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| Author | Topic: Every Day-chap 1 |
| Pastor |
posted 2/27/09 2:00 AM
The cemetery dirt is still fresh, the pink sleip still folded in your pocket, the other side of the bed still empty... who has a good day on these days? Most don't but couldn't we try? Describe the most difficult day you had to endure in the past year. What made it so hard... There are a couple of days that stand out in my mind. Instead of specific details let me tell you what common thread I see in these: My kids come home crushed because of something someone else has done that seems unfair; I find out something uncomplimentary being said about me behind my back; People who say they are going to help carry out their own agenda. The common thread for me is that it is all stuff done beyond my control. I wish I could make every one be nice to my kids, or see them as I see them. I want to explain myself to people but I am not suppose to know what they said. I watch things go in directions that are not compatable with the ways in which God describes the children of God. And I allow these things to dominate my thoughts, instead of focusing on everything that is positive. |
| Karen |
posted 2/28/09 0:11 AM
I’ve been waiting for someone else to respond first so I didn’t take this off course with my stupid depression and bipolar. When you asked us to think of the most difficult day in the past year, I realized that I had a lot of them, but they were all the same – too depressed to think and too depressed to care. But thinking about it, I realized my bad days had the same common thread yours do. They are beyond my control. The chemicals in my body just do what they want and fight against me. And that “pick yourself up by the bootstraps” idea just doesn’t work. It’s difficult not to have it dominate my thoughts. It’s difficult to focus on positive things, but I need to try harder to learn to do that. Will this book teach us how to do that? |
| pastor |
posted 2/28/09 11:40 AM
I don't know that the book has any seret formula toward changing our life or our habits. I do think that it confronts us with what we really believe. For example, while the phrase "saturate your day in His grace" sounds good, I am not exactly sure what it means, or what it would look like. However, recently I was confronted with one of those core questions, do I believe that life is essentially gracious. What the person was asking me was do I believe that "all things work together for the good of God?" I realized that it was a really good question because I do believe that. I believe that even my darkest day will be redeemed by God and there will be something good come from it. When I was kid, my Dad used to make me work outside every Saturday, from the time I got up to when the sun went down. I remember laying on the floor at night in front of a box fan, and how good it felt. If you didn't do the work, if you didn't go through all that stuff, it just didn't feel as good. If nothing else, all the depression-bi-polar stuff you mention gives you a deeper appreciation for the salvation God is going to give you. As I look back on it, working with my Dad did a lot of good. There is much that redeems that experience. Just like along life's way you will find that your struggle has more meaning too. Inner strength, depth of character, ability to help others in the same position just to name a few. But the biggest part of this is to summon up the strength to believe that God's is gracious and some how, somewhere, redeems our life. The book doesn't so much teach this, as it reminds us that this is what we believe. God is in hard work, lay-offs, recession, depression, knee-replacements, and in everything else. And because God is there, it will be good. |
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Karen (Moderator) |
posted 2/28/09 4:11 PM
I do believe that my struggles work for good, and good things come of them. Over the years, I really have been able to use them for good. But, when I’m in the middle of a struggle--this time depression--it gets very frustrating, and it’s hard to remember that that God will once again use it for good. If I can hang on to the idea that God will redeem this miserable experience just as He has redeemed the others, it gives me hope that I will survive once again. I will definitely appreciate the salvation God has for me. It wouldn’t have to be near as spectacular as it’s going to be, and I would still appreciate it. |
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Karen (Moderator) |
posted 2/28/09 4:46 PM
I am NOT the moderator. I went in to fix a few links so they'd go to the right places, and suddenly it started saying I'm the moderator. Pastor is the moderator!!! |
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