Like a ton of bricks! You must read Accidental Pharisees by Larry Osborne

Accidental Pharisees by Larry Osborne is packed full of hard-core truth. There will be moments when it feels like a brick hit you over the head as you realize the moments you became an accidental Pharisee. Perhaps you are one now. Other times you will realize that the church as a whole has received their label of being too judgmental, and too self-righteous because many walked down the path of becoming an accidental Pharisee.

Full of grace and biblical truth, this book will walk you through practical ways to avoid pride and reveal the heart of God for His church at the same time. Accidental Pharisees addresses the sinful nature of man that we too often can slip into as Christians sitting in the pew, volunteering, or as Pastors. This book is intended to challenge you. I always love challenges, which is part of the reason why I would recommend this book to all followers of Jesus.

From an aspect of Pastoral leadership, I would say that this book would be a great one for your church staff or Bible study groups to go through together. There are questions to reflect on after each of the seven parts. This is a topic that must be brought up, taught, and not left ignored in the church and in our own lives. We must see pride, exclusivity, and the heart of a Pharisee for what it is, rather than justifying it. As followers of Christ we must be willing to look at the issues we have tried to justify and call it out for what it is. Sin.

Becoming an accidental Pharisee is something that we are all guilty of at one point in our life or another.  Not one of us is perfect. Despite that, what matters is that we remain true to the gospel as Larry stated. We need to always remember that it has never been about us, but it has always been and forever will be about God and what He has done for us.

Read Accidental Pharisees by Larry Osborne. I dare you!

I received this book from Booksneeze. All of these opinions are my own.

Hope!

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Recently, I have found myself excited over some things that I never thought that I would be so ready for. There is a renewed sense of hope in my being that has truly helped me to deal with the ache in my heart over the loss of special individuals in my life.

With this, I have found a new sense of creativity to write. I have been combining and mixing in the perspectives I think could come from my husband and stepdaughter in with my own thoughts and feelings. When you are so connected with someone, there are times when his or her own pain feels very much like your own. If you read my writings keep this in mind. Do not assume you know the entire picture.

Hope! There is so much to hope for.  Joy can be yours despite the circumstances that surround you. When things look impossible and hopeless beyond repair, God is doing what He does best. He is working out things for your good that never would take place without every circumstance and situation occurring as it has. 

Everything that has occurred in my life has given me a choice. I can choose to let it make me bitter or I can choose God and allow Him to make me better through it all. This choice is daily, sometimes even an hourly decision depending on the difficulty of the task. I have chosen God over everything. I choose Him now and forevermore. I will not wait to choose Him until tomorrow or the day after that. I will not wait for certain people to do certain things, nor depend on them for my needs. Instead I will forevermore choose God.

God knows me. He has my entire being memorized. It is my desire to know the deepest parts of who He is. I long to hear His heartbeat, to know and listen to His voice above all others, as well as allow Him to love through me. His love casts out all fear. His love heals. His love convicts and brings a cleansing joy over those who surrender and serve Him. It is a love that is unconditional (yet He does not put up with sin for this damages and destroys whom He loves), it is slow to anger (no instant, raging outbursts from Him), and it conquers all things and never fails. This is only a short description of true love, Agape.

Being an imperfect individual being perfected by the maker of Love, I know that I am and will forever learn what His love looks like depending on the person and situation. It is hard because often, even those of us in the church, think that love means very much what the world thinks of it. The world thinks that by loving a person we allow them to continue in destructive behaviors and lifestyles. This goes from one extreme to the next, as long as they are happy. This could mean sexual orientation, other lifestyles, speaking white lies, and even gossip/slander. 

God does not like even a hint of darkness in our lives. Let me say that again, not even a hint! It is this way because He alone knows just how much one small compromise or one small attachment of sin can tumult itself into destruction for one person and then, entire families.  For this reason, it is imperative that we make a choice daily to give up of ourselves and allow God to reign in every aspect of our heart, mind, body, and spirit. There can be no compromise, only true, full devotion.

With this in mind, God knows that we all make mistakes and stumble along on our journey. What matters here is the heart. Where is your heart? What is in the deepest parts of your heart that often is hidden from others, yet exposed to God? Do you long for Him to have every part; all the imperfect pieces, the hurt? Will you allow Him to heal you, to perfect you into His likeness so that you can understand more fully His love? It is only by giving up of yourself that you will find yourself more in His presence. He does not force us to dwell with Him. It is our choice. 

