Duality

This morning as I was praying, I was overwhelmed with anger at just how jacked up the thought processes and beliefs of the religious mind are. And how rampant and invasive these thoughts are in shaping society.

Here's one: most Christians believe that unbelievers have to go through some kind of darkness, torment or destruction for them to find God. Often praying, "God make their life a living hell until they repent. Do whatever it takes to make them turn to you." Prayers and beliefs like these are so WARPED.

Not realizing we are introducing people to the G-O-D of our religious paradigm. A God who has to be served; a vindictive, angry G-O-D who is so impotent He'll use evil and destruction to get people to turn to Him. Is this really who God is?? I think not.

Romans 2 says it is the kindness of God that leads to repentance. Psalm 23:6 says "Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever." That word follow means to chase like a dog, to ardently pursue. It is the Father's bounty and His kind intentions that chase us down and lead us to change our mind for the better about who God is.

We see God with the eyes of our heart not through the pain and turmoil of life's realities. Pray that unbelievers will encounter God's love, yes. But also pray that through the Holy Spirit, people in places of influence, preachers in pulpits, speakers with mics in their hands, authors with pens would encounter Truth and Truth would lead them all the way home to His Father.

George McDonald once said, “Good souls many will one day be horrified at the things they now believe of God.” It's time to tear down the G-O-D paradigm and demolish the high places that the religious spirit has established. Papa is standing in the door of our shacks, looking out on all of His kids and His heart is beating with profound love for us to get it, for us to see Him as He really is. We are all Mackenzie’s. And just as Papa said to Mack in the book, The Shack, today Papa still says, “I’m not who you think I am, Mackenzie.”

I bless you today to see Him as He really is. I bless you to experience His goodness and His kind intentions towards you. I bless you, in all things: speech, thought, life to be an accurate display of His splendor in the earth. May you fully comprehend the depth of His love that beckons you into relationship with Him.

Embracing Change

Change is always such an interesting animal. Yesterday, I was surprised to arrive at Land of A Thousand Hills Walton to find that it no longer existed. In its place was the Chattahoochee Coffee Company(http://chattahoocheecoffee.com/blog/land-thousand-hills-walton-becomes-chattahoochee-coffee-company). At first I hesitated, a bit skeptical at what I'd find. On I went though, curious to see what changes had been made. Inside the door, I immediately became aware that the "Drink Coffee. Do Good." slogan no longer reigned anywhere in the building. Another glance greeted me with a sign announcing that Chattahoochee Coffee Company proudly served Counter Culture coffee. Big ups for them. Admittedly, I have a fetish for this great coffee so seeing it there put me at ease. At least, I'd still have a great view of the river and a good cuppa cuppa. That much hadn't changed.

After spending almost six hours there, decompressing by the river, enjoy conversation with a great friend and feasting on my wonderful Farmhouse blend French press, I left there with a cheery smile and a wave goodbye from my barista. As I got in the car, I realized that while the name and the mission had changed somewhat, much of what I loved about that coffee shop - the view, their passion for justice, the baristas - clearly were still the same.

From there I traveled 45 miles south to enjoy a dinner party for friends celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. Again, I take a deep breath and I shake off the hesitancies of change. While I've cherished this dear friend and her family since our arrival in GA, her circle of community has changed since we've forged our friendship and mine is in great flux. It's her dinner party, not mine. There would be people that I know but am just merely acquainted with. Here again, I would meet change head on. As we laughed, ate, and shared glasses of wine, I realized that these mere acquaintances and I had much in common and a great sense of camaraderie was deepening our hearts to pursue a greater depth of relationship. I thought to myself, why do we avoid change? Why do we dread it so? Change isn't all that bad.

If situations hadn't happened the way they did, I would never be in the company of change. In the midst of great upheaval, a friend said to me, "This is what you prayed for. Press in. Don't quit." And she was right, only I did not know it would look like this. I feel like God is setting me up for 2014. A year where some things will be different, but at the heart of it, many things will still be the same. Upon first glance, there may be a sense of hesitation, trepidation even. But then further inspection will allow me to see telltale signs of old familiar comforts, true norths that center in the midst of transition.

