Website for Chronic Illness

Restministries.org provides great support for those with chronic illness. You'll find chat rooms, books, advice on managing your household and much, much more. Here's a blurb from the website about how Rest Ministries got started.

Rest Ministries, Inc. began in 1996 and became a 501(c)[3] in ‘97. It was founded by Lisa Copen.

Lisa was diagnosed a few years earlier with rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 24 and life had changed dramatically. She searched for some time, but was unable to locate the kind of Christian support that she desired to help her along this unexpected detour of chronic illness.

Surely she couldn’t be the only one who lived with daily chronic pain, and believed in the Lord–and still wasn’t healed, right?

Right! Since 1996 Rest Ministries has reached hundreds of thousands of people–over 80,000 to the web site alone each month. And it continues to grow through the help of our volunteers who keep it going every day. And we are honored to be an affiliate ministry with Joni and Friends International Disability Ministry, the ministry of Joni Eareckson Tada.

Lisa has since been diagnosed with fibromyalgia in addition to rheumatoid arthritis. She recently underwent extensive surgery on her hand because of the crippling effects of RA.

Lisa established Bible study groups called HopeKeepers for those with chronic illness. I'll be teaching a six-weeks HopeKeepers Bible study for women this summer at Denton Bible Church. If you're in the Denton area, I would love to have you join me for hope and encouragement in living with a chronic illness. I've lived with fibromyalgia for over 25 years, and I understand how difficult life can be with the limitations of a chronic illness. But I've also learned how faithful God is and the joy that comes from totally depending on Him for strength.

Please email me if you would like to be notified when the date and time is set for HopeKeepers, or if you have questions. I hope to see you there!

Good Friday

As I sit here writing, I'm looking out the window at dark clouds, rain, and hail. How appropriate for Good Friday. In Matthew 27:45 it says, From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.

Jesus hung on the cross during those three hours of darkness. For you, for me, for the world. If you saw the movie, The Passion of the Christ, you may have cried, cringed, or or turned your head away as Christ hung on the cross.

We sing about the cross, we wear the cross, we talk about taking up our cross. But do we think deeply about Christ hanging on the cross? It's almost too painful. Yet meditating on the cross causes gratefulness to well up in our hearts and increases our love for Jesus. One of the most amazing verses in the Bible is Hebrews 12:2.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

How can joy and cross be in the same sentence? Our dear Savior looked beyond the suffering He was experiencing on the cross and saw future joy. He gave us the ultimate example of how to go through suffering.

Hebrews 12:3 says, Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

What lessons can we learn from the cross and Jesus' suffering?

1. God loves us more than our finite minds can comprehend. The cross proves that beyond a doubt.

2. What we think about as we go through suffering influences our ability to endure. We have a choice to think about Jesus' example as He suffered or to dwell on the circumstances which causes us to worry, give up, or worse.

3. Jesus scorned the shame, or disgrace, of the cross. The cross was reserved for criminals, yet Jesus disregarded, snubbed, and shunned the humiliation of the cross. He knew who He was and where He was going. Is there shame in our lives that we need to shun? It could be something from our past that the enemy tries to discourage us with. We are forgiven because of the cross. Our identity is in Christ, not in our past. We are new creations.

4. Jesus showed us that suffering does not last forever. Our hope lies in the fact that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose again. Because He lives, we know that someday we will also live with Him in heaven, never having to suffer again.

May we think deeply about Christ's sacrifice for us as we prepare for the glorious celebration that is coming - Resurrection Day!

I Am with You

On March 24, I wrote the following in my prayer journal:

Father, I trust You to keep me going in spite of constant pain and fatigue. I need extra grace right now. Often I have difficulty making it through the day because of extreme fatigue. It is so hard, Lord! But You know that. I pray I would persevere and that You would be glorified through my weakness.

"Challenging" describes my health the past couple of months. Not only have I dealt with pain and fatigue from fibromyalgia, but I've also lived with menopausal night sweats which have kept me from sleeping through the night. I was on Premarin for years which kept the night sweats at bay, but last summer I discontinued it because of warnings that it might cause breast cancer.

I look back and marvel at God's faithfulness through these last couple of months. He gave me (and continues to give me) strength to take care of my grandkids, cook and clean house as well as pursuing His plans for Comfort & Compassion Ministry .

At one of my lowest points, God directed me to this verse:

Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you. Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

When I read that, I felt like God had penned it just for me. Next time you feel fearful and anxious, ask yourself these questions and then look at God's reassurances.

1. What do I fear? For me, it was the fear that my physical problems would keep me from continuing with Comfort & Compassion Ministry. I've lived with fibromyalgia for over 25 years. God continually gives me the strength to live out His purpose for me. But I feared the added burden of not sleeping would cause me to shut down.

2. Am I anxiously looking at my circumstances? In other words, living by sight and not faith? It helps me to remember that Jesus, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross. (Heb. 12:2b) Hebrews 12:3 tells us to think about Jesus enduring hostility against Himself so that we will not grow weary and lose heart. Jesus has been there; He knows how I feel. He is in heaven interceding for me. My circumstances are never too big for Him.

