Letting Go.. A Tad Bit Hard

How's your imagination - do you still have it?
Our imagination can be a friend and a foe!

It helps us to imagine all the great things of God! It allows us to paint pictures in our mind of what wonders await us in Heaven, and it takes us to a different place as we draw a deep breath, and enjoy the simplicity of creation while it momentarily eliminates our 'mundane - see it everyday' attitudes.

On the contrary - It also invokes in us the worst case scenario that could possibly happen and prevent us from full enjoyment in life - ESPECIALLY as parents!

I face this everyday and feel it is something I need to get a grip on.
As a Mother, my children are always asking me if they can go somewhere..with someone..to do something...
Today my 17 year old son asked me if he could go on a fishing trip with some mates after school finishes.
I instantly panicked - I saw him jumping off cliffs into the ocean and being forced up against rocks.. Then I saw him eaten by sharks.. or getting a rusty hook in his foot.. or falling in the camp fire with no help for miles.. Or eating food that makes him sick and his friends playing jokes on him that land him in hospital.. I saw the car they were in getting stuck in the tides or rolling on the sand dunes.. SAND DUNES! I saw the sand dunes falling on him and suffocating him.. and I tried to imagine how he would be able to get out of these troubles... OH NO! What if someone kidnaps him...

I simply replied 'I don't think that is a good idea"... Then came the argument lol!
I couldn't tell him all my fears because that's not the sort of man I want to raise...
How did my parents let me do so many things! I just don't understand - Has the access to media made us more aware?

I am now confronted with the following verses to bring me back to the Lord:
2 Tim 1:7 - God did not give me a spirit of fear or timidity but of power, love and self-discipline.
Prov 3:5-7 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding  but acknowledge Him in all your ways and He will make straight your paths.
2 Co 4:17 - For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outways them all.
Ps 121:3 - He will not let your foot slip, He who watches over you.
Matthew 6:25-34 - Jesus tells me not to worry about my life, what you will eat or drink or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the field, they do not sow or reap or store away and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable then they. Can any one of you by worrying, add a single day to your life.

The list goes on. I get the point.. My children are a gift from the Lord, they are His to take back should their predestination be complete. Only He knows the path ahead for them and I am not to worry.
I try with all my might to keep them safe but in the end they belong to the Lord - I need to trust Him and pray more for my children..

Again I sigh.. this parenting thing is so hard! I just wish I learnt this lesson with my almost 19yr old so I don't have to go through it with my other 5 children..
Do you find it hard as well? Are your children grown up - perhaps you could help me through this part of my navigation through the valley...

Be blessed today I pray - In the name of Jesus!

Oh dear.. not 'forgiveness' AGAIN!

Forgiveness... sigh.

The very word conjures up a fear of 'tackling the topic' and a resignation to the necessity of facing it.

I saw the topic heading last week and closed the book again with a sigh!

I decided I wouldn't do that until I was completely out of time, and then I could do it in a rush without having to put too much thought into it!! Haha - It doesn't really happen that way when you lead the study... Have you ever put something off because it seems too hard?

Today I stole a glance at the next lesson - now that is more like the study I WANT to do - 'Laying Aside Busyness and Running With Rest".. A timely topic after the heaviness of 'Forgiveness'.

I started it on Saturday, spending a couple of hours on the first two pages - what a challenge!

I did more on Sunday and finished it on Monday morning at 7am, just in time for our group fellowship.

We tackled:

                 The root of bitterness - And oh how deep those roots go! At times you don't even know that root is still there until your world is shaken a little  and BAM! There it is. J.B.Philips likens these roots to 'a poison that affects the lives of many others''. (Heb 12:15)

                 Putting off falsehood and speaking the truth to others, building them up  and getting rid of all bitterness, forgiving as Christ forgave us. (Eph 4:25-32)

                 Clothing ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience and putting on love - to forgive all grievances as Christ forgave us.

I heard a visiting Paster say once that Forgiveness is allowing someone free passage through our mind without ill thought. I started to think about certain people and realised that when I consider them, I still have some speed bumps to deal with before I can allow them free passage...

Our study revealed (or highlighted should I say) a forgiveness that is nothing like what our human nature tries to do.

The forgiveness of Christ is instantaneous, second by second He is ready and willing to forgive us. He forgives and allows us free passage to the throne of the Father. Not only does He forgive freely, but He takes our shame and does not hold our crimes against us - because He cleaned us! 

On the contrary, we are offended and hold onto wrongs.. we share it with all our friends and when given the chance we tell people how wrong they were... (well I don't know about you, but I like to be real honest with my human nature). Holding on as opposed to letting go...dragging that behind me wherever I go - just to remind me how right I was and how wrong they are and and and....etc

Jesus, when falsely accused, remained silent, and for the joy set before Him endured the cross and took on it's shame. He did not throw slander back nor did He correct their false accusations, instead He prayed for 'His enemies' (though not really enemies). He did not hold on.. gone faster than how long it took to accuse..

I love the Lord and the example of His life for our living.

I had an 'Aha" moment when I realise that forgiveness is not about the other person, it is about me! Doing this free's me from holding onto pain and hurt.

Though a valuable lesson I have learnt just this week is that I do not own other people's wrestling.. if they have an issue with me then it is not always my fault and all I can do is pray for them. I/we are accountable for our own behaviour and wrong-doings, that we need to keep a clean slate between us and the Lord, AS DO OTHER PEOPLE, but they are none of our business and we are not to hold them accountable - we are to pray for them and put on love being kind and compassionate to them. If they would like to blame us for things, we should examine our heart before the Lord and be completely honest and open to the possibility that there may be some truth or no truth to the accusation, and move forward from there. 

Great lessons - I hope my 'rawness' encourages you to search your own heart.

I hope your cup is full to overflowing.. if not go deeper.

(For research for yourself - Eph 4:31-32; Heb 12:1-17; Lamentations 3; Eph 1:7-8; 1 Jn 1:9; Col 3:12-13; Lk 23:32-34)