Choice. If we choose Him there is so much more joy, hope, faith and love than we could ever fathom. I choose Him. It is why I have hope today.

Nothing fancy... processing loss

The past several months have been filled with loss. It is an interesting thing to experience sorrow. Depending on what you are grieving about depends on how it will affect you. Last week, I had the opportunity to share my own story. Looking back I have realized just how much loss I have experienced throughout my perfectly imperfect life.

The beautiful thing about God is that despite all that we may go through in life, He is always there to use it for good. I could go on about all of the heartbreaking things that have gone on in the past two years, let alone my entire life. I could tell you that despite my attempts for good, sometimes mud gets thrown back in my face.

Life is hard. It is filled with so many things that will cause you pain. There has been many days that my heart has felt like it was shattered into pieces. Have you ever felt this way?

I think that there will be days that I will continue to fill as if my heart is breaking. The love that I have for people runs so deep. The depth of this love is something that some are often perplexed by. It is almost as if some will run from it, either too afraid to trust or to put it simply, they believe that they are too unworthy to receive it.

What I struggle with most is the pain of lies, betrayal, and ultimately sin coming forth from the tongue (read James 3- he equates it to witchcraft, wickedness). The sorrow from losing someone that you love is hard. To have a continuation of rejection, and lies from others just adds to the pain already present. In fact, losing someone who has not passed on from this life to the next feels almost worse because there is no finalization.

With this in mind, I decided a while ago to not hold these things in anymore. By not holding the pain in any longer and allowing myself to grieve, I believe I can help someone else who may be struggling with similar things. I want my message to always be that you are not alone and that there is always hope.

Dear one, what have you been grieving over? What have you lost? Do you know how valuable you are? Do you know that you are dearly loved?

You are loved, oh so loved!! Come into the arms of the One who will never leave you, nor forsake you.

I like this!! Lysa Terkeurst's Unglued Devotional

Lysa Terkeurst is an open book and raw to the core in the Unglued Devotional, revealing some of her most vulnerable and ugly days. What I found was most helpful for me was that through her honesty I was able to recognize again that I was not the only one that struggled with dealing with my emotions in a way that is healthy. I am a passionate woman, who loves so deeply that anytime I feel that my love is being tossed back in my face, it can be hard for me to process these feelings without some kind of burst of energy. This book was a great asset for me to read because it confirmed what God speaks about in the Bible to press into Him, He is after all in control, and learn to let go, and love through my deep emotions.

Some of the things that spoke to me were about the day Lysa shared about being a "reactor or a responder", which is something that I have been working on in my own life. She also touched on the difference between "Condemnation vs. Conviction", "Self Control", and other topics such as forgiveness, peace, and love. Through every day of struggles, victories, and breakthrough, she reveals ultimately the heart of our Father God. He does not change when our circumstances do. His truth does not change with our feelings and our tears will never drown His truth out.

The Unglued Devotional is an excellent asset to the book and Bible study. I have only been able to read the devotional so far and have been reminded more each day, that despite my imperfections, God is always there and loves me through every mistake, heartache, and trouble. It is all right to be honest and raw day to day with your Father God. You are beautiful. Take some time today to sit, read about Gods truth in the Bible with Unglued as a side, and take some time in silence to listen to Him speak His truth to you. You are worth it!

Put on Those Jet Packs!

Have you ever wondered what flying would be like? Why not strap a few jet packs on your back and see how it feels? The force on your body as you fly against gravity, the wind in your face, and the exhilarating feeling that comes from the thrill of doing something that seems nearly impossible.

This is my life. Not that I own jet packs, but on a spiritual sense, there are days where it seems like God straps some on and I just go flying! It is after these moments that I sit and reflect. I see how different I am because of God. And I wonder how I even made it through the previous week not knowing what I had just learned.

Today is one of those reflection days. It is more of a forced reflection day since I woke up sick and had to cancel all my appointments. People do not like it when you are contagious. The State of Oregon Massage Board detests it, which is why it is against the law to give a massage to anyone when you are sick.