3. Do I really believe God will take care of me during difficult times? Let's break Isaiah 41:10 down and look at the reassurance God gives us that He will take care of us.

a. I am Your God. When I meditate on who God is, it relieves the fear and anxiety. Our God is all powerful, full of grace and mercy, able to do all things. That includes fulfilling His purpose for me in spite of my physical state.

b. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you. Doubts seem stronger at night when a hot flash wakes me up and I have difficulty going back to sleep because of pain. This verse reminds me that God always gives me strength when I need it, and He always helps me in times of trouble. I thank Him for that and eventually fall back asleep.

c. Surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. What a word picture! I often think about God holding my hand as I walk through tough times. He is big and strong, and I am weak, dependent, and needy. I cannot slip and fall because God has me by the hand.

We need to lean into God and cling to His promises when we feel least like doing that. Joy comes through the reassurances in God's Word that surely He will strengthen and help us. Joy also comes from knowing that someday God will wipe away every tear. There will be no more pain, no more sorrow, no more fatigue. What a glorious day that will be!

8 Principles for a Joyful Life - #8

Well, we made it to #8! Thanks for reading, especially the longer principles.

Principle #8 is:

Embrace the Twin Pillars of Joy - Gratitude and Contentment

On January 5, 2010, the New York Daily News ran the following story:

HATE YOUR JOB? Join the club.

A new study shows only 45% of Americans are satisfied with their work - even in an economy where some feel lucky just to be employed. Job satisfaction in 2009 hit the lowest level ever recorded by the Conference Board research group in the 22 years they have been studying U.S. workers.

"Being stuck in a cubicle all day isn't fun," said Rosa, who lives in Astoria. I have to say that 90% of us are doing something that wasn't their first choice. Hopefully I'll find something else someday."

Contrast Rosa's comments with those of Yady Hannah, 50, who works for the Department of Education. She said she's just just glad to be working. "It pays the bills," she said. "Thank God I have one (job). In today's economy, we've got to be thankful for everything we have."

Whose attitude shouts contentment, Rosa's or Yady's?

How we view our circumstances determines how content we will be. Do we have a grateful attitude no matter what's going on in our lives, or do we have a "woe is me" attitude when the bottom falls out?

Matt Chandler, a 35 year old pastor of one of the fastest growing churches in north Texas, experienced a seizure on Thanksgiving Day. Eventually diagnosed with a brain tumor, Chandler had surgery to remove it. The malignant tumor had spread.

MSNBC.com featured Chandler in a story on January 31 titled "Brain Cancer Tests a Young Pastor's Faith." Listen to his attitude about the cancer.

Chandler is trying to suffer well. He would never ask for such a trial, but in some ways he welcomes this cancer. He says he feels grateful that God has counted him worthy to endure it. He has always preached that God will bring both joy and suffering but is only recently learning to experience the latter.

Chandler prays that God will heal him. He said he wants to grow old and walk his two daughters down the aisle. He wants to see his son play sports better than he ever did.

The story continues, Whatever happens, he says, is God's will, and God has his reasons. For Chandler, that does not mean waiting for his fate. It means fighting for his life.

So what does Chandler do when he's on a table at the hospital receiving his daily dose of chemo? The first day of treatment he "reflected on Colossians 1:15-23, about the pre-eminence of Christ and making peace through the blood of His cross."

Chandler's intimate relationship with Christ provides him with a grateful attitude at a time when many people would crater. Matt Chandler lives out 1 Thessalonians 5:18 which says, Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

The apostle Paul also modeled gratefulness and contentment in the midst of trials. In Acts 16 Paul and Silas were severely flogged and thrown into prison. What did they do? They prayed and sang hymns to God! (v. 23) After God miraculously set them free from prison, they went to Lydia's house and met with the brothers. They must have in great pain from the severe flogging, but rather than focusing on themselves, they "encouraged the brothers."

Paul gives us the secret to adapting to any circumstance in our lives. Listen to Philippians 4:11b-13.

For I have learned to be content, whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.

Paul learned to be content, which means it didn't come to him naturally. Do you think that being shipwrecked, stoned, put in prison, persecuted, and slandered had anything to do with him learning contentment and gratefulness? I believe this is how Paul developed his confidence in Christ. As God took him through different trials, Paul's faith deepened until he embodied Philippians 4:13.

I love the synonyms for "content": satisfied, gratified, pleased, glad, sunny, cheerful. To be discontented means to be petulant, cranky, annoyed, vexed, exasperated, angry, dissatisfied. Yuck! Reading the definition of discontented pulls me out of an ungrateful attitude.

Listening to my pre-school grandson pray must make God smile. He thanks God not only for the food, but also for his mommy and daddy, Grammy and PawPaw, his brother and sister, his pillow and bed, the dishes, the grass, and anything else that comes to mind. How God must love it when we tell Him how grateful we are not just for His physical provisions, but most of all for our salvation. The joy of my salvation cancels out the constant physical pain and fatigue I live with. God chose me to be His child! My heart sings with joy at the thought of someday living in heaven with Him and experiencing His perfect love face-to-face.

