Did you know there are no consequences in The Kingdom? It’s true and I’ll explain why in a minute.
First off I’ll have to explain how my experience of The Kingdom looks. There are 2 completely different systems of living life on planet Earth. One is God’s system which Jesus called The Kingdom. The other is mankinds system which scripture usually calls The World.
The Kingdom and The World exist simultaneously inside each of us and battle for our attention every day. We choose each day which system we serve.
At a random moment in May, my mind twirled itself into a knot about God. My expanding understanding of Father’s presence within me had somehow “humanized” Him. After all, if He is actually part of me and not living separate from me, then how does He remain divine? How is He still omnipotent? And what does that mean regarding the miracles I’ve experienced most of my life? It seemed that the more I saw Him within me, the less miraculous He appeared. Was He ordinary now?
Of course, that conclusion means my mind doesn’t have a miraculous perception of myself. I’m still flawed with feet of clay, unable to fly.
Plus, I didn’t have time to contemplate this twist and talk it out with Him. We had a family and friend event coming up at our home in mid-June and there were a multitude of projects to complete beforehand. So, while Hunny and I labored to finish building projects and landscaping, I put my dilemma on a shelf. Continue reading A STORY OF PERCEPTION AND DOUBT→
I began writing 5 easy steps to being un-offendable when I realized that I don’t believe in steps. They’re formulas and formulas are an act of striving to change ourselves using our own minuscule power. It’s extremely hard work and seldom succeeds.
So, I scrapped most of what I wrote and voted for telling you the story of the first time I decided to stop being offended.
It happened when Hunny and I were dating and we had a fight because he said something that offended me. It was happening frequently because he’s an outspoken man and rarely beats around the bush.
But this time he said, “Look, this isn’t going to work if you keep getting offended. First off, I’m not going to change. This is who I am. And this is how I talk. I love you and you can believe that or not. It’s your choice. But you can’t manipulate me. So, figure it out because this won’t work.” Continue reading BEING UN-OFFENDABLE→
Back in the day, when Hunny and I were more immature, we’d have some rip-roaring episodes now and then. Father never condemned me for any one of them and as I look back now, I can see His hand in each one. They were how we learned to live with each other, give each other wide berth to be ourselves, and respect the strength we inherently possessed individually.
Honestly, neither of us thought our marriage would survive very long. We were both so strong-willed and assertive. The match was definitely equal.
It was a weird phenomenon I didn’t expect. A conference of my peers and friends left me at home wondering whether to spend the money to go and be with them?
And I decided the answer was “no”. Why? Well, it has little to do with them, of course, and so much to do with me.
I knew there would be corporate worship. And then teaching time. All of it would be awesome and rewarding to anyone who went. Except, probably me.
No, I’m not a hardcore introvert. I actually have a very extrovert side which loves to engage with people. I especially love the one-on-one.
Yep, it’s true … someone laughed at me. On my birthday no less! Even during my birthday celebration! A friend picked out one of my character traits and laughed.
And I laughed too. It’s what you do.
Later, when the party was over and quiet time came, there was still a tiny arrow stuck in my heart and I contemplated it. Then I asked Father about tiny arrows. Are we to blame that some stick? Is it a flaw that this was hurting a bit? I don’t count myself easily offended. But am I?Continue reading SHE LAUGHED AT ME!→
Father just reminded me to pay attention to what I’m thinking.
I know this is elementary but bear with me. It’s not a long story.
It began yesterday when Hunny and I were running errands on one of the first particularly hot days of the year. Suddenly the AC wasn’t working in the car, and I won’t go into details but after a couple hours, I was feeling too warm. Hunny said, “I’ll call the shop on Monday and get it fixed.” Meantime, we continued. Continue reading PAYING ATTENTION TO WHAT I’M THINKING→
A few nights ago I got up and walked to the bathroom, past my digital clock which said it was 3 a.m. When I went back to bed, I rolled onto my side where I noticed through the window that the motion light was shining on the fence outside. And the clock now said 1 a.m!
I stared at the clock incredulously. Since it’s a digital clock which displays the number one as a straight line, it’s highly improbable that I could mistake that straight line for a number three.
And what critter was on my property that caused the motion light to turn on? There are a few feral cats in the neighborhood so, I didn’t think much about this detail. Continue reading TIME JUMPED BACKWARDS TWO HOURS→
I had a dream about the aftermath of my battle with religion.
I was in an abandoned section of the house where I live. It was like an attached apartment. In the kitchen was a lot of canned and packaged food sitting on a big table inside the oversized pantry. A visitor came through, someone I knew, and he needed dinner for his family. I invited him to help himself and he chose 3 items that would make a complete meal for him and his family. He was pleased and I was happy that I could be generous.
After he left, I began going through the apartment shadow boxing evil entities as I saw them. I’d say out loud “Ka-pow! Ka-pow!” as I punched them. And they were cleared out one at a time. After they were gone, there was movement in the corner which I attributed to Angels and let them be. Continue reading SABBATICAL FROM THE BATTLE→
