Permissible? Yes. But is it BENEFICIAL?

Hello, dear friends! How is your new year going? Can you believe this is the last full week of January?

There's something weighing heavily on my heart that I need to share. I'm going to share briefly how I feel about a specific subject, then give you two things I really hope you'll read.

There's yet another subject that has caused people to have knee-jerk reactions in our country: gun control. Now, I'm not taking sides. I'm sharing what I feel, in my heart. But I want to share something that I recently experienced....

Some of you know that Kenn and I did a show a couple of weeks ago; it was written by a friend, Frank Fox, as a follow-up to another show he'd written. The first show was call PHISH CAMP, and the second GIL'S GIFT. Fun, lighthearted stuff. But I wasn't associated with the first play.

GIL'S GIFT had two different characters who had to use firearms. And because we couldn't find realistic-looking props in such a short amount of time, the director got the two grown men real firearms to use.

As stage manager, it was my job to make sure all the props got to where they needed to be. This SHOULD have included these firearms. But when I tried the first time we had them, I couldn't carry one of them twenty yards. When I picked it up, not only could I feel the physical weight of it, but also the responsibility weight associated with it. I mean, think about it: for what end purpose would you use a gun? You might go to the range to practice, but practice to do what? Use that deadly force against someone. Even though I had no intention of doing anything but carrying that firearm, in its holster, to another place to be given to someone else, I couldn't do it. I had to allow the firearms guy to be in charge of them completely - and he was fine with that. It's the first time I've not been able to do a part of my job. But it wasn't that I wouldn't. It was, indeed, that I could not.

My dad had a rifle in the house while I was growing up. He might still have it upstairs in his closet; I really don't know. Nor do I want to. If he feels he wants it, just in case, it's his RIGHT.

Yes. It is a RIGHT. But I'll stick with this Scripture:
“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.
~I Corinthians 10:23-24

The Message puts it this way:
Looking at it one way, you could say, “Anything goes. Because of God’s immense generosity and grace, we don’t have to dissect and scrutinize every action to see if it will pass muster.” But the point is not to just get by. We want to live well, but our foremost efforts should be to help others live well.

Please truly think about and pray about your stance. Don't just say what I've heard too many say - "It's my right, and no one's gonna stop me." We're supposed to do EVERYTHING for God's glory, dear friend. EVERYTHING. Please don't make an exception here. And if you feel led differently than I, then you follow what the Holy Spirit is telling YOU!

OK. I got that off my chest. :)

Now, then. To the two resources I'd LOVE you to check out:
My friend, Keith Giles.
 I think you'll love what he has to say. It will at LEAST make you think.
Prodigal Magazine
I absolutely LOVE this article. And it's what made me post this blog post; too many times, I throw up my hands because I don't believe people listen when it's a huge issue. But I have to still TRY. :)

OK, my friend. I hope you can hear my heart in this post. Even if you disagree with my position, the thing that I believe in more than anything in this post is that there's NO reason we can't agree to disagree, that unity in His Bride is more important than we realize and that we need to be able to love each other through anything! And if you want to dialogue, I'm here. And I love you. :)

Brokenness and Imperfections

Happy New Year, dear friend! How are you? How's your 2013 so far? I don't know why, but this week has DRAGGED. It's not like I'm not doing stuff, but oh, well. :D

If you're my friend on Facebook, you probably know all about what I've been up to. (If you're not, and you'd like to be, send me a request! LORI STILGER. :) ) But let me share a bit, anyway. I mean, that's why I started this blog, right? :D

I spent two weeks in College Station, Texas, taking care of my then-three-month-old niece. This is my baby sister's baby. You know there are VERY few people in the entire world I'd take two weeks out of my December to do something like that for. :D But it was an honor. And hard work! LOL! Fortunately, the baby is SO easy to care for, not fussy at all, and such a beautiful baby. Here, I'll put a picture of us from that visit here!Isn't she beautiful?

ANYWAY. :D

While I was there, Baby and I made some presents for the rest of the family; they were salt dough ornaments, and we used ONE hand and ONE foot to mark the dough, then let them dry.

Well, as you can see from my photo at the top of this post, mine is the imperfect one. When we first made this one, I thought, "Oh, no! It's ruined! Man, if only I'd gotten her hand straighter before we put pressure on the dough!"