Rick Warren compared life to train tracks. Rather than experiencing hills and valleys, we will always have things to be joyful about alongside the tough times. Things are never all bad or all good. During difficult times, it is good to thank God for even the grass, our bed, the dishes, and the relationships God has blessed us with.

Henri Nouwen, a highly educated Catholic priest who laid aside his prestigious career to work with physically and developmentally delayed adults, said this about gratefulness:

To be grateful for the good things that happen in our lives is easy, but to be grateful for all of our lives—the good as well as the bad, the moments of joy as well as the moments of sorrow, the successes as well as the failures, the rewards as well as the rejections—that requires hard spiritual work. Still, we are only truly grateful people when we can say "thank you" to all that has brought us to the present moment. . . Let's not be afraid to look at everything that has brought us to where we are now and trust that we will soon see in it the guiding hand of a loving God.Henri J. M. Nouwen, Bread for the Journey (HarperOne, 1996), p. 12

I pray that we will examine our hearts and honestly evaluate our attitudes for signs of ungratefulness and discontent. Let's count the multitue of blessings from our Father and rejoice over His goodness to us. As Zig Ziglar says, "We need to live with an attitude of gratitude!"

8 Principles for a Joyful Life - #7

Principle #7 - Change Your Perspective on Going Through Difficult Times (aka Trials)

I'm grateful for trials! That sounds like an oxymoron in a country where people escape from pain, whether physical or emotional, any way they can.

As I mentioned before, I trusted Christ as my Savior at age 32. Words to describe me then: selfish, immature, emotional mess. Just as a parent disciplines a child, so God began to discipline me. Like most good Americans, I sought relief when difficulties rained upon me. It took years for me to understand that trials are God's tool for getting rid of the junk in me.

When I read Hebrews 12:10b-11 I started to understand why so many trials bubbled up like a broken water main in my life. These verses say,

God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

God allowed temporary pain in order to bring long-lasting peace and joy. He used trials to eventually produce fruit in my life. I think of Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers. He later recognized that what his brothers meant for harm, God meant for good in order to save many from famine. While he lay forgotten in an Egyptian prison, he probably didn't have a clue that God would elevate him to second in command in Egypt.

We don't know how God wants to use trials in our lives. Only God sees the big picture. However, through the Scriptures, we can glean several reasons for trials. Let's look at a few.

1. To prove that our faith is real. Listen to 1 Peter 1:6b-7.

Now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

The apostles said to Jesus in Luke 17:5, "Increase our faith!" Do you ever pray that prayer? I do. How do we increase our faith? Romans 10:17 says, "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ."

We build up our faith by consistently reading the Bible and spending time in prayer. When we go through trials, we get a picture of how strong our faith is. Do we run to Jesus when difficulties come, or do we look for other sources of comfort?

We have heard that faith is like a muscle; the more we use it the stronger it becomes. True! I trained as a clown when I was a new Christian. I started a clown ministry at our church, and we had 13 clowns who served in the children's ministry every month. I trusted God to put the clown ministry together and to keep it going. My new faith got stronger as I watched God work through the clown ministry. Years later, when God opened the door for me to do a TV show, I remembered His provision when I did the clown ministry. God strengthened my faith enough so that I could obey His call to start a TV show.

2. Another way God uses trials is to make us more like Christ.

In Romans 8:29 we see that God predetermined that we would be conformed to the likeness of Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 3:18 we have an affirmation that God is doing that.

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

To think that God could take selfish, messed-up me and transform me into the likeness of Christ blows my mind! When Steve and I first got married, I criticized how he took care of the yard, how he dressed, and other petty things. That is opposite of the gentle, kind, patient spirit of Christ. Eventually God convicted me of that sin, and I started working on getting rid of the critical spirit. Thirty years later it is gone. When I'm tempted to tell God to stop the trials (not that He would), I think about how He worked through tough times to rid me of a critical spirit.

3. God uses trials to develop our character.

Romans 5:3 says,

We rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character, hope.

I needed a big dose of training in perseverance. My parents taught me honesty, truthfulness, and respect for authority, but not perseverance. I started Junior Achievement in middle school, but when I couldn't sell our product, my dad told me to quit. In high school, I starting training to babysit special needs kids, but my dad told me to quit because he was afraid I couldn't handle a child with special needs. I was schooled in quitting rather than perseverance. I wonder if that's why I kept trying to take my life before I knew Christ. I saw no other way out, so I wanted to give up on life. I marvel that God could take a quitter like me and turn me into a disciplined, hang-in-there person who carries out responsibilities and completes projects.

Character also means courage, honor, strength, and integrity. God wants to work all of those things into us. He wants us to "become blameless and pure. . .in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life." (Philippians 2:15) People of character shine and draw others to Christ. . .a great reason to endure trials with grace!

