The Importance of Brokenness

-

Such a great sermon, one we can all learn a lot from and be encouraged by:

"Encountering God's Process" by Tony Evans

(And here's a great 10-minute video from his daughter, Priscilla Shirer: "We're Desensitized to our Blessings."  It just seemed to speak so well to the crazy world we're living in right now, maybe because now seems like the perfect time to dig through all the distractions around us to find Jesus.) 
And it's funny because just the other day, I was updating and typing up a "Bible Study/workbook" thing I wrote years ago, called "Through the Refining Fire: Your 'Sweetly Broken' Journey," and the stuff Dr. Evans was saying in the beginning was almost exactly the stuff I had just typed up, about how God usually has to break us to rebuild us, how it's part of the process of spiritual growth.  

I am sending this "Through the Refining Fire" workbook to my relative who's in jail because she shares the Bible things I send her with other people on her floor.  I figure it's one way I can try to help turn this whole bad situation (her arrest) around for good, at least for someone.  She might not want what I send her, but maybe a fellow prisoner will get something out of it.  Who knows?  But it helps me to know that I'm not just wallowing in despair, but that maybe I can help some eternal good come out of this bad situation for someone, even if it's not her.  

Of course, all my efforts might not make much difference for anyone, might not help anyone find God's love, healing, truth, etc.  But if I don't send it then there's a 100% chance of not helping anyone.  And so I'd rather try, doing my part to get God's Word into a hopeless place that desperately needs it.  I mean, what an open door!  What a bittersweet blessing!  What a heart-breaking opportunity!  I'd be a fool to not take it, to not dive in as deeply as I can, to not go for broke.  How many people have someone "on the inside"?  How many people have an opening like that to get God's Word right into the middle of the mess, right into the hands and hearts of those who need it most?  

Yes, my heart is broken and I have to fight off anxiety every day (I am tired, so very tired), but there's work to be done, Kingdom work.  If you've got to walk the painful path anyway, why not do whatever you can to squeeze some eternal good out of it!  If you don't, then all you've got is the pain.  And so I'd rather try, praying that God can use it somehow, someday, for someone.  (Besides, getting busy doing what you're supposed to do and helping others are some of the best ways to fight anxiety.  That, and singing.  Out loud.  Even when you don't want to.  Another great way to fight off anxiety.)  

[Also, the officers have to read the mail that comes into the jail too.  So how cool is it to know that they are probably reading the letters I send my relative, all about God and faith and all the Bible verses.  Talk about a captive audience!  Talk about hitting two birds with one stone!  Not only do I have the opportunity to reach the inmates but also the officers (who, despite the fact they had to arrest my relative and make me testify against her, seem like really great people who I could've been friends with under other circumstances.  I have prayed for them too.).  That's my hope and my prayer anyway, that God's Word and Truth reaches whoever needs it, inmate or officer.  What an amazing, unexpected ministry opportunity.  Even if it's surreal and bizarre and disturbing and still doesn't feel like real life.]  

Anyway, I am updating this workbook, section by section, to make it shorter, more concise, and with better questions and verses.  If you're interested, check it out here.  (I will add the new sections as I update them.)  It's something you can do alongside another believer or just between you and God, but hopefully it will help you grow deeper in your walk with the Lord.  

Since I might not be adding new posts here for quite awhile (I've got a couple more scheduled for tomorrow, but I need a break, to be able to just rest and read, maybe paint or learn to draw, hopefully enjoy some snow, if we ever get any), I figured it might be nice to leave you with the link to this workbook.  Maybe it's something you can do as part of your New Year's resolution (as if we ever actually keep those).  Take care, and God bless.  And have a blessed Christmas tomorrow!


Most Popular Posts of the Week:

Scariest Halloween decoration ever?

