When You are Overwhelmed Do You Call Jesus for Help?

My daytime shenanigans are spent in social media. I simply can’t get enough of working in this space. It’s my passion and I do think it’s my call.  I recently attended a speaker’s conference on digital media where the speaker, Trust Agent author Chris Brogan reminded us of the fact that everyone’s business is pretty much hurting. He wanted us to remember that businesses are dying and that if we can align with others, so be it the better if the partnership does makes sense.

I loved that reality check for its absolutely true. We’re all in the same boat and the waves are crashing in around us and some of us are trying to empty the boat as fast as we can.  But, I wanted to remind you (us), that although we may feel like we’re drowning or doomed that all we need to do is look around and see that Jesus is right there with us.

Late that night, the disciples were in their boat in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on land. ⁴⁸ He saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves. About three o’clock in the morning^[a] Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. He intended to go past them, ⁴⁹ but when they saw him walking on the water, they cried out in terror, thinking he was a ghost. ⁵⁰ They were all terrified when they saw him.

But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage! I am here!^[b]” ⁵¹ Then he climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped. Mark 6:45-51

Are you seeing Jesus or is he walking by and you are not recognizing him? He’s there and he wants to be in your boat. When He’s there, the waves will calm and you can have His peace. We just need to recognize Him and lean into his care. Ahhhhhh.

Case in point...many of you know that I am embarking on my favorite conference this week, well in fact tomorrow.  With that, it was very important that my computer be up to snuff. I have never had any problems with it until today of course.  Five hours were spent on trying to get it to load programs and my blogs.  I had to shut it down and leave it to attend Brogan’s engagement.  As I drove to the venue, I spent that time in prayer with a friend and I believed that God would fix my problem.  Five hours later…I’m back on my computer and blogging.  God is good and He is in the boat. We just need to ask Him to join us and trust that He’ll take care of the storm.

I’ll be writing again soon.

All My Best,

Cindy

There always is a sticky side to transparency

I sat in an amazing session last week led by Alex Hamilton (The Redeemer Church) at the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit. He told us he would be talking about one of the most important issues facing the church – when leaders fall and how you handle it. Well, being a crisis communication executive, my ears certainly perked up.   Kudos to Pastor Hamilton – he did lead one of the most important seminars of the conference and what he had to say about how to handle it was spot on – he took a risk and was transparent with his congregation when his church was faced with such a problem.

Pastor Hamilton had to deal with two of his pastors who were in an affair together.  He wanted to tell his church about it and trust them to not gossip nor stone the victims. So he sent a letter to congregation stating the fact that two pastors have professed to the affair and that they were now going through a process and may or may not return.  He told the congregation that he would talk about it further on Sunday. That next Sunday, the church was packed to hear about how Pastor Hamilton was going to address the sin.

How did he handle it?  He hit it head on and asked his congregation to drop it and let the guilty parties go through the steps of healing. He said that he received numerous letters from people who thought he handled this brilliantly while others said he should have hid it from its members. Transparency is always the best way to deal with crisis.  It nips any further speculation, gossip, lies or rumors from spreading. It’s also the fastest way for a situation to blow over.  This was handled beautifully. Very impressive.

The old ways of cover-ups never really work. Eventually, as more and more lies are told to cover up the initial sin, the truth will come out. Leaks do happen.  Just read the papers every day.  Also, in this day in age of social media, it’s harder than ever to keep things under the wraps. Every one with a smart phone now has a recording device with them.

Transparency is key in every situation as a Christian, not just for church leaders.  God calls us to be transparent with Him. No matter how much we try and hide our sins and try and cover them up – He’s all knowing.  The best way out is the honest way out.  Tell God everything that hurts you and where you need forgiveness and grace.  The burdens will immediately fall off your shoulders and the baggage will be left behind.   Transparency is the key to the other “t” transformation.  Always remember the importance of crossing your “t’s” in prayer.

Thank you Pastor Hamilton for being so transparent with us.

Also, as a sidebar to this discussion, Pastor Hamilton left us with some practical steps on how to avoid temptation.

5 R’s of Resisting Temptation

• Remember who you are – a follower of Jesus Christ – A child of the king!
• Recognize the consequences of your actions – will I feel better or worse after I’ve done this. Will I be proud or ashamed? Who will be hurt by it?
• Rededicate yourself to God – stop, drop and pray
• Reveal your struggle to a trusted friend.
• Remove yourself from the situation.

What I kept hearing this morning was so simple – if I keep to it – I won’t have any problems in my life. And that message was doing what God says to me through His word, prayer and others.  The scripture just shouted this out to me for here’s what it said plain as day.

Proverbs 4

A Father’s Wise Advice

¹ My children, listen when your father corrects you.
Pay attention and learn good judgment,
² for I am giving you good guidance.
Don’t turn away from my instructions.
³ For I, too, was once my father’s son,
tenderly loved as my mother’s only child.

⁴ My father taught me,
“Take my words to heart.
Follow my commands, and you will live.
⁵ Get wisdom; develop good judgment.
Don’t forget my words or turn away from them.
⁶ Don’t turn your back on wisdom, for she will protect you.
Love her, and she will guard you.
⁷ Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do!
And whatever else you do, develop good judgment.
⁸ If you prize wisdom, she will make you great.
Embrace her, and she will honor you.
⁹ She will place a lovely wreath on your head;
she will present you with a beautiful crown.”

¹⁰ My child, listen to me and do as I say,
and you will have a long, good life.
¹¹ I will teach you wisdom’s ways
and lead you in straight paths.
¹² When you walk, you won’t be held back;
when you run, you won’t stumble.
¹³ Take hold of my instructions; don’t let them go.
Guard them, for they are the key to life.