4. Trials make us ready to help other people. Listen to this.

Praise be to . . .the Father of compassion and the God all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. (2 Corinthians 1:3-5)

Max Lucado wrote a great book called, It's Not About Me. The sub-title is Rescue from the Life We Thought Would Make us Happy. Media outlets fling America's slogan at us: "It's All About Me." It seems logical that the more money, time, and pleasure we lavish on ourselves, the happier we should be. However, the opposite is true. The more we focus on ourselves, the more we'll experience misery and discontent. Focusing on God and helping people leads to a joy-filled life.The more we deny ourselves, as Jesus said, the deeper our joy.

I recently met a young man named Chris. He abused drugs and alcohol in college. One night he made the choice to ride with a drunken friend who crashed his car. Chris ended up a paraplegic. Instead of becoming bitter, Chris relied on God to help him rebuild his life. He wrote a book about his experience and also speaks to groups across the country, using himself as an example of the consequences of drugs and alcohol. Chris could have turned inward and made his life all about him. Who would have blamed him? Because he focused on God instead, Chris lives a joyful life. God gave him a beautiful wife who's a physical therapist, and they have a young son. God also made it possible for Chris to attend Dallas Theological Seminary, where he's currently training for ministry.

5. God teaches us to depend on Him through trials.

We know the verse, "Apart from Me (Christ) you can do nothing." (John 15:5) ) Our culture again invades our thinking and teaches us to be independent, strong, and self-reliant. We often rely on our natural abilities and talents to make it through life. Until, that is, something comes along that lays us low. For me, that something was my health. Living with fibromyalgia for over 25 years caused me to become dependent on Christ.

In my pain, fatigue, and weakness, I constantly cry out to God for strength. My "making it through verse" is "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13). I picture Jesus holding me by the hand, and I keep going when I would rather languish in bed. I spoke for Christian Women's Club for over three years. As I was being introduced, I prayed for strength and quoted Philippians 4:13 to myself. Then, when it was time for me to speak, I got up and energy flowed through me. I spoke with enthusiasm for 30 minutes as many as three or four times a week. God did that!

As we go through trials in this life, let's remember that God is working in ways we cannot imagine. Someday the trials will end. From a heavenly vantage point, we will see that what we gained from going through trials was worth the pain! So, let's do what it says in James 1:2 and "consider it pure joy whenever we face trials of many kinds."

8 Principles for a Joyful Life - #6

Principle #6

Concentrate on your heart rather than your outward appearance.

You've heard the phrase, "God don't make no junk!" Yet we could easily believe we're "junk" if we fall for the culture's way of viewing ourselves. Television, the Internet, magazines, and movies bombard us with images of thin, rich, beautiful people. Never mind that many of their lives are falling apart.

In Principle #3 I wrote about how I viewed myself before I knew Christ - dumb and ugly. I believed the lies about the importance of my outward appearance. Don't get me wrong; there's nothing wrong with looking nice. But God began showing me that the selfishness, pride, and critical spirit that covered my heart needed more attention than the clothes that covered my body.

When God rejected Saul as king, He sent Samuel to anoint one of Jesse's sons as king. When Samuel arrived at Bethlehem, he saw Eliab and thought, "Surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord."

But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7)

The culture we live in judges people by their physical appearance or where they live, what they drive, or by their occupation. Doctors rate higher than garbage collectors. People idolize popular entertainers and sports figures.

Listen to what Jesus said about outward appearances in Matthew 23:27:

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on th inside are full of dead men's bones and everthing unclean.

So how should we "concentrate on our heart?"

1. It needs to be carefully guarded. Proverbs 4:23 says, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." As a new Christian, a televangelist deceived me because I did not know the Bible. I naively took into my heart everything he said as truth. Once God opened my eyes to the deception, it took a year of studying God's Word to rid my heart and mind of the lies I so easily believed.

2. Realize the heart controls our speech. Jesus said in Luke 6:45, "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." We think we can hide evil in our hearts, but eventually it will come out. The televangelist I cited eventually brought about his downfall with his words. He was exposed for the fraud he was. Conversely, what comes out of Billy Graham's mouth? The gospel fills his heart, and his words prove it.

3. Remember that God knows the secrets of our hearts. Psalm 44:20-21 says, "If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, would not God have discovered it, since He knows the secrets of the heart?" It shouldn't scare us that God knows the secrets of our hearts because we serve a loving, merciful God. But it should cause us to deal with sin in our hearts. Remember the story of David when he committed adultery and had Bathsheba's husband killed? He thought he covered it up, but God sent Nathan the prophet to David. Nathan told him a story that caused David to repent and cry for mercy. Psalm 51 is the result of David's sin and a good model for us when we sin.