-
So it's Halloween time again, huh?  Is it just me, or has there been a big increase in the amount of Halloween decorations in people's yards? I don't decorate for Halloween, nothing more than maybe a few pumpkins.  But a neighbor and I were talking the other day, and she inadvertently stumbled on what I think would make the best Halloween decoration.  Something truly terrifying.  And if I had more guts, I'd maybe consider doing it someday. She was reading out loud some reported quotes from famous atheists just before their death, and I thought Now that would make a scary Halloween display in your yard, a collection of tombstones with atheist quotes on them!    Quotes such as these: David Strauss , who spread German rationalism to erase people's belief in God: "My philosophy leaves me utterly forlorn!  I feel like one caught in the merciless jaws of an automatic machine, not knowing at what time one of its great hammers may crush me!" Thomas Paine , atheis
Read more

More "American Noise"

-
A Skillet CD (yes, I still listen to and prefer Cd's.  I'm that old!) is in the player of our van right now.  And because I hate switching CD's if I don't have to, sorting through dozens of them, trying to find one I'm in the mood for... I leave the Skillet one in the player and just keep listening to the same song over and over again (with a few other songs thrown in too): American Noise.   I really like this song. Anyway, it made me think of the post I wrote about it 5 1/2 years ago now (wow, time flies!).  And after re-reading that post, I decided to print it again, because it stills fits.  In fact, there's even more noise in America now - in the world - than there was then.  (Anyone else getting sick of it all too?) So here it is, the previous post on it: I was driving the other day, and this song began playing from a CD my husband had in the CD player.  I had never heard it before, but for some reason, it struck me.  I don't know why, but it did.  It s
Read more

How to Tell if a Church, Pastor, or Website is Calvinist (simplified version)

-
(For the extended version of this post, which I recommend, click here .  It is loaded with lots more information.  This simplified one is just the highlights.  And feel free to copy this and share it with others, to help them learn to identify Calvinism when they see it.  Just make sure to share the link to this post so that they can find the original one if they want it.  Thank you.   New :  For the super-short version,   click here .   And FYI:  I found a couple times when the Calvinist author of an article I linked to changed the article after I linked to it.  So if an article doesn't seem to match what I said about it, it may be because they altered it. ) We just left our church of almost 20 years because of the dogmatic Calvinist pastor who recently came on board.  ( Read my "Letter to Our Elders Regarding Calvinism Growing in Our Church" here.)   And I was thinking about what precautions I might take to make sure we didn't end up in another Calvinist church
Read more

In "Honor" of Halloween: My Story of Demonic Harassment (repost)

-
Image
(Reposted from last year and retold in various other posts.  I may just repost this one yearly at this time of year.) In “honor” of Halloween (a day that deserves no honor), I’m gonna share with you why we don’t celebrate Halloween.   (We take our kids to a movie instead, or buy a movie they’ve been wanting and have a “family movie night” with candy and popcorn.   So no need to feel sorry for them; they are not deprived.)   I don’t expect anyone to believe me, but I’m going to share my story.    (And for the longer version of this story on my other blog, click here .)  It’s my story about how I came to fully trust in Jesus’s name and to passionately cling to Him, to never be able to doubt the existence of a spirit world, to place such a high priority on prayer and God’s Word, and to always remember my need for spiritual armor.   And once again, you don’t have to believe me.   (But don’t say I never warned you.   And if you are a skeptic and get nothing from this whole section, jus
Read more

Calvinism doesn't rescue anyone

-
Image
Calvinism doesn’t rescue any sinner from hell.  Because the elect were never on their way to hell, never at risk of going to hell at any point in time ... and the non-elect can never be rescued from hell because Calvi-Jesus never died for them and because Calvi-god made it impossible for them to believe. All Calvinism does is convince some people that they’ve always been saved without ever having to do anything about it, not even choosing to believe in Jesus (because in Calvinism, we  can't  choose to believe), while convincing others that they can never be saved, that God doesn’t love them, that Jesus didn’t die for them, and that there’s no hope for them. A lie from the pit of hell.  Destroying the evangelical church from the inside out.  And it will cost people their souls. [A comment I left on the Soteriology 101 post  "(Re)Thinking through Romans 9" , with a few small alterations.  And of course, not all Calvinists will word things this way.  They will try to soften
Read more