Truly much of life is shift and transition because we're always moving forward. I can't find happy in going back. Happiness is the result of an inside world that is at home in Father's embrace. A place of joy, contentment and peace that is only found in knowing and resting in Him. But I can courageously embrace what lies ahead. While the mission, vision and purpose hasn't changed at all, perhaps shift is happening to the vehicle through which those things are arrived at.

I left my friend's dinner party feeling victorious. I can do this. I can embrace a new name, a new community. Change isn't half bad. I'm content that shift has provided an opportunity to widen my community of coffee shops, embrace new friendships, and dream and soar with like minded people. With the words of Paul Young fresh in my heart, I offered his words to the Lord, "I open me to what you want to do in my life, even when I can't begin to understand it. Give me the courage to go into the places you want to send me and the ears to hear your invitation."

May I encourage and bless you to look for the true norths. Look for the signs of the familiar and then trod ahead into change embracing the transition and the company of friends who'll join you on the journey.

May 2014 be a year of connection, conversation and collaboration with people who are coming alive in Him. May you find yourself in relationships that are marked with honesty, openness, intentionality, authenticity and freedom.

Embrace Change! Happy New Year! 

Outta Sight. Out of Mind.

Ever walked out to your garage in search of something? In the frey of discarded and stored things, you discover an item you forgot you had. Something precious. Something often used but now tucked away. You pick the item up, recalling with fondness its use. Perhaps you dust it off and bring it back inside. Relationships can be like that. Contextual in nature, we move from one season to the next. People once connected to you through context no longer at the forefront of your daily interactions. Tucked away, like items in the garage. Stored memories of happy times, fond times. 

I've traveled so many diverse paths in my life's journey, I for one, am grateful for Facebook that bring those often tucked away contextual relationships back inside my heart and the walls of my daily life. 

Even more than that, I'm grateful for friends that continue to pursue relationship even after the context of our situations have changed. 

Stop for a moment. Think about it. In the busyness of life, whom have you pursued this week? Cup of coffee? A quick "thinking about you" text? Shared meal? 

In the heart of every person is the longing for pursuit. Placed within us by a good God who said, "it is not good for man to be alone."

The pursuit of another is modeled in our love relationship with the Godhead. For He beckons us, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." 

Connectedness is the result of requited pursuit. I bless you today to experience a sense of connection with God and with others. 

ROOM FOR YOU

Recently, I had a vision. In the vision, I saw myself trying to fit in this space and that space. Every time I tried to wedge myself into a space, I didn't fit and the word REJECT was stamped on me.

Feelings of insignificance, not being needed or wanted, disempowered crouched at my door waiting for me to agree with them.

I felt Holy Spirit drawing me back to Himself. I realized the answers to the questions and the peace to navigate the journey reside in Him.

Whenever you find yourself plagued by, "What am I suppose to do? What's my assignment?," I encourage you to check your alignment. The what (your assignment) resides in the alignment (your relationship with the Godhead).

So, I call your spirit to attention and I bless you today to be aligned with the One who knows every detail of your life. I brush off every label and false identity, that's not who you are. You are accepted. There IS a place for you.

I bless you with Col. 1:19(MSG), "So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding."

Go find your proper place. There is room for you.

Forgivness: My Story, My Song

The majority of my life I’ve lived demanding justice for being wronged by people. I wanted those who’ve wronged me to pay for what they did to me. The truth is, I was the only one paying.  R. T. Kendall says, ‘Bitterness is the poison we drink hoping someone else dies.’  My unforgiveness, not the wrongs that had happened to me, was slowly draining life out of me. Rage, anger, resentment, and bitterness became my torturers and constant companions, preventing me from fully loving or allowing myself to be loved.

One day as I read Matthew 18:21-35, I felt compelled to look up the word torment. I found that it means grievous pain; to vex; to harass.  In short, to torment means to experience the most amount of pain for the longest amount of time without killing someone. When you think about it, that sounds a lot like hell. As I reflected on that thought, my memory became overloaded with images of people and situations where I had been wronged, hurt, or offended.  The pain and the betrayal as fresh with each memory as the day I experienced them. I started to do the good Christian thing and stuff down the negative emotions, and softly, I heard a voice say, “You know, Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him. If you will endure this, there is joy on the other side. You can have mercy or you can have judgment, but you can’t have both. If you want mercy, you must extend mercy to those who have wronged you. If you want judgment, you will remain in torment.” Forgiveness would cost me but unforgiveness would kill me.

