Therapy with God.

"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace."   Isaiah 9:6

This has been a difficult week for our family. My cousin's husband died in a car crash and a loved member of our family is detoxing from heroin. I didn't even know he smoked heroin. I didn't know a person could smoke heroin. I thought you had to inject it. Apparently not.

Needless to say I've been filled with sorrow about both these things. The man who died was around 55 years old. He and my cousin had a wonderful, Christian marriage. They did everything together after their daughter grew up and moved out. They loved to travel and went to Australia, Europe and Alaska. They were going to go to Arizona after Christmas.

The family member on heroin is a young man we all love. He lost his brother 5 years ago, and began using heroin on the anniversary of his death in September. He refuses to go to counseling, which would help him learn to cope with losing his brother, so what can we do? He refuses to go to Narcotics Anonymous and rehab, so his mother moved in with him this week while she weans him off heroin.

I have been praying for everyone and for myself so I won't slide into a depression. But I couldn't sleep all night after hearing all this. I didn't ask God to help me sleep. I just prayed for help for everyone, but I didn't go into detail.

I was feeling pretty grim the next day, and knew I had to do something. I realized I shouldn't just pray regular prayers; I should talk with God about everything in detail so I did. I could feel the weight lift from my heart as I shared my thoughts and feelings.

 I talked with him about my sleep patterns too and how they upset me, because I hadn't been talking with him about that. I've been understanding more and more how I just need to talk with God. Talk, not pray, just talk.

Talking is what you do in Therapy. I always learned something new about myself and my life in therapy, just by talking. I also felt better after a therapy session. I could see the way I should go more clearly.

Isaiah wrote that God is our Mighty Counselor.
I believe it.

He also called him the Prince of Peace.
Yes, he is.

"You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory."  Psalm 73:24

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you."   Psalm 32:8

I must add to this post that when my youngest daughter heard about the young man in our family, she was feeling very sad. She was on her computer, went to look at Pinterest, and on the first page she opened she saw this:

God is fighting for us and our families.

It's the Little Things that Count.

My granddaughter, Hope, in Princeton, BC, Canada

I'm reading a book called, "Simply Tuesday: Small-Moment Living in a Fast-Moving World," by Emily P. Freeman. It's a wonderful book on how to celebrate our smallness in the great scheme of things and to celebrate the small moments in life, because they are important.

I remember years ago, noticing that God said, "Yes," to all my small (what I considered small) prayers, but not the big ones (what I considered big).

I remember wondering why, but still grateful for all the little "yes" prayers that made my life happier. I later realized the "big" prayers kind of depended on what people did. God influences people to do things, but he doesn't force them. Also, physical healing is not always healed in this life, and some of the greatest testimonies are from those who have suffered from illness or persecution. I have to trust God about the big things. He knows what he is doing.

I started thinking about my childhood and what was important to me back then. I remember my mother's cool hand on my brow when I had a fever. I remember my grandmother putting a mustard plaster on my chest when I was sick. I remember my sister playing cut-out dolls with me and my brother playing cowboys and Indians. I remember hopscotch and jump rope. I remember a horse that was at the end of our road and how he would let me pet him on the way home from school. Small things, yet so important to me.

As an adult, I remember holding my babies, my grandchildren when they were infants, smiles from my family, Christmases and Thanksgivings, trips into nature like Jasper National Park, Monument Valley and the ocean. Seeing bears, deer, whales and other animals as we drove through the mountains. Walking in Stanley Park, smiles from strangers, watching the birds from my balcony. Small things, yet great things; the things that matter and you always remember.

Big things, or things I thought were important, were things like graduating university. I had a mental breakdown and dropped out. Having a career from that education was something I wanted after the kids were grown up. That didn't happen for two reasons. My mental problems and my daughters needed me to babysit for them. Now, I am really glad my life worked out that way. Nothing is more important than family.