4. Pray for an undivided and teachable heart. In Psalm 86:11, David prayed, "Teach me Your way, O Lord, and I will walk in Your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name. I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify Your name forever." Since we live in a culture that wants to steal our hearts, we need to be like a child with his parents, willing to learn. Our four year old grandson, Josh, has just been diagnosed with Asperger's, which is low on the scale of autism. He has an undivided and teachable heart. When I see him, he runs to me and throws his arms around me and says, "I love you, Grammy!" Love fills my heart for him. I think God must feel like that toward us when we our hearts desire only Him and His will, and, like David, we tell Him, "I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify Your name forever."

5. Meditate on the benefits that come from having a heart after God. Let's look at just a few.

a. Security. Read Psalm 16 to get a picture of how safe and protected David felt in the Lord. He says in verses 8 and 9, "I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure."

My husband, Steve, and I went through a financial downturn because of the stock market and also because of helping our teenage granddaughter. Eventually we sold our house in Plano and moved to an apartment in Denton. It took six months for God to make clear what we needed to do to financially survive our retirement years. During that time, I remained secure in God's ability to take care of us because we had experienced His provision for the past 30 years. As a new Christian, I often experienced instability because I had not yet learned that God is able to bring me through whatever circumstances come my way. But God builds upon the steps of faith we take, and eventually we learn that His faithfulness is unshakeble.

b. Comfort. Psalm 134:18 says, "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." A friend of mine lost her seven year old daughter to a rare heart disease. I watched her hang on the to Lord as she grieved. She continued to cling to God during her brokenness, and eventually joy returned to her life. We don't always experience instant relief when tragedy crushes us, but we can know that God understands and is with us even when we feel dead inside. Many times I have cried and told God, "I don't understand, Lord, but I trust You. I know You're here with me."

c. Fruitfulness. Jesus said, "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." Joni Eareckson Tada has borne much fruit. She remains in Christ year after year in her wheelchair. Listening to her or reading her books paints a picture of a woman with a heart after God. She has been one of my role models for years. When my illness threatens to dry up my fruitfulness, I think of Joni. Having a heart after God is like watering and fertilizing a tomato plant. I want a bumper crop of fruitfulness in my life just like a well-tended tomato plant.

d. Joy. Psalm 97:11 says, "Light is shed upon the righteous and joy on the upright in heart." You can tell when a person has a heart after God. Joy bubbles out of them. Melinda, a former activity director at our apartment complex, lived that out. She left nine months ago,yet residents still talk about her contagious joy and the smile that never left her face. Her heart for God shone through everything she did. It took years for God to bring my joy to the surface. It was down in my heart, but God had much work to do in me to bring it out. If you lack joy, don't give up. Let God continue to work in your heart; someday you will be amazed!

These are just a few of the benefits that result from having a heart after God. I encourage us all to be like David who said, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God." (Psalm 42:1-2a)

Eight Principles for a Joyful Life - #4

Not putting this principle into practice crushed my joy for a long time. Principle #4 is based on Philippians 3:13b-14 where Paul writes,

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

So Principle #4 is:

Don't let your past keep you from moving forward. Past failure does not mean future failure.

Paul had persecuted Christians and the church before God saved him. Imagine if Paul had constantly beat himself over the head for his past failures and decided he wasn't worthy to do what God was calling him to do. We would not have two thirds of the New Testament!

I beat myself up about my past for years before God convicted me of how wrong it was to do that. Jesus died to set me free from past sins and failures. But instead of seeing myself as a new creation in Christ, I saw myself as the flaky, messed-up person I was before Christ.

In my early years as a Christian, I came close to dropping out of ministry because I felt unworthy to carry out what God had called me to do. But the truth is, apart from Christ, none of us are worthy. One of the enemy's tools is to get us to focus on past failures and flaws in order to discourage us from stepping out in faith to obey God.

It helps me to think about people in the Bible who had a past they weren't proud of. Yet God overcame their failures and used them greatly. Moses was a murderer, David was an adulterer, Elijah ran from Jezebel in fear and wanted to die. If God can use them in spite of their past, He can use us in spite of what our past looks like.

My challenge for us today is to "press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus." Let's allow God to heal memories of past hurts, failures, and flaws so we can spend our time and energy pressing on toward the goal. I had to let God renew my mind and convince me of His love in order to let go of the past. That goes back to spending time with Him in He Word and in prayer. Funny how it keeps coming back to that!

I want to end with one of my favorite verses that speaks volumes about our heavenly Father. When we're tempted to wallow in past failures, let's think about how God sees us. Zephaniah 3:17 says,

The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.

Believe it!

Eight Principles

I've been praying about the title for this series. Should it be called Eight Principles for Life, Eight Principles for Living, or something else. As I spent time with the Lord yesterday, He took me to a couple of verses on joy.

You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand. Psalm 16:11

Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. Psalm 126:5

I realized this is the perfect title - Eight Principles for a Joyful Life. Jesus said in John 15:11: I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

God had to work out a lot of junk in me so I could live with the joy Jesus desired for me. But it was so worth it! So hang in there and keep working through these eight principles with me. May the Lord cause your tears to bring forth songs of joy!