With this state of exhaustion that I am in (it started last night), my emotions go down to the depths. Most often after working my way through the murky waters of my feelings I realize just how hard I have been on myself. There is so much to do and so many people to love. I want to do my best; to give the best; to love like tomorrow is not coming.

With the added pressure that I put on myself I can have moments where I feel like I have failed. This feeling of failure has been a constant companion of mine for years. It is something that God has slowly been freeing me from. When I say slow, the slow part is more about me since it is a process to realize the unhealthy habits and thought patterns that have been a part of my life for years.

Each time that I seem to find myself emerging from the depths of my emotions, a new sense of freedom and breakthrough occurs. Healing is a process and can be painful at times. Just like that jet pack, healing can set you soaring high in the clouds, free and full of joy despite the pain!

Sometimes, my husband can get the brunt of my "failure" as I vent, and struggle to process the crazy events that may have just taken place. He literally is the best gift. He allows me time to process things, hugs me, rubs my shoulder, or holds my hand, just as a silent gesture to let me know that he loves me despite my inner struggle.

God has used my husband to help me become the woman I am today. Looking back on our journey of love, I see part of the reason why there was some opposition for us to be a couple. The enemy was scared about what we would do, and who we would become, TOGETHER. In response to that truth, I admit that he should be scared. I say this not to brag but to proclaim the truth that through God, He is doing great and mighty things in and through us, TOGETHER.

If there is anything I have learned the past 3 years it is to: set fear of failure aside, put on those jet packs and fly!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! 

Longing for You

The time has come and gone, and I stand here longing. A land so close, an unending love for a people I hardly know. I see your faces in my dreams.

The desire burns in my heart to pick up a dirty orphan child who is desperate for a mother’s love. I thought I would return to you long before now. I never intended to leave you behind. I see your faces in my dreams.

I ache for your small arms to wrap around my neck. Is it just a mother’s desire inside of me? Truly I know that nothing will ever erase this fire in my soul to save each of you. I see your faces in my dreams.

Red dirt, bare feet, your footprints are forever on my heart. Round belly, and big yellow eyes, the loneliness is something that will forever haunt me. I see your faces in my dreams.

Contagious laughter, dirty tears I am sorry I am not there to dry them. Who is there with you now? I wonder how much longer it will be until I can hold you. I see your faces in my dreams.

This burning desire to come and save you is more real than ever before. It is as if I hear all of your voices calling my name during the night. Calling me back to a place where my heart is my home and strangers call me sister. I see your faces in my dreams.

Red, yellow, black, and white I see your faces in my dreams. I will come to you when He sends me and I will bring with me another hero. This time will be different. This time I can kiss the tears you cry and together we can dream under the same sky.

Where are you now?

I was listening to Red's album "Until We Have Faces"

 

I have heard this song countless times. Today this song seemed to explain exactly how I have been feeling lately. For the first time in my life I have been learning how to deal with a difficult situation in a healthy way. I am allowing myself to grieve.

I am not the only one who is facing similar heartache. 

You are not alone if someone in your life has walked away and you are waiting for them to return home.

Countless times, I have written in my journal: 

Where are you? Where did you go? 

Will you come back to love me?

I used to know you.

Who are you?

Why?

So many of us are walking around wounded. Some of us are still recognizing our worth. Many of us fight for our worth by forgiving and loving others even as they walk away. Although, this may not always feel good, true love does not hold onto what the person did to you, rather you let the person and action go by handing it up to God. He alone can handle the toughest situations. 

This does not mean that you must continue to put up with sinful behavior. This does not mean that the pain will instantly go away. It also does not mean that the situation will be fixed. The certainty is that your heart will not be tied down in bondage to that pain or to that person. Because of this there is freedom. Your heart can be healed and shaped beautifully by the hands of love.

How many of you are waiting for someone you love to return? How many of you are learning what it means to let go of pain due to the words or hands of others?

You are not alone. 

Hold on.

There is hope.

Cling to Love.

Forgive daily.

Allow yourself to grieve.

Open yourself up, let go of the pain, and let Love hold you.

Listen to this song. Maybe it will allow the tears to break forth for more healing. 

Do not be afraid to allow yourself to feel.

Grieve. 

Let go.

There is hope for their return.