To forgive, I had to be honest about each incident that happened to me; how it made me feel, how I responded to it, what lies they caused me to believe and act out of because of the wounding that occurred. It wasn’t pretty to face each offense and not shrink back. All of my life I responded to life in a ‘fight or flight’ sort of way. I used anger to protect me when I was scared or I ran away and chose not to deal with issues at hand. But here, I felt compelled by the Lord to endure this moment of truth with the promise that joy was just on the other side of all of those painful feelings.

I realized something else in that moment, when we choose to not forgive we actually devalue the blood of Jesus. It’s like saying what He did on the cross wasn’t enough because we still want the people who wronged us to pay. I had been committing spiritual fraud. Jesus’ death satisfied every debt of sin. Yet, I was still trying to collect payment for past wounds and offenses. In realizing that Jesus’ death paid not only for the sins I committed but also those committed against me, I realized those people - the very ones I had been judging and wanting to see get what they deserved owed me nothing. They had already received what they deserved: mercy just as I had received mercy.  James 2:13, Mercy triumphs judgment.

R. T. Kendall says, ‘Forgiveness is the medicine we give to someone else that gives us life.’ I chose to free every person that ever wronged me. I made a willful decision to say, “I forgive you for…(whatever action or violation they had committed against me). I release you and I bless you in Jesus’ name.” 

Something incredible happened in my heart! I began to experience peace like I’d never felt before. I found myself genuinely happy. I found myself laughing and smiling. I found myself falling in love with Jesus. My home became full of joy and merriment. I found that in forgiving others, my heart began to sing. I was experiencing new levels of freedom. I began to love myself. I was able to love my kids, love others.

There’s a song in forgiveness. Find its melody in your life. Grab a hold of it. Let it blow across your heart and set you free.

©2012  Felicia Murrell

METHOD OF MODERN LOVE

1 John 4:7-8 (MSG) "My beloved friends let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can't know him if you don't love."

Love is so much more than a pasted on smile and a cheesy Christian greeting offered in passing. Love is so much more than feeding the hungry at Thanksgiving or clinking a few coins in the Salvation Army bucket at Christmas. Love is so much more than words without feeling tacked on to the end of goodbye.

To love is to see inside someone and affirm the essence of who they are. To love is to serve. To love is to embrace. To love is to spend time in a dynamic life exchange. To love is to give. To love is to re-present Jesus and His Father to those around us.

To love is to recognize that we are all different and because of that difference, we all have a "unique to you" expression of demonstrating love. For some, that expression looks like championing the cause of the pro-life movement. For others, it may look like rescuing women and children from the horrors of human trafficking. Still for others it may look like staying at home to mother their young or joining the police force to bring safety and justice for all. A teacher educating young hearts. An attorney defending her client judicially. An actress illuminating the stage and warming hearts with her gift of entertainment. All unique expressions of love demonstrated to the world around us. All re-presenting an attribute of a Father in Heaven and His only begotten Son who loves you.

Father God is so multifaceted in who He is, it's no wonder we all get to be different in our expression of who we are. And yet at the core, the common uniting factor is love. God is kind. God is good. God is just. God is nurturing. God is a teacher. God is joyful. And yet at the center remains His essence, God is love. How we give love to the world should mirror who God is because as He is, so are we in this world (1 John 4:17).

Because we can't give away what we don't have, our loving others comes out of our personal experience of God loving us. To love others is to experience God. Love looks like compassion when we care for the hurting. Love looks like affirmation when we encourage the discouraged. Love looks like provision when we give to those in need. Love looks like honor when we embrace the treasure of another human being. Love looks like peace when we offer a listening ear or a comforting hand to a frantic soul.

What about you? Are you loving well? Can you articulate what your love looks like? How do you demonstrate your unique to you expression of love to those around you?  How are you re-presenting God to those in your sphere of influence? 

©2012  Felicia Murrell