Eight Principles for a Joyful Life- #3

I'm doing a series called Eight Principles. These are things God has taught me since coming to Christ 31 years ago. These are familiar principles, but it's good to remind ourselves of truth.

So far we've looked at Principle #1 (Fall in love with Jesus) and Principle #2 (We become more like Christ in proportion to how much time we spend with God in His Word).

Principle #3 is:

Let God change you from the inside out by replacing old thought patterns with biblical truth.

Prior to my conversion to Christ, I saw myself as dumb and ugly. After God saved me, He began changing that. One of the first verses I learned was Philippians 1:6 which says, "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

That was a critical verse for me because I felt overwhelmed at the thought of so much in me that needed to be changed. I had made a total mess of my life before Christ. So, every time I had thoughts like, "You're so dumb," I started quoting Philippians 1:6 to myself and thanking God for the good work He began in me and for His promise to keep doing it. It was no longer me trying to change myself (impossible!) but God doing it in me. After a few months of doing that, I no longer had thoughts about being dumb and ugly.

Romans 12:2 says,

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will.

For years I had tried the way of the world to change myself. I worked for a positive thinking company; I tried careers that put me in the spotlight; I tried secular counseling. Nothing worked!

Only God can change us from the inside out when we trust Christ as our Savior. He does that through our relationship with Him in His Word, prayer, and through His Spirit.

I love Psalm 119:73 which says,

Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn Your commands.

And also Psalm 139:13-14:

For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

As God changes us from the inside out, He changes our motivations, our desires, and our view of life. We become authentic followers of Christ rather than those who do things to gain attention. Jesus said in Matthew 23:27, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean."

As a new Christian, I looked good on the outside, but inside I still had a lot of junk like selfishness, bitterness, and pride. Slowly God began to heal hurts, reveal sin, and clean me up from the inside out. It's a lifelong process where He keeps peeling back layers to get to things that need to be changed.

Let me pray for us:

Father, we praise You for never giving up on us, even when change looks hopeless in our eyes. Help us remember Your promise in Philippians 1:6. Thank you for being patient, loving, and gentle with us. We pray that as you make us more like Christ that You will increase our fruitfulness in Your kingdom.

In Jesus' precious Name,
Amen

Eight Principles for a Joyful Life - #2

The first principle was Fall in Love with Jesus. Here's another obvious principle:

We become more like Christ in proportion to how much time we spend with God in his Word.

For too many years I viewed my Bible time as something to get through rather than focusing on my relationship with God. Too often (though we won't admit it) we view the Bible as boring, hard to read, or not relevant to our lives. But it's not! The Bible is full of exciting stories that relate to our lives. We learn what to do and not do from people in the Bible. God encourages us with verses that comfort, teach, and give us hope. The Bible discerns our heart and our motives and corrects us when we need it.

Here are some suggestions on how to make the Bible come alive for you.

a. Come to the Bible with expectancy. You're meeting with God. Ask him to reveal truth and give you understanding of the passage.

b. Put yourself in the story. Imagine the sounds, smells, sights, and feel of what's going on. Think about Jesus and the triumphal entry. Can you hear the crowds cheering Jesus, feel the breeze of the palm branches, feel the press of the crowds, smell the donkeys? What are you wearing? What are you thinking?

c. Substitute your name in verses like Philippians 1:6. being confident of this, that he who began a good work in Connie will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

d. When I was a student at Dallas Seminary, I took Howard Hendricks' Bible Study Methods. During the course we received "Prof. Hendricks' 9 Questions to Help Apply Any Scripture Passage to Your Life." This invaluable tool has helped me zero in on what God is wanting me to learn from the passage I'm studying. Prof says to:

Ask Yourself, Is There. . .

1. An example for me to follow?
2. A sin to avoid?
3. A promise to claim?
A prayer to repeat?
5. A command to obey?
6. A condition to meet? (Ex: "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you." (Jn 15:7)
7. A verse to memorize?
8. An error, heresy, or danger to expose?
9. A challenge to face something in your life?

e. Read the passage out loud. There's something about doing this that focuses your mind on what you're reading. Try dramatizing the stories. I love the story of the man born blind that Jesus healed in Matthew 9:1-41. As you read it, put yourself in the different roles (blind man, Pharisees, disciples, man's parents) and read it with the voice and tone that you think each one would have used.

f. There are many good books to help you with Bible study. They include:

Living by the Book (Howard G. Hendricks, William D. Hendricks)
Rick Warren's Bible Study Methods (Rick Warren)
How to Read the Bible as Literature & Get More Out It (Leland Ryken)
The Joy of Discovery in Bible Study (Oletta Wald)

g. Another thing I do is write out the passage and break it down into main thoughts. (I learned this also in Prof's class at DTS). Doing this helps me grasp the intent of the passage. Let's look at Romans 5:3-5.

Not only so,
but we rejoice in our sufferings,
because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
perseverance, character;
and character, hope.
And hope does not disappoint us,
because God has poured out
his love into our hearts
by the Holy Spirit,
whom he has given us.

