Symptoms are misleading, when will you find the root cause?
The title of this post says it all…”symptoms are misleading…” Just like an iceberg, symptoms are what can be seen, but the root cause is still below the surface. Before I gave my life over to Christ and became His child, I thought I was a Christian and was going to heaven when I died. I truly believed I was His child and that all my poor decisions and negative reactions in life were just symptoms of what life threw at me daily. Just because the symptoms were negative reactions and poor decisions, that did not mean I was not his child, right? Wrong. For me the symptoms that I diagnosed as “what life threw at me” were really a missing relationship with our Heavenly Father.
Guess What?…God Cares More Than You
Often times when I am struggling with the hurt of a loved one, or my heart goes out for someone I love that is hurting, I often feel over whelmed with a sadness or an ache that does not seem to go away. One particular thought that God always reveals to me during those times is…”I care more than you Ron”. I had never thought about it like that before, God really does care even more than I can even imagine. That same hurt or ache is magnified even bigger in Him. He cares about the outcome of that situation more than I do or could worry about. So why would He allow it…if He could just fix it? The same reason He “Brings the Rain” (Mercy Me), He uses the circumstances and trials in our lives to “prune” us and shape us.John 15: 1-8 1″I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.5″I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.Guess what? God wants nothing but the best for you and I. And He knows exactly what circumstances that it will take to shape us that way. Here is one other secret…God does not need you, but He wants you. So seeing He wants you, He needs to shape you to be all that He has planned for you.
Are You a Storyteller?
Revelations 12:11 “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”Are you a story teller? The other day I was watching a show about a Native American Indian. He was talking to some young boys about an upcoming Indian festival in which he was asked to share stories about the past. He went on to tell them that the art of storytelling is a much-respected position among tribes and is usually reserved for the elders of the tribe. The distinctive work of the storyteller is that of acquainting the children with the traditions and beliefs of the tribe. It is reserved for storytellers to repeat the ancient tales with dignity and authority, so as to lead the child into the inheritance of the stored-up wisdom and experience of the tribe. The children develop self-awareness and self-esteem as they provide a sense of one’s place in the world. He also went on to say that even though storytelling was a much respected position, he was sure to address the “honor” that came with being a storyteller. The honor was due to the story itself that he was able to share, not because it was about the storyteller. Read more
Where is God Leading You?
Let me share a brief thought. We know that God is omnipresent… He is everywhere. Because we know this, we can never be without Him or His Holy Spirit. This is comforting news for you and me who know God as our personal savior. No matter what you or I do or where God leads us, we can never be far from God’s comforting presence. Psalm 139:7 says: “where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” What an awesome gift that God allows me to know Him like that.
So as God leads you in a new direction or even keeps you right where He has you, pray and ask God to touch those you come in contact with that they will see something different in you that will allow God a chance to draw them closer to Him. After all, reaching a lost world is our responsibility.
-
Page Views Since January 2008
-