Lots of money. I thought if we had lots of money we could help our children and grandchildren. I figured there was no harm in asking God for tons of money, so I did. I was wrong. After a few weeks of that, I felt something in my mind, like a rebuke, and God said, "Never pray for that again." Believe me, I haven't. All these years later, I found out why God said that. My children and grandchildren had to learn things the hard way. Money would have solved their earthly problems, but it would have been detrimental to their maturity.

Well, I have more to write about small things that are in the Bible, but I'll leave that for the next post since this is long enough! See you then.

A Letter.

Heather with her niece.

Awhile ago, I posted something about not getting enough sleep and waking up startled. I don't know if anyone has been praying for me, but ever since that post I have been sleeping deeply and feeling good when I wake up. So, thank you and thank God.

My sister has a girlfriend who has been diagnosed with incurable cancer. Her name is Heather and we all love her as part of our family. Heather is a believer in God, but she was overcome with so many feelings when the doctors gave her this news. A few days ago, I received a letter from her and she told me I could share it here.

"So, I've come to the conclusion that satan is attacking me. He is killing me with cancer. I have told him to do his best. It doesn't matter what he does with this body, he will never get my soul. He is trying to get me to turn from God. He's trying to get me to to get angry and question God. He is trying to get me to turn from God. It isn't going to happen. I say let him do his worse. If I die, then I will be with God and my family who has died before me. My mom had 2 girls who died before I was born, so I will get to meet my sisters. I will get to see my great granny, my aunt Nell and my aunt Betty Jean again. Those 3 women were 3 women I loved more then anything. My cousin had an 11 month old son, Connor, who died. I helped raise him. I will get to see him again. That has made me pretty excited actually. If I don't die, then God has won the battle because satan has lost his grip. Either way I win. What do you think about that?"

Love you,
Heather

I told her I think God and the angels are rejoicing. It is a wonderful thing for a person to accept God's will in their lives and to keep on loving him no matter what happens. This is the path to peace and happiness. This is what Job, Joseph and Daniel did.

We are praying for healing, and God may heal her, we are waiting to see. Meanwhile, we are all trusting God to be with us.

Sometimes I Don't Know What to Say.

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words."

Romans 8:26

Have you ever had trouble praying? I have. Especially when I am really upset about something; when I'm in pain for a loved one. Those are the hard times. "Oh God, help them; help me," is what comes to mind at first. And actually, it is enough. He will do both those things for us.

But when it is daily scheduled (first thing in the morning) prayer time, it can be hard to think of what to say. Years ago, when my mind couldn't seem to stay still,  I wrote out my prayers in notebooks. This helped me stay focused. What I do quite often now is "pray the Bible" which means to use prayers from the Bible that have the ideas you want to convey to God, but can't find the words.

Psalms is a book of prayers. There are some that don't relate to my life; but almost all of them do. I sometimes copy them down and read them to God in the morning. Joyce Meyer says to begin our prayers with praise and thanks. I think this is good advice. Doing this brings our minds off ourselves and onto God and his power.

Sometimes I say the Lord's Prayer out loud. Sometimes I copy Paul's prayers for the church and pray them for me and all the people in my family and friends who are written in a Prayer Book and for all the people I know at Facebook, on blogs and online. This gives me great joy, to pray for all these people. I don't always read off their names, there are so many, but God knows who they are.

Joyce always says, "Believe God is working." This I believe. Every prayer is heard; every prayer is answered. Prayer is when God has an open channel to our hearts and is sometimes the time he uses to speak directly to us. In prayer we are saying to the universe, "I need God in my life. I want God in my life."

Here are some prayers I copied the other night that say what I feel in my heart.

 Blessed be the Lord who daily bears us up.

Blessed are those whose strength is in you.

Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.

For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.

In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me.

Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.

I give thanks to you, O Lord, my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. For great is your steadfast love toward me. You have delivered my soul from the depths of hell.

You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. 

Love, Marriage and Words.

Hubby and I on our wedding day.

