by God's divine wisdom. The people you come into contact with aren't there by accident either, and neither are they in your path by coincidence. You were born for such a time as this.

For some of us, that's comforting only in the way that we know there is a larger purpose and plan behind the trials we are facing; for others of us that means we need to look hard and long at how we are spending the time God has allotted us where we are. Are you waking up every morning looking for the why in your "chance" meetings and dealings with people? Might there be more to it that what you have been willing to see up till this point?

Spend a moment at the foot of the throne of the Most High. Be humbled by His plan and the call He ordained for you before the dawn of time. Then stand up, walk out and be the light you were called to be.

Competence, Excellence, and Following the Radical Christ

Today I've been thinking about competence: how being the best I can be (better with God) in a certain area or calling brings glory to God and souls to His kingdom. Excellence certainly stands out among all the people who scrape by with the minimum requirements. Isn't that what Christians are to do? Be excellent for Him?

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10:31

How does that relate to my future? Well, after following the voice of The Lord and deciding on the path I am to follow (career-wise, mostly), I pursue it with a sense of urgent excellence. Study as unto The Lord. Test as unto The Lord. Walk in the chosen career as unto God. Bring glory to His name with all my choices.

And for now? Mother for the glory of God. Be a wife as unto The Lord. Be faithful. Be motivated. Be filled with grace, and have compassion for the lost and hurting. Certainly, don't hide my light under a basket.

I'm already sensing some undercurrents of questions in regards to my plans. Frankly, I don't even like being too excited about stuff; I don't like people to see me as "out there" or radical. I like to play it safe, to be the neutral character, to not make waves. It's going against everything in my human nature to speak up about the radical transformation I anticipate making. It's too much for people to understand - why, in a culture so self-centered- would I actively try to change myself to be Christ-centered in a big way? Why get a college diploma in order to make money so I can give it- and myself- to the poor? Why not save and stash away for my future and for the futures of my kids? Why be so excited about it?

Ah, and that's the root of it, right? Why go against the flow? It's so incredibly easy to follow the world. All the Christians I know are doing it. We, as Christians, shouldn't look like the world in action and attitude; but we do.

What will set me apart? How different am I willing to be? How different was Jesus? Am I really willing to follow His example and swim against the tide?

All for the glory of God,
Reese

Quick Thoughts

I'm on my way to bed; just wanted to check in quickly.

First, I'm so excited by the encouragement I'm receiving from the podcasts I've been listening to and watching from Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, CA. I've subscribed to the podcasts through iTunes. What a blessing to find a church that is striving to live biblically, in whatever form that takes. I've read that Pastor Chan always preaches straight from the Word of God, not flowery ideas and feel-good philosophies from elsewhere. I have been touched and challenged since listening, as well as since I read Crazy Love. I highly recommend you find a copy of that book and read it ASAP.

Second- and lastly- do you know how hard it is to try to break out of old molds? Very. I fall back into the same routines without even thinking about it. I do the same things, eat the same things, think the same things.... ENOUGH!!! I want to be different. I believe that to really see a difference I need to be spending significant time with my Father- in prayer and through reading His words. That's the goal- time with my Lord.

One morning this week the Holy Spirit woke me up and told me to pray. It turned out that I prayed for a majority of the time for Tim; later in the day he narrowly escaped a head-on collision. Since then God's left it up to me to initiate the prayer time, and I've slept through it every early morning since. I miss that quiet time in the morning, even though I've only had it once in such a long time. I loved it.

All for His Glory,

Reese

"Live your life in a way that demands explanation."

~Unknown