¹⁴ Don’t do as the wicked do,
and don’t follow the path of evildoers.
¹⁵ Don’t even think about it; don’t go that way.
Turn away and keep moving.
¹⁶ For evil people can’t sleep until they’ve done their evil deed for the day.
They can’t rest until they’ve caused someone to stumble.
¹⁷ They eat the food of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence!

¹⁸ The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,
which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.
¹⁹ But the way of the wicked is like total darkness.
They have no idea what they are stumbling over.

²⁰ My child, pay attention to what I say.
Listen carefully to my words.
²¹ Don’t lose sight of them.
Let them penetrate deep into your heart,
²² for they bring life to those who find them,
and healing to their whole body.

²³ Guard your heart above all else,
for it determines the course of your life.

²⁴ Avoid all perverse talk;
stay away from corrupt speech.

²⁵ Look straight ahead,
and fix your eyes on what lies before you.
²⁶ Mark out a straight path for your feet;
stay on the safe path.
²⁷ Don’t get sidetracked;
keep your feet from following evil.

Doesn’t it seem so simple! God has given us this advice just as a Father should.  Read this Proverb over and over and over again.  If you follow its instructions, just as it says…you’ll have a full life.

God Bless,
Cindy

Simplistic Beauty

Read this today and thought you might find this inspirational as well.

Zephaniah 3:17 (New International Version)

¹⁷ 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.”

Sometimes its so simple. If we can keep our mind on those thoughts all pain, confusion and struggles will do away.  You are Loved and He’s there singing about you right now!

What song do you think he’s singing about you? I hope mine is Happy Day.

Amen,

Cindy

God Always Provides Warm Embraces

Why does it take one cruddy day to ruin what I have been working on for a lifetime?  It seems because I’m struggling a bit more than usual that I forget that God loves me through and through.  I forgot that today.   And He had to do something remarkable to remind me He still cares.  What an awesome God we have.

Today I was feeling pretty alone in the world – like everything rests on my shoulders and it’s overwhelming.  I thought that this pain would over take me and that God was no where near.  And then I got one of those cheesy chain letters in my email.  And its sentiment hit me at the right spot.  Here’s what it said.

I never put any belief or energy into these things, but today I sent it to some friends for it touched me.  And you know what….a miracle happened.  When I went to my mailbox this evening I got a letter that I wrote to myself at a church retreat last September.  The Pastor of the conference told us to write a note to ourselves from God – I had totally forgotten that I had ever written that letter. But, it arrived on the perfect day. And here’s how it started out.

From the moment you arrived at the Retreat I gave you love and sent you messages to show you how much I loved you and love you.  I want you to start to feel my love  deep, deep, deep into your soul.  Never forget how much I love you every day and that I am always near.

Lord, I pray, that you help me never forget how much you do love me.  I repent of my doubt and open my arms to receive your mercy and grace – me this woman of little faith.

Don't let go completely ever.

I was going to write a post about how God has been showing me that it’s time to turn all control over to him.  That I needed to take my white knuckles off the things I hold onto for dear life – my next job; my healthy; my family; comfort and love life.  He’s been silently telling me to let things happen naturally, as He intends and not what I think is best for me.  He’s got it all under control and his way is the peaceful route.

Romans 15:13 (New International Version)

¹³May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

But, when I watched the second episode of “The Pacific” tonight on HBO I heard something different.  “The Pacific” is a brilliant mini-series on HBO chronicling events during WWII when our military fought Japan.  This war was one of the hardest ever fought, emotionally and physically.  This particular episode began with veterans of this war providing commentary. One of the soldiers said that all he could do when fighting this war was “hold on and pray.” The opposite of what I was going to write on.

I totally understand what he said.  If I was stationed at an island half way around the world from my home with an enemy on the attack every day for a solid month all you could do was pray and hold on for God to rescue you. So after I heard that I guess we shouldn’t let go and let God, but really pray, let go and hold on God.   For God is our hope in every situation. Our King.  Our Father who knows what’s best for us every moment of the day.

Pray. Let Go of Your Worry and Hold on To God.

Holding on,

Cindy

I have to admit that it is difficult for me to pray this way for I have always been a ‘glass is half empty’ type of gal.  So when one prays through a situation, you need to see through it with a positive result.  For instance, last month I had horrible pain in my kidneys.  I was scared that it was something serious, life threatening and didn’t see anything beyond that.  However, when I was prayed over, the prayer warriors prayed through it…they praised God for the healing he gave me.  And it worked.  After a series of tests it was diagnosed as only kidney stones.

Right now I am in transition and as such, God has given me a wide palette of choice.  We also are heading into a New Year which brings hope for a better 365 days.  I’ve recently told a friend that I feel like I’ve just graduated high school and I’m entering college and I can choose to be anything that I want to be.  It’s exciting, yet at the same time a bit frightening.   But, I can be happy. This can be an easy process.  My glass can be half full!  And that’s what I am supposed to pray about…praising God for how he brought me through this transition.  There is light at the end of the tunnel. There always is a new sunrise.

No Matter How Hard Things Appear - Raise Your Hands and Give Glory

I’ve just started to pray this way, so I’m toddling through this process, but it really helps me become more hopeful. It helps me see that Jesus sees things this way. He’s not bogged down by this moment for he is the only one who knows what is ahead and it’s all good.

being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil 1:6

So what are you currently praying about? Can you see its results? Are you praying through the situation?  I’d love to hear your thoughts on this and how God is moving in your life.  Let’s pray together for a New Year full of harvest and abundance in leading others to eternal life.

God Bless,

Cindy