paravanes:meditations

Yes, Jesus knows how you feel when you experience the pain of betrayal and abandonment. He chose a place and a time to experience those pains and those losses. What did He experience? He experienced betrayal by those He chose, those He loved, those He trusted, and those He lived with. He also lived through abandonment by these people when the social and political environment became too hostile, too uncomfortable, too dangerous.  Add to this denial, rejection, an illegal  trial,  and torture while in custody. You can trust Him to know how you feel when everything falls apart and even God the Father seems absent. The story doesn't end there, just as our stories don't have to end while we endure the dark night of the soul. But isn't it a comfort to know we follow One who has lived so much of what we fear and He was not overcome by it? He will take our hands and guide us and protect us and show us the way to the light. He walked through the darkness and ...

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing." -- Luke 13:34 --Image from beholdhim.org Have you noticed the most broken and wounded persons sometimes show the most anger, resistance to change, and hostility? Have you noticed they are often the most resistant to making even the small changes that would create more positivity in their lives? Have you observed their unwillingness to know something new, for fear of being disappointed-- again ? You have seen what Jesus saw when He wept over Jerusalem. His response to all of the rebellion, grief, pain, and anger was pity. He saw more in those who were lost than they could see in themselves. These lost souls refused to see another vision of themselves, refused healing and love from His open arms. Because Jesus forces Himself on no one, He wep...

In Matthew 18:21-22, Jesus tells His disciple Peter: if your brother sins against you, forgive him "up to seventy times seven." (New King James Version) What is Jesus actually saying here? Jesus is challenging Peter, and us, to move ourselves away from thinking of forgiveness as a sequential series of actions in response to those who have offended us. Jesus is telling us to own an attitude and lifestyle of forgiveness. Be amazed by what God will do when you choose this path. Include yourself among those who need forgiveness. Remember: forgiveness is a gift your give yourself as you cleanse your spirit and your heart from the injuries others impose. It is an act of power, strength, and forward movement. You can't have too much of these things.