When I look at the passage this way, I can better understand why we rejoice in our sufferings and also what I can expect God to do through my sufferings. It helps me to meditate on this passage when tough times come.

We will never comprehend all that God's Word contains, but God is faithful in opening our eyes to truth if we approach the Bible with humility, a teachable spirit, and a desire to obey what God shows us.

I pray that as we spend time with God in his Word that we will do so with excitement,anticipating the things God will teach us as he makes us more like Christ and increases our fruitfulness!

Eight Principles for a Joyful LIfe - #1

This is the first in a series called Eight Principles. These are things God has taught me over the last 31 years as his child. I trust these truths will benefit you as much as they do me as I revisit them.

Principle #1 - Understanding God’s Love for You will Change your Life!

Ding dong! I wiped my wet eyes and answered the door.

“Do you need help? Is there anything I can do?” The man standing there looked at me sympathetically. Embarrassed, I managed to whisper no.

After he left, I went back to bed and let the silent sobs shake my body. I didn’t want him to hear me crying again. “He doesn’t really care,” I told myself. “Nobody cares. Nobody loves me.”

Pain tore at my heart as I made a desperate decision. I got out of bed, pulled out the pills I had been saving up, and got a big glass of water. As I swallowed pill after pill, I felt relief that the pain would end soon.

But I didn’t count on God saving me from myself. When I didn’t show up at work the next day, someone called my dad who was listed as my emergency contact. I woke up in the hospital three days later and was told that I had been in a coma. If my dad had not found me, I would have died. The 80 pills I ingested would have done their work.

I lost count of the number of times I attempted to take my life, somewhere around four or five. Hopelessness and despair weighed me down like a cement coat. Counseling, careers, men, and positive thinking had done nothing to relieve the feeling that no one loved me or cared about me.

Fast forward three years. Through a series of events, I met a pastor who told me that God loved me and that Jesus could change my life. He talked to me about the sin in my life, and asked if I would like to trust Christ as my Savior. I was a 32 year old mess, and I recognized that my efforts to make life work had failed miserably. I prayed and asked God to forgive me and asked Jesus to be my Savior.

My life took a 180 degree turn, and I stopped drinking and running around with the wild crowd at work. Although I was a new person in Christ, feelings of love and joy did not immediately descend on me.

As a new Christian, I experienced a crisis in my life that drove me into God’s Word. I devoured the Bible, marking it up and going “wow.” Over and over I read about God’s love and about Jesus dying for me because He loves me. I came to see God as my Father. The Creator of the universe – my Father! Slowly it sunk in that God really did love me, and it changed my life. One day I felt something that I had never felt before. It turned out to be joy.

Joy is characterized by delight, pleasure, peace, contentment, cheerfulness. None of that described me before I met Jesus. It would take years for God to heal the hurts, the emotional devastation, and the pain of my early life. But little by little, as I continued to grow in my relationship with Jesus, joy began to replace the pain. Now joy overwhelms me as God continues to shower me with His great love. First John 4:10 says,

This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

God is the initiator in our salvation, our faith, and our continuing relationship with Him. When we fail to stay close to Him, He is constantly wooing us back. God desires to have an intimate relationship with His children. He is always there. We are the ones who pull away.

Relationships suffer in our busy, bustling, beckoning world and none more so than our relationship with our heavenly Father. We get so busy doing for God that we forfeit intimacy with Him. But our doing means nothing without a close relationship with Him that flows into relationships with others. You would think because of my background that I would understand the necessity of never straying far from God. Not so!

Several years ago I was asked to teach a session for women during an in-church retreat. I knew I should have turned it down because I struggled at that time with not just my health, but with spending time with God. I stopped journaling and reading my Bible every day. I had nothing to offer the women. Yet I said yes out of pride. What a mistake! It was a disaster, although some of the women were gracious enough to say they enjoyed it. I learned through this humiliating experience the truth of Jesus’ words in John 15:5.

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.

That experience taught me that nothing is worth giving up my time with the Lord. I flounder, fail, and fall on my face when I'm far from God.

Our love for God will grow in proportion to how much time we spend with Him in His Word and in prayer. Because I often have a foggy brain from living with fibromyalgia, writing a letter to God every day helps me focus. My daily time with God consists of the following:

1. Reading a portion of Scripture, and then asking God to teach me, discipline me, or show me what he wants me to learn from that passage.
2. Writing out the passage.
3. Writing a short commentary on the passage.
4. Asking God how to put that passage into practice.
5. Confessing sin and asking for forgiveness.
6. Praying for those on my prayer list and others God puts on my heart.
7. Telling God about my hurts, worries, and desires.
8. Praising Him, often with a passage from Psalms.
9. Expressing my love for Him.
10. I end my letter with "Maranatha!" which means, "Come quickly, Lord!"