But you know what? The more I watched it dry, the more I started to cherish this plaque in particular. the rest might have been more "perfect", but THIS one, I understood. THIS one, her delight in the texture and feel of the dough are made evident in the way she wanted to FEEL it - first with her hand, then with her big toe!

And it tied itself right into a lesson God's been developing in my heart over the last few months.

See, many times we come to a place in our lives where we have to fight despising the brokenness and imperfections in our past (or current) lives. The cracks and chips that happen when we choose to go our own ways, to live how WE think we want to. When we allow God to put us back together, those aren't glossed over. They're still there; we may be held together by His grace, but we can still see every crack, still feel where the chips are glued back together.

Dear friend, what He's been teaching me is that our brokenness and imperfections are SO useable by Him! Think about a candle holder (there's a really special one that I cannot find the info on, so I'll have to explain!!!) that's been cracked and broken. The owner puts it back together, and puts a candle into it. The light of the candle shines through the cracks, shedding light and warmth through where it couldn't shine through before.

God's the One Who puts us back together again. The candle is the Holy Spirit, shining the light of Jesus through us to the world. What a MIRACLE that is. So, I try not to despise those things in my life anymore, but turn them over to the Father, so He can use them to shed His light into others' lives. And to not give Satan something to hold over me. If it's out in the open, he can't torment me with feelings of guilt and condemnation!

I've been learning a lot. It takes a while to solidify into words, but I hope these words help you in some way. :) Be BLESSED, dear one. Know you are loved with an everlasting love, and that God does ALL things well! That includes creating YOU.

Guest Article Today!!!

Good morning, everyone! I know it's been a while since I posted, and I apologize - but thank you for coming back. :D

Today, I have permission from Carmen to post her blog post here. I've been struggling to get enough time to write the article I said I wanted to, and Carmen's post was on the Internet Cafe Devotions earlier this week. It's EXACTLY where I wanted to start, and Carmen graciously allowed me to "share the love". :) So that's what I'm going to do. Here, in its entirety, is Carmen's post. Thank you, Carmen!

H.U.G.S.!
More than anything, keep loving each other actively;because love covers many sins.~ 1 Peter 4:8

Have you figured out yet that this life is all about relationships? The Relationship Expert Himself wrote an entire Book about this matter of relationships. The First Four Words of The Ten (Commandments) He gave us had to do with relating to Him…and the Last Six Words had to do with relating to everyone else!

What I’m trying to say, folks, is that it matters to our LORD how we deal with one another…yes, even ‘Sister Scouring Pad’ (the one known for her abrasive qualities). Did you know that our (horizontal) relationships are the TELLING FRUIT of our most vital (vertical) relationship to the Father...the ROOT? We are able to know the true condition of how our Heavenly Father views our relationship with Himself simply by examining our relationships with the 'one anothers' in our lives.

We all have at least one relationship in need of His healing touch, don’t we? 1 Peter 3:8-12 describes a process of His sanctification in us through friction with others…’it is to this we have been called that we might receive a blessing’. We receive this blessing as we do things His way and give up the right to ourselves.

Recently, I had the privilege of sipping some very expensive coffee (as in ‘Venti fat-free hazelnut latte, please!’) across the table from a new friend. We both shared our strange love for acronyms. You see, the LORD gave me a brain that can be easily confused, so I have found that acronyms serve me well in remembering what I should do in a complicated situation. Sometimes I do not have time to grab my Bible and look up the appropriate responses. Perhaps this is why His Spirit instructs us to ‘hide (the Word) in our hearts that we might not sin against Him’!
H.U.G.S. is surely one great acronym to commit to memory in dealing with inevitable conflict. The definition of conflict is ‘to come into collision or disagreement; be contradictory, at variance, or in opposition; to clash’. Has this ever happened to you? John records these words from Jesus: “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

We have tribulation because sin resides in every human heart. But let’s not kid ourselves - even if you or I were the only one on this earth, we’d still have our issues! Therefore, we can look at conflict as an event and H.U.G.S. as appropriate God-honoring, Christ-exalting responses to a brother or sister. Until the LORD comes back, His Spirit will be teaching us all about His blessed grace and giving us ample opportunity to grow in it and extend it to others.