"The Last Goodbye" - A song for us Hobbits

-
(a post from my other blog , from March 28, 2022) There's a song at the end of  The Battle of the Five Armies  (from the Hobbit trilogy) that's become one of my favorite songs.  I feel this song, especially the line about "Many places I have been, many sorrows I have seen..."  That's kinda been my last several years: many sorrows I have seen.   Many trials.  Many heartbreaks.  (Everyone who lives long enough will have many of these.) Most recently, I had the awful experience of being on the witness stand for three hours, giving testimony against my mom.  And after nearly a week of trial, she was found guilty of ... well, of something really bad.  (She insists she didn't do it, but we think otherwise.  It's not exactly like the prosecution says, but close enough.)  And now she will spend her life in prison.   Many sorrows I have seen. I don't know if I'll ever see her again.  The last memory I have of her could very well be her sitting in the courtr
Read more

The Bible vs. Calvinism: An Overview by Patrick Myers (a great resource)

-
 A friend of mine recently sent me a link to an article that she says is one of the best overviews of Calvinism and its errors that she's read.  And after reading it, I agree.  I think it's a great one to share with others because it's got all the basics in one place: The Bible vs. Calvinism: An Overview by Patrick Myers There are some great rebuttals to Calvinist proof-texts in here, and some eye-opening quotes from Calvinists.  Something like this might help Calvinists understand what their theology  really  teaches and what the Bible  really  teaches - and that these aren't saying the same thing.   FYI: If you click on the "about/contact" link at the bottom of the article, you can send him an email to request a PDF copy of his article.   And after I contacted him by email to tell him how much I appreciated his article, he graciously put a link to my anti-Calvinism blog at the bottom.  Thank you, Patrick, that was very kind of you. 😊
Read more

List of Calvinist Preachers, Authors, Theologians, Websites, etc.

-
I  found a lot more names to add to my list of known Calvinists (found in my various  "How to Tell if a Church, Pastor, or Website is Calvinist"  posts).  But instead of adding this huge list to all those posts, I am going to put it here, and I'll just provide a link on those posts to this one.  [FYI: I added a note at the bottom of this post on May 5, 2021.] So here it is, a "master list" of known Calvinists to help you be careful and discerning about who you listen to and where you get your theology from.  There are plenty more Calvinists out there, but these are just the names that I ran across the most.   These are either definite, self-professed Calvinists or "most likely Calvinist," in my estimation.  (I haven't heard of most of them, but it's good to know their theology before I do.)   After finding these names in various places online, I looked up each person to see if they are Calvinist.  If they did not self-identify as a Calvinist, I
Read more

I vote for ...

-
Here in America, it's election day again.  And I think we can all agree that it's a super-emotional, super-heated, super-critical election this time around.  Everyone's fighting over it.  Everyone's demonizing the other side.  Everyone's absolutely certain that their candidate must get in or else the country's going to go to hell-in-a-handbasket.  (Actually, I bet we're all thinking it's going to hell-in-a-handbasket anyway, no matter who gets into office.) And as I walk around the neighborhood every day on my prayer-walks, I see all the political signs in people's yards:  Harris!  Trump!  Vote for love and truth!  Don't vote for hate!  Make America great again!  Take back America!  Blah, blah, blah. But in all the political noise, I saw one sign that I could totally get behind, just one : Jesus 2024 - Our only hope!     Can I get an "Amen"!?!   Of course, I have an opinion of who I'd like to see in office, and I say my prayers abou
Read more

"I have no clue what you're talking about."

-
Image
The other day, I told my sons that if they can't find the official "doggie bags," they can use plastic grocery-store bags (we have an over-abundance of them) to clean up after our dog on walks.   In response, my 13-year-old son delighted to inform me that "Mom, if you use a Walmart bag to clean up dog poop on the side of the road, you'll look like a crazy lady.  Especially with the kind of hair you have." Me:
Read more