I don't believe in formulas when it comes to our relationship with God. Each person has to develop their own way of growing in Christ through spending time in the Bible and prayer. We can learn from others, but ultimately it's about making the commitment to spend time on a daily basis with our Father. He will grow us when we do that. I pray that we will view time with our heavenly Father in His Word and in prayer as a time of abundant delight, not one of duty. This is the greatest definition of joy - basking in the glow of God’s love as we sit at His feet.

Think about a human relationship that brings you intense joy. That joy grows pale in comparison to the bright joy found in Christ. The joy in Christ cheers, comforts, and gladdens even in difficult times. . .especially in difficult times.

God is love. Let's be people whom God can pour His love into and then watch as His love pours out of us to others. What a great privilege God has given us!

Eight Principles

As I read my Bible, I'm often amazed at how often people through the ages just didn't get it. I shouldn't be surprised,though, because repeatedly in my Christian life I didn't get what God was trying to teach me. Thankfully he doesn't give up on us!

This morning I read Acts 1:6 which says, So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"

This is right after Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the gift (the Holy Spirit) the Father had promised. Rather than being excited about the Holy Spirit, the disciples focused on the kingdom being restored to Israel.

Jesus had just spent three years teaching them about the kingdom of God which included suffering, spreading the gospel, and his second coming. In addition, after his resurrection, Jesus told Peter what kind of death he would experience in order to glorify God. The disciples seemed to forget all they had been taught.

In my next post I'm starting a series called Eight Principles for a Joyful Life. These are things God has taught me during the 31 years I've been his child. This is for my benefit as much as everyone else's. Like the disciples, I find myself sometimes focusing on earthly things rather than "going about my Father's business." Most likely the Lord has taught you these things too. But it's always good to remind ourselves of truth!

So join me next time when we'll get started on Eight Principles for a Joyful Life!

Pain, Pain, Go Away!

Yesterday I experienced a horrible pain day which included a foggy brain. Most of the time the fibromyalgia I've lived with for 25+ years is manageable through nutrition, exercise, and stretching. However, once in a great while it lays me low, and I go through the day thanking God that "this too shall pass" and not getting much done.

I thought I had accepted pain as a way of life until a day like yesterday hits me like a sack of cement and knocks me off my feet. It's not just the physical pain that's difficult, but the emotions that go with it. People who live with chronic pain have to deal with down-in-the-dumps days, and I'm no exception.

BUT. . .we have a Savior who suffered more than we ever will. He experienced excruciating pain as the nails were pounded into His hands and feet on the cross. Then He was separated, for the first time, from His Father in heaven, in order to take on the crushing sins of the world. . .my sin! And He did this voluntarily.

First John 3:16 says,

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

When I go through a bad pain day, I face the temptation of wanting to back off and not fully follow God the rest of my life. The enemy puts thoughts in my head that I have a right to take it easy because of my pain.

I say to that: Hah! God takes me to verses like the one above, and I once again fall on my face in gratitude for what Christ has done for me. He not only gave me eternal life, but abundant life here on earth. There is no greater joy than knowing God loves me and that He gives meaning and purpose to my life through serving.

There will always be a battle between the flesh and the spirit until we're out of these bodies. However, God is greater than Satan. My prayer for us is that we will live out Hebrews 12:2-3:

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Christ laid down His life for the joy set before Him. There is purpose in the pain that God allows in our lives. When we scorn the pain and lay down our lives for others, joy comes!

Count it All Joy?

Carrie Cooper, my speaking and writing partner, wrote an insightful post on her blog on October 26. I encourage you to read the entire post at comfortedbygod.blogspot.com. The following is an excerpt from her post titled, "A Benefit of Troubles."

"One of the great blessings of trials is that it reveals our desperate state before a soveriegn God. Without his direct intervention and salvation, we all would perish. It is only because of his mercy do we have eternal hope. Our broken state serves to remind us of our human weakness and his glorious strength. . .Life's hardships point us to the peace of God and the eternal life he offers us. If life were perfect here, why would we hope for eternity?"

Psalm 119:67, 71, and 75 all affirm the benefit of affliction. The psalmist states in verse 67, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word." And again in verse 71 he says, "It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.

Living life from an eternal perspective, as Carrie wrote about, takes grit, courage, and a willingness for God to teach us through trials. For many years of my Christian life I fought against God when afflictions came into my life. I chose self-pity and blamed others for what I was going through.

God, in his mercy and grace, allowed a multitude of difficulties to assault me in order to break my prideful, self-centered will. Now, when I choose to live with an eternal perspective, I can do what James said and count it pure joy when I face trials of many kinds.

However, when I fail to spend time with Jesus, I find myself giving in to the cares of this world. Life lived with an earthly perspective loses its joy.

Could I pray for us?

Father, forgive me when I lose my eternal perspective and let the cares of this world snuff out my joy in You. Teach us to truly live above our circumstances and fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Help us view trials as Your way of creating Christ's character in us. Someday You will wipe away every tear, and we will rejoice that every trial on earth was so worth what You did through it. Thank You for loving us. We love You, Lord! In Jesus' precious name, Amen.