I was posting earlier about the words I speak and also about not getting irritated. The Lord is truly working because today, when I was irritated with my husband I was immediately impressed to tell him he was right that I had no reason to feel that way. He was trying to show me how to empty the water out of a can of sliced mushrooms. I just wanted to do it my own way and he wouldn't give me the can. He is a methodical, practical person who thinks everything should be done in a certain way. I am a fly-by-night person who wings it a lot to save time; I do something one way and then maybe next time I'll do it another way. We both drive each other crazy.

Anyway, I rejoice in how God is helping me to quickly see my errors. I suppose this is why it is important to talk with God about our faults, but also not worry about them. He will fix things. It is fun to watch him work on my stubborn heart.

I remember many years ago, I was going for walks each day. My husband was on vacation and asked to come along. I was happy for the company. We stopped at the end of the driveway and he asked, "Where are we going? What's the route you take?"  I told him, "I never plan a route; I just start walking."

He couldn't live with that. It was too much for him, so he said, "Let's plan a route." I was irritated, but I could see we would be going nowhere if I didn't go along. We planned a route.

God has shown me why my husband doesn't like spontaneity. His childhood was chaotic; he never knew when his father would beat him. He would sometimes be woken out of sleep to be beaten. One time he was brushing his teeth and his father smashed his head into the sink. So, my husband needs all things planned. No surprises.

This is where understanding and compassion comes into play in a marriage. We may not understand our spouse; we may think they are crazy, but there are always, always reasons for what we do and how we look at life. Planning things is not a big enough deal to fight about. Of course, if your husband treats you like crap, that is worth dealing with. It must be dealt with but in a loving way.

My husband has to put up with my craziness too. I look on the dark side of life; every time my daughter drives all the way to Kelowna to visit, I picture her in a big car crash. I read the news and figure the world is falling apart. My husband? A total optimist. Naturally. We call him, "Walmart is always open." because if he wants it to be open, it is. (He told my daughter it was open til 10:00 pm and it wasn't.)

I want to be a blessing to my husband. I want to always be kind, loving and understanding. I want to always speak with good words, words of encouragement and love. I can see God is helping me do that and it makes me so happy.

Throw That Problem Into the Sea.

Photo by, Chuck Szmurlo

Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him."  Mark 11:23

When I first read this verse I thought, "How strange. Who would ask that of God, and would he really do it?"  I thought it would be handy for land developers, but I didn't see how that prayer would help me. I was taking what he said literally. 

I knew Jesus spoke in parables and a lot of what he said had a deeper meaning. But this verse didn't seem like that to me. I thought he meant we could actually pray for a mountain to move.

What I like about reading the Bible on Kindle is that I can close the page, go on-line and go to Bible Hub. Any word or verse I don't understand is there. I look up the verse and then go to the Commentary section. I did this with the verse about the mountain.

It turns out that in Jewish literature a mountain stood for the difficulties of life. Aha, the great light dawns. And I can tell you from experience that Jesus was telling the truth. Any difficulty I have had, if I believed God could help me with it, he did. He helped me in a big way. 

There have been times when I didn't know what to do and he has shown me. There have been times when I needed a rest from my family and he showed me where to go. Then there were all the times with little things, like what to cook for dinner. (This is still a big deal for me. Lol)  But God always takes the difficulty I'm experiencing and throws it into the sea. 

I used to have trouble with belief. I knew I couldn't drum up belief from somewhere deep inside me and hand it to him. I finally realized belief is knowing God loves me, he can do anything and I can trust him to only do what is good for me. I ask for something, knowing he knows whether he should grant that request. I trust his answer. I wouldn't want it any other way.

When I was young, I would say, "Oh, please God do this or that."  I don't pray that way any longer. I know he is happy to hear my prayer and happy to grant it if it is for the best. I've only learned this through many years of living and seeing how his way is always the best way.

I Felt Humiliated.

My 89 yr.old mom is living with us. We love having her here. She has always gotten a daily newspaper since she was married. The paper started coming here, but this is an apartment building and they leave the paper outside the main door. Sometimes it gets stolen.