What would our relationships look like if we dealt in the following manner with each other?

• H - Honestly (Proverbs 24:26; Romans 12:9-10)
• U - Understandingly (Proverbs 14:29; James 1:20)
• G - Graciously (Colossians 4:6; Proverbs 11:16; Ecclesiastes 10:12) AND finally…
• S - Simply (Matthew 5:37; Proverbs 10:19; Ecclesiastes 5:7)

Jesus said that the world would know we are His disciples by the love we have for one another (John 13:35). This ahava (Hebrew: ‘love’) is the first attribute listed of the Spirit’s fruit because it is from this ‘ahava’ that the remaining Kingdom fruit flows. Ahava, at its core, is a heavenly action displayed through an earthly vessel. It is His very love flowing through us.

Because HUGS are a very SUPERnatural response, they are able to soften the edges of even the harshest Sister (yes, even Sister Scouring Pad or Brillo Britches…whichever you prefer).
Baruch Ha Shem ADONAI!!
Because HE Lives!
Carmen
Join Carmen daily at her personal blogspot

Absolute Truth John 17:17

Happy Tuesday! :D

Good afternoon, dear friend! I'm SO glad you stopped by! :) How is your week going? How was your weekend?

Well, let me tell you! My weekend was so full of spiritual truths, and bits and pieces of spiritual "gum" - things I need to really chew over :D - that I can't sift them all out at one time.

I was blessed to be able to hear Priscilla Shirer in person again. Amy and I did a Bible study of hers called DISCERNING THE VOICE OF GOD together, and then I got to see her in person in Branson when I went earlier this year. As a matter of fact, she is the speaker I honestly went to hear in Branson. :)

Anyway. This weekend's conference was Friday night and Saturday morning. She's got one more of these events this year before she stops to have her baby :D, so I won't share everything I got from those two days for a little while. She's worth hearing for yourself! Honestly, every single person who went with our group got something TOTALLY different out of it! :) Plus, shes a communications person, and I would LOVE to be doing what she does - and I wouldn't want someone to "let the cat out of the bag" if I was!

Can I say ANYWAY again? :D Anyway! One of the things she said this weekend, not even as a bullet point :D, was that too many times we exalt our PROBLEMS over God. That's making Him SMALLER than whatever we're facing. We talk about the circumstance we find ourselves in more than we talk about God's goodness, grace, and faithfulness.

Did YOU hear that smack I got in the face??? :) WOW, do I see myself in that statement. I try to be very careful here on my blog to be SURE that God gets the glory and the exaltation, but in real life, sometimes I talk waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy too much about my problems - whichever one is bothering me that day. :)

My reality check will be stopping at least once each day, and asking myself: if I've talked to anyone today, who or what was exalted (lifted above) during my conversation? As Amy told me yesterday when we were talking about it, I'm allowed to express concern and ask for support - but the problem, my fears, or Kenn's reactions will NOT be exalted in my conversations!! :)

Does anyone else recognize this in your own self? Dwell on HIS goodness, my friend, and count your blessings, and claim this circumstance as under His authority. He'll take care of you - He promises! :) HE LOVES YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Thursday!

Good morning, dear friends! How are you today? It's rainy here today, kind of gloomy - the BEST kind of day for snuggling down into your bed and sleeping all day. :D Is that what I'm doing?

NO!!!! :) I've already taught one class today, and have another this evening - so I'm having to be alert and oriented. ;D

Please go read this post from Lysa:
http://lysaterkeurst.blogspot.com/2008/05/still-holding-hands.html

Now, come back and tell me: are you as CONVICTED by her post as I am? It's SO hard for me, in my relationship with Kenn, NOT to keep a record of wrongs. There are days when it all piles up, and I just want to scream ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then something comes along, like Lysa's post, and I am so convicted I can't sleep. Do you struggle with this in your relationship, too? Has anyone found an EASY way, or even a way that works for YOU, to forget those wrongs????? It's not even BIG ones that I have trouble with. It's all the LITTLE ones. LOL! As women, I really think this is something that is difficult for us. So, I'm asking you to pray for me. Talk to me; am I the only one who's struggling with keeping no record of wrongs?