Link for finding God's psychiatry, written by Charles L. Allen below
On the fourth of July, this summer, all of my beloved and beautiful koi died.
My heart was overwhelmed with sadness as I scooped out their still ,stiff bodies
and put them in our wheelbarrow. I felt sick.
Wasn't it just the day before, they eagerly swam over to greet me
as I fed them their breakfast ?
As sad as that was, as pained as I felt, I have had much worse days.
Grieving the loss of my cherished fish, actually allowed release of trapped pain from greater life happenings.
The silver lining of my great loss ,was the realization this great loss for me ,was given as a gift to allow healing for things I hadn't allowed myself to grieve about. Pain so deep in my heart, I hadn't even been able to acknowledge it.
Life can be discouraging at times, can't it?
Yesterday held some more of that for me. As I dealt with the
unpleasant news, I thought I would share my realiziations.
Yes, life can and sometimes does ,present us with very dark days .
Days that seem to not only obscure light, hope, focus, days that seem
bent on engulfing us ,in the darkness. Darkness so deep we feel trapped or lost. Should we succumb ?
One would wonder why there is pain, suffering, loss, tragedy , broken dreams.
I admit there is a temptation to cry out unfair, stop this planet, I don't care, nobody cares.
Or to buy into the taunting at our spirit, you'll never be, do etc.
Or even have a grand pity party . You know what ? None of those "work" .
Joni Erickson Tada was told by a friend that she could
indulge herself in a five min pity party, that was enough, then she needed to Move on. Joni and Friends
We can even believe in the "prognosis" of "well" informed
health providers , and thus be submissive , and accepting of our "fate".
Or heed the voices of our past.
None of these are Truth. The truth is ,God is God of the impossible.
I too ,am occasionally tempted to "buy" into the false truth/s.
As mentioned ,yesterday was one of those days.
I admit, I even allowed myself as a health coach to indulge in some "comfort" of what else, peanut butter. Now peanut butter is a good thing, just not if you are focused on a goal you chose which didn't happen to include peanut butter ,for a given time.
Food may be your comfort "food" for your wounded spirit, or broken dreams, or bad news, loss,grief or whatever. Maybe you use one of these ,to salve your rebellion, or anger. Perhaps shopping is your comfort "food", or a mad spring housecleaning binge.
(please if that is it ,contact me :-) ).
If you see yourself in any of these, stop a moment. Confess ( admit and agree you have or feel such), then repent (have remorse ,are saddened by these.) Then simply ask for forgiveness.
Then do as Joni did, move on. As my friend Vicki would say, in her warm loving laughing way, get over it. ( Vicki survived breast cancer , if anyone could have the right to say get over it ,Vicki does.)
It is okay to grieve ,it is ok to feel overwhelmed, lost.
To stay there, to to allow life's landmines to cripple us on the inside ,is not good. It is the focus, how we respond that matters. What makes the difference, is how we respond.
So when you read this, if life has overwhelmed you , STOP, look at what you might be using for comfort and turn to the true source of comfort.
He who holds you in His hand.
Let your heart look for light, for beauty. God has it all around us, even in some of the tiniest places .
Early this morning ,as I was walking our dogs ,the sun rise shining on water was stunning.
I was reminded ,despite my dark news of yesterday , the sun will still come up tomorrow.
I was refreshed in my spirit , as I saw the brilliancy of God's creation and knew no matter what,
He cares about me. He gave the most costly gift in this entire universe ,as a ransom for me. He did this for you too. How can we let anything mar this great act of love?
Yes, as long as this earth remains, the sun will come up, filling the sky with brightness, birds
songs will fill the air with their praise and gladness for a new day, can I do less?. No matter what, God is still good. Let your heart grasp and hold on to that. Tell Him about whatever is threatening to engulf you, it's ok to tell Him it looks hopeless,
that you can't see a way , and then simply tell Him here it is, I give all of this to you.
Praise Him even in the darkness of whatever is happening in you life. He inhabits praise.
Then READ ,even if you know this by heart, the 23rd psalm. Read it when you get up, at
breakfast, lunch and dinner time and before you go to bed. Read it outloud at least one time a
day. Read it carefully, meditatively, and prayerfully. reflecting on what it means. Let it soak
into the marrow of your spirit, as a medicine. Do this for seven days.
This is actually a prescription, that was given to a troubled individual heal his troubled life.
It did.
This prescription is from a little book written by Amazon.com: God's Psychiatry: Charles L. Allen: Books
May you find rest and peace and healing. May you come to know real Truth.
The TRUTH will set you free.