This morning, when I first woke up, I threw my coat on over my pajamas and went down the elevator to get the paper. I had forgotten my keys so I tried to hold the door open while picking up the paper. Couldn't do it. A young man came running up and held the door for me. I thanked him, then tried to pick up the paper. I kept dropping it. Because of my fibromyalgia it is hard to bend down at all. I kept saying I was sorry (I am Canadian) and told him about the fibromyalgia. He graciously picked up the paper for me and said comforting words.

Back in my bedroom, I sat on the bed feeling embarrassed and a little humiliated. Then I heard God's voice in my heart, "Pray for him."  I did so immediately. I realized then that the reason that all happened is this young man needed someone to pray for him. I felt so happy I could do this for him and for God.

I thought of the verse, "Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God..."  I think maybe God can use us better when we are humbled. I just finished reading a book by a woman who was an A-type personality. She felt she had to control everything and the longer she went on that way, the less she could control, her life became a mess and was too much for her.

This woman had a mental breakdown and was humbled by it. She realized she hadn't let go of all the many parts of her life and given them to God for him to control. If we insist on doing it ourself, God will let us. But if we give our life, everyone we love, everything we do and everything we have, to our Father, he can then control it. If we obsess, worry and fret, he may wait until we give up on ourselves.

Paul's Prayers.

Who is God?

Someone who wants us to know him, understand him and ask him to live in us.

Paul gives us examples of his prayers throughout his writings. If we want to know how to pray, or learn what will help us the most through prayer, read Paul's prayers. They are beautiful. Written below are some of his prayers from the book, Ephesians.

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better." 

"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe." 

Ephesians 1:15-19

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." 

"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."  

Ephesians 3:16-21

These two prayers are linked by the word, "know." Knowledge of God's character, especially his love, is vital for a person who wants to be like him. I have heard a preacher say, "You live out your idea of God's character."  In other words, if we believe God is a condemning, cranky, judge. Then that is what we will be. If we believe God loves everyone, then we will love everyone.

Another word Paul uses a lot in these two prayers is, "power."  This power comes from God and enters us, he says. Perhaps we feel weak, but Paul says elsewhere that when we are weak then God is strong in us. We need his power, that's for sure. We need it to know Him and we need it to live for him.  Like Jesus said, "Without me, you can do nothing."  

Thank you God, for your power that is in me.

Do I Bore God?

My first daughter, Sandy.

Who am I?

I was thinking last night, "When we talk to God, doesn't he find it tedious and boring?" I wondered if it was like if I talked with an ant. I'd say, "Well, how's it going?" The ant would say, "I've been busy toting this crumb home. It's taken me three hours. Now I'm going out to look for other crumbs." Huh.

Then I thought, "No, God made us in his image so it wouldn't be like that. It would be more like a parent talking with their child." Then I thought about the years I spent raising my children. Those were happy years.

I loved being with my daughters even when they couldn't say a word. Seeing their first smile, their first step and their happiness with a new toy. Later, when they could talk, I loved the sound of their sweet voices; I could read books to them and teach them the names of animals and how they sounded.  We would laugh over the book about Grover when he would say, "Don't turn the page!" When they could stand on a stool, I made cookies and cakes with them. Sometimes we used the EasyBake Oven; sometimes we used the real oven.

I took them for walks in the woods, taught them to ride a bike and eventually how to drive a car. I was never bored with their company. I wanted to hear all about their day at school. I wanted to see them laugh and enjoy life. I wanted them to tell me all their hopes and dreams.

So, since God is called our Father, I guess it is like that for him. He likes to see us grow, learn and enjoy life with him. Tonight, I told him how much I was enjoying my new books. I told him how I was excited about the new craft I was starting. Of course, I pray for lots of people and for the world, but I'm trying to have real companionship with God now so I'm praying differently, wanting to include him in everything.

Who is God?

He says about those who believe in him, "As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight."  Psalm 16:3

"The LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love."  Psalm 147:11

"The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives."  Psalm 37:23

"For the LORD corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights."  
Proverbs 3:12

"For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation."  Psalm 149:4

"Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, Jesus said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."  Mark 6:31